Introduction Locating an Australia‐wide Anthropology

ABSTRACT Ethnographic research concerning Aboriginal social life in the earlier settled areas of the continent has formed a minor strand within the body of Australian anthropological research. Yet these studies speak directly to the current national discourse concerning distressing conditions in many Aboriginal communities in the north. The kind of anthropology generated in South East Australia has always sought to do more than simply depict particular collective worlds—it also addresses how they are made, particularly in conditions of upheaval, relocation and engagement with state institutions and the nation's ideologies. By drawing attention to one kind of border, that between cultural/social worlds we hope to overcome another boundary, that between ethnographies of the north and the south. To this end, we draw attention to the process of boundary making that has been a crucial dynamic within the changing historical and social configurations that have shaped Aboriginal experiences of the social world. Thus, instead of reporting on the significance of cultural characteristics, this collection shifts attention to relationships with others, with the state and the encompassing society.     

National élites,national masses: oral history and the (re)production of the Welsh nation

The paper examines the distinction that has been made in the social science literature on nationalism between national élites and national masses. While the distinction is useful as a way of beginning to conceptualize the mechanisms through which nations and nationalisms are (re)produced, it can also underplay the significance of the iterative relationship that exists between national élites and national masses. We argue that detailed empirical research can enable us to complicate the historical geographies that lead to the production and reproduction of nations. As a way of illustrating the saliency of these claims, we focus on the nationalist agitation—with respect to the campaign for a Welsh higher education—that was taking place in the University College and town of Aberystwyth during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Oral history research with members of the national élite and the national masses, who were active within this campaign, enables us to show the poly-vocal production of the Welsh nation at this time.