BOOKS

Maddock, Kenneth (ed.): Identity, Land and Liberty: Studies in the Fourth World.

From the Introduction: 'This Collection of Studies in the Fourth World reflects growing controversy about indigenous peoples. In countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the place of Aborigines, Indians and Maoris provokes sharp debate. At the international level work is underway to revise Convention No. 107 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and to draw up a universal declaration of indigenous rights.

The papers which follow give a series of glimpses of this process of assertion and redefinition. But no pretence to universality will be found. Indigenous people live in too many countries for a collection the size of ours to be representative. Moreover, one has only to think of Australia, Columbia, Fiji, the Indo-Chinese region, New Zealand, Nicaragua and the USSR to see that countries concerned differ enormously in their history, their internal constitution and the kinds of life and opportunity open to their inhabitants.'

Contributors: Kenneth Maddock, Toon van Meijl, Isla Nottingham,, Bruce W. Hodgins, Bradford W. Morse, Edwin Wilmsen, Emmanuel Azzopardi.

Nijmegen, Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology & The Centre for Pacific Studies, Sociaal Anthropologische Cahiers XXIV 1991.

Orders from:

University of Nijmegen, Dictatencentrale Directoraat A-faculteiten, Thomas van Aquinostraat 2, 6500 HK Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Code 4.20.01

Papers of Taonga Maori Conference

New Zealand, 18-27 November 1990. Cultural Conservation Advisory Council/Te Roopu Manaakii Nga Taonga Tuku Iho. Department of Internal Affairs, Te Tari Taiwhenua. Wellington New Zealand, 1991.

Contents:

He Inoi Whakamoemiti:

Prayer: Reverend Rua Anderson

Foreword: Mrs Mina McKenzie, Chairwoman, Cultural Conservation Advisory Council

Welcoming Speech: Hon Douglas Graham, Minister of Cultural Affairs

Commentary

Papers:

Adrienne Kaeppler: Keynote Address: Taonga Maro and the Representation of "Other".

Ranginui Walker: Maori Protocol/Kawa.

Pakariki Harrison: The Carving of Tanbe Nui-a-Rangi, Auckland, University Marae.

Toi Maihi: Contemporary Maori Women's Art.

Michael Ames: Biculturalism in Exhibitions.

Dorota Starzecka: The British Museum and its Maori Collections.

David John Lee: Early Methods of Conservation of Maori Wooden Artifacts in the Collections of the Department of Ethnography of the British Museum.

Clara Wilpert: The Maori Collection of the Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde.

Markus Schindlbeck: On the History of the Maori Collection in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin.

Panel Discussions:

-Issues Facing Conservators of Taonga Maori.

-Issues Facing Curators of Taonga Maori in Overseas Museums

Peter Gathercole: The Maori Collection at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Dieter Heintze: Remarks on the History of the Taonga Maori Collection at the Ubersee Museum in Bremen.

Dale Idiens: The Maori Collection in the National Museums of Scotland.

Dirk Smidt: The Taonga Maori Collection of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden

James Mack: Cultural Awareness in Exhibitions

Panel Discussions: Kaitiaki Maori from New Zealand Museums. Taonga Maori: Protocol, Exhibitions and Conservation. Arapata Hakiwai, Barnara Moke-Sly, John Takarangi.

Cliff Whiting: Contemporary Maori Art and the Influence of Christianity.

John Terrell: Museums and Modern Life: "Mirror for Man" or "Door in the Wall".

George Banks: Taonga Maori at the Manchester Museum.

Jane Peirson-Jones: Taonga Maori in the Birmingham Museum.

Charles Hunt: Taonga Maori in Aberdeen University.

Leonard Pole: A Maori Collection in Saffron Walden Museum: the Perspective of a Local General Museum in the United Kingdom.

Hirini Moko Mead: The Nature of Taonga.

Radio New Zealand Interview with Mina McKenzie.

Plenary Session Report.

Appendices:Participants' list

Glossaryp> Acknowlegements, photo credits and catalogue note.

Australian Bureau of Statistics: Aboriginal People in the Northern Territory.

This is the first time that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has attempted to put together a comprehensive publication about Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. It is particularly significant as Aboriginal people make up about 22 per cent of the total population of the Northern Territory. Although the publication uses as its primary source of data the five yearly Census of Population and Housing, the last of which was conducted in 1986, it also draws on administrative data from other sources where appropriate and available. The intent of the publication is to provide a contemporary description of the Aboriginal community in the Territory in a style that is both informative and easy to follow. 1990. Darwin: Australian Bureau of Statistics. ISBN 0-7245-1522.4, 104 pp., A$ 19.50.

