BOOKS

Austin, Tony: I Can Picture the Old Home So Clearly: The Commonwealth and 'Half-caste' Youth in the Northern Territory 1911-1939.

1993. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 0 85575 239 4 (pb).

"Austin provides us with a history of child welfare in the Northern Territory as it affected Aboriginal children between 1911 and 1939. He provides a detailed analysis of government policy, including the forcible removal of 'half-caste' children from their homes in an attempt to achieve assimilation."

Day, Bill: Bunji: A Story of the Gwalwa Daraniki Movement.

1994. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 0 85575 240 8 (pb).

"A story of the land rights battle of the Larrakia people for Kulaluk, near Darwin, in the 1970s, as seen through the eyes of Bill Day, founder and editor of Bunji, a local black rights newsletter of the time. Day draws on articles and cartoons from Bunji to illustrate his story and to help him bring to vivid life the characters involved. The book makes plain the kinds of grievances and losses suffered by the Larrakia people, but also has a message of recovery and healing."

Durie, Mason: Whaiora: Maori Health Development.

1994. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 19 558316 7 (paperback).

"Whaiora: Maori Health Development documents progress in Maori health since 1840, but pays particular attention to the past decade. Changes in health are linked to social and economic changes and also to Maori political power. Health is portrayed as an integral part of Maori development and as related to wider community planning general. The impact of the health reforms are given particular emphasis. Treaty issues and biculturalism, as they have an impact on Maori health, are two parameters against which changes in Maori participation in health are measured. A conclusion is that Maori health advances cannot be readily separated from the situation of Maori in New Zealand society. This important book is the only critique to gather this information together to serve as a historical analysis and policy-making tool."

Fischer, Hans: Geister und Menschen. Mythen, Märchen und neue Geschichten.

1994. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. Materialien zur Kultur der Wampar, Papua New Guinea N.2. ISBN 3 496 02546 8.

"Dieser Band der Materialien zur Kultur der Wampar enthält tradierte und neue Erzählungen der Wampar, aufgenommen in vielen Versionen etwa zwischen 1910 und 1993. Die Mythen, Geistergeschichten und "neuen Geschichten" werden kommentiert und erläutert, mit Informationen zu den Erzählern und den Umständen der Aufnahme, sowie Hinweisen auf anderen Versionen versehen und in jeweils einer Fassung vorgelegt. Die Originaltexte erscheinen in Anhang."

Fletcher, Christine (ed.): Aboriginal Self-determination in Australia.

1994. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 0 85575 252 1 (pb). ISSN 1030 6544.

"This volume represents the proceedings of a conference celebrating the International Year for World's Indigenous Peoples, held in Townsville, Queensland, in 1993. Coinciding with the height of the native title debates, many speakers discussed and analysed the possible effects of, and opportunities arising from, the High Court's decision. Speakers included Marcia Langton, Lois O'Donohue, Noel Pearson, Charles Perkins, Darryl Pearce and Michael Mansell."

Hamel, P.: A Grammar and Lexicon of Loniu, Papua New Guinea.

1994. Canberra: Dept of Linguistics, RSPacS, ANU. Pacific Linguistics Series C, No.128. ISBN 0 85883 410 3.

"This is a grammar and short dictionary of the small Austronesian language spoken by 450-500 inhabitants of two villages on the southern coast of Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. The book also contains an English-Loniu index and two illustrative texts."

Harrison, Simon: The Mask of War: Violence, Ritual and the Self in Melanesia.

1993. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0 7190 3911 8.

"Current western explanations of warfare derive largely from Hobbes' view that relations between political groups are always problematic and fragile. This book challenges these explanations by examining warfare among Melanesian peoples whose assumptions about violence, the self and society are radically different from our own. To Hobbes, society comes into existence when its members transcend the primordial state of conflict existing between them. Simon Harrison shows how the reverse is true in Melanesian society: it is not groups that make war, but war that forms groups. In Melanesian society, he argues, inherently sociable individuals are refashioned through ritual into beings capable of violence. His conclusions have profound implications for how we view the origins of political violence."

Hasager, U.; Friedman, J. (Eds): Hawai'i: Return to Nationhood.

1994. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), Fiolstraede 10, DK-1171, Copenhagen K, Denmark.

"It is an anthology of various articles on the sovereignty movement, loosely defined. The sections are: Hawaiians Define the Situation; Historical, Cultural and Legal Background; Dependent Hawai'i - Tourism and the Military; Hawaiian Land - Malama'aina vs Development; Looking Abroad - Hawai'i in the Larger World."

Heermann, Ingrid; Menter, Ulrich: Gemaltes Land. Kunst der Aborigines aus Arnhemland.

1994. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. ISBN 3 496 01118 1 (hardcover).

"Das Buch führt ein in die Kunst der Arnhemland-Aborigines, ihre sozialen und kulturellen Bezugspunkte, die Kunststile, ihre Beziehung zur Felsmalerei und Erdskulptur und die Bedeutung der Kunst im Ritual. Linien und Schraffur verschmelzen zu oft irisierenden Bildern oder geben den Hintergrund für eher erzählende Darstellungen ab."

