The practice of an expert: Anthropology in native title

This paper provides a perspective on the practice of anthropology as a discipline in the context of providing expert evidence in court cases. I consider the nature of anthropological expertise in relation to method, knowledge and theory. I evaluate the contribution that anthropological expertise can make, taking into account such factors as time pressures and the extent of the anthropologist's prior knowledge of a particular society - factors that often act as a constraint on what it is possible to know or find out in a given situation.