Ayers-Counts, Dorothy (ed.): Domestic Violence in Oceania

The forms, incidence and background of domestic violence in 12 contemporary South Pacific societies are examined in this collection that covers the culture areas of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia and Papua New Guinea. The contributors delve into child, spouse, and elderly abuse, and consider the effects of alcohol, modernization and urbanization pressures, socialization, gender relations, and traditional attitudes toward violence. Two essays discuss societies with low incidences of domestic violence. Research was conducted using an anthropological approach to observation. Chapters include case studies, relevant historical and ethnographic background, and analysis from theoretical and cross-cultural perspectives. An introduction and conclusion review the literature in the field. Domestic Violence in Oceania is of value to anthropologists and sociologists and also to those involved in social work, public health, police work, law and government. 1990, 312 pp. $ 10.00 (A special issue of the Journal of Pacific Studies, vol.13, no.3). Distributed for The Institute of Polynesian Studies by the University of Hawaii Press.

Bandler, Faith: Turning the Tide. A personal History of the Federal Council for the advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders

The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander was a major political force in Aboriginal affairs in the 1960s. The political and media campaigns it developed were an important factor in the push for land rights and equal wages, and it scored a major victory with the referendum of 1967. Faith Bandler was a key figure in FCAATSI, and in the book she tells us of her early life and her involvement in the organisation. In her Foreword to the book, Dr. Roberta Sykes observes: "This study of FCAATSI and events leading up to the referendum will be a major contribution to the study of our history. Hopefully, by providing an example of what can be achieved when the will exists in both the black and white communities, it will also provide impetus for our struggle into the future. There is, regrettably, still so much to do". 1989, 192 pp, $ 13,95.

Barlow, Cleve: Key Concepts in Maori Culture

Important concepts in Maori culture are defined and discussed in short essay-style definitions in both English and Maori. The traditional knowledge of the ware wananga (school of learning) is drawn upon, and modern usage of Maori language is also described. 208 pg., (OUP New Zealand) [[sterling]] 13.50.

Barth, Frederick: Cosmologies in the Making. A Generative Approach to Cultural Variation in Inner New Guinea.

In examining the changes that have taken place in the secret cosmological lore transmitted in male initiation ceremonies among the Mountain Ok of Inner New Guinea, this book offers a new way of explaining how cultural change occurs.

Professor Barth focuses in particular on the local variations in cosmological traditions that exist between the Ok people, who otherwise share largely similar cultures. Rejecting existing anthropological theory as inadequate for explaining this, Professor Barth constructs a new model of the mechanism of cultural change, explaining the role that individual creativity plays in it, and maintaining that cosmologies can be adequately understood only if they are regarded as knowledge in the process of communication, rather than as fixed bodies of belief. He goes on to show that hypotheses about the courses of change that mechanisms would generate in fact fit the actual patterns of variation that are found among the Ok.

The book with a foreword by Jack Goody, provides a fine example of the interaction between factual observation and theoretical constructs, Barth's theoretical model not only is inspired by a puzzling variation in field data within an otherwise similar material and ecological setting, but as it stands also explains the mechanisms of change generating the variations. 1990, Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology 64. ISBN 0521 387353, 112 pp., Paperback [[sterling]]6.95.

Berg, Paula van den: Singsing Tumbuan (Mask Dance)

It is well known that Papua New Guinea has a great diversity of culture and a wealth of cultural traditions, many of which are so colorfully displayed at the many Cultural Shows held annually throughout the country. Each Show participant wears his or her particular traditional decorations proudly, affirming his/her identity as a member of a particular community, cultural or geographical area.

When queried about the purpose or meaning of their display and performance, often performers will tell you that they are only following their traditional custom of dress and dance. For more information, you will be directed to one of the elder community leaders, who will divulge information to you according to his or her discretion.

A dance or singsing as performed at a Cultural Show is only a brief impression of the authentic singsing that is held in the village setting, and may last anywhere from several days to several months. A singsing performance is the climax of a long process of preparations which may take several weeks, or several years. During the period of preparation, all major daily activities are focussed on the singsing and life is enhanced by the importance of the coming event.