Hercus, L.: A Grammar of the Arabana-Wangkangurru Language, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia.

1994. Canberra: Dept of Linguistics, RSPacS, ANU. Pacific Linguistics Series C, No.128. ISBN 085883 425 1.

"In this volume Luise Hercus records the grammar of a language that was once spoken to the north and west of Lake Eure, South Australia, and is now all but extinct. Arabana and Wangkangurru are closely related dialects of one language although the speakers regard them as separate languages. Besides the grammar this book contains a number of texts and photographs of some of the principal informants used in the study."

Hereniko, Vilsoni: Woven Gods. Female Clowns and Power in Rotuma.

1995. Honolulu: University Press of Hawai'i. Pacific Islands Monograph Series No.12. ISBN 0 8248 1655 2 (cloth).

"In this unconventional ethnography, artist/scholar Vilsoni Hereniko celebrates indigenous and Western ways of knowing, fusing them together in a manner that reflects his multicultural experience. A Western-educated native of Rotuma, a small island north of Fiji, Hereniko uses early scattered reports on Roruman society and culture and his own knowledge of female ritual clowns to unravel the sacred origins of the Rotuman hän mane'äk su ("women who play the wedding") and her role in women's production of fine mats and in the celebration of marriage. Woven Gods combines ethnographic accounts of clowning's context in Rotuma with fictional narratives that capture the feel of a live performance - thereby uncovering emotional truths about clowning that cannot be conveyed by an objective account. Hereniko even creates his own myth of the origins of the hän mane'äk su, which provides inspiration for the study. Clowning in Rotuma, he concludes, is linked with the world of the dead, and the highly prized mats are woven gods, imbued with mana.

In addition to providing understanding of a much neglected topic, Hereniko offers a masterly review of the literature on clowning and satire in Polynesia, which he succeeds in relating to important aspects of culture such as religion, social hierarchy, gender relations, and conflict management."

Hezel, Francis X.: Strangers in their Own Land. A Century of Colonial Rule in the Caroline and Marshall Islands.

1995. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Pacific Islands Monograph Series No.13. ISBN 0 8248 1642 0.

"Strangers in their Own Land continues the tale of cultural upheaval begun in Francis X. Hezel's earlier work The First Taint of Civilization: A History of the Caroline and Marshall Islands in Pre-colonial Days, 1521-1885. Seized by the Spanish in 1885, the islands served under four flags during the century of foreign rule that followed. Although Micronesian islanders often found themselves shackled by the programs and policies of their colonizers - ranging from agricultural development and roadbuilding projects to the near dismantling of local chieftainships and the forced relocation of entire populations - they had their own strategies for survival. As Hezel's research shows, resistance to colonial intrusion, though usually well masked, was often very effective. The conventional view that islanders were outgunned and overawed by superior might, simply bowed to their conquerors is far from accurate. This well-written and much-needed social history attempts to capture the response of Micronesian islanders, subtle and always varied, to the initiatives of their Spanish, German, Japanese, and American overlords."

Horton, David (ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society and Culture. 2 volumes.

1994. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 0 85575 234 3.

"This long-awaited publication is the only single comprehensive and authoritative reference work which covers all the disciplines that comprise 'Aboriginal studies'. With around 2000 entries and 1000 photographs, illustrations and maps, the Encyclopaedia covers eighteen major subject areas, is extensively cross-referenced and indexed, and 1800 bibliographic references. The Encyclopaedia is also available on CD-ROM. Designed for student users, the CD-ROM will be available initially for Macintosh computers only."

Keck, Verena: Historical Atlas of Ethnic and Linguistic Groups in Papua New Guinea. Volume 1 (containing "Part 3: Madang").

1995. Basel: Verlag Wepf & Co. (distribution). ISBN 3 85977 192 2.

"The project was started twenty years ago and encompasses data material from approximately one century of scientific research (starting 1873). The atlas aims to document the increase of published knowledge about ethnic groups and languages. For this, the area was first divided into eleven regions. Regarding time, the data was divided in five periods (1873-1907, 1908-1921, 1922-1946, 1947-1959, 1960-1975), whereby for each period a map of ethnic groups and languages was drawn up. Each region therefore comprises ten maps. A detailed legend for each region and time period quotes the references processed. Two volumes are now published, a third one is forthcoming."

Krämer, Augustin: The Samoa Islands. An Outline of a Monograph with Particular Consideration of German Samoa.

Volume I: Constitution, Pedigrees, and Traditions.

1994. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Translated by Theodore Verhaaren. ISBN 0 8248 1633 1. (Not for sale in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.)

"Almost a century later, volume one of this classic work remains an important ethnological record."

Volume II: Material Culture.

1995. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Translated by Theodore Verhaaren. ISBN 0 8248 1634 X (cloth). (Not for sale in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.)

