These "further considerations" highlight the intellectual, political, legal, and administrative frames of reference that have shaped the study of Aboriginal religion throughout its history. Four phases—not necessarily distinct—are emphasized. Early accounts of indigenous religions were framed by philosophical and scientific debates about race in the context of colonialism and the assumption of sovereignty over subject peoples. For much of the nineteenth century the study of Aboriginal religion went hand in hand with "protection" and amelioration in the face of racial (and actual) death or a presumption of disappearance in the face of civilization. This approach merged with the rise of the missionary proto-ethnographer, whose aims of salvage, instruction, and benefit were framed by the active pursuit of religious change.

The development of academic anthropology in the twentieth century was marked by the testing and application of various models...