This booklet explains and illustrates in summary the process of preparing and performing a SINGSING TUMBUAN in Birap Village, a community of approximately 300 people situated in the Lower Ramu River region of Bogia District in Madang Province.

This book supplements the video documentary production Singsing Tumbuan (Mask Dance), produced by Asples Productions. P.O. box 4009, Boroko, Papua New Guinea, 1992.

Bolger, Audrey: Aboriginal Women and Violence.

Aboriginal women constitute only 11% of the total population in the Northern Territory yet in 1987 they were the victims in 44% of homicides in the Territory. They were also disproportionately represented in police statistics of victims of assaults and in health statistics of hospitalisation for injury due to assault.

In this book some of the reasons for these horrifying statistics are discussed. It is argued that many contributing factors have led to the present situation where, as one woman remarked: 'There are now three kinds of violence in Aboriginal society - alcohol violence, traditional violence, and bullshit traditional violence' and women are victims of all three.

Aboriginal women from communities, camps and towns around the Northern Territory relate their experiences of violence, their concerns about it and attempts to deal with it. The policies and practices of public sector agencies in relation to Aboriginal victims of violence are also critically examined. Finally some suggestions for action to assist in alleviating the problem are canvassed.

Copies of this book are available from the North Australia Research Unit, cost $ 14 plus postage. Inquiries should be directed to: Mrs. Janet Sincock, North Australia Research Unit, P.O. Box 41321 Casuarina NT 0811, Australia.

Borofsky, Robert: Making History. Pukapukan and Anthropological Constructions of Knowledge.

Making History begins with a puzzle, in 1976 the inhabitants of Pukapuka, a Polynesian Island in the South Pacific, revived a major form of social organization which they claimed to be traditional. Yet five professional anthropologists, who conducted research on the island prior to 1976, do not mention it in any of their writings. Had the Pukapukans 'invented' a new tradition? Or had the anthropologists erred in not recording an old one? In unravelling this puzzle, Robert Borofsky explores two different ways of constructing knowledge about the past, two different ways of 'making history'.

'I recommend the book highly as a good anthropological read; the writing is lucid and stylish, and the contents rich and original'.

233 pp., ISBN 0 521 39648 4, Paperback, [[sterling]] 9.95 net, 1990.

Brady, Maggie: Heavy Metal: The Social Meaning of Petrol Sniffing in Australia.

This study, based on extensive field work and literature survey, looks at the complex subject of petrol sniffing among Aboriginal teenagers from an anthropological perspective. Brady suggests that not only we had the wrong answers in the past, but we have been asking the wrong questions. This book should be read by anyone interested in one of the important social problems in Aboriginal Australia today. ISBN 0 85575 215 7; 1990.

Dixon, Bob; Bill Ramson & Mandy Thomas: Australian Aboriginal Words in English. Their Origin and Meaning.

Over 400 words from Aboriginal languages are recorded in the Australian National Dictionary. This book brings these together adding new words, such as chuditch and koonac which have been documented since the dictionary was published and provides the fullest available information about both their Aboriginal background and their Australian English history.

Words like jackeroo and jumbuck, kangaroo and koala, mallee and mulga are quintessentially Australian. Australian Aboriginal Words in English provides authoritative information about their history and a fascinating insight into the contacts between the first Australians and the European settlers. ISBN 0-19-553099-3, 304 pg. (OUP Australia) [[sterling]]25.

Dixon, R. & Martin Duwell (eds.): The Honey Ant Men's Love Song and other Aboriginal Song Poems

This anthology of Aboriginal song poems is the first collection of its kind, bringing together examples of an ancient and continuing tradition from the Central Australian love song of the honey ant men to the complex and elliptical Simpson Desert narrative of the carpet snakes; this collection serves to widen and enrich our perspective on Australian poetry.

These songs appear in an amazing diversity of styles. Selections here are from four distinct Aboriginal language groups of North Queensland, Central Australia, Arnhem Land and the Simpson Desert.

Each song appears in its original language with the translation opposite. The cultural context is provided by brief introductions and detailed commentaries throughout the anthology.

St.Lucia, Qld.: Univ.of Queensland Press, 1990.

Fatiaki, Anselmo e.a.: Rotuma, Hanua Pumue: Precious Land.

