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Oceania Newsletter 55, September 2009

 

NEW BOOKS

 

[These books can not be purchased from the CPAS. Please send your enquiries directly to the publishers.]

 

[Not all the books in this section are strictly new, but those that are not, were not before listed in the Oceania Newsletter.]

 

GENERAL

 

Agnew, Vanessa. 2008. Enlightenment Orpheus: The Power of Music in Other Worlds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 263 pages. EAN: 978-0-19-533666-5 (hb).

 

"Vanessa Agnew is the first since James Cook to take seriously the Royal Society's emphasis on the importance of playing music to natives as a way of soothing and rendering them receptive to their visitors. She gives detailed descriptions of chants and dances in the voyages of discovery in the South Seas, not just as pastimes and amusements but as deliberate elements of a colonial enterprise. To notice this has been Agnew's first triumph. To consider how native music contributes to a comparative critique of a national standard of music is her second. Thus 'earwitnessing' is conceived of in the same terms as Mary Louise Pratt's eyewitnessing, namely a far from disinterested aesthetic activity that has many colonial jobs to perform. That local musical scales were actually used in systems of racial classification I find a truly astounding fact. Agnew has taken the study of Pacific exploration into new waters" (by Jonathan Lamb) - retrieved August 6, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://www.amazon.com/.

 

Anderson, Letita and Nicole Hogg (eds). 2009 (May). Under the Protection of the Palm: Wars of Dignity in the Pacific. Suva: Regional Delegation in the Pacific, International Committee of the Red Cross. 56 pages. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://www.icrc.org/eng/wars-of-dignity-pacific.

 

"People in Oceania, like in all communities around the world, have over centuries developed behaviour and rituals to protect women and children, captive warriors or stocks of food during times of war.

 

Dedicated law students from the University of the South Pacific have, at the invitation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, looked into warfare practices and listened to the stories of the people of Oceania.

 

This book tells the tales of humanity in the middle of traditional wars in the Pacific and highlights similarities with contemporary principles of humanitarian law."

 

Bedford, Stuart, Christophe Sand and Sean P. Connaughton (eds). 2007. Oceanic Explorations: Lapita and Western Pacific Settlement. Terra Australis No. 26. EAN: 978-1921313325 (pb) and 978-1921313332 (web). Canberra: ANU E Press. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://epress.anu.edu.au/terra_australis/ta26/pdf/whole_book.pdf

 

"Lapita comprises an archaeological horizon that is fundamental to the understanding of human colonisation and settlement of the Pacific as it is associated with the arrival of the common ancestors of the Polynesians and many Austronesian-speaking Melanesians more than 3000 years ago. While Lapita archaeology has captured the imagination and sustained the focus of archaeologists for more than 50 years, more recent discoveries have inspired renewed interpretations and assessments. Oceanic Explorations reports on a number of these latest discoveries and includes papers which reassess the Lapita phenomenon in light of this new data. They reflect on a broad range of interrelated themes including Lapita chronology, patterns of settlement, migration, interaction and exchange, ritual behaviour, sampling strategies and ceramic analyses, all of which relate to aspects highlighting both advances and continuing impediments associated with Lapita research.

 

Contents: Preface, by Stuart Bedford, Christophe Sand and Sean P. Connaughtonm; Introduction: 1. Lapita and Western Pacific Settlement: Progress, prospects and persistent problems, by Stuart Bedford and Christophe Sand; Lapita Origins: 2. The Origins of Early Lapita Culture: The testimony of historical linguistics, by Andrew Pawley; 3. Small islands in the big picture: the formative period of Lapita in the Bismarck Archipelago, by Jim Specht; Lapita Dispersal and Archaeological Signatures: 4. Lapita all over: Land-use on the Willaumez Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, by Jim Specht and Robin Torrence; 5. Lapita Writ Small? Revisiting the Austronesian Colonisation of the Papuan South Coast, by Glenn Summerhayes and Jim Allen; 6. Leap-frogging or Limping? Recent evidence from the Lapita Littoral Fringe, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, by Matthew Felgate; 7. Sample Size and the Reef/Santa Cruz Lapita Sequence, by Peter Sheppard and Roger C. Green; 8. Makué (Aore Island, Santo, Vanuatu): A new Lapita site in the ambit of New Britain obsidian distribution, by Jean-Christophe Galipaud and Mary Clare Swete Kelly; 9. Echoes from a distance: Research into the Lapita occupation of the Rove Peninsula, Southwest Viti Levu, Fiji, by Patrick Nunn; 10. Paleoenvironment of Lapita sites on Fanga 'Uta Lagoon, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga, by William R. Dickinson; 11. In Search of Lapita and Polynesian Plainware Settlements in Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga, by David V. Burley; 12. Can We Dig It? Archaeology of Ancestral Polynesian Society in Tonga: A first look from Falevai, by Sean P. Connaughton; Lapita Ceramics: 13. The implements of Lapita ceramic stamped ornamentation, by Wallace Ambrose; 14. The excavation, conservation and reconstruction of Lapita burial pots from the Teouma site, Efate, Central Vanuatu, by Stuart Bedford, Matthew Spriggs, Ralph Regenvanu, Colin Macgregor, Takaronga Kuautonga and Michael Sietz; 15. Detailed analysis of Lapita Face Motifs: Case studies from the Reef/Santa Cruz sites and New Caledonia Lapita Site 13A, by Scarlett Chiu 16. Looking at the big motifs: A typology of the central band decorations of the Lapita ceramic tradition of New Caledonia (Southern Melanesia) and preliminary regional comparisons, by Christophe Sand; 17. Specialisation, standardisation and Lapita ceramics, by Geoffrey Clark."

 

Brianchon, Alain, 2007. Art d'Océanie / Art of Oceania. English translation Roy Benyon. Nouméa: Footprint Pacifique. 189 pages. ISBN: 2-908186-26-4 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 159-160 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 15, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5759.html.

 

"For such a long time underestimated, the oceanian primitive arts deserve a global recognition, a revealing of their quite particular qualities, quite at least if we allow them to show this personality, this different touch which is appropriate for them and of whom they have to envy nothing the African and Amerindian objects. The museum of the quay Branly, opened recently, will be, without doubt, one of the international stars of their brought to light.

 

Already, certain number of works exists, less however, very well made and serious for certain, much more unpredictable for the others, but taking back most of the time the same objects, the same pictures, and it for years, but that nothing comes to distort the routine of hundred times already seen. As if those only existed!

 

It seemed to us convenient to break the chain and to show of the new, to make discover, reveal another world, hidden face which we shaded off involuntarily either that we did not show, because we did not know it, simply.

 

The purpose of my book, without trying to be exhaustive, settled this orientation of discovery. Any of the materials of bark 'tapa', none of the objects photos of which enamel it, was ever put in page and thus published. Texts, short, clarify the role or the function and place them so geographically as temporarily. The reader can discover it details belonging to private collectors that only they have the pleasure to contemplate at time common, but that they agreed to make share in most large number."

 

Campbell, Craig and Geoffrey Sherington. 2007. Going to School in Oceania. Westport: Greenwood Press. 340 pages. EAN: 978-0-313-33950-9 (hb)

 

"The history and current practices for school systems in the countries of the Oceanic region depend on the economic, political, and cultural circumstances of their countries. Divided into four chronological sections - pre nineteeth century, nineteenth century, twentieth century and present times - each chapter traces the factors that have impacted educational philosophy and goals for each country. Identifying available options for students of all economic backgrounds, each chapter also includes a 'Day in the Life' feature that shares with readers what a typical student in that country will experience at their school. Countries: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa.

 

Craig Campbell is a Senior Lecturer with the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Australia.

 

Geoffrey Sherington is a Professor and Personal Chair in the History of Education at the University of Sydney, Australia."

 

Cazaumayou, Sophie. 2007. Objets d'Océanie. Regards sur le marché de l'art primitif en France. Paris: L'Harmattan. 278 pages. EAN: 978-2-296-04716-7 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 157-159 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 15, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5766.html.

 

"La médiatisation croissante du marché de l'art et des objets primitifs tout au long du 20ème siècle a permis la reconnaissance des objets océaniens dans le monde de l'art. Les collections et les objets qui circulent en France sont ainsi souvent méconnus autant qu'incompris. Cet ouvrage analyse le processus de valorisation d'objets océaniens. En devenant oeuvre d'art, certains d'entre eux s'extraient des circuits commerciaux. Comment se produit l'authentification des objets sur un marché de l'art en mal en mal de garants."

 

Clark, Geoffrey, Foss Leach and Sue O'Connor (eds). 2008. Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, Seafaring and the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes. Papers in Honour of Atholl Anderson. Terra Australis No. 29. Canberra: ANU E Press. 522 pages. EAN: 978-1921313899 (pb) and 978-1921313905 (pdf). Retrieved August 17, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://epress.anu.edu.au/terra_australis/ta29/pdf/whole_book.pdf

 

"This collection makes a substantial contribution to several highly topical areas of archaeological inquiry. Many of the papers present new and innovative research into the processes of maritime colonisation, processes that affect archaeological contexts from islands to continents. Others shift focus from process to the archaeology of maritime places from the Bering to the Torres Straits, providing highly detailed discussions of how living by and with the sea is woven into all elements of human life from subsistence to trade and to ritual. Of equal importance are more abstract discussions of islands as natural places refashioned by human occupation, either through the introduction of new organisms or new systems of production and consumption. These transformation stories gain further texture (and variety) through close examinations of some of the more significant consequences of colonisation and migration, particularly the creation of new cultural identities. Afinal set of papers explores the ways in which the techniques of archaeological science have provided insights into the fauna of islands and the human history of such places. Islands of Inquiry highlights the importance of an archaeologically informed history of landmasses in the oceans and seas of the world."

 

Contents: Introduction: 1. Atholl John Anderson: No ordinary archaeologist, by Foss Leach; Modelling seafaring and colonisation: 2. Getting from Sunda to Sahul, by Jim Allen and James F. O'Connell; 3. Seafaring simulations and the origin of prehistoric settlers to Madagascar; by Scott M. Fitzpatrick and Richard Callaghan; 4. Friction zones in Lapita colonisation, by Geoffrey Clark and Stuart Bedford; 5. Flights of fancy: Fractal geometry, the Lapita dispersal and punctuated colonisation in the Pacific, by Ian Lilley; 6. Demographic expansion, despotism and the colonisation of East and South Polynesia, by Douglas J. Kennett and Bruce Winterhalder; 7. The long pause and the last pulse: Mapping East Polynesian colonisation, by Tim Thomas; The maritime dimension in prehistory: 8. Be careful what you ask for: Archaeozoological evidence of mid-Holocene climate change in the Bering Sea and implications for the origins of Arctic Thule, by Susan J. Crockford; 9. Ritualised marine midden formation in western Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait), by Ian J. McNiven and Duncan Wright; 10. Sailing between worlds: The symbolism of death in northwest Borneo, by Katherine Szabó, Philip J. Piper and Graeme Barker; 11. Land and sea animal remains from Middle Neolithic Pitted Ware sites on Gotland Island in the Baltic Sea, Sweden, by Helene Martinsson-Wallin; 12. A cache of one-piece fishhooks from Pohara, Takaka, New Zealand, by Janet Davidson and Foss Leach; 13. Trans-oceanic transfer of bark-cloth technology from South China- Southeast Asia to Mesoamerica? by Judith Cameron; Island environments: Theory, biological introductions and transformations: 14. Are islands islands? Some thoughts on the history of chalk and cheese, by Matthew Spriggs; 15. No fruit on that beautiful shore: What plants were introduced to the subtropical Polynesian islands prior to European contact? by Matthew Prebble; 16. One thousand years of human environmental transformation in the Gambier Islands (French Polynesia), by Eric Conte and Patrick V. Kirch; 17. Stora Karlso - a tiny Baltic island with a puzzling past, by Rita Larje; 18. East of Easter: Traces of human impact in the far-eastern Pacific, by Iona Flett and Simon Haberle; 19. Subsistence and island landscape transformations: Investigating monumental earthworks in Ngaraard State, Republic of Palau, Micronesia, by Sarah Phear; 20. Historical significance of the Southwest Islands of Palau, by Michiko Intoh; Ethnohistory, cross-cultural contact and archaeology in Australasia and the Pacific: 21. The historical archaeology of New Zealand's prehistory, by Matthew Campbell; 22. Trans-Tasman stories: Australian Aborigines in New Zealand sealing and shore whaling, by Nigel Prickett; 23. Maori, Pakeha and Kiwi: Peoples, cultures and sequence in New Zealand archaeology, by Ian Smith; 24. Translating the 18th century pudding, by Helen Leach; 25. Boat images in the rock art of northern Australia with particular reference to the Kimberley, Western Australia, by Sue O'Connor and Steve Arrow; 26. The shifting place of Ngai Tahu rock art, by Gerard O'Regan; Archaeological science and taphonomy: 27. Phosphates and bones: An analysis of the courtyard of marae Manunu, Huahine, Society Islands, French Polynesia, by Paul Wallin, Inger Österholm, Sven Österholm and Reidar Solsvik; 28. The physical and mineralogical characteristics of pottery from Mochong, Rota, Mariana Islands, by Foss Leach, Janet Davidson, Graeme Claridge, Graeme Ward and John Craib; 29. The dry and the wet: The variable effect of taphonomy on the dog remains from the Kohika Lake Village, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, by Graeme Taylor and Geoffrey Irwin; 30. Taphonomic analysis of the Twilight Beach seals, by Lisa Nagaoka, Steve Wolverton and Ben Fullerton; 31. A new genus and species of pigeon (Aves: Columbidae) from Henderson Island, Pitcairn Group, by Trevor H. Worthy and Graham M. Wragg.

 

Collingwood-Whittick, Sheila (ed.). 2007. The Pain of Unbelonging: Alienation and Identity in Australasian Literature. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 210 pages. EAN: 978-90-420-2187-7 (hb). Preface by Germaine Greer.

 

"Beyond the obvious and enduring socio-economic ravages it unleashed on indigenous cultures, white settler colonization in Australasia also inflicted profound damage on the collective psyche of both of the communities that inhabited the contested space of the colonial world. The acute sense of alienation that colonization initially provoked in the colonized and colonizing populations of Australia and New Zealand has, recent studies indicate, developed into an endemic, existential pathology. Evidence of the psychological fallout from the trauma of geographical deracination, cultural disorientation and ontological destabilization can be found not only in the state of anomie and self-destructive patterns of behaviour that now characterize the lives of indigenous Australian and Maori peoples, but also in the perpetually faltering identity-discourse and cultural rootlessness of the present descendants of the countries' Anglo-Celtic settlers.

It is with the literary expression of this persistent condition of alienation that the essays gathered in the present volume are concerned. Covering a heterogeneous selection of contemporary Australasian literature, what these critical studies convincingly demonstrate is that, more than two hundred years after the process of colonisation was set in motion, the experience that Germaine Greer has dubbed 'the pain of unbelonging' continues unabated, constituting a dominant thematic concern in the writing produced today by Australian and New Zealand authors.

 

Contents: Germaine Greer: Preface; Introduction; Marc Delrez: Towards Settler Auto-Ethnography: Nicholas Jose's Black Sheep; Pablo Armellino: Australia Re-Mapped and Con-Texted in Kim Scott's Benang; Elvira Pulitano: 'One more story to tell': Diasporic Articulations in Sally Morgan's My Place; Eleonore Wildburger: Belonging and Unbelonging in Text and Research: 'Snow Domes' in Australia; Christine Nicholls: Reconciling Accounts: An Analysis of Stephen Gray's The Artist is a Thief; Lorenzo Perrona: The Spectral Belongings of Mudrooroo; Sue Ryan Fazilleau: The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith and the 'Pain of Unbelonging'; Sarah Shieff: The bone people Contexts and Reception, 1984-2004; Françoise Kral: Integrating, Belonging, Unbelonging in Albert Wendt's Sons for the Return Home; Anne Magnan-Park: Margaret Mahy's Post-National Bridge-Building: Weaving the Threads of Unbelonging; Notes on Contributors.

Sheila Collingwood-Whittick is a senior lecturer in postcolonial studies in the English Department of the University of Grenoble III."

 

De Deckker, Paul (ed.). 2006. Figures de l 'État dans le Pacifique. Paris: L'Harmattan. 366 pages. EAN: 2-296-01127-6.

 

"Dans l'acception habituelle française, l'Etat est la structure globalisante grâce à laquelle la Nation s'exprime au travers de ses institutions diverses. Il s'agit donc ici d'analyser la perception des figures de l'Etat dans le Pacifique. Différents spécialistes mettent face à face les réalités du pouvoir et celles de l'autorité pour analyser combien l'Etat dispose de plusieurs sphères, séparées ou imbriquées. Le rôle des puissances métropolitaines fait également l'objet d'analyses. Une pérégrination dans le temps et l'espace du Pacifique insulaire.

 

Contents: 1. Prolégomènes, by Paul de Deckker; 2. Les figures plurielles de l'État dans l'accord de Nouméa, by Jean-Yves Faberon; 3. L'État tahitien de 1815 à 1880, by Bernard Gille; 4. La coutume et l'État à Wallis et Futuna ou la perpétuation d'un mariage de raison, by Frédéric Angleviel; Figures de l'État pour les Kanak: 5. La révolte kanak de 1917: Figures de l'État dans la gestion d'une situation de crise en temps de guerre, by Sylvette Boyer; 6. Théories kanak de la souveraineté, by Hamid Mokaddem; 7. L'État dans les motions du Front de libération nationale kanak socialiste (FLNKS) de Nouvelle-Calédonie, 1984-2001, by Léon Wamytan; 8. Les Kanak et la justice de l'État aujourd'hui: Du juge serviteur de la loi, au juge gardien des promesses, by Régis Lafargue; 9. Figures de l'État dans le roman colonial en Nouvelle-Calédonie, de 1856 à 1919, by Monique Bonneaud-Weisz; 10. Perception de l'État dans la littérature coloniale et 'postcoloniale' de Tahiti et de Nouvelle-Calédonie: La figure du père, by Sonia Faessel; Figures régaliennes de l'État: 11. Figures de l'État pendant la seconde guerre mondiale en Nouvelle-Calédonie: Sous le régime de Vichy, de la France libre puis du gouvernement provisoire, by Ismet Kurtovitch; 12. La justice de l'État dans le Pacifique (1843-1946), by Benoît Coquelet; 13. Une figure de l'État dans le Pacifique: Jacques Foccart, un conseiller très influent au service d'une certaine idée de loutre-mer (1965-1969), by François Audigier; Figures de l'État dans le Pacifique non français: 14. Drapeaux du Pacifique: Voyage symbolique au coeur d'une région, by Michel Pérez; 15. Une figure élémentaire de l'État: Le nom du pays, by Michel Wauthion; 16. État (s) protecteur (s) et États protégés en Micronésie, by Armand Hage; 17. Les aborigènes et l'État australien, by José Del Carmen Ortega; Figures épistémologiques de l'État dans le Pacifique: 18. L'État des géographes dans le Pacifique: La première figure de l'État, c'est la carte! by Gilles Pestaña; 19. Les figures de l'État excentrées sont-elles excentriques, selon Montesquieu? Sens et valeur des modèles non européens de l'État, by Bruno-François Moschetto."

