Social initiation practices at school may normalise violence as a means of navigating power and identity among boys.
Articles on Initiation
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There is no single way of becoming an adult in the world.
A balance needs to be struck between the protection of teenagers and the preservation of culture.
The ritual site becomes a communal classroom where songs and dances teach history, impart values and preserve cultural identity.
It was the site of historic gatherings, such as a four-day initiation ceremony for young men. Then colonial authorities quashed such practices. The place was lost for more than a century, until now.
Australia lacks standalone hazing legislation that clearly makes it the responsibility of universities, but courts here and overseas are increasingly likely to find them liable for the harm done.
Hidden forces are always at work in the world, and people always want to control them, a cognitive anthropologist explains. Enter the human universal of shamanism.
Top contributors
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PhD Candidate in Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
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Lecturer in Law, Deakin University
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Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Law and Taxation, Monash University
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Traditional Custodian — Kurnai, Indigenous Knowledge
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Lecturer, Makerere University
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DECRA Senior Research Fellow, Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies, Deakin University
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Professor of African legal pluralism, University of the Western Cape
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Clinical Psychologist (Namibia) and PhD Researcher on Emerging Adulthood in sub-Saharan Africa, University of Zurich
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Professor in Psychology, University of the Free State
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Professor of Personality, Mental Health, and Culture, University of Zurich
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Lecturer in Anthropology, Rhodes University
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Associate Professor and Director