Off the main island of Rotuma is Hofliua, or Split Island. Legend has it that a hermit crab challenged a swordfish to a race from Tonga to Rotuma. By spacing his hermit crab friends along the way, right up to the beach at Rotuma, the crab tricked the swordfish into believing he had won. Twice they raced, and twice the crab deceived his friend. On the third occasion , the angered swordfish put all his effort into victory. As he approached Rotuma, he was travelling so fast that he sliced through the small off-shore island of Hofliua, cutting it forever in two.

Today, perhaps, the swordfish is Modernisation. It has split the Rotuman people between yesterday and tomorrow, the old and the new. It has split them, too, across hundreds of miles of ocean so that, now, over sixty percent live in Fiji.

This book describes aspects of Rotuma's unique culture and the tensions faced today as the twentieth century invades its isolation.

Suva (Fiji): Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific, 1991.

Gaffney, Ellie: Somebody Now: The Autobiography of Ellie Gaffney, A Woman of Torres Strait

Ellie Gaffney was born on Thursday Island. She has been active in Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal affairs for many years, particularly in the areas of health, education and the media. She is a double certificate nursing sister, and was for a time Matron of the hospital at Yarrabah. She served for many years on the Institute's Health and Human Biology Committee, and as part of her interest in health, has drawn up proposals for research into Aboriginal health care. She has worked for Aboriginal Hostels, and was a Research Officer for the Torres Strait Islander Forum and the Torres Strait Co-operative Task Force. At the present time she is employed by the Torres Strait Islander Media Association.

This book tells Ellie's story and presents her ideas about many of her interests. This is one of the latest in the Institute's very important series of biographical works by Aboriginal authors. 1989, 148 pp. $ 10.95; ISBN 0-85575-195-9.

Gewertz, Deborah & Frederick Errington: Twisted Histories, Altered Contexts. Representing the Chambri in a World System

Deborah Gewertz and Frederick Errington have worked as anthropologists in Papua New Guinea for nearly two decades. In this, their second joint study of the Chambri, they consider the way those in a small-scale society, peripheral to the major centres of influence, struggle to sustain some degree of autonomy. They describe the Chambri caught up in world processes of social and cultural change, and attempt to create a 'collective biography' which conveys the intelligibility and significance of the twentieth century experience of these Papua New Guineans whom they have come to know well. This biography consists of interlocking stories, twisted histories, commentaries and contexts about Chambri who are negotiating their objectives while entangled in systematic change and confronting Western representations of modernisation and development. 272 pp. 1991, ISBN 0-521-400120 (Hardback [[sterling]]30.00 net); ISBN 0-521-395879 (Paperback [[sterling]]9.95 net).

Harrison, Simon J.: Stealing People's Names. History and Politics in a Sepik River Cosmology

Among the people of Avatip, a community in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea, the most prestigious and valued forms of wealth are personal names. In this intriguing study, Simon Harrison analyses the significance of names in the context of Avatip ritual, cosmology and the concepts of the person. He shows how the Avatip system of names, parallels the gift-exchange systems of many other Melanesian societies. In ritualised debates, which form the public arena of Avatip political life, rival leaders and the groups they represent struggle in oratorical contests for the possession of strategic names. As they do so they continually manipulate myth, ritual and cosmology. By exploring the inner possibilities of this symbolically-constituted economy, these competitive processes have over the past century been progressively transforming the political system from a relatively egalitarian type to one based on hereditary inequality and rank.

The author offers a critique of the analytical separation of economy and the symbolic order. He argues that such a separation obscures the processes of political evolution in Melanesia and disguises the fundamental similarities underlying the sociocultural diversity of the region.

Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology 71, 234 pp., ISBN 0521-3850430, Hardback [[sterling]]27.50 net.

Hodge, William: South Pacific Law Reports, Volume I, 1987

This series aims to make available for the first time in conventional form, the judgments of the superior courts of the island states of the South Pacific. The South Pacific Law Reports are published and authorized by the South Pacific Council of Law Reporting, which consists of the Law Officers of twelve Pacific Island states.

ISBN 0-19-558219-5, 512 pp. (OUP New Zealand) [[sterling]]75.

Horton, David: Recovering the Tracks. The Story of Australian Archaeology.

David Horton tells the story of Australian archaeology, tracing the lives of the often colourful figures who explored Australia's past, the problems they set out to solve, and the gradually more sophisticated methods they used to tackle them. He provides a valuable glimpse into the way scientific research proceeds-the selected extracts from the writings of some of the major figures in Australian archaeology illustrate a continuing process of developing, refining and testing theories. Many of the recurring problems which have occupied the minds of researchers for the past 200 years or more, such as the origins of the Aboriginal people, the length of time they have occupied the Australian continent and their impact on the environment are still the subject of debate.