 

Derlon, Brigitte and Monique Jeudy-Ballini. 2008. La passion de l'art primitif: Enquête sur les collectionneurs. Paris: Gallimard. 324 pages. EAN: 978-2070119486 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 156-157 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 15, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5763.html.

 

"Brigitte Derlon et Monique Jeudy-Ballini sont ethnologues, spécialistes des tribus insulaires de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée et de leurs arts rituels. Ce livre est le fruit de l'enquête pionnière qu'elles ont menée, non plus en Mélanésie mais à Paris, sur l'imaginaire des collectionneurs d'art primitif.

À travers l'analyse de leurs propos, les auteurs explorent l'attachement affectif des collectionneurs à des objets perçus comme autant de présences. Elles relatent la manière dont ils vivent l'expérience esthétique, érigent l'émotion en mode de connaissance et conceptualisent le beau ou l'authentique. Traitant aussi des représentations relatives à l'argent, elles critiquent la vision commune voulant que le langage de la passion ne soit qu'un écran à des motivations économiques inavouées.

Au-delà de la figure du collectionneur, les auteurs invitent à repenser le rapport des hommes aux choses, c'est-à-dire en définitive le rapport des personnes à elles-mêmes: toute collection n'est jamais qu'une forme de réappropriation identitaire qui, à une certaine image de l'altérité, surimpose le reflet de soi."

 

Edwards, Jeanette, Penny Harvey and Peter Wade (eds). Anthropology and Science: Epitemologies in Practice. Oxford and New York: Berg Publishers. 208 pages. EAN: 978-184520-500-3 (pb) and 978-184520-499-0 (hb).

 

"What does it mean to know something - scientifically, anthropologically, socially? What is the relationship between different forms of knowledge and ways of knowing? How is knowledge mobilised in society and to what ends?

 

Drawing on ethnographic examples from across the world, and from the virtual and global 'places' created by new information technologies, Anthropology and Science presents examples of living and dynamic epistemologies and practices, and of how scientific ways of knowing operate in the world.

 

Authors address the nature of both scientific and experiential knowledge, and look at competing and alternative ideas about what it means to be human. The essays analyze the politics and ethics of positioning 'science', 'culture' or 'society' as authoritative. They explore how certain modes of knowing are made authoritative and command allegiance (or not), and look at scientific and other rationalities - whether these challenge or are compatible with science.

 

Contents: 1. Introduction: Epistemologies in Practice, by Jeanette Edwards, Penny Harvey Harvey and Peter Wade; 2. Astrophysics, Anthropology and Other Imperial Pursuits, by Simon Schaffer; 3. Industry Going Public: Rethinking Knowledge and Administration, by Alberto Corsín-Jiménez; 4. Rationality and Contingency: Rhetoric, Practice and Legitimation in Almaty, Kazakhstan, by Catherine Alexander; 5. Information Society Finnish-Style, or an Anthropological View of the Modern, by Eeva Berglund; 6. Nga rakau a te pakeha: Reconsidering Maori Anthropology, by Amiria Henare; 7. The Second Nuclear Age, by Hugh Gusterson; 8. Genealogical Hybridities: The Making and Unmaking of Blood Relatives and Predictive Knowledge in Breast Cancer Genetics, by Sahra Gibbon; 9. Where Do We Find Our Monsters? by Debbora Battaglia; 10. Echolocation in Bolivip, by Tony Crook; 11. Being Human in a Dualistically-Conceived Embodied World: Descartes' Dualism and Sakais' Universalist Concepts of (Altered) Consciousness, Inner-Knowledge and Self, by Nathan Porath."

 

Festetics de Tolna, Rodolphe. 2007. Festetics de Tolna en Océanie. Edited by Roger Boulay and Élise Patole-Edoumba. La Rochelle: Rumeur des Âges. 124 pages. EAN: 978-2843271496 (cloth).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 339 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 22, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2032.html.

 

"Extraits de textes du récit de voyage paru en 1903, Chez les cannibales: Huit ans de croisière dans l'océan Pacifique à bord du yacht 'Le Tolna', écrit par Festetics de Tolna, comte hongrois, voyageur, photographe et collectionneur. Textes choisis et commentés par Roger Boulay, avec la participation d'Élise Patole-Edoumba."

 

Godelier, Maurice. 2007. Au fondement des sociétés humaines: Ce que nous apprend l'anthropologie. Paris: Albin Michel. 304 pages. EAN: 978-2226179036 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 339-341 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 20, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2062.html.

 

"L'Océanie occupe ainsi plus de la moitié du livre, et non pas les seuls Baruya et autres sociétés de Nouvelle-Guinée, mais les Maenge, les Trobriandais, les Maori de Nouvelle-Zélande, les Tongiens, les Tikopiens, dont les conceptions sociales ne perdent certainement rien en dignité à se trouver comparées à celles de l'Égypte pharaonique ou de la Chine impériale" - by G. Bounoure.

 

"Au fondement des sociétés humaines, il y a du sacré. Autant le savoir, et apprendre le secret de fabrique de ce qu'en Occident on appelle le 'politico-religieux', en ces temps où le lien social se distend, où la logique communautariste et identitaire semble l'emporter sur ce qui rassemble.

Ce livre est le fruit de quarante ans de recherche, par l'anthropologue français le plus connu à l'étranger après Claude Lévi-Strauss, et dont le parcours a été marqué par quatre étapes majeures sur le chemin de cette conclusion fondamentale, chacune d'elles faisant ici l'objet d'un chapitre: Il est des choses que l'on donne, des choses que l'on vend, et d'autres qu'il ne faut ni vendre ni donner mais garder pour les transmettre; nulle société n'a jamais été fondée sur la famille ou la parenté; il faut toujours plus qu'un homme et une femme pour faire un enfant ; la sexualité humaine est fondamentalement a-sociale. Un livre de référence, modèle de rigueur et de clarté, qui vaut aussi introduction générale à l'œuvre de Maurice Godelier."

 

Contents: 1. Des choses que l'on donne, des choses que l'on vend et de celles qu'il ne faut ni vendre ni donner mais garder pour les transmettre; 2. Nulle société n'a jamais été fondée sur la famille ou sur la parenté; 3. Il faut toujours plus qu'un homme et une femme pour faire un enfant; 4. La sexualité humaine est fondamentalement a-sociale; 5. Comment un individu se constitue en sujet social; 6. Comment des groupes humains se constituent en société.

 

Graham, Kennedy (ed.). 2008. Models of Regional Governance for the Pacific: Sovereignty and the Future Architecture of Regionalism. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. 256 pages. EAN: 978-1-877257-74-2 (pb).

 

"The challenges facing the Pacific's small island countries in the 21st century, and the alternative models of governance that may help them meet those challenges, are explored in a new book from Canterbury University Press.

 

Dr Graham, who also contributed a chapter to the book, said Pacific states faced distinctive challenges in the 21st century - the threat of climate change and rising sea levels, economic globalisation and wealth disparities, cultural predation and trans-national crime.

 

The book reviews the development of Pacific regionalism to date, surveys the movement in other regions, and considers the merits of the Pacific Plan, drawn up by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat to progress development in the region through cooperation and integration.

 

It also reflects on how the traditional customs and values of the Pacific and Western political thought and practice can be brought together and used in the best interests of the region.

 

Contributors to the book include Dr Roberto Ridolfi, head of the European Commission Delegation for the Pacific; Dr Tapio Kanninen, a senior UN official; Professor Anthony Angelo from Victoria University of Wellington; Sheenia Spillane, legal advisor in the Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Forum; and Dr Yves-Louis Sage, Maitre de Conferences of the University of French Polynesia in Papeete. The foreword is by New Zealand Member of Parliament Charles Chauvel."

 

Grisham, Patricia and Russell McGregor (eds). 2006. Collisions of Cultures and Identities: Settlers and Indigenous Peoples. Parkville: Department of History, University of Melbourne. 299 pages. ISBN: 0975839276 (pb).

 

"The subject of Collisions of Cultures and Identities: Settlers and Indigenous Peoples is crucial for the history of colonialism in the early modern and modern periods of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Meta-narratives of the rise of empires, the international conflicts that the rush for colonies entailed, and the details of the expansion of colonisers on foreign soil continue to occupy the central place in this history.

 

Contents: Introduction: Intercultural Encounters in Colonial Histories, by Grimshaw, Patricia; Collisions of Cultures and Identities: A Comment, by White, Richard; 1. Indigenous Homelands and Contested Treaties: Comparisons of Aborigines, Saamis, Native Americans, First Nations, and Euro-nation State Diplomatic Negotiations since 1300, by Wunder, John R; 2.The Struggle for Civilised Marriages in Early Modern Sweden and Colonial North America, by Fur, Gunlog; 3. Estimating Elites: The Inca Nobility of Peru under Colonial Rule, by Cahill, David; Colonialism and Demographic Catastrophes in the Americas: Blackfoot Tribes of the Norhwest, by Tovias, Blanca; 4. Collision, Collusion and Muted Resistance - Contrasting Early and Later Encounters with Empire Forestry in the Gold Coast, 1874-1957, by Wardell, D. Andrew; 5. Collision and Reintegration in a Missionary Landscape: The View from the Khasi Hills, India, by Brown-May, Andrew; 6. Dual Mandate, Double Work: Land, Labour and the Transformation of Native Subjectivity in Papua, 1908-1940, by Edmonds, Penelope; 7. 'How White She Was!' Race, Gender and Global Capital in the Life and Times of Beatrice Grimshaw, by Evans, Julie; 8. Cannibalism in Fiji: A Study in Colonialism's Discursive Atavism, by Banivanua Mar, Tracey; 9. Silence on the Aboriginal Presence: Australia's Anti-Chinese Movements in the 1850s, by Fujikawa, Takao; 10. Degrees of Fatalism: Discourses on Racial Extinction in Australia and New Zealand, by McGregor, Russell; 11. The Political Uses of Dead Races: A South African Case, by Etherington, Norman; 12. Constructing Indigenousness in the Late Modern World, by Cribb, Robert; Narangoa, Li; Notes on Contributors."

 

Herreman, Frank (ed.). 2008. Océanie: Signes de rites, symboles d'autorité. Contributions by Pauline van der Zee, Ingrid Heermann, Karen Jacobs and Bart Suys. Bruxelles: Mercatorfonds. 192 pages. EAN: 978-9061538387(pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 172-173 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5768.html.

 

"L'Océanie, dénomination usuelle de l'ensemble des îles de la partie méridionale de l'océan Pacifique, est un territoire extrêmement vaste puisqu'il couvre un tiers de la surface du globe. Répartis en trois zones distinctes, chacun des peuples qui l'habite a produit un art spécifique pour honorer ses dieux, ses ancêtres ou les esprits de la nature, mais aussi pour créer des parures adaptées aux cérémonies leur rendant hommage. La Mélanésie, avec son île principale impénétrable - la Nouvelle-Guinée - et son vaste système insulaire, offre les cultures les plus anciennes et les plus tribales. En Polynésie. et dans ses archipels dispersés dans l'immensité de l'océan Pacifique. l'art était principalement au service de l'élite aristocratique dont nul ne contestait l'ascendance divine. Si la Micronésie constitue le plus petit des trois territoires. sur le plan culturel, elle est loin d'être un parent pauvre. La culture micronésienne séduit en effet par son raffinement et la sobriété de ses formes. A partir des rares matériaux dont ses artistes disposaient, ce peuple a créé des bijoux mais aussi des objets usuels transmis de génération en génération comme autant de biens précieux. Océanie: Signes de rites, symboles d'autorité présente des statues, des masques. des objets rituels et usuels fabriqués avec toutes sortes de matériaux naturels comme le bois, les coquillages, la pierre ou les plumes. Ils témoignent du génie artistique des différentes cultures qui se sont admirablement adaptées à la diversité naturelle de leur environnement."

 

Jackson, Michael. 2007. Excursions. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 297 pages. EAN: 978-0-8223-4054-6 (hb) and 978-0-8223-4075-1 (pb).

 

"A village in Sierra Leone. A refugee trail over the Pyrenees in French Catalonia. A historic copper mine in Sweden. The Shuf mountains in Lebanon. The Swiss Alps. The heart of the West African diaspora in southeast London. The anthropologist Michael Jackson makes his sojourns to each of these far-flung locations, and to his native New Zealand, occasions for exploring the contradictions and predicaments of social existence. He calls his explorations 'excursions' not only because each involved breaking with settled routines and certainties, but because the image of an excursion suggests that thought is always on the way, the thinker a journeyman whose views are perpetually tested by encounters with others. Throughout Excursions, Jackson emphasizes the need for preconceptions and conventional mindsets to be replaced by the kind of open-minded critical engagement with the world that is the hallmark of cultural anthropology."

 

Focusing on the struggles and quandaries of everyday life, Jackson touches on matters at the core of anthropology: the state, violence, exile and belonging, labor, indigenous rights, narrative, power, home, and history. He is particularly interested in the gaps that characterize human existence, such as those between insularity and openness, between the things over which we have some control and the things over which we have none, and between ourselves and others as we talk past each other, missing each others' meanings. Urging a recognition of the limits to which human existence can be explained in terms of cause and effect, he suggests that knowing why things happen may ultimately be less important than trying to understand how people endure in the face of hardship.

 

Contents: Acknowledgments; Preface: theme and variations; 1. In the Footsteps of Walter Benjamin; 2. Of Time and the River: The interface of history and human lives; 3. Imagining the Powers That Be: Society versus the state; 4. On the Work of Human Hands; 5. Storytelling Events, Violence, and the Appearance of the Past; 6. Migrant Imaginaries: With Sewa Koroma in southeast London; 7. A Walk on the Wild Side: The idea of human nature revisited; 8. From Anxiety to Method: A reappraisal; 9. Despite Babel: An essay on human misunderstanding; 10. On Birth, Death, and Rebirth; 11. Quandaries of Belonging: Home thoughts from abroad; 12. A Critique of Colonial Reason; Notes; References; Index."

 

Jolly, Margaret, Serge Tcherkézoff and Darrell Tryon (eds). 2009 (July). Oceanic Encounters: Exchange, Desire, Violence. Canberra: ANU E Press. 364 pages. EAN: 978-1921536281 (pb) and 978-1921536298 (pdf). Retrieved July 15, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://epress.anu.edu.au/oceanic_encounters/pdf/whole_book.pdf.

 

"This volume, the result of ongoing collaborations between Australian and French anthropologists, historians and linguists, explores encounters between Pacific peoples and foreigners during the longue durée of European exploration, colonisation and settlement from the sixteenth century to the twentieth century. It deploys the concept of 'encounter' rather than the more common idea of 'first contact' for several reasons. Encounters with Europeans occurred in the context of extensive prior encounters and exchanges between Pacific peoples, manifest in the distribution of languages and objects and in patterns of human settlement and movement. The concept of encounter highlights the mutuality in such meetings of bodies and minds, whereby preconceptions from both sides were brought into confrontation, dialogue, mutual influence and ultimately mutual transformation. It stresses not so much prior visions of 'strangers' or 'others' but the contingencies in events of encounter and how senses other than vision were crucial in shaping reciprocal appraisals. But a stress on mutual meanings and interdependent agencies in such cross-cultural encounters should not occlude the tumultuous misunderstandings, political contests and extreme violence which also characterised Indigenous-European interactions over this period.

 

Contents: Preface; Acknowledgements; Contributors; List of Figures and Tables; List of abbreviations and acronyms; 1. Oceanic Encounters: A Prelude, by Margaret Jolly and Serge Tcherkézoff; 2. Linguistic Encounter and Responses in the South Pacific, by Darrell Tryon; 3. The Sediment of Voyages: Re-membering Quirós, Bougainville and Cook in Vanuatu, by Margaret Jolly; 4. A Reconsideration of the Role of Polynesian Women in Early Encounters with Europeans: Supplement to Marshall Sahlins' Voyage around the Islands of History, by Serge Tcherkézoff; 5. Uncertain Times: Sailors, Beachcombers and Castaways as 'Missionaries' and Cultural Mediators in Tonga (Polynesia), by Françoise Douaire-Marsaudon; 6. In the Event: Indigenous Countersigns and the Ethnohistory of Voyaging, by Bronwen Douglas; 7. Watkin Tench's Fieldwork: The Journal of an 'Ethnographer' in Port Jackson, 1788-1791, by Isabelle Merle; 8. The Art of Encounter: Verisimilitude in the Imaginary Exploration of Interior New Guinea, 1725-1876, by Chris Ballard; 9. Black Powder, White Magic: European Armaments and Sorcery in Early Mekeo and Roro Encounters, by Mark S. Mosko; 10. A Measure of Violence: Forty Years of 'First Contact' among the Ankave-Anga (Papua New Guinea), by Pascale Bonnemère and Pierre Lemonnier; Subject Index; People and Places Index."

 

Kreisel, Werner (ed.). 2006. Mythos Südsee: Länderprofile Ozeaniens zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Hamburg: Merus Verlag. 260 pages. EAN: 978-3-939519-29-4 (pb).

 

"Die Inseln Ozeaniens sind deshalb interessant, weil es sich in der Mehrzahl um Kleinstaaten und Territorien handelt, die lange Zeit Spielball der Kolonialmächte in ihren geostrategischen Intentionen waren. Die koloniale Beeinflussung hält teilweise bis heute an und hat die Strukturen stark geprägt. Der vorliegende Band will entgegen romantischer Assoziationen des Südseemythos die Alltagsrealität der Menschen in den Blick nehmen. Der Klimawandel und ökologische Probleme haben existentielle Bedeutung. Die insularen Mikroökonomien stehen vor dem Hintergrund meist knapper Ressourcen, niedriger Einwohnerzahlen, kleiner Märkte und oftmals fehlenden Kapitals vor der Schwierigkeit, sich im globalen Wettbewerb zu behaupten. Die Entwicklungen der Staaten nehmen dabei unterschiedliche Verläufe. Während die einen ihre wirtschaftliche Entwicklung vorantreiben und neue Wirtschafts- und Produktionszweige forcieren, stehen andere Staaten vor massiven wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Problemen."

