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Is it agency? An integrative interpretation of female adolescents’ sexual behaviour in three remote Australian Aboriginal communities
Author(s) -
Burbank Victoria,
Senior Kate,
McMullen Susan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the australian journal of anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.245
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1757-6547
pISSN - 1035-8811
DOI - 10.1111/taja.12292
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , sociocultural evolution , interpretation (philosophy) , disadvantaged , psychology , ethnography , cognition , sociology , social psychology , developmental psychology , gender studies , political science , anthropology , social science , law , neuroscience , computer science , programming language
In this paper we attempt to understand at least some of the complex and interacting forces – cultural, biological, developmental and historical – that influence adolescents’ sexual behaviour in three remote Australian Aboriginal communities. We use the concept of ‘agency’ only as a foil for our interpretation. Drawing upon ethnographic material, we focus on: ‘walkin’ around at night’, avoidance of arranged marriages and the exchange of sexual favours for drugs and money. Cognitive, evolutionary, and neuroscience enable us to illustrate the interpenetration of sociocultural and psychobiological factors in adolescent girls’ behaviour: expectations about marriage, a desire for love, sexual urges, a brain that is highly responsive to peers and rewards, a disadvantaged and uncertain environment, and challenges to effective adult control.