Provisional RRP $22.95 pb. ISBN 0-85575-221-1. Aboriginal Studies Press.

Howard, Michael C.: Fiji. Race and Politics in an Island State

A timely and comprehensive analysis of Fijian politics, this book focuses on the causes and outcomes of the 1987 coups. Howard traces Fiji's political history from the pre-colonial chiefdoms to the present and argues that the May 1987 coup was not a result of tensions between various ethnic groups but instead it was a strike against democratic government by elements associated with Fiji's traditional oligarchy seeking to hide behind a mask of popular communalism. A perspective case study of racial politics, this book offers a significant new approach to the understanding of the dynamics of a non-Western political system. ISBN 0-7748-0368-1, $39.95. University of British Columbia, 6344 Memorial Road, Vancouver BC, Canada V6T 1Z2.

MacPherson, Cluny & La'avasa Macpherson: Samoan Medical Belief and Practice.

This is the first comprehensive study of Samoan medicine. It explains convincingly why traditional Samoan medicine and its skilled practitioners continue to flourish alongside Western medical practice both in Western Samoa and in Samoan migrant communities.

ISBN 1-86940-045-3, 264 pp., Auckland University Press, [[sterling]]16.50.

Merlan, Francesca & Alan Rumsey: Ku Waru: Language and Segmentary Politics in the Western Nebilyer Valley, Papua New Guinea

The highlanders of New Guinea are renowned for their elaborate systems of ceremonial exchange. Although much has been written about them, previous accounts have concentrated far less on the conduct of exchange events than on the structure of exchange systems. This book deals centrally with the conduct of particular exchange events, and shows through examination of them how larger social structures are reproduced and transformed. As part of the emphasis on exchange as social action, the book closely examines the oratory that plays a crucial part in the events.

Basing their study on original fieldwork carried out in the Nebilyer Valley, Francesca Merlan and Alan Rumsey focus on an interrelated set of large-scale compensation payments which arose out of an episode of warfare. This cycle is particularly remarkable, as women stopped the sighting, and participated for the first time as transactors and orators in the ensuing exchange events. This book furthers our understanding of the interaction between social structures and historical events; and particularly of the crucial role of talk. It will be of special interest to anthropologists and linguists.

Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language 10, 1991, 400 pp., ISBN 0-521-32339-8, Hardback [[sterling]]40.00 net.

Neumann, Klaus: Not the Way it Really Was. Constructing the Tolai Past

This provocative work offers multiple subjective interpretations of the Tolai past in a radical departure from histories that seek to reconstruct the way things really were. A compelling contribution to our understanding of the colonial past of this Melanesian people. Not the Way It Really Was challenges many traditional assumptions about the writing of history.

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press/Center for Pacific Islands Studies. 1991. Pacific Islands Monograph Series. No.10. ISBN 0-8248-1333-2.

O'Meara, Tim J.: Samoan Planters. Tradition and Economic Development in Polynesia

O'Meara's Samoan Planters is by far the best account of what life in a Samoan polity is really like that I have ever encountered. Empirically exact, extremely well informed, insightful, and both sympathetic and honest, it provides an exemplary demonstration of modern reflective ethnography. It is delightfully written, evoking Samoan behaviour and character in a style as engaging as that of Robert Louis Stevenson. At the same time, it succeeds in coming to conclusions about Samoan planters that are of great anthropological and practical significance... I cannot fault O'Meara's ethnography. (From a review for the publisher by Derek Freeman).

Samoan Planters is a distinguished addition to the Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology as well as a major contribution to the Pacific Studies literature. It is carefully argued, beautifully written, and somehow manages to be both analytically sophisticated and narratively evocative. Not only is it an expert ethnography, but it is deeply saturated with the lived realities of daily Samoan life. It doesn't merely ring true; it hits dead center. (From a review for the publisher by Bradd Shore).

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., Chicago/London et.al., 1990.

Pool, Ian: Te Iwi Maori, Population Past, Present and Projected

This important new book on Maori population completely supersedes the same author's The Maori Population of New Zealand, 1769-1971 (1977). It gives a thorough and very interesting survey of the history of the Maori population from earliest times to the present, concentrating particularly on the demographic impact of European colonization. It also considers present and future population trends, many of which have major implications for social and resource policy.