 

Lee, Helen and Steve Tupai Francis (eds). 2009 (August). Migration and Transnationalism: Pacific Perspectives. Canberra: ANU E  Press. 242 pages. EAN: 978-1921536908 (pb) and 978-1921536915 (pdf). Retrieved August 13, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://epress.anu.edu.au/migration/pdf/whole_book.pdf

 

"Pacific Islanders have engaged in transnational practices since their first settlement of the many islands in the region. As they moved beyond the Pacific and settled in nations such as New Zealand, the USA and Australia these practices intensified and over time have profoundly shaped both home and diasporic communities. This edited volume begins with a detailed account of this history and the key issues in Pacific migration and transnationalism today. The papers that follow present a range of case studies that maintain this focus on both historical and contemporary perspectives. Each of the contributors goes beyond a narrowly economic focus to present the human face of migration and transnationalism; exploring questions of cultural values and identity, transformations in kinship, intergenerational change and the impact on home communities.

 

Pacific migration and transnationalism are addressed in this volume in the context of increasing globalisation and growing concerns about the future social, political and economic security of the Pacific region. As the case studies presented here show, the future of the Pacific depends in many ways on the ties diasporic Islanders maintain with their homelands.

 

Contents: Contributors; Acknowledgments; Introduction, by Helen Lee; 1. Pacific Migration and Transnationalism: Historical Perspectives, by Helen Lee; 2. Forms of Transnationalism, Forms of Tradition: Cloth and Cash as Ritual Exchange Valuables in the Tongan Diaspora, by Ping-Ann Addo; 3. Samoan Transnationalism: Cultivating 'Home' and 'Reach,' by Sa'iliemanu Lilomaiava-Doktor; 4. Kinship and Transnationalism, by Cluny Macpherson and La'avasa Macpherson; 5. Travelling Parties: Cook Islanders' Transnational Movement, by Kalissa Alexeyeff; 6. Food and Transnationalism: Reassertions of Pacific Identity, by Nancy Pollock; 7. Attitudinal Divergence and the Tongan Transnational System, by Mike Evans, Paul Harms and Colin Reid; 8. Griffith's Transnational Fijians: Between the Devil, the Deep Blue Sea… and their Pastors, by Mark Schubert; 9. Transnationalism of Merchant Seafarers and their Communities in Kiribati and Tuvalu, by Maria Borovnik; 10. 'I Never Wanted to Come Home': Skilled Health Workers in the South Pacific, by John Connell; 11. The Impact of Transnationalism on Niue, by Vili Nosa; 12. 'Getting Out from Under': Leadership, Conflict Resolution and Tokelau Migration, by Ingjerd Hoëm; 13. The View from 'Home' - Transnational Movements from Three Tongan Villages, by Steve Tupai Francis; Conclusion: The Concept and Circumstances of Pacific Migration and Transnationalism, by Camille Nakhid."

 

Mörter, Sven. 2008. Following a South Seas Dream: August Engelhardt and the Sonnenorden. Auckland: Centre for Germanic Connections with New Zealand and the Pacific, University of Auckland. 151 pages. EAN: 978-0958234573 (pb).

 

"What have coconuts to do with 'Kaisers'? Sven Mönter's meticulously researched account of the ill-fated 'Sonnenorden' (Order of the Sun), a small group of sun-worshipping, solely coconut-eating nudists who existed briefly [on the tiny island Kabakon in the Neu Lauenburg (Duke of York) Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago] in early 20th-century German New Guinea, supplies the answer. From this apparent blip on the historical record, Mönter draws out a series of thought-provoking connections to broader questions: the diverse and ambivalent reactions of German citizens to Wilhelminian rule, the origins and influence of the German 'Südseetraum' (South Seas Dream), and the realities of life for settlers in Germany's Pacific colonies" - (by Hilary Howes, The Journal of Pacific History, 44(1), 2009: 106-107).

 

Mückler, Hermann. 2009. Einführung in die Ethnologie Ozeaniens. Kulturgeschichte Ozeaniens No. 1. Wien: Facultas. 320 pages. EAN: 978-3-7089-0392-7 (pb).

 

"Die Kulturregion Ozeanien - untergliedert in Melanesien, Polynesien und Mikronesien - ist aufgrund der ethnischen, kulturellen und sprachlichen Vielfalt ihrer Bewohner weltweit einzigartig und stellt wegen ihrer Ausmaße und geographischen Extreme eine Region der Superlative dar. Die indigenen Bevölkerungen dieser Inselwelt mussten in Prozessen der Akkulturation und Transkulturation in den vergangenen 200 Jahren ihren Bezug zu Status, Tradition, Alltag und Berufsleben unaufhörlich neu definieren.


Diesen Kulturwandel wie auch die politischen Entwicklungen der einzelnen Staaten veran-schaulicht der Autor exemplarisch anhand der Darstellung von lokalen sozialen Strukturen, Kulten und Ritualen, religiösen Vorstellungen, Aspekten der materiellen Kultur, Weltbild und Wertvorstellungen. Viele Illustrationen, eine umfangreiche Bibliographie, eine Chronologie der europäischen Entdeckungsgeschichte und ein Register vervollständigen das Bild.

 

Content: 1. Einleitung; 2. Annäherungen an eine Region; 2.1 Ozeanien, Pazifik, Südsee? Zur Begrifflichkeit und räumlichen Eingrenzung; 2.2 Die Entstehung des Mythos' Südsee; 2.3 Besiedlung, Migration und Lapita-Keramik; 2.4 Kontaksituation und äußere Einflüsse; 2.4.1 Entdeckungsfahrten; 2.4.2 Sandelholz, bêche-de-mer, Kopra und Walfang; Beachcomber und Blackbirding; 2.4.4 Missionare; 2.4.5 Kolonisation, Entkolonisierung und Gegenwart; 3. Kulturelle Besonderheiten Melanesians: 3.1 Einführende Bemerkungen; 3.1.1 Der dukduk der Tolai; 3.1.2 Der iniet-Bund; 3.1.3 Der dema-Kult der Marind-Anim; 3.1.4 Das horiomu-Fest bei den Kiwai; 3.1.6 Der brag-Kult; 3.1.7. Männliche Initiation, kwaimatnié, Schwirrhölzer und Flöten bei den Baruya; 3.1.9 Der Yamskult der Abelam; 3.1.10 Die Perücken der Huli; 3.1.11 Malanggane auf New Ireland; 3.1.13 Rangordnungsgesellschaften: Der suque-Bund; 3.1.14 Cargo-Kulte und proto-nationalistiche Bewegungen; 3.1.15 Traditionelle Handels- und Tauschsysteme; 4. Excurs: Geld und geldähnliche Wertmaßstäbe in Ozeanien; 5. Kulturelle Besonderheiten Polynesiens: 5.1 Einführende Bemerkungen; 5.1.1 Manahune, ariki und die APS; 5.1.2 Fidschi am Schnittpunkt: Kava; Mana, tapu und noa; 5.1.4 Samoa: Aiga, matai und der fono; 5.1.5 Tane, tu, rongo und andere Götter; 5.1.6 Im alten Tahiti: Arioi und mamaia; 5.1.7 Aitu, tupapau und maui; 5.1.8 Tonga: Ha'amonga, tapa und tatau; 5.1.9 Hawaii: Die Kamehameha-Dynastie; 5.1.10 Rapa Nui: Moai auf einem entlegenen Eiland; 6. Kulturelle Besonderheiten Mikronesiens: 6.1 Palau- und Marianen-Inseln; 6.1.1 Einführende Bemerkungen; 6.1.2 Das palauanische bai; 6.1.3 Latte-Steine und Chamorro; 6.2 Karolinen-Inseln; 6.2.1 Einführende Bemerkungen; 6.2.2 Yap: Steingeld rai und die mispil; 6.2.3 "Love sticks" auf Chuuk; 6.2.4 Nan Madol auf Pohnpei; 6.2.5 Lelu Steinruinen auf Kosrae; 6.3 Marshall- und Gilbert-Inseln; 6.3.1 Einführende Bemerkungen; 6.3.2 Gesellschaftlige Organisation; 6.3.3 Aspekte der materiellen Kultur; 6.3.4 Die Stabkarten der Marshall-Insulaner; 6.3.5 "Ritterrüstungen" der Gilbert-Insulaner; 6.4 Bootschau und Navigation in Mikronesien; 7. Anhang: 7.1 Chronologie der europäischen maritimen Entdeckungsgeschichte Ozeaniens; 7.2 Litaratur; 7.3 Karten; 7.4 Abbildungsnachweis; 7.5 Kartenverzeichnis; 7.6 Register; 7.7 Zum Autor."

 

Mückler, Hermann. 2010 (January). Mission in Ozeanien. Kulturgeschichte Ozeaniens No. 2. Wien: Facultas. 280 pages. EAN: 978-3-7089-0397-2 (pb).

 

"Der Band beschäftigt sich mit der christlichen Mission durch protestantische und katholische Missionsgesellschaften in Ozeanien vom ausgehenden 18. Jahrhundert bis in die Gegenwart.

 

Auch die Rivalität zwischen den einzelnen Missionsgesellschaften wird beleuchtet sowie ihr Verhältnis zu den kolonialen Ambitionen europäischer Mächte und deren Protagonisten vor Ort. Dass es dabei oft zu parallel verlaufenden Interessen kam und die Mission daher in den Kolonisierungsprozess der pazifischen Inselwelt eingebunden war, ist nur ein Aspekt der zum Teil problematischen Rolle der Mission. Die Missionare gingen einerseits rigoros gegen autochthone Glaubensvorstellungen, Kulte und Rituale vor, andererseits trugen sie aber auch häufig dazu bei, das traditionelle Wissen der indigenen Gruppen erstmals schriftlich zu erfassen, überlieferte Traditionen zu dokumentieren und ethnographische Objekte im Kontext ihres Verwendungszusammenhangs zu sammeln.

 

Viele Illustrationen, eine umfangreiche Bibliographie und eine Auflistung der wichtigsten Missionsgesellschaften und einflussreichsten Missionare vervollständigen den Band."

 

Naepels, Michel and Christine Salomon (eds). 2007. Terrains et destins de Maurice Leenhardt. Paris: Éditions de l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. 165 pages. EAN: 978-2-7132-2115-6 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 348-350 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 21, 2009, from thje World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index4732.html.

 

"Contributors: Benoït de l'Estoile, Frédéric Keck, Hamid Mokaddem and Marie Pineau-Salaüm.

 

Maurice Leenhardt (1878-1954), missionnaire et ethnologue de la Nouvelle-Calédonie est-il une figure marginale de l'anthropologie française, ou bien l'auteur d'une phénoménologie religieuse originale, occultée par la tradition rationaliste et structuraliste dominante dans l'anthropologie française?

 

Proche de Lucien Lévy-Bruhl et de Marcel Mauss, réformiste colonial d'inspiration humaniste - ce qui ne veut pas dire précurseur du mouvement nationaliste kanak - Maurice Leenhardt participa au mouvement d'institutionnalisation de l'ethnologie dans la France des années 1930. Pour mieux comprendre cette période de l'histoire de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, il faut aussi restituer l'importance du projet missionnaire de M. Leenhardt, qui orienta ses intérêts théoriques (étudier la 'mentalité' pour convertir), sa problématisation centrée sur la personne, la famille et la religion, ses pratiques 'ethnographiques' (de coproduction du savoir par la collecte de matériaux linguistiques) ou éducatives.

 

L'ouvrage apporte un ensemble d'éclairages sur la production du savoir ethnographique, sur la relation entre colonisation, mission et problématisation anthropologique ainsi que sur le christianisme océanien."

 

Navis, Christian. 2006. Mystérieuses civilisations du Pacifique. Lettres du Pacifique: Anthropologie, ethnologie, civilisation océan pacifique. Paris: L'Harmattan. 174 pages. ISBN: 2-296-00638-8.

 

"Les insulaires du Pacifique étaient-ils seulement de 'bons sauvages' aux moeurs libres et à la vie insouciante ? Une caricature contredite par des monuments impressionnants. De la mer de Chine à l'Insulinde, de la Nouvelle Zélande aux Andes, de la Mélanésie à la Polynésie en passant par la Micronésie, des vestiges de pyramides et de temples, d'anciennes forteresses, des routes et des statues géantes nous interpellent. Peut-on soutenir la thèse d'un néolithique tardif dans cette Océanie dont les plus anciens habitants possédaient des écritures et des connaissances astronomiques avancées?"

 

O'Sullivan, Daniel. 2008. In Search of Captain Cook: Exploring the Man through His Own Words. London: I.B. Tauris. 263 pages. EAN: 978-1-84511-483-1 (hc).

 

"Captain James Cook was the greatest explorer of his age, perhaps of any age. He was a leader of men, a master voyager who journeyed to unknown places, a seeker of knowledge who commanded three demanding scientific expeditions. He and his crews had encounters with peoples of the South Seas which could lead to mutual respect and trade, but also to misunderstanding and violence. Even before he died his exploits were widely admired. But his death at the hands of Hawaiians turned him into a legendary figure, a hero of the Enlightenment, who was said to have brought 'civilization' to the Pacific while giving up his own life in the process. Yet despite everything that is known about Cook's life and many adventures, the man himself remains shrouded in mystery. With this book, Dan O'Sullivan seeks to put this right and casts vivid light on Cook's character, teasing out his personality from the pages of his own journals. As well as an original and illuminating re-examination of Cook's complex character, this is also a vivid introduction to his life and times which is essential reading for anyone with an interest in this incomparable sea-captain.

 

Dan O'Sullivan is an author and historian with degrees in history from the universities of Cambridge and East Anglia. His books include The Age of Discovery 1400-1550, and Tudor Britain 1485-1603. He lives in Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, the village where James Cook spent much of his childhood. For several years he was secretary of the Captain Cook Schoolroom Museum which is housed in the building where Cook went to school."

 

Paisley, Fiona. 2009 (July). Glamour in the Pacific: Cultural Internationalism and Race Politics in the Women's Pan-Pacific. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 304 pages. EAN: 978-0-8248-3342-8 (cloth).

 

"Since its inception in 1928, the Pan-Pacific Women's Association (PPWA) has witnessed and contributed to enormous changes in world and Pacific history. Operating out of Honolulu, this women's network established a series of conferences that promoted social reform and an internationalist outlook through cultural exchange. For the many women attracted to the project - from China, Japan, the Pacific Islands, and the major settler colonies of the region - the association's vision was enormously attractive, despite the fact that as individuals and national representatives they remained deeply divided by colonial histories.

 

Glamour in the Pacific tells this multifaceted story by bringing together critical scholarship from across a wide range of fields, including cultural history, international relations and globalization, gender and empire, postcolonial studies, population and world health studies, world history, and transnational history. Early chapters consider the first PPWA conferences and the decolonizing process undergone by the association. Following World War II, a new generation of nonwhite women from decolonized and settler colonial nations began to claim leadership roles in the Association, challenging the often Eurocentric assumptions of women's internationalism. In 1955 the first African American delegate brought to the fore questions about the relationship of U.S. race relations with the Pan-Pacific cultural internationalist project. The effects of cold war geopolitics on the ideal of international cooperation in the era of decolonization were also considered. The work concludes with a discussion of the revival of 'East meets West' as a basis for world cooperation endorsed by the United Nations in 1958 and the overall contributions of the PPWA to world culture politics.

 

The internationalist vision of the early twentieth century imagined a world in which race and empire had been relegated to the past. Significant numbers of women from around the Pacific brought this shared vision - together with their concerns for peace, social progress and cooperation - to the lively, even glamorous, political experiment of the Pan-Pacific Women's Association. Fiona Paisley tells the stories of this extraordinary group of women and illuminates the challenges and rewards of their politics of antiracism - one that still resonates today.

 

Contents: Abbreviations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Civilization at the Crossroads; 2. Decolonizing the Women's Pan-Pacific; 3. Interracial Friendship; 4. Population, Peace, and Protection; 5. Culture and Identity; 6. Race Politics in the Cold War; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

 

Fiona Paisley is a cultural historian at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia."

 

Raymond, Rosanna and Amiria Salmond. 2008. Pasifika Styles: Artists inside the Museum. Cambridge and Dunedin: Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Otago University Press. 160 pages. EAN: 978-1-877372-60-5 (pb). Preface by Nicholas Thomas.

 

"Documents an exhibition by 15 New Zealand artists in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, UK, from 2006 till 2008. Shows contemporary artists working alongside the world's best collection of Oceanic art from the 18th century. Profusely illustrated in full colour.

 

Pasifika Styles is about a groundbreaking experiment in the display of contemporary Pacific art. The artists flung open the stores of the museum and installed their works in cases next to taonga collected on the voyages of Cook and Vancouver. This heralds a new era of collaborative curatorship in ethnographic museums.

 

For two years, visiting artists - including Ani O'Neill, Maureen Lander, Shigeyuki Kihara, Tracey Tawhiao, Reuben Paterson, Rachel Rakena, Lisa Reihana, Lisa Taouma, Michel Tuffery - brought vitality to the collections by offering workshops, seminars, public activities and a festival of performing arts. This book describes the making of Pasifika Styles from the perspectives of the artists and the museum professionals and scholars involved, placing it in the midst of current debates about museums, cultural property and art.

 

Contents: Preface, by Nicholas Thomas; 1. Introduction: Islands of Opportunity; 3. An Interview with Lisa Taouma; 4. Pasifika Styles; 5. He Tautoko; 6. Relational Understandings;
7. Fieldwork in a Glass Case; 8. Fusion/Confusion; 9. Some Anxious Moments; 10. Visiting Artists Programme; 11. Tikanga Maori and Art; 12. Awakening Sleeping Objects; 13. Korero Mai; 14. Dad's Chair; 15. A Visual Essay; Glossary; Bibliography.

 

Rosanna Raymond is an artist, performer and freelance curator who helped to establish the Pasifika Festival in Auckland. Now based in London, she has created exhibitions at a variety of UK venues and undertaken residencies in Britain, the USA and France. Amiria Salmond is a curator and lecturer at the University of Cambridge. She has produced exhibitions at the Tairawhiti Museum in New Zealand, and studies and practises Maori weaving. Her book Museums, Anthropology and Imperial Exchange has been published by Cambridge University Press and a co-edited volume, Thinking through Things: Theorising Artefacts Ethnographically, has recently been published by Routledge."

 

Tcherkézoff, Serge. 2009 (June). Polynésie/Mélanésie: L'invention française des races et des régions de l'Océanie (XVIe-XXe siècles). Pirae: Au Vent des îles. 373 pages. EAN: 978-2-9156-5452-3 (pb)

 

"Polynésie, Mélanésie... mais aussi Australie, Micronésie: on ignore souvent que le découpage actuel de l'Océanie résulte d'une théorie raciste des 'couleurs de peau', élaborée en France au début du XIXe siècle et préparée par des siècles d'interrogations européennes sur la présence des 'Nègres du Pacifique'. C'est aussi l'histoire d'un regard européen-masculin qui admira bien plus les femmes polynésiennes que les femmes des 'îles noires' (Mélanésie).

