[39] Northern Tribes, p. 225.
[40] Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 417.
[41] Ibid., p. 168.
[CHAPTER V]
THE THEORIES OF DR. DURKHEIM
Theories of Dr. Durkheim—Was man originally promiscuous?—Difficulty of ascertaining Dr. Durkheim's opinion—Apparent contradictions—Origin of totemism—A horde, which did not prohibit incest, splits into two "primary clans"—These are hostile—Each has an animal god, and its members are of the blood of the god, consubstantial with him—Therefore may not intermarry within his blood—Hence exogamy—These gods, or totems, "cannot be changed at will"—Questions as to how these beliefs arise—Why does the united horde choose different gods?—Why only two such gods?—Uncertainty as to whether Dr. Durkheim believes in the incestuous horde—Theory of "collective marriage," a "last resource"—The "primary clans" said to have "no territorial basis"—Later it is assumed that they do have territorial bases—Which they overpopulate—Colonies sent forth—These take new totems—Proof that an exogamous "clan" has no territorial basis—And cannot send out "clan" colonies—Colonies can only be tribal—No proof that a "clan" ever does change its totem—Dr. Durkheim's defence of one of his apparent inconsistencies—Reply to his defence—Mr. Frazer's theory (1887) that a totemic "clan" throws off other clans of new totems, and becomes a phratry—Objections to this theory—The facts are opposed to it—Examples—Recapitulation—Eight objections to Dr. Durkheim's theory.
Dr. Durkheim, Professor of Sociology in the University of Bordeaux, has displayed much acuteness in his destructive analysis of the Arunta claims to possess a primitive form of totemism.[1] He has also given the fullest and most original explanation of the reason why, granting that groups of early men had each a special regard for a particular animal or plant, whose name they bore, they tabooed marriage within that name.[2]