ISBN-1-86940-049-6, 224 pp., Auckland University Press, [[sterling]]16.50.

Rose, Debbie: Hidden Histories: Black stories from Victoria River Downs, Humbert River and Wave Hill Stations, North Australia

Rose says, 'The speakers contend that Europeans have refused to acknowledge history openly, and it is therefore incumbent on the survivors to remember. They also say that there can be no possibility of an equitable future without due recognition and understanding of the past. They do not speak to induce guilt. Rather, in reaching out they hope to change the conditions of the present so as to achieve a future based on the essential Australian value of a fair go... Many of the stories here are distressing; they tell of intense cruelty perpetrated by human being against human being. At the same time I also find them full of hope. Told with dignity, and frequently with compassion, they encompass a vision of the future which bears directly on the national and world crises with which we all are involved'.

ISBN: 0-85575-224-6, 1991.

Scarr, Deryck: The History of the Pacific Islands. Kingdoms of the Reefs

This book surveys human history in the Pacific Islands from the beginning of recorded time until the present day. To tell the story of humankind across the great expanse of the Pacific is a daunting task. Deryck Scarr writes with an authoritative synthesis of historical and anthropological data, pursuing general themes across island groups to give the reader a balanced and focussed view of events.

The book considers how indigenous societies came to be established and the tales that native people told of that history. It goes on to describe their attempts to incorporate and then to come to terms with Western influence. It considers the imported European planter ethic and the islanders' plantation experiences, the islands' trade, the islanders' attempts at continued independence, and their contrasting experiences of colonial rule. In the modern era, the book charts the impact of World War II, the transition in some cases to independence, and the flow of recent events in an ocean which is increasingly turbulent. The history of the Pacific Islands is a concise introduction to a complex subject. It has many detailed maps to help the reader pin-point the region or island group under discussion.

South Melbourne: MacMillan; 1990.

Thomas, Nicholas: Out of Time. History and Evolution in Anthropological Discourse.

Anthropologists have been drawn increasingly to history, but can one simply add 'a historical perspective' to conventional anthropology? Nicholas Thomas's view is that the interchange between the two disciplines has neglected underlying theoretical premises, and this makes any serious integration of history and anthropology problematic. He also criticises the covert strategies of anthropological writing, which systematically take ethnography 'out of time'. Focusing on the Polynesian anthropological literature, he points to the persistence of discredited social evolutionary ideas.

The author argues that missionary and travel accounts are crucial for a more seriously historical anthropology, yet anthropologists have customarily dismissed writings of these genres on spurious grounds. The conclusion discusses two topical perspectives in historical anthropology: the historical structuralism of Marshall Sahlins and neo-Marxist regional systems theory. Thomas argues that both have failed to transcend crucial limitations of conventional anthropology, and yet provide elements of a more critical perspective, which would also take account of contemporary political developments in the region.

Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology 67, 1990, 163 pp. ISBN: 0-521-36667-4, Hardback [[sterling]]25.00 net.

Trompf, G.W.: Melanesian Religion.

The first general survey to cover the entire field of Melanesian religion. The book starts with traditional (pre-contact) religious experience, examines the introduction of Christianity and the missions, and the indigenous response to colonialism of cargo cultism and independent churches. It concludes with the impact of modernisation on religious belief and practice. It differs from other books in treating the full range of Melanesian religious experience, and not just concentrating on purely anthropological or purely Christian aspects. Although it deals with Melanesian society, and Papua New Guinea in particular - practices, religious activities and beliefs - from a religious rather than ethnographic viewpoint, it will also appeal to readers with a range of interests and approaches.

ISBN: 0-521-38306-4, 300 pp., 1991, Hardback, [[sterling]]30.00 net.

Zagar, Cilka (ed.): Growing up Walgett: Young Members of the Walgett Aboriginal Community Speak Out

Walgett, situated in the northwest of New South Wales, is a small rural town which suffers isolation and lack of services common to many of our regional centres. The Aboriginal community at Walgett comprises almost fifty per cent of its population and most of them are under fifteen years of age. In this book, the young Aboriginal people of Walgett have written about their area, their lives, recreation, schooling and what the future holds for them and other rural Aboriginal children. They talk about why they left school, their brushes with the law, their experiences and their varied skills and talents. This book contains personal stories but they wish to share them with you.

1990, ISBN: 0-85575-205X.