 

En rassemblant les divers traités français (ainsi que le traité anglais de J.R. Forster de 1778) qui ont prétendu donner une classification des peuples du Pacifique, en retraçant l'origine des appellations savantes, ce livre propose une histoire générale - et une déconstruction - des visions européennes, raciales et sexistes, sur la nature physique et morale de ces peuples, entre les XVIe et XXe siècles.

 

Cet examen permet aussi de s'interroger sur l'histoire générale du racisme européen, en suivant le bouleversement qui s'est produit à la charnière des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, quand le naturalisme a laissé la place à la 'zoologie' et l'humanisme au racisme moderne.

 

La conclusion fait le point des connaissances actuelles en convoquant l'archéologie, la linguistique et la génétique. Un dossier de cartes présente la vision et les explorations européennes depuis l'Antiquité. On s'aperçoit qu'il faut repenser une partie de nos programmes d'histoire et de géographie. Ce livre s'adresse ainsi tout autant aux enseignants, du secondaire et du supérieur, qu'aux chercheurs spécialisés."

 

Watters, Ray. 2008. Journeys towards Progress: Essays of a Geographer on Development and Change in Oceania. Wellington: Victoria University Press. 384 pages. EAN: 978-0864735966 (pb).

 

"Journeys Towards Progress is both a valuable study of the emerging world of 20th-century Oceania and the Pacific Rim, and an extended reflection on a scholarly life's work. Over 50 years of close observation has produced important studies of Oceanic countries including Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Framing comments and substantial new introductory and concluding essays put these particular histories in wider contexts and look forward to the future.

 

Ray Watters was for many years before his retirement Professor of Geography at Victoria University. His many publications include a collection of historical geography essays, Land and Society in New Zealand (1965), the landmark book Koro: Economic Development and Social Change in Fiji (1969), a widely quoted and respected book on Latin America, Poverty and Peasantry in Peru's Southern Andes, 1963–90 (1994), and a co-edited collection on Asia-Pacific: New geographies of the Pacific Rim (1998)."

 

Widlok, Thomas. 2009. Van veraf naar dichtbij: The Standing of the Antipodes in a Flat World. Nijmegen: Radboud University. 35 pages. EAN: 978-90-9024409-9 (paper). Retrieved July 2, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://webdoc.ubn.ru.nl/mono/w/widlok_t/van_venad.pdf. Inaugural address.

 

"Anthropologists have long considered the antipodes, the other side of the world, to be the best place to investigate other ways of life. But what is the standing of the antipodes, and the standing of research featuring the antipodes, if - as we are told in the 21st century - the world is considered to be flat, a level playing ground where everyone is connected through means of communication? Thomas Widlok points out that despite globalization there are a number of important ways in which it still matters as to where people are positioned in this interconnected world. He shows how knowledge from as far away as the antipodes can be brought to bear on issues that are at the centre of current scientific attention, including fundamental questions of human cognition and of modes of social relations between humans.

 

Thomas Widlok (Mühlheim/Ruhr, 1965) was trained in anthropology at the London School of Economics (PhD 1994) and at the universities of Münster and Köln (venia legendi 2004). He has taught in London, Heidelberg, Köln an Durham and has been a research associate with the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and continues to work with the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen. He has carried out long-term ethnographic field research in Australia and in southern Africa. Thomas Widlok is since 1 March 2008 professor for anthropology at Radboud University, with additional funding from Volkswagen Foundation and (beginning in 2009) from the of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft's Collaborative Research Centre 'Our Way to Europe: Culture-Environment Interaction and Human Mobility in the Late Quaternary' at Köln University."

 

Williams, Glyndwr. 2008. The Death of Captain Cook: A Hero Made and Unmade. London: Profile Books. 197 pages. EAN: 978-1-86197-842-4 (hb).

 

"This new interpretation of Cook's life and death by a great historian of marine exploration argues that the circumstances and reporting of his death are the key to his reputation. For many years he enjoyed unparalleled status as 'the pride of his century' and in the white settlements in the Pacific as 'father of the nation'.

 

By contrast first in Hawaii and then in the postcolonial world a different view emerged of a destructive invader, as much anti-hero as the reverse. His progress from obscurity to fame and then, for some, to infamy, is a story that has never been fully told."

 

Young, Simon. 2008. The Trouble with Tradition: Native Title and Cultural Change. Sydney: Federation Press. 528 pages. EAN: 978-1-86287-647-7 (hb).

 

"This book is the most fundamental analysis of native title in the common law world since McNeil's Common Law Aboriginal Title in 1989. Through a broad and detailed examination of the jurisprudence across Australia, USA, New Zealand and Canada, it argues that the Australian preoccupation with 'tradition' is a deeply flawed approach. Dr Young points to many technical problems and a raft of unfortunate consequences for Indigenous people. He contends for a fundamental rethink.

 

Contents: Introduction; Indigenous Change: A Legal Challenge; Overview of this Book; The Nature of the Analysis; Terminology; The Importance of the Issues; Part 1. The Comparative Context: Native Title in Australia; A Snapshot of the Key Comparative Jurisdictions; A Defence of Comparative Analysis; Part 2. The Conceptualisation of Native Title in the Key Comparative Jurisdictions: The United States; Canada; New Zealand; The Basic Tenets of the Comparative Doctrines; Part 3. Mabo Re-visited: Pre-Mabo Precedent; Laws, Customs and 'Tradition' in the Original Mabo Decision; Part 4. Post-Mabo: The Australian Anomaly: Statutory Intervention; Continuing Encouragement for the 'Laws and Customs' Focus; The Excesses in the Australian Case Law; Part 5. A Reinterpretation of the Australian Native Title Doctrine: A Final Critique of the Stricter Australian Approach; Glimpses of a less 'Tradition'-focused Methodology; Three-point Plan: A Way Forward for Native Title in Australia; Concluding Comments."

 

AUSTRALIA

 

Behrendt, Larissa and Loretta Kelly. 2008. Resolving Indigenous Disputes: Land Conflict and Beyond. Sydney: Federation Press. 160 pages. EAN: 978-1-86287-707-8 (pb).

 

"This book looks at the way in which dispute resolution processes can be developed to more effectively empower Aboriginal people and assist with the more equitable and satisfactory resolution of disputes between Aboriginal people and between Aboriginal people and other groups.

 

It uses conflict around land, particularly at the intersection between land claim and native title as its focus. These have been identified through extensive field research.

 

The book also explores the building of models of alternative dispute resolution processes based on Aboriginal cultural values and world views. It provides practical tools to practitioners who are seeking to find more effective ways of dealing with conflict in Aboriginal communities or between Aboriginal communities and other stakeholders.

 

Contents: Preface; Introduction; Recognition and Administration of Native Title Claims; Conflict Created by Native Title in New South Wales; Issues Relating to the Use of Mediation; Principles of Aboriginal Dispute Resolution; Preferred Model for Intra-Cultural Dispute Resolution; Preferred Model for Inter-Cultural Dispute Resolution; Concluding Observations; Select Bibliography; Index."

 

Christen, Kimberley. 2009 (July). Aboriginal Business: Alliances in a Remote Australian Town. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. 304 pages. EAN: 978-0-85575-702-1 (pb).

 

"Aboriginal Business is an ethnographic snapshot of the Warumungu people, the traditional owners of the country on which the remote Northern Territory town of Tennant Creek lie. The author examines both the colonial past and the contemporary practices of alliance-making that set the stage for an alternative future, rerouting the national and global narratives that still seek to confine Indigenous people to the margins.

 

Dr Kimberly Christen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies, Washington State University, USA. Her primary research involves examining contemporary Indigenous alliances, primarily in Australia, but with comparative analysis globally."

 

Clode, Danielle. 2007. Voyages to the South Seas: In Search of Terres Australes. Carlton: Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing. 315 pages. EAN: 978-0-522-85264-6 (hb).

 

"Voyages to the South Seas recounts the epic journeys of French explorers to Australia and encompasses a remarkable period of French and Australian history - when Australia was France's Mars and marsupials were her aliens. Australia may have been colonised by England, but for many years, by sheer weight of specimens and scientific documentation, Australia's biodiversity belonged to France.

 

Tracing the often-tragic voyages of Bougainville, Lapérouse, D'Entrecasteaux, Baudin, Freycinet, d'Urville and others to Australia from 1768 to 1828, Voyages to the South Seas brings to life the changing society that launched these ambitious endeavours and the scientific discoveries they made. It is the story of noble men impoverished by their passion, and nobodies who made their names through physical courage and intellectual achievement. It is the story of the young men who risked their lives for adventure and excitement but, above all, in the pursuit of scientific knowledge

 

Dr Danielle Clode is a science writer fascinated by scientific history. Her love of the Australian landscape, and exploration, was born from a childhood spent sailing along the east coast with her parents on a gaff-rigged yawl. Danielle researched Voyages to the South Seas while a Creative Fellow at the State Library of Victoria. She has previously been the Thomas Ramsay Science and Humanities Fellow at Museum Victoria and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford where she completed her DPhil in zoology. Her other books include Killers in Eden (now an ABC TV documentary), the environmental history, As if for a Thousand Years, and Continent of Curiosities: A Voyage through Australian Natural History."

 

Elder, Catriona. 2009. Dreams and Nightmares of a White Australia: Representing Aboriginal Assimilation in the Mid-twentieth Century. Studies Asia-Pacific 'Mixed Race' No. 3. New York: Peter Lang. 257 pages. EAN: 978-3-03911-722-2 (pb).

 

"By the mid-twentieth century the various Australian states began changing their approaches to Aboriginal peoples from one of exclusion to assimilation. These policy changes meant that Aboriginal people, particularly those identified as being of mixed heritage, were to be encouraged to become part of the dominant non-Aboriginal community - the Australian nation.

 

This book explores this significant policy change from a cultural perspective, considering the ways in which assimilation was imagined in literary fiction of the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on novels from a range of genres - the Gothic, historical romance, the western and family melodrama - it analyses how these texts tell their assimilation stories.

 

Taking insights from critical whiteness studies the author highlights both the pleasures and anxieties that the idea of Aboriginal assimilation raised in the non-Aboriginal community. There are elements of these assimilation stories - maternal love, stolen children, violence and land ownership - that still have an impact in the unsettled present of many post-colonial nations. By exploring the history of assimilation the author suggests ideas for a different future.

 

Contents: List of Figures; 1. Writing a story of mixed-race relations in 'white Australia'; 2. Mapping a 'white Australia': Political and government responses to the 'half-caste' problem; 3. Blood: Elimination, assimilation and the white Australian nation in E. V. Timms' The Scarlet Frontier; 4. Making families white: Indigenous mothers, families and children in Gwen Meredith's Blue Hills: The Ternna-Boolla Story; 5. Haunted homes: Children, desire and dispossession in Helen Heney's The Leaping Blaze; 6. Scopic pleasure and fantasy: Visualising assimilation and the half-caste in Leonard Mann's Venus Half-caste; 7. Dead centre: Frontier relations in Olaf Ruhen's Naked under Capricorn; 8. Conclusion; Bibliography.

 

Catriona Elder is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Sydney in Australia. She is the author of Being Australian: Narratives of National Identity (2007) and has published extensively on Australian race relations and immigration history. Her current interests are focused on researching representations of colonialism in Australian television and cinema."

 

Golvan, Colin. 2007. Copyright Law and Practice. Sydney: Federation Press. 248 pages. EAN: 978-1-86287-654-5 (pb) and 978-1-86287-669-9 (hb).

 

"Copyright is a central weapon in the fight to protect Indigenous culture and Colin Golvan has represented Indigenous plaintiffs in several of the leading cases including the T-shirts Case, the $10 note Case and the Carpet’s Case. Golvan explains copyright with great clarity, balancing a sharp focus on practical matters with discussion of key trends such as copyright and the internet, the use of copyright to protect Indigenous art and culture, the corporatisation of copyright, and the challenges for copyright material licensed to libraries under Educational and Public Lending Rights schemes.

 

Contents: Copyright: Basis of Protection; Infringement; Defences; Ownership and Transmission; Remedies; Additional Rights and Jurisdiction; Copyright and Court Process; Copyright and Contracts: The Publishing Agreement; Protection of Indigenous Copyright; Significance of Rights Awareness: Some Cultural and Economic Issues; Index."

 

Indigenous Heritage Law Reform. (2009). For Discussion: Possible Reforms to the Legislative Arrangements for Protecting Traditional Areas and Objects. Canberra: Indigenous Heritage Law Reform, Heritage Division, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australian Government. 56 pages. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/laws/indigenous/lawreform/pubs/discussion-paper.pdf.

 

"The Australian Government is seeking feedback on proposals for more effective laws to protect Indigenous traditional areas and objects across Australia. This paper explains the government's proposals, which are now open for public comment. Additional information relevant to the proposals in this paper is available at www.heritage.gov.au/indigenous/lawreform.

 

This is an opportunity for the public to contribute ideas on making the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Commonwealth) more effective as a way to protect traditional areas and objects significant to Indigenous Australians.

 

To have your say, please send your written submission to: Indigenous Heritage Law Reform, Heritage Division, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601, or to: atsihpa@environment.gov.au. The deadline for submissions is Friday, 6 November 2009."

 

Osborne, Elizabeth. 2009 (October). Throwing Off the Cloak: Reclaiming Self-reliance in Torres Strait. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. 256 pages. EAN: 978-0-85575-662-8 (pb).

 

Previously announced as: Osborne, Elizabeth. 2009 (March). Rejecting Colonialism: Ongoing Struggles in the Torres Strait. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. 272 pages. ISBN: 978-0-85575-662-8 (pb).

 

"For two decades the people of Torres Strait struggled with governments and those who take mercilessly from their seabed resources. Perhaps the most articulate expression of what this means to a Torres Strait Islander was delivered by an island leader when he was asked, 'What are you claiming, are you claiming the sea, the beach or the resources?' He replied, 'If an oil tanker ran aground it kills the bed, kills the fish and it kills me'.

 

Osborne focuses on the Torres Strait Islander peoples' evolving struggles for recognition of their unique Indigenous island identities. She foregrounds the voices of the Torres Strait Islanders themselves as views were rarely sought or recorded from the arrival of outside intervention in the 1840s up to the 1970s.

 

As governmental policies became less dismissive of Indigenous aspirations and concern for Indigenous welfare increased, Osborne explores the debates centring on the Islanders' struggle to recover their rights to their land, sea, fish resources, and decision making for their own wellbeing. The successful Border No Change protest, is an example of the peoples' collective resistance and the Islanders skills in dealing with political leaders."

 

Pearson, Noel. 2009 (June). Up from the Mission: Selected Writings. Melbourne: Black Inc. 416 pages. EAN: 978-1863954280 (pb).

 

Review: New Matilda, 8 July 2009 (by E. Vincent: The Pearson Influence) - retrieved July 21, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://newmatilda.com/2009/07/08/pearson-influence

 

"Up from the Mission charts the life and thought of Noel Pearson, from his early days as a native title lawyer to his position today as one of Australia's most influential figures.

 

This is writing of great passion and power, which introduces a fascinating man and a compelling writer. Many of the pieces included have been hard to find until now. Gathered together in a cohesive, broad-ranging book, they show a key Australian thinker coming into being.

 

Pearson evokes his early life in Hope Vale, Queensland. He includes sections of his epoch-making essay Our Right To Take Responsibility, which exposed the trap of passive welfare and proposed new ways forward. There are pieces on the apology; on Barack Obama and black leadership; on Australian party politics - Keating, Howard and Rudd; and on alcoholism, despair and what can be done to mend Aboriginal communities that have fallen apart.

 

Noel Pearson is a lawyer and activist. He has published many essays and newspaper articles. Up from the Mission: Selected Writings is his first book."

 

Potter, Emily, Alison Mackinnon, Stephen McKenzie and Jennifer McKay (eds). 2007. Fresh Water: New Perspectives on Water in Australia. 221 pages. EAN: 978-0-522-85424-4.

 

Review: Australian Humanities Review, (46/May), 2009: 179-182 (by E. O'Gorman: The New Politics of Water; at http://epress.anu.edu.au/ahr/046/pdf/review05.pdf).

 

"Is water a resource or is it the source? Is it something to be consumed or does it have a life of its own? This timely collection of essays addresses the critical and contentious issue of water in Australia today.

 

Recent histories of environmental misunderstanding and exploitation shadow our current regime of water management and use. Drought and ecological loss are widespread, the public faces restricted access to water, and while governments argue over their responsibilities the situation worsens. There is something amiss in current approaches to water.

 

The book offers a range of innovative insights into the history, politics, ethics and cultures of water in Australia, and its global environmental context, that suggest a need to radically rethink our relationship with this fundamental substance.

 

Contributors from fields as diverse as anthropology, environmental science, indigenous studies, cultural theory, law, urban planning and visual arts discuss the various ways in which we are caught up with water, and the environmental futures that we must enable if we are to sustain ourselves and to let water live."

 

Sutton, Peter. 2009. The Politics of Suffering: Indigenous Australia and the End of the Liberal Consensus. Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing. 280 pages. EAN: 978-0-522-85636-1 (pb)

 

Review: New Matilda, 16 July 2009 (by J. Altman: What 'Liberal Consensus'?) - retrieved July 21, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://newmatilda.com/2009/07/16/what-liberal-consensus.

 

"The Politics of Suffering cuts through the cant and offers fresh insight and hope for a new era in Indigenous politics.

 

Peter Sutton is a fearless and authoritative voice in Aboriginal politics. In this groundbreaking book, he asks why, after three decades of liberal thinking, has the suffering and grief in so many Aboriginal communities become worse? The picture Sutton presents is tragic. He marshals shocking evidence against the failures of the past, and argues provocatively that three decades of liberal consensus on Aboriginal issues has collapsed.

 

Sutton is a leading Australian anthropologist who has lived and worked closely with Aboriginal communities. He combines clear-eyed, original observation with deep emotional engagement. The Politics of Suffering cuts through the cant and offers fresh insight and hope for a new era in Indigenous politics.

 

Peter Sutton is an anthropologist and linguist who has worked with Aboriginal people since 1969. He speaks three Cape York languages and has assisted with fifty land rights cases as an expert on Aboriginal land ownership. He has authored or edited twelve books, including Native Title in Australia: An Ethnographic Perspective, regarded as the most authoritative work in its field. He is an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow at the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum, and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia."

 

Stanner, W.E.H. 2009. The Dreaming and Other Essays. Introduction by Robert Manne. Melbourne: Black Inc. 304 pages. EAN: 978-0977594924 (pb).

 

"W.E.H. Stanner's words changed Australia. Without condescension and without sentimentality, in essays such as 'The Dreaming' Stanner conveyed the richness and uniqueness of Aboriginal culture. In his Boyer Lectures he exposed a 'cult of forgetfulness practised on a national scale,' regarding the fate of the Aborigines, for which he coined the phrase 'the great Australian silence'. And in his essay 'Durmugam' he provided an unforgettable portrait of a warrior's attempt to hold back cultural change. 'He was such a man,' Stanner wrote. 'I thought I would like to make the reading world see and feel him as I did.'

