ABSTRACT
On leaving the Principalship of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1980, Peter wrote two articles, one on archaeology (Ucko 1983) and the other on social anthropology (Ucko 1985) setting out his perspective on the impact of the Institute in these two fields during his incumbency. 1 The article on social anthropology is largely a critique of the Institute’s ‘Social Anthropology Advisory Committee’ whose members were, initially, all academics. Collectively they fare poorly, coming across as conservative, overly academic and lacking innovation (Ucko 1985: 71). Individually, they often supported policies and projects initiated elsewhere in the Institute. According to Peter, anthropologists who imagined themselves to be best able to represent Aboriginal expectations (Ucko 1985: 71) often could not and did not achieve this in the context of the Committee. 2