 

The pieces collected here span the career of W.E.H. Stanner as well as the history of Australian race relations. They reveal the extraordinary scholarship, humanity and vision of one of Australia's finest essayists. Their revival is a significant event.

 

Contents: Introduction: W.E.H. Stanner: The Anthropologist as Humanist, by Robert Manne; 1. Durmugan: A Nangiomeri; 2. The Dreaming; 3. Caliban Discovered; 4. "The History of Indifference Thus Begins"; 5. The Aborigines; 6. Continuity and Change among the Aborigines; 7. The Boyer Lectures: After the Dreaming; 8. The Yirrkala Land Case: Dress Rehearsal; 9. Aborigines and Australian Society; 10. Aboriginal Humour; 11. Concluding Thoughts from "Aborigines in the Affluent Society."

 

William Edward Hanley Stanner was born in Sydney in 1905. Stanner helped to shape the growth of Australian anthropology, and his principal interest was the peoples of Daly River and Port Keats in the Northern Territory. Until the end of his life, he devoted a great deal of time to securing recognition of Aboriginal rights to land. He was a member of the Council for Aboriginal Affairs and, in 1968, he was the ABC's Boyer Lecturer. He was a founding member of the Aboriginal Treaty Committee. He was appointed to the chair of anthropology at the Australian National University and served as head of the department of anthropology and sociology until his retirement in 1970. He died in 1981."

 

Vanclay, Frank, Matthew Higgins and Adam Blackshaw (eds). 2008. Making Sense of Place: Exploring Concepts and Expressions of Place through Different Senses and Lenses. Canberra: National Museum of Australia Press. 340 pages. EAN: 978-1-87694-451-3 (pb).

 

Review: Australian Humanities Review, (46/May), 2009: 175-177 (by G. Main: The Senses and the Sense of Place; at http://epress.anu.edu.au/ahr/046/pdf/review04.pdf).

 

"Making Sense of Place explores place from myriad perspectives and through evocative encounters. The Great Barrier Reef is experienced through the sense of touch, Lake Mungo is encountered through sound and 'listening', and light is shed on the meaning of place for deaf people.

 

Case studies include the Maze prison in Northern Ireland, Inuit hunting grounds in Northern Canada, and the songlines of the Anangu people in Central Australia. Iconic landscapes, lookouts, buildings, gardens, suburbs, grieving places, the car as place - all provide contexts for experiencing and understanding 'place' and our 'sense of place'."

 

Weir, Jessica. 2009 (September). Murray River Country: An Ecological Dialogue with Traditional Owners. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. 224 pages. EAN: 978-0-85575-678-9 (pb).

"Murray River Country discusses the water crisis from a unique perspective - the intimate stories of love and loss from the perspectives of Aboriginal people who know the inland rivers as their traditional country.

 

These experiences bring a fresh narrative to contemporary water debates about living in the Murray-Darling Basin, and how we should look to more sustainable ways to live in Australia as our approach to water is changing in the face of water scarcity, drought, climate change, and water mismanagement. This book brings new insights to these issues by focusing our attention on what Indigenous people from along the Murray are experiencing, saying, and doing.

 

Weir wants to move readers beyond questions of how much water will be 'returned' to the rivers, to understand that our economy, and our lices, are dependent on river health. She uses different knowledge traditions to reveal unacknowledged assumptions that trap our thinking and disable us from acting. By engaging with the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia's agricultural heartland, Murray River Country goes to the core of our national understandings of who we are and how we can live in this country."

 

MELANESIA

 

Anderson, Astrid and Mats Exter. 2005. Wogeo Texts: Myths, Songs and Spells from Wogeo Island, Papua New Guinea. Occasional Papers No. 8. Oslo: Kon-Tiki Museum, Institute for Pacific Archaeology and Cultural History. 96 pages. Bilingual.

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 351-352 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 22, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2172.html.

 

"L'île de Wogeo, qui forme avec sa plus proche voisine Koil la pointe ouest des îles Schouten, à 70 km environ au nord des côtes de l'East Sepik Province, en Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée, est surtout connue en Occident par les recherches d'Ian Hogbin (marquées par un livre au titre mémorable, The Island of Menstruating Men: Religion in Wogeo, New Guinea, Scranton: Chandler, 1970) et par des objets sculptés parvenus dans les collections des musées et des particuliers, notamment des masques que certains détails typiques aident à distinguer dans la multitude de tous ceux qu'on attribue indistinctement à 'l'aire stylistique des bouches du Sépik'. Malgré les travaux d'Hogbin et de quelques autres chercheurs, la vie sociale et les traditions de ces deux îles restent encore mal connues et c'est l'un des intérêts du petit livre d'Astrid Anderson et de Mats Exter que de contribuer à les éclairer.

 

Les textes traditionnels ici édités en version bilingue, oageva (langue de Wogeo) et anglais, sont précédés d'une introduction sur leur 'contexte culturel' due à Astrid Anderson - anthropologue spécialiste de ces îles auxquelles elle a consacré sa thèse et plusieurs articles - et de trois brefs développements de Mats Exter sur l'oageva, dont ce linguiste allemand a étudié la phonétique et la phonologie dans un livre savant" - by Gille Bounoure.

 

Barnèche, Sophie. 2005. Gens de Nouméa, gens des îles, gens d'ailleurs: Langues et identités en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Paris: L'Harmattan. 327 pages. EAN: 978-2747588829 (cloth).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 361-363 (by B. Carteron) - retrieved July 22, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2432.html.

 

"Nouméa, ville occidentale au milieu de l'Océanie, offre un espace riche et singulier de contact des langues et des cultures, de distinctions ethniques et de métissage, un espace dans lequel les langues se transmettent, se perdent, se créent, les identités se construisent, se négocient, se revendiquent. Ici comme ailleurs, langues et identités sont indissociables. Cet ouvrage s'intéresse, au travers de l'étude des pratiques linguistiques et des représentations, à la construction de des 'identités calédoniennes', multiples et mouvantes."

 

Chauchat, Mathias and Cécile Perret. 2006. Vers un développement citoyen: Perspectives d'émancipation pour la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Grenoble: Presses Universitaires de Grenoble. 232 pages. EAN: 978-2706113383 (hb).

 

"Vers un développement citoyen. Pourquoi? Parce qu'il est frappant qu'il ne soit question dans l'outre-mer que de cadeaux fiscaux et de nouveaux chèques à signer. Alors que la France connaît une crise financière, politique et morale qui n'a guère de précédent, on vit dans un monde politique virtuel, s'éloignant de plus en plus du monde réel. La citoyenneté requiert la sincérité. Institutions, finances publiques et économie? Pourquoi? Parce que le système politique ne vaut que s'il assure à la société une régulation. La meilleure Constitution, sans régler la question économique et sociale, mène au désordre. Réformes politiques, économiques et sociales sont indissociables. L'ouvrage aborde ainsi les trois questions de la collégialité, une des clés du système politique calédonien, de la fiscalité, une des clés de la construction citoyenne et des surrémunérations publiques, une des clés de la dépendance.

 

L'université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, par son équipe de recherches juridiques et économiques, peut apporter sa contribution dans la lignée de l'ouvrage sur les Perspectives de développement pour la Nouvelle-Calédonie paru en 2002. Ce livre s'adresse aux citoyens et étudiants calédoniens concernés au premier chef par leur destin commun, aux contribuables métropolitains qui y trouveront matière à réflexion, à indignation et à réformes, aux partis qui, par leur comportement, pérenniseront ou non la collégialité et ainsi l'accord de Nouméa, aux élus calédoniens et aux partenaires sociaux à qui vont revenir les changements législatifs indispensables, et, bien sûr, à l'Etat, l'autre équipier, pour qui l'accompagnement vers l'émancipation de la Nouvelle-Calédonie est un objectif constitutionnel.

 

Mathias Chauchat est professeur à l'université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, agrégé de droit public, diplômé de l'Institut d'études politiques de Paris, et directeur de l'équipe d'accueil n° 3329 'Recherches juridiques et économiques'.

 

Cécile Perret est maître de conférences pour l'université de Savoie, agrégée d'économie et de gestion et ancienne élève de l'École normale supérieure de Cachan. Elle a coécrit avec Gaël Lagadec, maître de conférences à l'université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, Enjeux économiques pour la Nouvelle-Calédonie: Théorie et illustrations publié au Centre de documentation pédagogique de Nouméa dans la collection 'Université en 2000'."

 

Crook, Tony. 2007. Exchanging Skin: Anthropological Knowledge, Secrecy and Bolivip, Papua New Guinea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 230 pages. EAN: 978-0-19-726400-3 (hb).

 

"Experimental ethnography, combining vivid descriptions of life in the rainforest with new readings of classic anthropological texts. Imagistic text supported by high quality illustrations.

 

What is the nature of knowledge? Anthropology imagines it possible to divide or separate social and analytical relations, whereby knowledge travels between persons as a thing. And yet, Bolivip imagines knowledge as the bodily resources or parts of a person that can be extended or combined with others. This methodological exchange is modelled on a moment from Bolivip - an exchange of skin whereby knowledge is returned in respect of prior nurture and care given, and two people become encompassed by one skin.

 

The Min area of Papua New Guinea has proven to be one of the most enigmatic cultures in anthropological experience. But rather than accept this resistance to analysis as a problem of Melanesian secrecy, this volume suggests that archaic notions of anthropological knowledge have been the problem all along. Taking up the 'Min problem' head on, this study suggests a novel solution to the impasse.

 

The argument works through alternating chapters: an imagistic ethnography of Bolivip describes how arboreal and horticultural metaphors motivate the growth of persons and plants by circulating bodily resources through others. Knowledge here comes from those who contribute to conception, and is withheld until a person is capable of bearing it. These images are used to provide new readings of classic Melanesianist texts - Mead, Bateson and Fortune - substituting theoretical ideas for intimate relations; Weiner and Strathern's own experiments with anthropology modelled on Melanesia; and Barth's reading of secrecy amongst the Min.

 

The book provides an valuable insight into our own assumptions about knowledge and the world by means of insights into the aesthetics of a Papua New Guinean lifeworld."

 

Darch, John H. 2009 (April). Missionary Imperialists? Missionaries, Government, and the Growth of the British Empire in the Tropics, 1860-1885. Foreword by Timothy Yates. Eugene: Wipf and Stock. 299 pages. EAN: 978-1-60608-596-7 (pb).

 

"Missionary Imperialists? examines the frontiers of empire in tropical Africa and the south-west Pacific in the Mid-Victorian era. Its central theme is the role played by British Protestant missionaries in imperial development and a continuous thread is the interaction between the missions and those in government, both London and in the colonies.

 

An introductory chapter examines the main missionary societies involved in this study. This is followed by six detailed case studies, three from the south-west Pacific (the Pacific labor trade, Fiji, and New Guinea) and three from tropical Africa (the Gambia, Lagos and Yorubaland, and East Africa). The crucial importance of influential missionary supporters in Britain is noted as its missionary involvement in wider campaigning networks with other humanitarian groups.

 

The book argues that where missionaries did aid imperial development it was largely incidental, an 'imperialism of result' rather than an 'imperialism of intent' to use the categories of Cain and Hopkins. It will be seen that although there were a few dedicated imperialists in the missionary ranks, and others gradually became convinced that the future of their particular mission and its people would be most secure under British jurisdiction, the majority had no such enthusiasm. Yet this did not mean that they had no effect on imperial development. Campaigns against both slavery and indentured labor inevitably raised the profile and influence of Europeans on the imperial frontier thus shifting a fragile balance in their direction. Most importantly, by their very presence on the frontiers of empire and as providers of education and European moral and spiritual values, missionaries became incidental and sometimes unintentional but nevertheless effective agents of imperialism."

 

Dauphiné, Joël. 2006. La déportation de Louise Michel: Vérités et légendes. Paris: Les Indes Savantes. 152 pages. EAN: 978-2846541343 (cloth).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 355-356 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 23, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2262.html.

 

"Un épisode capital de sa vie reste sa déportation en Nouvelle-Calédonie, de 1873 à 1880. Tandis que sa légende grandit en métropole, la réclusion de Louise Michel est principalement marquée par ses relations avec les autres déportés, comme elle anciens Communards - notamment Rochefort - et par sa découverte du monde des Kanaks. L'étude rigoureuse de l'auteur corrige un certain nombre d'erreurs ou de demi-vérités sur cet épisode décisif de la vie de la 'Grande citoyenne' célébrée par Victor Hugo.

 

Contents: Introduction; Le grand voyage; L'installation à la presqu'île Ducos; Le séjour à Numbi; Louise à la baie de l'ouest; Nouméa: Dernière étape de l'exil."

 

 

 

Colombo Dougoud, Roberta (ed.). 2008. Bambous kanak: Une passion de Marguerite Lobsiger-Dellenbach. Genève: Musée d'Ethnographie. 184 pages. EAN: 978-2-88474-083-8 (cloth). Catalogue of the 29 February 2008 - 15 March 2009 exhibition.

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 311-317 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 27, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index1882.html.

 

"Parmi les oeuvres les plus originales de l'art kanak figurent les bambous gravés de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Le Musée d'ethnographie de Genève possède l'un des plus beaux ensembles au monde, étudié par Marguerite Lobsiger-Dellenbach, qui fut directrice du musée entre 1952 et 1967.

 

Utilisés comme bâton de voyage par les anciens lorsqu'ils s'aventuraient hors de leur village, ces bambous gravés, entièrement recouverts de motifs abstraits et figuratifs, sont des supports de mémoire et de récits illustrant les multiples aspects de la vie des Kanak, y compris l'irruption de la colonisation. Bien que leur production ait été interrompue au début du XXe siècle, quelques artistes contemporains se sont réapproprié un support et des techniques traditionnelles pour transcrire des préoccupations et une réalité d'aujourd'hui. C'est le cas de l'artiste kanak Micheline Néporon, dont le Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève a récemment acquis quatre bambous gravés qui complètent sa collection historique.

 

Ce catalogue, largement illustré de photographies couleur, veut rendre hommage à Marguerite Lobsiger-Dellenbach en présentant son travail d'ethnologue et sa recherche méticuleuse autour des bambous kanak; dirigé par Roberta Colombo Dougoud, conservatrice du département Océanie du Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève, il met en valeur la collection de bambous gravés calédoniens du musée, scrupuleusement détaillée par elle-même et Lorin Wüscher. Un recueil d'articles de spécialistes de l'art océanien, tels que Roger Boulay, Diane Cousteau, Henri Gama et Carole Ohlen, porte un éclairage approfondi sur cet art replacé dans le contexte de l'archipel mélanésien. Un avant-propos de Marie-Claude Tjibaou, veuve du leader indépendantiste kanak Jean-Marie Tjibaou et présidente du conseil d'administration de l'Agence de Développement de la Culture Kanak à Nouméa, met en évidence la force identitaire des gravures sur bambous, toujours puissante dans la Nouvelle-Calédonie actuelle, pour contribuer au rayonnement de la culture kanak."

 

Gardner, Robert. 2007. Making Dead Birds: Chronicle of a Film. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 160 pages; 30 color photographs; 35 quadtones. EAN: 978-0-87365-823-2 (pb).

 

"Robert Gardner's classic Dead Birds is one of the most highly acclaimed and controversial documentary films ever made. This detailed and candid account of the process of making Dead Birds, from the birth of the idea through filming in New Guinea to editing and releasing the finished film, is more than the chronicle of a single work. It is also a thoughtful examination of what it meant to record the moving and violent rituals of warrior-farmers in the New Guinea highlands and to present to the world a graphic story of their behavior as a window onto our own. Letters, journals, telegrams, newspaper clippings, and over 50 images are assembled to recreate a vivid chronology of events. Making Dead Birds not only addresses the art and practice of filmmaking, but also explores issues of representation and the discovery of meaning in human lives.

 

Gardner led a remarkable cast of participants on the 1961 expedition. All brought back extraordinary bodies of work. Probably most influential of all was Dead Birds, which marked a sea change in nonfiction filmmaking. This book takes the reader inside the creative process of making that landmark film and offers a revealing look into the heart and mind of one of the great filmmakers of our time."

 

Guiart, Jean. 2007. Du sang sur le sable: Le vrai destin de Jean-Marie Tjibaou: Epitomé d'une tragédie. Nouméa: Rocher-à-le-Voile and Éditions du Cagou. 392 pages. ISBN: 978-295-219704-5 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 343-345 (by S. Mohamed-Gaillard) - retrieved July 20, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index4752.html.

 

"Avec Du sang sur le sable, Jean Guiart propose une nouvelle biographie de Jean-Marie Tjibaou auquel Alban Bensa et Éric Wittersheim comme Hamid Mokkadem (parmi d'autres) ont déjà consacré des ouvrages, mais il introduit aussi la controverse. Comme l'affirme le sous-titre, l'auteur entend, en effet, présenter 'le vrai destin de Jean-Marie Tjibaou', une quête de vérité qui nécessite la déconstruction de la figure emblématique de l'indépendantisme kanak qu'est devenu Jean-Marie Tjibaou. Dès l'avertissement, Jean Guiart précise la thèse qui sous-tend sa réflexion:

 

Le culte officiel de Jean-Marie Tjibaou est la conséquence d'une manœuvre sophistiquée. Il sert essentiellement à cacher le fait que l'exécution d'Éloi Machoro était le fait d'une décision au sommet de l'État (p. 4).

 

D'ailleurs, l'ouvrage s'ouvre sur des témoignages et des analyses concernant le décès d'Éloi Machoro et de Marcel Nonaro puis, sur l'exécution de Jean-Marie Tjibaou et de Yeiwéné Yeiwéné. Ce sont donc bien les raisons et les circonstances de ces assassinats qui sont au cœur de l'ouvrage (p. 39) et c'est à travers elles que Jean Guiart propose de lire le destin de Jean-Marie Tjibaou" - by S. Mohamed-Gaillard.

 

Izoulet, Jacques. 2005. Ouvéa: Histoire d'une mission catholique dans le Pacifique sud au XIXe siècle. Paris: L'Harmattan. 356 pages. ISBN: 2-7475-8883-1 (cloth).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 356 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 23, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2292.html.

 

"Cet ouvrage étudie l'apostolat des Pères maristes en Nouvelle-Calédonie, plus particulièrement à Ouvéa, de 1857 à 1914. En 1865 la majorité de la population est devenue catholique quand la France prend possession d'Ouvéa. Le stade de la première évangélisation dépassé, les Pères maristes s'attachent à enraciner la religion dans la vie quotidienne de leurs fidèles. Cette oeuvre laborieuse se voit entravée par le manque de moyens, les tracasseries administratives, les rivalités internes des chefferies et les changements dans le mode de vie des insulaires."

 

Jankowiak, William R. 2008. Intimacies: Love and Sex across Cultures. New York: Columbia University Press. 304 pages. EAN: 978-0-231-13437-8 (paper) and 978-0-231-13436-1 (cloth).

 

"No culture is ever completely successful or satisfied with its synthesis of romantic love, companionship, and sexual desire. Whether the setting is a busy metropolis or a quiet farming village, a tension always exists between a community's sexual habits and customs and what it believes to be the proper context for love. Even in Western societies, we prefer sexual passion to romance and companionship, and no study of any culture has shown that individuals regard passion and affection equally.

 

The pursuit of love and sex has generated an infinite number of ambiguities and contradictions, yet every community hopes to find a resolution to this conflict either by joining, dividing, or stressing one act over the other. In this follow-up to Romantic Passion: A Universal Experience? William R. Jankowiak examines how different cultures rationalize the expression of passionate and comfort love and physical sex. He begins by mapping out the intricacies of the love/sex conundrum and the psychological dilemma of reconciling these competing forces. He then follows with essays on sex, love, and intimacy among Central African foragers and farmers; the love dyad in Lithuania; intimacy among the Lahu of Southwestern China; the interplay of love, sex, and marriage in the High Himalayas; verbalized experiences of love and sexuality in Indonesia; love work as it relates to sex work among prostitutes; intimacies and estrangements in the marital and extramarital relationships of Huli men; infidelity and masculinity in Southwestern Nigeria; and the ritual of sex and the rejuvenation of the love bond among married couples in the United States."

 

Krämer-Bannow, Elisabeth. 2007. Among Art-loving Cannibals of the South Seas: Travels in New Ireland 1908-1909. Including scientific annotations by Augustin Krämer. Translated by Waltraud Schmidt. First published in 1916 as Bei kunstsinnigen Kannibalen der Südsee: Wanderungen auf Neu-Mecklenburg 1908-1909 by Dietrich Reimer in Berlin. Belair: Crawford House Publishing. 284 pages. ISBN: 978-1863332996 (hc).

 

"A wonderful early ethnography. Elisabeth Krämer-Bannow was one of the first white women to explore islands of the South Pacific. In 1908, she accompanied her husband Augustin Krämer, a doctor and South Pacific explorer, to New Ireland, at that time a German protectorate called Neu Mecklenburg.

 

She was the only female member of the expedition. Her job was to research the lives of the native women, as this task had proven to be too difficult for male anthropologists.

 

As an artist, she was also in charge of painting the natives, their houses and the local flora and fauna. She developed her own method of research: observe and experience, do not ask questions. She encountered two obstacles: at the beginning she was unfamiliar with the local language and the native women were very shy and not as talkative and approachable as the men. Sitting quietly in a village among the native population while painting and drawing them and their surroundings proved to be a useful means to gain the women's trust. Thus she learned about agricultural, craft techniques, traditions and the arts.

 

However, only through her female interpreter and informant, Bariu, was she able to gain insight into the intimate areas of pregnancy, birth and abortion, also local concepts of beauty.

 

She spent 6 months on the island. During that time she and her husband covered about 1000 km on foot. Although her accounts of those treks and some rather spectacular, breathtaking adventures, they were the first white people to visit many regions of New Ireland. Most of their journeys were in fact dangerous since large sections of the native population were hostile to colonisation efforts by Europeans. But as Augustin Kramer said: 'Life in such a beautiful country would be agony if one suffered from cannibal phobia'.

 

In her book, Elizabeth takes a critical view of mistakes made by the colonial administration, the missions, exploiting plantation companies, greedy collectors and recruiters of workers for the plantations. Instead of spoiling the native cultures with European materialization, she wanted to preserve the local architecture, crafts, trades and body adornment.

 

Contents: Foreword by A. Krämer; 1. The South; 2. Journey to Central New Mecklenburg; 3. The Central Region; 4. Journey to the West Coast via New Pomerania; 5. The West Coast; 6. The Final Days in Lamasong; 7. Lelet; 8.The North of the Island; Annotations by A.Krämer.

 

Waltraud Schmidt is a NAATI certified translator who received a bachelor's degree in German, English and Geography (with Honours) at Freiburg University In 1974, now lives in Adelaide and teaches German."

 

Lafforgue, Éric and Almut Schneider. 2007. Papous. Paris: Kubic. 160 pages; more than 150 photographs. EAN: 978-2-35083-047-6.

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 335-336 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 22, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index1972.html.

 

"Chaque année, des centaines de Papous se retrouvent à Mount Hagen, au coeur des montagnes de la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, lors de la grande manifestation du Sing-Sing. Des dizaines de groupes, venus des quatre coins du pays, entrent en compétition pour présenter les plus beaux ornements de leur clan, lors du plus grand rassemblement de tribus au monde. Ils viennent habillés de somptueuses parures corporelles, de coiffes de plumes de paradisier et d'aigle attachées à de grandes perruques, de colliers et bracelets de coquillages, les visages des hommes et des femmes soigneusement peints, les corps enduits d'huiles odorantes. Durant deux jours, les tribus s'affrontent et s'étourdissent de danses et de chants, célébrant la diversité culturelle de ce pays, qui compte plus de huit cents langues et peuples différents.

 

Contents: Introduction; Les préparatifs; Cérémonies et danses; Portrait de Papous; Innovations.

 

Le photographe, Éric Lafforgue, passionné par la découverte des peuples, publie dans de nombreux magazines dont Photo, Géo ou UNESCO magazine. Il a participé aux expositions collectives 'UNESCO Mondialogo Building bridges' à Paris et 'Asmara africa's secret modernist city' à la fondation Bauhaus de Berlin.

 

L'auteur du texte, Almut Schneider, anthropologue diplômée de la Freie Universität (Berlin) et de l'EHESS (Paris), travaille depuis dix ans sur les Papous. Elle a effectué de nombreuses recherches dans la vallée des Hautes Terres de la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, au sud de la ville de Mount Hagen. Elle enseigne dans les universités de Berlin et Heidelberg.

 

Lefèvre, Alain. 2007. La blessure mélancolique kanak: Une psychoanalyse de l'ombre mélancolique en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Paris: L'Harmattan. 162 pages. EAN: 978-2-296-03650-5 (hb).

 

"La question clinique se pose d'emblée dans l'écriture du titre de l'ouvrage: 'La blessure mélancolique kanak '. Y a-t-il une mélancolie du sujet kanak? S'agit-il d'une psychopathologie ou bien d'un phénomène imaginaire kanak? Dans le deuil, dont on fait un usage abusif, la perte subie est consciente alors qu'elle échappe à la conscience dans la mélancolie. Avec la culture mélanésienne, la perte est antéhistorique, n'a pas de représentation dans la mémoire, mais n'en constitue pas moins une blessure psychique réelle.

 

Cette blessure possède une logique qui peut être analysée. La psychanalyse du sujet kanak en Nouvelle-Calédonie ne peut se faire sans le complément du savoir anthropologique sur le lien social mais à condition que l'analyste clinicien ne s'identifie pas à l'idéal culturel que propose la science anthropologique. L'anthropologie clinique en tant qu'approche structurale de l'être kanak, se trouve aux antipodes d'une personnalité de base mélanésienne et d'une psychologie des peuples."

 

Liep, John. 2009 (August). A Papuan Plutocracy: Ranked Exchange on Rossel Island. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. 376 pages. EAN: 978-87-7934-446-4 (pb).

 

"The financial crisis has shown how money can become an instrument for power and greed. The nature of money and financial institutions has again become issues of importance. This will also be the case in anthropology.

 

John Liep's long awaited monograph on Rossel Island in Papua New Guinea analyzes an alternative monetary system. Liep studied the indigenous shell money for two years. The money is ranked in twenty classes. It is not a mean of market exchange but measure value in terms of status difference. It is paid in bridewealth, at pig feasts and for status symbols such as houses and canoes. Old big men exchange shells of high rank and dominate the economic system. They have prohibited the paying of bridewealth in modern money and thereby maintain their power over junior men and women.

 

John Liep's book advances the understanding of ranked exchange and of the origin of money as a token of distinction and power. It is richly illustrated with photos and drawings of which many are in colour."

 

Maranda, Pierre. 2008. Voyage au pays des Lau (îles Salomon, début du XXIe siècle): Le déclin d'une gynécocratie. Paris: Cartouche. 189 pages. EAN: 978-2-915842-31-9 (pb)

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 173-174 (by R. Mayer) - retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5839.html.

"Ce récit ethnographique et autobiographique raconte l'accueil que les Mélanésiens ont réservé à l'anthropologue québecois P. Maranda, à sa femme et à son jeune fils vers 1960. Ce peuple du Pacifique Sud, guidé par une prophétie, lui confie les mystères animistes, les croyances occultes, la symbolique de certains coquillages. Ses hôtes l'accusent aujourd'hui d'avoir volé l'Esprit-poulpe."

Obrecht, Andreas J. 2006. Der König von Ozeanien. Frankfurt and Wien: Brandes und Apsel and Südwind. 512 pages. ISBN: 978-3860995198 (hb).

 

"In der Südsee soll das Paradies auf Erden liegen. Dort soll das Königreich Nouvelle-France entstehen mit dem Marquis de Ray [1832-1893] als König. Was die aus dem krisen-geschüttelten Europa dorthin Gelockten finden, ist jedoch die Hölle auf Erden. Schon die Schiffsfahrt wird zum Alptraum, und das Paradies entpuppt sich als malariaverseuchtes, unkultivierbares Sumpfland im Schatten eines wolkenverhangenen Vulkans, in dem die Ankömmlinge, sich selbst überlassen, von Krankheit und Entbehrungen dahingerafft werden.

 

Andreas J. Obrecht entfaltet seinen historischen Roman vor dem Hintergrund eines sorgfältig dokumentierten Geschehens, das sich gegen Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts zwischen Frankreich und einer abgelegenen Insel [New Ireland] im Südpazifik zutrug. Ein von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite spannendes Lesevergnügen über die Träume vom Paradies auf Erden und wie sie oft skrupellos ausgebeutet werden.

 

Obrecht, geboren 1961, lebt in Wien; Soziologe, Kulturanthropologe, Schriftsteller. Seit 1986 Forschungen u.a. in Afrika, Südostasien, Melanesien und der Karibik. 1997 Habilitation in Soziologie. Projektmanager des Interdisziplinären Forschungsinstituts für Entwicklungs-zusammenarbeit der Universität Linz. Gastprofessuren an der Universität Graz. Derzeit Forschungen in Bhutan und auf Sri Lanka. Neben wissenschaftlichen Publikationen Lyrik, Erzählungen, Reiseliteratur, Opernlibretti und Dokumentationen für den Österreichischer Rundfunk. Bei Brandes und Apsel: Zeitreichtum, Zeitarmut (2003) und Wozu forschen? Wozu entwickeln? (2004). 2006 erscheint die Österreichischer Rundfunk Hörbuch-Edition: Geschichten aus anderen Welten: Akustische Forschungsreisen (4 CDs) mit einem gleich-namigen Buch im Böhlau Verlag. Der Autor erhielt für die Arbeit an Der König von Ozeanien das Österreichische Staatsstipendium für Literatur."

 

Peltier, Philippe and Floriane Morin (eds). 2006. Ombres de Nouvelle-Guinée: Arts de la grande île d'Océanie dans les collections Barbier-Mueller. Paris and Genève: Somogy Éditions d'Art and Musée Barbier-Mueller. 470 pages. EAN: 978-2757200162.

 

Also published inEnglish by Somogy Éditions d'Art and Musée Barbier-Mueller as Shadows of New Guinea: Art from the Great Island of Oceania in the Barbier-Mueller Collections (EAN: 978-2757200261).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 345-347 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 20, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2112.html.

 

Contributions by Jean-Paul Barbier-Mueller, Joshua A. Bell, Harry Beran, Ludovic Coupaye, Ingrid Heermann, Anita Herle, Anna-Karina Hermkens, Christian Kaufmann, Pieter Ter Keurs, Don Niles, Philippe Peltier, Dirk Smidt

 

"Une publication révélant le talent extraordinaire des sculpteurs de Nouvelle-Guinée, tour à tour empreint d'une férocité inouïe, puis d'une délicatesse surprenante. Les rituels des natifs de la grande île incluaient parfois la 'chasse aux têtes', perçue comme la nécessité de s'approprier la force vitale de l'ennemi pour augmenter la sienne propre. Une mythologie complexe, qui a donné naissance à de nombreuses sculptures sacrées ou magiques, les plus anciennes étant réalisées avec des outils de pierre, de coquilles tranchantes et les finitions, avec les dents pointues de petits animaux. Le musée Barbier-Mueller présente près de 200 pièces de Nouvelle-Guinée appartenant à ses collections, dont une partie inédite, documentées par de splendides photographies."

 

Poatyië, Anna Pwicèmwâ and David Dijou. 2008. Le chasseur de la vallée / I pwi-a i-pwâ mûrû géé nâ mötö. Nouméa: Éditions Grain de Sable and Agence de Développement de la Culture Kanak and Centre Culturel Tjibaou. 28 pages. EAN: 978-2-909407-45-6. With CD. Bilingual: French and Paicî.

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 161-162 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5834.html.

 

"Album jeunesse (avec CD audio) de Anna Pwicèmwâ Poatyië, illustrations de David Dijou .

 

Seul au bord du ruisseau, le chasseur entend une voix. Curieux, il part à la découverte d'une vallée mystérieuse et fait une rencontre inattendue. Est-ce un rêve ou la réalité? Cette aventure est aussi l'occasion de rappeler quelques règles de politesse en pays paicî."

 

Sam, Drilë and Francia Boi. 2006. La leçon du bénitier / Tha tro kö a pitru. Nouméa: Éditions Grain de Sable and Agence de Développement de la Culture Kanak and Centre Culturel Tjibaou. 28 pages. EAN: 978-2-909407-45-6. With CD. Bilingual: French and Drehu.

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 161-162 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5834.html.

 

"Conte kanak bilingue drehu-français avec CD audio. Texte de Drilë Sam, illustrations de Francia Boi.

 

Quand le grand frère lui vole son bigorneau, le petit frère ne dit rien. Quand le grand frère lui prend son troca, le petit frère ne dit toujours rien, mais en apercevant un bénitier, il décide de donner une bonne leçon à son aîné."

 

Tardieu, Vincent and Lise Barnéoud. 2007. Santo: Les explorateurs de l'île planète. Preface by Nicolas Hulot and Epilogue by Philippe Bouchet, Hervé Le Guyader and Olivier Pascal. Paris: Belin. 288 pages; more than 350 illustrations in colour. EAN: 978-2-7011-4515-0 (cloth).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 336-337 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 22, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index1982.html.

 

"Santo. Une île aux antipodes dont le nom sonne comme une invitation au voyage. Un confetti perdu au milieu du Pacifique, qui fut le théâtre d'une aventure exceptionnelle: Santo 2006. La plus grande expédition scientifique jamais organisée au chevet de la biodiversité. Forêts, grottes, récifs coralliens, profondeurs abyssales: quatre mois durant, tous les milieux de cette véritable 'île planète', concentré des écosystèmes les plus riches et les plus fragiles sur Terre, ont été passés au peigne fin par près de cent soixante chercheurs naturalistes venus de vingt-cinq pays différents.

Vincent Tardieu et Lise Barnéoud ont été les témoins privilégiés de ce grand moment de l'aventure et de la science. De leur immersion parmi les naturalistes et les habitants de Santo, est né ce livre. Illustré par plus de 350 photographies montrant les hommes et les femmes, leur environnement et les visages étonnants de la biodiversité découverte, il offre le récit d'une exploration exaltante. Il montre une science vivante, en action. Au-delà de Santo, cet ouvrage est au coeur d'une cause urgente et de portée planétaire: mieux connaître la biodiversité et mieux la préserver des périls qui la menacent."

 

Waheo, Taï. 2008. Oûguk, Le petit coco vert / Oûguk, Ame metu ke caa ûen: Récit autobiographique en français et en iaai. Nouméa: Agence de Développement de la Culture Kanak and Centre Culturel Tjibaou. 195 pages. EAN: 978-2-909407-37-1 (cloth). Biligual: French and Iaai.

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2008 (1-2): 363-364 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 23, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2362.html.

 

"Taï Waheo, père et grand-père raconte son enfance faite à la fois d'amour, de solitude et de déchirements. Il a écrit son histoire en iaai puis l'a adaptée lui-même en français."

 

Maclellan, Nic. 2006. Bridging the Gap between State and Society: New Directions for the Solomon Islands. With contributions by Anna Powles, Anne Lockley, Nancy Kwalea, Paul Roughan and Forrest Metz. Edited by Elizabeth Wheeler. Fitzroy and Auckland: Oxfam Australia and Oxfam New Zealand. 34 pages. Retrieved August 5, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://www.oxfam.org.au/world/pacific/solomons/docs/Bridging_the_Gap_July2006.pdf.

 

"In April 2006, Solomon Islanders went to the polls to elect a new government. But the riots that rocked the capital Honiara after the selection of a new Prime Minister are a sharp reminder of the challenges still facing the country.

 

Overseas donors have made a significant commitment to rebuilding Solomon Islands after years of conflict between 1998 and 2003. The first phase of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), a deployment of police and military forces in July 2003, saw a welcome and rapid improvement in law and order on the streets of Honiara, and the removal of many guns from the community. 

 

As the third anniversary of the RAMSI intervention approaches, Solomon Islanders within and outside the public service and political establishment need greater engagement with, and ownership of, the process of redeveloping the Solomon Islands. 

 

As Mission Helpem Fren, the 2005 report of the Pacific Islands Forum's Eminent Persons Group, states, 'Out of necessity, RAMSI has, since its arrival, adopted an interventionist approach. Without compromising the substantial security gains that have been made, it seems timely to adopt a more development approach with Solomon Islands being an equal partner, if not the driver.'

 

This report includes four sections. Part 1. Presents a range of voices from the streets and settlements, from the capital and the provinces - community perspectives on the many ways that state building is failing to address the immediate concerns of people at the local level. Part 2. Looks at the central focus of RAMSI's activity as a state building exercise. It discusses the issue of state and society relations in Melanesian countries, the international context for intervention in developing countries, and the link to economic development. Part 3. Outlines opportunities, arising from the recent national elections, for a review of relationships between outside donors, the Solomon Islands Government, and church, community and customary authorities engaged in development activities. Part 4. Outlines recommendations for debate and action."

 

MICRONESIA

 

Flinn, Juliana. 2010 (January). Mary, the Devil, and Taro: Catholicism and Women's Work in a Micronesian Society. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 208 pages; 10 illustrations. EAN: 978-0-8248-3374-9 (cl).

 

"Catholicism, like most world religions, is patriarchal, and its official hierarchies and sacred works too often neglect the lived experiences of women. Looking beyond these texts, Juliana Flinn reveals how women practice, interpret, and shape their own Catholicism on Pollap Atoll, part of Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia. She focuses in particular on how the Pollapese shaping of Mary places value on indigenous notions of mothering that connote strength, active participation in food production, and the ability to provide for one's family.

 

Flinn begins with an overview of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Pollap and an introduction to Mary, who is celebrated by islanders not as a biologized mother but as a productive one, resulting in an image of strength rather than meekness: For Pollapese women Mary is a vanquisher of Satan, a provider for her children, and a producer of critical resources, namely taro. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception validates and celebrates local notions of motherhood in ways that highlight productive activities. The role of women as producers in the community is extolled, but the event also provides and sanctions new opportunities for women, allowing them to speak publicly, exhibit creativity, and influence the behavior of others. A chapter devoted to the imagery of Mary and its connections to Pollapese notions of motherhood is followed by a conclusion that examines the implications of these for women's ongoing productive roles, especially in comparison with Western notions and contexts in which women have been removed or excluded from production.

 

Mary, the Devil, and Taro contributes significantly to the study of women's religion and the appropriation of Christianity in local contexts. It will be welcomed by not only anthropologists and other scholars concerned with religion in the Pacific, but also those who study change in gender roles and Marian devotions in cross-cultural perspectives.

Juliana Flinn is professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock."

 

 

Käser, Lothar. 2006. Licht in der Südsee: Wilhelm Friedrich und Elisabeth Kärcher: Leben und Werk eines Liebenzeller Missionarsehepaares. Bad Liebenzell: Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission. 344 pages. EAN: 978-3921113882 (hb).

 

"Das Leben von Missionarinnen und Missionaren verläuft selten geradlinig und geruhsam. Wer Menschen mit den Inhalten der Bibel bekannt machen und sie zur Erkenntnis der Wahrheit des Evangeliums von Jesus Christus führen will, muss sich auf einiges gefasst machen. Kaum jemand kann sich vorstellen, was es für ihn bedeutet, den vertrauten europäisch-westlichen Kulturkreis zu verlassen und zu lernen, in einer fremden Gesellschafts-form zu leben, ihre Sprache und ihre so ganz anderen Denkformen zu lernen und sich damit zu identifizieren. Was Missionare dabei erleben, erfahren sie vielfach als Lebenserfüllung. Manchmal geraten sie dabei zwischen die Fronten der Weltpolitik. Dann passieren die unglaublichsten Dinge, wie die Lebensgeschichte des Liebenzeller Missionarsehepaars Wilhelm Friedrich und Elisabeth Kärcher zeigt.

 

Sie reisen in den dreißiger Jahren des vergangenen Jahrhunderts nach Chuuk in Mikronesien aus, eine Inselgruppe der Karolinen in der früheren deutschen Südsee. Als der zweite Weltkrieg ausbricht, wird die Familie von den Japanern interniert, überlebt auf geradezu wunderbare Weise mitten im Bombenhagel und baut danach unter schwierigsten Bedingungen und großen persönlichen Opfern eine völlig zerstörte Gemeindestruktur wieder auf, die dann in den siebziger Jahren als Evangelical Church of Chuuk selbständig wurde.

 

Der Autor, Professor der Ethnologie, hat Wilhelm F. Kärcher und seine Frau persönlich gekannt und auf ihre Veranlassung hin mehrere Jahre als Lehrer und Bibelübersetzer auf Chuuk gearbeitet."

 

POLYNESIA

 

Al Wardi, Sémir. 2008. Tahiti Nui, ou, Les dérives de l'autonomie. Paris: L'Harmattan. 263 pages. EAN: 978-2-296-05032-7 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 165-167 (by G. Malogne-Fer) -retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5756.html.

 

"Cette étude tente d'expliquer la complexité de la vie politique en Polynésie française de 1996 à 2006. Après la fin des essais nucléaires à Moruroa, eu égard à sa grande proximité avec le président de la République, le chef de l'exécutif polynésien n'a plus été freiné dans sa tentation autoritaire qui, à partir de 1996, a finalement abouti à 'verrouiller' la société. Pour diverses raisons, ce pouvoir chute en 2004 et c'est alors l'alternance avec une coalition autonomiste-indépendantiste qui donnera une gouvernance peu efficace. La Polynésie connaît quatre années d'instabilité notamment dues au nomadisme politique. Par ailleurs, on peut avancer que le concept d'autonomie étant assez étranger à la culture politique républicaine, il n'est compris ni par l'État, ni par le pouvoir local: on note une collusion, même inconsciente, entre les deux pouvoirs pour maintenir la Polynésie en dehors des valeurs et des principes de la République. De plus, dans certains domaines essentiels comme ceux du droit, des libertés, de la démocratie, de l'économie, du social, de l'environnement, la pratique de l'autonomie a souvent représenté une régression."

 

Barnum, Jill, Wyn Kelley, and Christopher Sten (eds). 2007. "Whole Oceans Away": Melville and the Pacific. Kent: Kent State University Press. 384 pages. ISBN 978-0-87338-893-1 (cloth).

 

"Herman Melville had a lifelong fascination with the Pacific and with the diverse island cultures that dotted this vast ocean. The essays in this collection articulate the intersection of Western and Pacific perspectives in Melville's work, from his early writings based on ocean voyages and encounters in the Pacific to Western modes of thought in relation to race and national identity. These essays interrogate familiar themes of Western colonialism while introducing fresh insights, including Melville's use of Pacific cartography, the art of tattooing, and his interest in evolutionary science.

 

Besnier, Niko. 2009 (July). Gossip and the Everyday Production of Politics. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 264 pages. EAN: 978-0-8248-3338-1 (cloth).

 

"Although gossip is disapproved of across the world's societies, it is a prominent feature of sociality, whose role in the construction of society and culture cannot be overestimated. In particular, gossip is central to the enactment of politics: through it people transform difference into inequality and enact or challenge power structures. Based on the author's intimate ethnographic knowledge of Nukulaelae Atoll, Tuvalu, this work uses an analysis of gossip as political action to develop a holistic understanding of a number of disparate themes, including conflict, power, agency, morality, emotion, locality, belief, and gender. It brings together two methodological traditions - the microscopic analysis of unelicited interaction and the macroscopic interpretation of social practice - that are rarely wedded successfully.

 

Drawing on a broad range of theoretical resources, Niko Besnier approaches gossip from several angles. A detailed analysis of how Nukulaelae's people structure their gossip interactions demonstrates that this structure reflects and contributes to the atoll's political ideology, which wavers between a staunch egalitarianism and a need for hierarchy. His discussion then turns to narratives of specific events in which gossip played an important role in either enacting egalitarianism or reinforcing inequality. Embedding gossip in a broad range of communicative practices enables Besnier to develop a nuanced analysis of how gossip operates, demonstrating how it allows some to gain power while others suffer because of it. Throughout, he is particularly attentive to the ways in which anthropologists themselves are the subject and object of gossip, making his work a notable contribution to reflexive social science.

 

Written in an engaging and accessible style, Gossip and the Everyday Production of Politics will appeal to students and scholars of political, legal, linguistic, and psychological anthropology; social science methodology; communication, conflict, gender, and globalization studies; and Pacific Islands studies.

Niko Besnier is professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Amsterdam."

 

Bird, Isabella L. 2007. Six Months in the Sandwich Islands: Among Hawaii's Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing. 336 pages. ISBN: 1-56647-050-1 (pb). First published in 1875.

 

"This Victorian travel book sold out in England in 1875, two years after author Isabella Bird made her meticulously observed journey through Hawai'i. In captivating prose, she recounts her adventures on these mountainous islands, “cleft by deep chasms and ravines of cool shadow and entrancing green.” Even though it was written over a hundred years ago, this book is still interesting and informative particularly to the cultural tourist."

 

Brun, Michel (ed.). 2007. Eteroa: Mythes, légendes et traditions d'une île polynésienne. Translation, annotation and editing by Michel Brun. Preface by Edgar Tetahiotupa. Paris: Gallimard. 294 pages. EAN: 978-2070777082 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 167-172 (by B. Saura) - retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5770.html.

 

"Lorsque les premiers arrivants atteignirent Rurutu, l'île était déserte. Ils la trouvèrent telle que les dieux l'avaient créée, luxuriante et belle. Elle n'avait pas de nom et ils l'appelèrent Eteroa. Venus de Tahiti, ils avaient été vaincus à la guerre par une autre tribu; n'ayant nulle part où se cacher, ils étaient promis à une mort certaine, et leur tribu à une destruction impitoyable. Il leur avait fallu fuir, sur la mer, à l'aveugle, droit devant eux, à la recherche d'une terre d'asile. Ils avaient en effet préféré les hasards, si grands fussent-ils, d'une traversée dont ils pressentaient les dangers, à ce qui les attendait s'ils restaient aux mains de leurs ennemis.

Ainsi débute l'histoire de cette île, dont les fondements ont été mis au jour par un certain nombre de publications à partir de documents de famille, appelés puta tupuna ou 'livre des ancêtres'.

 

Cet ouvrage inédit présente les mythes, légendes et traditions de cette petite île de l'archipel des Australes. Les récits, recueillis et préservés par écrit grâce à la sagesse du dernier roi de l'île, Teuruarii IV, ont été transmis à l'auteur par son père adoptif, Anaitu Pito a Tehio, natif de Rurutu et issu de la lignée royale, qui les avait lui-même reçus de son grand-père, Puoro a Tehio, qui en était le dépositaire."

 

Daws, Gavin and Bennett Hymer (eds). 2008. Honolulu Stories: Voices of the Town through the Years - Two Centuries of Writing. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing. 1185 pages. EAN: 978-1-56647-843-4 (pb) and 1-56647-851-0 (hc).

 

"Hawaii has never seen a book like this! Honolulu Stories runs over 1000 pages and features the work of over 270 authors, and over 350 selections. It brings together two hundred years of writing and literary history about the town: a rich feast of words including short fiction, excerpts from novels, scenes from plays, poems, chants, song lyrics, cartoons, stand-up comedy, and the modern art of slam poetry.

 

The story of Honolulu comes alive; from its origins as a tiny village, to raucous whaling port and capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, to multicultural metropolis flanked by Waikiki on one end and Pearl Harbor at the other. The myriad of authors featured run the gamut from the world-famous, to locally beloved, to unknown. There are Hawaiian chanters whose names are forever lost, but whose words live on. A roving journalist who called himself Mark Twain; a deserter from a whaling ship who went to work on the waterfront in 1843 - Herman Melville; Rap Reiplinger, the genius of Hawaiian stand-up comedy; Jack London, the first ever to include the sport of surfing in short stories; Lois Ann Yamanaka, who did the impossible and took pidgin English to a national level; Korean political exiles; a Portuguese poet in a mom-and-pop store; school kids; a man in prison; a ninety-year-old woman still composing tanka...

 

Gavan Daws first came to Hawaii in 1958. He is published worldwide and has written thirteen books including Shoal of Time, Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai and Land and Power in Hawaii. He is the recipient of the Hawaii Award for Literature and has been named a Distinguished Historian by the Hawaiian Historical Society.

 

Bennett Hymer has lived in Honolulu for nearly 40 years. Since founding Mutual Publishing in 1976, he has released nearly 500 books about Hawaii in nearly every genre. A love of the islands and a love of stories and writings continue to inspire him in his work. He is a graduate of McGill University (BA) and Northwestern University (PhD).

 

Govor, Elena. 2010 (June). Twelve Days at Nuku Hiva: Russian Encounters and Mutiny in the South Pacific. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 304 pages; 50 illustrations. EAN: 978-0-8248-3368-7 (cl).

 

"In August 1803 two Russian ships, the Nadezhda and the Neva, set off on a round-the-world voyage to carry out scientific exploration and collect artifacts for Alexander I's ethnographic museum in St. Petersburg. Russia's strategic concerns in the north Pacific, however, led the Russian government to include as part of the expedition an embassy to Japan, headed by statesman Nikolai Rezanov, who was given authority over the ships' commanders without their knowledge. Between them the ships carried an ethnically and socially disparate group of men: Russian educated elite, German naturalists, Siberian merchants, Baltic naval officers, even Japanese passengers. Upon reaching Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas archipelago on May 7, 1804, and for the next twelve days, the naval officers revolted against Rezanov's command while complex crosscultural encounters between Russians and islanders occurred. Elena Govor recounts the voyage, reconstructing and exploring in depth the tumultuous events of the Russians' stay in Nuku Hiva; the course of the mutiny, its resolution and aftermath; and the extent and nature of the contact between Nuku Hivans and Russians.

 

Govor draws directly on the writings of the participants themselves, many of whom left accounts of the voyage. Those by the ships' captains, Krusenstern and Lisiansky, and the naturalist George Langsdorff are well known, but here for the first time, their writings are juxtaposed with recently discovered textual and visual evidence by various members of the expedition in Russian, German, Japanese - and by the Nuku Hivans themselves. Two sailor-beachcombers, a Frenchman and an Englishman who acted as guides and interpreters, later contributed their own accounts, which feature the words and opinions of islanders. Govor also relies on a myth about the Russian visit recounted by Nuku Hivans to this day.

 

With its unique polyphonic historical approach, Twelve Days at Nuku Hiva presents an innovative crosscultural ethnohistory that uncovers new approaches to—and understandings of—what took place on Nuku Hiva more than two hundred years ago.


Elena Govor is research fellow at the Division of Pacific and Asian History at the Australian National University."

 

Hunkin, Galumalemana Afeleti. 2009 (June). Gagana Samoa: A Samon Language Coursebook. Revised edition. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 200 pages. EAN: 978-0-8248-3131-8 (pb). With CD. First published in 1988 by Polynesian Press.

 

"Gagana Samoa is a modern Samoan language resource. Designed for both classroom and personal use, it features a methodical approach suitable for all ages; an emphasis on patterns of speech and communication through practice and examples; 10 practical dialogues covering everyday social situations; an introduction to the wider culture of fa'asamoa through photographs; more than 150 exercises to reinforce comprehension; a glossary of all Samoan words used in the coursebook; oral skills supplemented by an optional CD.

 

Contents: Foreword; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Pronunciation; 2. Greetings; 3. This, That, These, Those; 4. Articles; 5. Revision; 6. The Negative; 7. Adjectives; 8. Simple Commands; 9. Locating Objects or People; 10. Numbers; 11. Statements - the Word 'O; 12. Telling the Time; 13. The House; 14. Days of the Week, Months of the Year; 15. Verbs; 16. Verb Tenses; 17. Verb Usage; 18. Negative of the Tenses; 19. Personal Pronouns; 20. Pronoun Usage; 21. Possessive Pronouns; 22. More on Adjectives; 23. Buying and Selling; 24. The Verb 'To Be'; 25. The Structure 'To Have'; 26. Word Order in Samoan Sentences; 27. The Relative Particle Ai; 28. Conjunctions; 29. Ten Useful Conversations; 30. Songs, Rhymes, Riddles, Puzzles; 31. Revision; Answers to Exercises; Glossary; Bibliography.

 

Galumalemana Afeleti Hunkin was born in Fale'ula, Western Samoa, in 1945. He became the foundation tutor of Samoan language and culture at the Pacific Islanders' Educational Resource Centre, Auckland, in 1977. Four years later he was appointed director of the Wellington Multicultural Educational Resource Centre. He is now a senior lecturer in Samoan studies at Victoria University."

 

Ip, Manying (ed.). 2009 (May). The Dragon and the Taniwha: Maori and Chinese in New Zealand. Auckland: Auckland University Press. 360 pages. EAN: 978-1-86940-436-9 (pb).

 

"This important book explores for the first time the 150-year-old relationship between New Zealand's Indigenous Maori and the Chinese, that country's earliest and largest non-European immigrant group. Do Maori resent Chinese immigrants? Do Chinese New Zealanders understand the role of the tangata whenua (people of the land)? Have Maori and Chinese formed alliances based on common values and history? Contributors tackle such questions from many angles. They examine how Maori newspapers portrayed Chinese and how the Chinese media portray Maori; the changing demography of the Chinese and Maori populations; Maori-Chinese marriages and the ancient migration of both groups. The result is a rich portrait of the past and present relationships and a rich and complex social fabric."

Macpherson, Cluny and La' avasa Macpherson. 2009 (September). The Warm Winds of Change: Globalisation in Contemporary Samoa. Auckland: Auckland University Press. 224 pages. EAN: 978-1-86940-445-1 (pb).

 

"What makes a Samoan villager buy a Chinese polypropylene mat rather than weave their own pandanus mat? When do Pacific emigrants stop sending money back home? Do villagers stop giving away fish when they get a refrigerator? These are the sorts of everyday issues that Cluny and La'avasa Macpherson examine in this accessible sociological study of the influence of globalisation on Pacific societies. Global culture has had a powerful impact on the flora and fauna, people, languages and cultures of the Pacific for many centuries. While earlier changes were largely controlled and managed by Pacific societies as new people, ideas and things were incorporated into traditional culture, the Macphersons suggest that recent changes are presenting a more profound challenge to tradition. Illustrating the effects of globalisation from the perspective of a typical Samoan village, the authors document the shift in Pacific societies from baskets to buckets, from chiefly and religious authority to a questioning democracy and from in-kind work to a cash economy."

 

Kamehiro, Stacy L. 2009 (August). The Arts of Kingship: Hawaiian Art and National Culture of the Kalakaua Era. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 280 pages. EAN: 978-0-8248-3358-9 (paper) and 978-0-8248-3263-6 (cloth).

 

"The Arts of Kingship offers a sustained and detailed account of Hawaiian public art and architecture during the reign of David Kalakaua, the nativist and cosmopolitan ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom from 1874 to 1891. Stacy Kamehiro provides visual and historical analysis of Kalakaua's coronation and regalia, the King Kamehameha Statue, 'Iolani Palace, and the Hawaiian National Museum, drawing them together in a common historical, political, and cultural frame. Each articulated Hawaiian national identities and navigated the turbulence of colonialism in distinctive ways and has endured as a key cultural symbol.

 

These cultural projects were part of the monarchy's concerted effort to promote a national culture in the face of colonial pressures, internal political divisions, and declining social conditions for Native Hawaiians, which, in combination, posed serious threats to the survival of the nation. The Kalakaua leadership endorsed images that boosted international relations and appeased foreign agitators in the kingdom while addressing indigenous political cleavages. Kamehiro interprets the images, spaces, and institutions as articulations of the complex cultural entanglements and creative engagement with international communities that occur with prolonged colonial contact. Nineteenth-century Hawaiian sovereigns celebrated Native tradition, history, and modernity by intertwining indigenous conceptions of superior chiefly leadership with the apparati and symbols of Asian, American, and European rule. The resulting symbolic forms speak to cultural intersections and historical processes, claims about distinctiveness and commonality, and the power of objects, institutions, and public display to create meaning and enable action.

 

The Arts of Kingship pursues questions regarding the nature of cultural exchange, how precolonial visual culture engaged and shaped colonial contexts, and how colonial art informs postcolonial visualities and identities. It will be welcomed by readers with a general and scholarly interest in Hawaiian history and art. As it contributes to discussions about colonial cultures, nationalism, and globalization, this interdisciplinary work will appeal to art and architectural historians as well as those studying Pacific history, cultural and museum studies, and anthropology.

 

Contents: List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Hawaiian National Art; 1. The Art of Kingship: Kalakaua's Coronation; 2. Palaces and Sacred Spaces: 'Iolani Palace; 3. Memorializing the Monarchy: The King Kamehameha Monument; 4. (Re)Collecting History: The Hawaiian National Museum; 5. The Artistic Legacy of the Kalakaua Era; Catalogue of the Hawaiian National Museum and Library; Appendix: Historical Figures; Notes; Glossary; References; Index.

 

Stacy L. Kamehiro is associate professor in the History of Art and Visual Culture Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz."

 

Malogne-Fer, Gwendoline. 2007. Les femmes dans l'église protestante ma'ohi: Religion, genre et pouvoir en Polynésie française. Paris: Éditions Karthala. 512 pages. EAN: 978-2-8458-6938-7 (hb).

 

"L'auteure s'appuie sur des enquêtes et sur son observation de manifestations de l'Eglise évangélique de Polynésie française pour analyser l'institutionnalisation progressive du rôle des femmes dans cette Eglise avant la décision de 1995 de les admettre au pastorat. Puis elle s'intéresse aux parcours des premières femmes pasteures et diacres. Elle aborde enfin les conséquences de la féminisation du pastorat.


Cet ouvrage montre comment les femmes polynésiennes se sont appropriées le message biblique et ont conquis leur place en prenant la parole dans les assemblées ainsi que dans leur société."

 

Martin, Stéphane (ed.). 2009. Mangareva: Panthéon de Polynésie. Paris: Somogy Éditions d'Art with Musée du Quai Branly. 80 pages; 46 colour illustrations. EAN: 978-2757202562 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 163-165 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5761.html.

 

"Inconnue jusqu'en 1797, découverte par le capitaine James Wilson, l'île de Mangareva, au cœur de la Polynésie, est la plus importante île de l'archipel des Gambier. A partir de 1834, les missionnaires détruisirent en quelques années la culture ancestrale magarévienne, dont heureusement le père Laval recueillit les mythes et les coutumes. Seules subsistent aujourd'hui douze extraordinaires sculptures en bois, toutes réalisées d'un seul tenant. Ces vestiges exceptionnels par leur rareté, leur force et leurs formes sont uniques dans la sculpture polynésienne. Cet ouvrage qui les présente réunies pour la première fois depuis qu'elles ont quitté leur île, rend hommage, avec respect et émotion, aux croyances disparues et aux dieux de Polynésie."

 

Newell, Jennifer. 2010 (May). Paradise Exchanged: Tahitians, Europeans, and the Trade in Nature. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 336 pages; 32 illustrations. EAN: 978-0-8248-3281-1 (cl).

 

"When Captain Samuel Wallis became the first European to land at Tahiti in June 1767, he left a British flag on shore along with three guinea hens, a pair of turkeys, a pregnant cat, and a garden planted with peas for the chiefess Purea. Bougainville, Cook, Boenechea - all planted seeds of vegetables, grains, and fruit from Europe and elsewhere and gave breeding pairs of cattle, goats, sheep, and poultry to island chiefs. In turn, they were sent away with great quantities of important island resources, including valuable and spiritually significant pigs, trees, and fish. What did these exchanges mean? What was their impact? The answers are often unexpected. They also reveal the ways islanders retained control over their societies and landscapes in an era of increasing European intervention. Paradise Exchanged explores - from both the European and Tahitian perspective - the effects of 'ecological exchange' in Tahiti from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day.

 

Through a series of dramatic episodes, Paradise Exchanged uncovers the interweavings between chiefly power, ordinary Tahitians, European maritime ambitions, missionary endeavors, transplanted species, and existing ecologies. The long-term implications of these interweavings are important in not only the Tahiti-Europe encounter, but any cross-cultural exchange (particularly on island shores) in which plants and animals change places: Their ecological impact is always wide-ranging and rarely expected.

 

Evidence of these transactions can be found in a rich variety of voyage journals, missionary diaries, Tahitian accounts, colonial records, traveler's tales, and a range of visual and material sources. The story progresses from the first trades on Tahiti's shores for provisions for British and French ships to the contrasting histories of cattle in Tahiti and Hawai'i. Two key exportations of species are analyzed: the great breadfruit transplantation project that linked Britain to Tahiti and the Caribbean and the politically volatile trade in salt-pork that ran between Tahiti and the Australian colonies in the nineteenth century. In each case, the imprint of the exchange on modern Tahiti is highlighted.

 

Paradise Exchanged is a finely researched and entertaining work that will find a ready audience among those with an interest in the Pacific, ecological history, or the curious consequences of entangling people, plants, and animals on island shores.


Jennifer Newell is curator at the British Museum, specializing in Polynesia."

 

Ottino-Garanger, Pierre. 2006. Archéologie chez les Taïpi: Hatiheu, un projet partagé aux îles Marquises. Pirae and Paris: Au Vent des îles and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement. 176 pages. EAN: 2-909790-17-7 (hb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 175-176 (by G. Bounoure) - retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5836.html.

 

"Une approche différente des îles Marquises, chères à Gauguin et Brel, qui tiennent une place particulière dans l'inconscient collectif. Le récit d'un peuple à Huku Hiva qui retrouve son passé et se réapproprie sa culture, à travers la reconstitution d'un espace. Cet ouvrage aborde de façon originale l'aventure récente d'une poignée d'hommes et de femmes désireux de faire revivre leur histoire, les noms, l'âme et le sens de leur civilisation. Pour cela, il ont repoussé 'la brousse' pour faire entrer la lumière et doucement suivre l'étonnant maillage de murs et de platesformes de pierres couvertes de mousses, de fougères et de racines. Là, ils ont remis à jour le coeur d'un hameau ou une gigantesque place de fête. De ce passé enfoui, sombre et prestigieux tout à la fois, a surgi l'âme d'un peuple, à travers la découverte puis la compréhension de ce que fut autrefois le cadre de vie des Anciens, leurs lieux de réjouissance et de mort, la façon dont ils occupèrent l'espace et le mirent en valeur."

 

Peteuil, Marie-Françoise. 2004. Les évadés de l'île de Pâques: Loin du Chili, vers Tahiti (1944-1958). Paris: L'Harmattan. 270 pages. ISBN: 2-7475-7059-2 (pb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 128, 2009 (1): 162-163 (by H. Guiot) retrieved July 16, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index5850.html.

 

"Entre 1944 et 1958, à huit reprises, des habitants de l'Ile de Pâques, la terre la plus isolée du monde, ont tenté de rallier Tahiti, à 4000 km de là. Ils partaient à bord de bateaux minuscules, construits sur place en cachette ou volés aux Chiliens qui administraient l'île. Certains firent naufrage. D'autres réussirent. Pourquoi avoir tenté de si périlleux voyages? L'enquête autour de ces navigations éclaire une période très sombre et mal connue de l'île célèbre, quand les Pascuans étaient prisonniers sur leur propre terre, sous le joug des militaires chiliens."

 

Pio, Edwina. 2008. Sari: Indian Women at Work in New Zealand. Wellington: Dunmore Publishing. 175 pages. EAN: 978-1-877399-32-9 (pb).

 

"Showcases the lives of Indian women working in New Zealand through four generations, in their own words and through official data. Stories of fabulous success merge with underemployment and no employment. Memories of Maori friendships and Maori relatives intertwine with mentoring by Pakeha women. Sewn into the stories are the spangles of an Indian patriarchal system which supported these women and at the same time created very strict demarcation lines; and the shaded sequins of in-laws who might manipulate them as they sought to carve out their careers and gain an education."

 

Reilly, Michael P.J. 2009. Ancestral Voices of Mangaia: A History of the Ancient Gods and Chiefs. Auckland: Polynesian Society. 320 pages.

 

"Mangaia (traditionally known as Au'au Enua, which means 'terraced') is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga. Ancestral Voices discusses the stories told about the island's ancient gods and ruling chiefs from its creation origins up to the early mission period in the 19th century. The stories describe encounters with the domain of tuarangi 'spirit beings', among whom are included the island's principal gods, visitors from other Pacific islands and European explorers such as James Cook. The island's ruling chiefs controlled access to the economic and spiritual resources of Mangaia. Their stories relate the struggles for dominance over the lands and people, and the ritual sacrifices that were performed to ensure recognition of the chiefly rule by the gods. Ancestral Voices transcribes and interprets a series of indigenous historical texts, including proverbs, songs and narratives, as told by generations of Mangaian scholars, notably the tribal historian, Mamae, and by outsider scholars, particularly the missionary William Wyatt Gill and Te Rangi Hiroa."

 

O'Malley, Vincent and David Armstrong. 2008.  The Beating Heart: A Political and Socio-economic History of Te Arawa. Wellington: Huia Publishers. 354 pages. EAN: 978-1-86969-307-7 (hc).

 

"The Beating Heart details the determined efforts since the 1830s of Te Arawa tribes to work with the Crown and settlers to pursue a mutually advantageous relationship under the Treaty while at the same time maintaining their autonomy, culture, and control over their land and resources. While the ultimate outcomes were often calamitous for Te Arawa, the underlying theme of this book is highly positive. The tribes never ceased to struggle for a genuinely bicultural future. The book tells the story of the survival and resurgence of a dynamic people under circumstances that were often extreme and, as such, reflects the experiences of many other iwi in New Zealand today."

 

Oettli, Peter. 2008. God's Messenger: J.F. Riemschneider and Racial Conflict in 19th Century New Zealand. Wellington: Huia Publishing. 268 pages. EAN: 978-1-86969-320-6 (pa).

 

"This is a new biography of the German missionary Rev. J.F. Riemenschneider, who settled in the Taranaki region of New Zealand in the firtst half of the nineteenth century. It not only details the life and work of Riemenschneider but also examines the socio-political context of the times."

 

Palmer, Matthew. 2009 (April). The Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand's Law and Constitution. Wellington: Victoria University Press. 360 pages. EAN: 978-0864735799 (pb).

 

Announced in Oceania Newsletter No. 52, December 2008 as Stabilising the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand's Law and Constitution. with a shorter and rather different description.

 

What was the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in the law and constitution in 1840? What has the Treaty been reinterpreted to mean in New Zealand today? What is its current legal status and force? What is its current place in New Zealand's constitution?

 

In this academically robust and accessible book, supported by the New Zealand Law Foundation, Matthew Palmer answers these questions and goes on to provide concrete suggestions for where the Treaty should be in New Zealand's law and constitution.

 

The general meaning of the Treaty amounts to an explicit commitment to the health of the relationships between the Crown, Maori and other New Zealanders. However, the legal status of the Treaty is incoherent and its legal force inconsistent, and the constitutional place of the Treaty remains contested and political, reflecting the underlying tension between democratic majority rule and the protection of the indigenous rights of a minority, as well as uncertainty about the foundational legitimacy of New Zealand's constitution.

 

Matthew Palmer concludes that the time has come to stabilise the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand's constitution and law. He is concerned that the uncertainty about who should resolve the uncertainties of the Treaty's meaning could engender knee-jerk reactions to particular issues that could irretrievably damage the relationships between the Crown, Maori and other New Zealanders. He makes specific proposals to address those issues, but more important than these proposals is the need for open and honest public discussion about the issues, options and solutions - before the next set of problems hit us in our collective face.

 

Matthew Palmer has worked as a senior official in New Zealand government and as Dean of Law at Victoria University of Wellington. He has experience of the reality of Treaty negotiations and coordinating Treaty strategy for the Crown and has taught and written about the Treaty of Waitangi and comparative indigenous peoples' rights in New Zealand and North America."

 

Richter, Anke. 2003. Tokelaa - 200 Tage: Bericht aus einem sinkenden Paradies. Köln: Egmont Verlagsgesellschaft. 277 pages. EAN: 978-3802515279 (hb). Republished as paperback in 2004 by Piper Verlag in München: Zweihundert Tage in Tokelau: Bericht aus einem sinkenden Südseeparadies.

 

"Keine Autos, keine Gefängnisse, kein Fernsehen, keine Touristen - die Liste dessen, was es in dem winzigen Südseestaat Tokelau nicht gibt, ist lang und klingt paradiesisch. Für sieben Monate zieht die Autorin mit ihrer Familie auf ein abgeschiedenes Atoll der letzten Kolonie Neuseelands, zwischen Samoa und dem Äquator. Ihr Mann, der Kieler Urologe Frank Küppers, ist dort der Inselarzt; Sohn Jasper vier Jahre alt. Sie leben mit 500 Menschen als einzige Ausländer in der streng christlichen Dorfgemeinschaft, isoliert vom Rest der Welt: Die Verbindung nach draußen ist nur per Schiff einmal im Monat möglich.

 

Die drei Deutschen erleben eine nie gekannte Gemeinschaft und Gastfreundschaft und tauchen in die polynesische Kultur ein. Zusammen wird gekocht, getanzt, gefischt und vor allem viel gebetet. Geld und Konsum spielen keine Rolle, denn zu kaufen gibt es auf der Insel eh nicht viel - regelmäßig gehen die Vorräte aus. Die Dorfregeln sind strikt. Am Sonntag ist jede Aktivität verboten, zur Dämmerung herrscht Ausgangssperre, und Unverheiratete dürfen nicht unter einem Dach schlafen.

 

Als Anke Richter feststellt, dass sie schwanger ist, rückt die Isolation plötzlich in ein anderes Licht. Und auch die Südsee-Idylle bekommt Risse: Prügelstrafen und der Selbstmord eines Teenagers machen der Journalistin zu schaffen. Sie mischt sich ein und bricht damit eines der ungeschriebenen Gesetze ihrer Gastgeber.

 

Ihr mitreißend erzählter und sehr persönlicher Bericht zeigt eine Welt, die es nicht mehr lange geben wird. Durch die Klimaveränderung wird Tokelau eines Tages vom Meer überspült sein. 'Dies ist kein wahres Buch über ein fremdes Land,' schreibt die Autorin in ihrem Vorwort. 'Wären wir andere Menschen oder zu einem anderen Zeitpunkt in Tokelau gewesen, wäre auch unsere Geschichte eine völlig andere.'"

 

Tau, Te Maire and Atholl Anderson (eds). 2008. Ngai Tahu: A Migration History: The Carrington Text. Foreword by Tipene O'Regan. Wellington: Bridget Williams Books and Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu. 280 pages. EAN: 978-1-877242-39-7 (hb).

 

"Te Maire Tau writes: 'I first came across the Carrington typescript in 1987 when, as an under-graduate, I was researching our tribe's history in the Alexander Turnbull Library. Reading the text, I was captured for the rest of the day. Besides the exhilaration that historians always feel on coming across an old and little known manuscript, the story that Carrington told read differently from the standard histories of Ngai Tahu written by nineteenth-century scholars.'

 

Journalist Hugh Carrington wrote a history of Ngai Tahu in the 1930s, drawing on the knowledge of Oaro elder Hariata Beaton-Morel and earlier scholars. This text has been framed and edited by Te Maire Tau and Atholl Anderson, creating a history of Ngai Tahu's migration from the Wellington region through to Rakiura. Complementary traditions, in particular those recorded by Thomas Green, are also included.

 

This remarkable account presents oral tradition alongside archaeological evidence and narrative history. The editors both have extensive experience in researching the past of southern New Zealand, particularly Ngai Tahu.

 

Te Maire Tau lectures in history at Canterbury University; Atholl Anderson is Professor of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University."

 

Whistler, W. Arthur. 2009 (May). Plants of the Canoe People: An Ethnobotanical Voyage through Polynesia. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Distributed for the National Tropical Botanical Garden. 252 pages. EAN: 978-0-915809-00-4 (pb).

 

"Art Whistler has spent decades traveling throughout Polynesia, often with only a backpack, living with and studying the flora and people of these beautiful island groups. His was not a cursory work undertaken to acquire a graduate degree or fulfill a grant requirement - it was the result of a deep passion and interest in ethnobotany - an interest that has continued to grow with each passing decade. Whistler has become one of the world's experts on this subject and has published several popular books on Polynesian plants and their uses. Plants of the Canoe People takes these previous literary works to a new level and draws upon Whistler's years of field work to produce what will be a 'must read' for anyone interested in the ethno-biodiversity of the Pacific" - from the Foreword by Chipper Wichman, director, National Botanical Garden.

 

Writers Collective. 2008. Va'a: La pirogue polynésienne. Pirae: Au Vent des îles and Musée de Tahiti et des îles. 197 pages. EAN: 978-2-9156-5424-0 (hb).

 

Review: Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 126-127, 2009 (1-2): 359-361 (by I. Leblic) - retrieved July 22, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://jso.revues.org/index2352.html.

 

"Une présentation de la pirogue polynésienne: son architecture, son histoire, son ethnographie, les techniques de fabrication, etc.

 

La pirogue 'à balancier', généralement nommée va'a, waka ou vaka, est présente dans toutes les aires culturelles et linguistiques d'origine austronésienne, depuis Madagascar dans l'océan Indien, jusqu'aux îles mélanésiennes au sud de l'océan Pacifique, micronésiennes au nord, et polynésiennes à l'est. Moyen de transport des hommes - et aussi des plantes et des animaux nécessaires à leur subsistance - la pirogue ne véhicula pas seulement ces voyageurs du grand océan, mais également leur organisation sociale, politique et religieuse, facilitant les échanges cérémoniels, les rencontres communautaires et la perpétuation des mythes originels.

 

Va'a: La pirogue polynésienne, en écho à l'exposition tenue au Musée de Tahiti et des îles, Te Fare Manaha en 2004, propose une approche détaillée de la pirogue polynésienne sous des angles aussi différents que l'archéologie, l'ethnographie, la tradition orale ou la construction navale. Il invite à un prodigieux voyage qui mène des pirogues doubles des peuples de l'Océanie aux pirogues de course d'aujourd'hui en passant par celles de chacun des archipels: Tuamotu-Gambier, Australes, Société et Marquises.

 

Première grande contribution polynésienne à la connaissance de l'histoire maritime, et de surcroît superbement illustré, cet ouvrage est enfin un bel hommage à tous ceux - chercheurs, sportifs, navigateurs, tailleurs de pirogues, pêcheurs - qui rappellent à tous les Polynésiens qu'ils peuvent être fiers d'avoir apporté à l'humanité sa plus grande aventure de navigation."

 

 

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