"Dr Augustin Krämer's Die Samoa Inseln, published in 1902 and 1903, is the most authoritative record of Samoa history and culture ever published. This second and final volume covers the ethnography of Samoa. For Krämer, ethnography is "concerned with the manifestations and external aspects such as anthropology, sociology, and industry based on geography and the natural sciences." Accordingly this work includes extensive chapters on many aspects of Samoan material culture: medicine, plants and cookery, fishery, men's and women's work, recreation and war, flora, and fauna."

Kunitz, Stephen J.: Disease and Social Diversity. The European Impact on the Health of Non-Europeans.

1994. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 19 508530 2 (hardback).

"This book dicusses the various social, political, and cultural forces that shape the distribution of diseases in populations. It is based on a series of comparative studies of the historical and contemporary disease patterns of indigenous peoples of America north of Mexico, Australia and Polynesia. The purpose of the comparisons is to control in a quasi-experimental way certain crucial variables in order to examine the impact on health of other variables. The comparisons are made at increasingly more refined levels of analysis. Thus, once disease ecology has been held roughly constant, one can see more clearly the ways in which colonial policy and political institutions have shaped the affairs of indigenous peoples. And once policy has been held constant, one can see more clearly how culture can make a difference. And once culture has been held constant, one can see how gender and status make a difference.

Kunitz argues that very few broad generalizations adequately explain the distribution of diseases in populations and that to truly comprehend such patterns one must understand the local social context as well as the biological characteristics of diseases."

Meijl, Toon van; Grijp, Paul van der (eds): European Imagery and Colonial History in the Pacific.

1994. Saarbrücken: Verlag für Entwicklungspolitik Breitenbach GmbH. Nijmegen Studies in Development and Cultural Change, Volume 19. NICCOS. ISSN 0935 7173. ISBN 3 88156 630 9.

"Over the past decade anthropologists and historians studying the Pacific have been concerned with the politization of tradition and history in contemporary Pacific societies. The renewed importance of the past in this region may be distinguished from contested representations of history elsewhere to the extent that its reconstruction often draws on historical accounts written by European discoverers, explorers, missionaries, colonial settlers, and also by anthropologists avant la lettre. This volume examines European imagery of the Pacific within the context of colonial history, and the implications for local identities.

Contributors to this book share a concern with development and the mutual articulation of European and Pacific images and identities in colonial and post-colonial history, addressing different issues ranging from the ambiguity of colonial discourses and the various implications of the European bias of primary sources, to local appropriations of global influences and the impact of visual representations of the Pacific on documentary practices in Europe."

Osumi, Midori: Tinrin Grammar.

1994. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications No.25. ISBN 0 8248 1629 3 (pb).

"New Caledonian languages are quite different from other Pacific languages and have been considered very important in Oceanic comparative linguistics. However, the information on these languages has been relatively scarce, especially in English. Languages in the southern part of New Caledonia have been considered particularly difficult to study. This book presents an analysis of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Tinrin, a previously undescribed Melanesian language of southern New Caledonia."

Rogers, Robert F.: Destiny's Landfall. A History of Guam.

1995 (April). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0 8248 1616 1 (cloth); 0 8248 1678 1 (paper).

"More than three thousand years ago small groups of seafarers sailed their canoes from Southeast Asia into the vast reaches of the uninhabited Pacific. The descendants of these courageous mariners created distinctive cultures on clusters of islands north of the Equator in an area now called Micronesia. When in 1521 Ferdinand Magellan stepped ashore on the largest of these islands - Guam - it became the first inhabited Pacific island known to Europeans. His fateful landfall not only ushered in the age of European exploration in the Pacific, but led inexorably to foreign domination of every traditional island society throughout Oceania. In the centuries after Magellan, Guam became a small green oasis for alien priests, soldiers, traders, pirates, and other expatriates. Destiny's Landfall tells the story of this colorful cavalcade of outsiders and of the indigenous Chamorro people who, in a remarkable feat of resiliency, maintained their language and their identity despite three centuries of colonial domination by three of history's most powerful nation-states: Spain, Japan, and the United States.

This abundantly illustrated and richly documented volume provides a comprehensive look at one of the world's last colonies. Robert F. Rogers evokes the dramatic but little-known saga of Guam's people from the precontact era to Spanish domination, from colonial rule under a U.S. naval government to the massive military invasions of World War II, and on through the booms and busts, the scandals and victories experienced by Guamanians in their still-unfulfilled quest to regain control of their future."

Schütz, Albert J.: The Voice of Eden. A History of Hawaiian Language Studies.

1994. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0 8248 1637 4 (paper).

"How did outsiders first become aware of the Hawaiian language? How were they and Hawaiians able to understand each other? How was Hawaiian recorded and analyzed in the early decades after European contact? In The Voices of Eden, Albert J. Schütz provides answers to these and other questions about Hawai'i's post-contact linguistic past. The result is an amazing account of Hawaiian history from a language-centered point of view. Beginning with the observations of Captain Cook, and his crew, continuing through the missionaries' profound effect on the language and its speakers, and ending with current issues of language policy, Schütz gives readers not only a historical overview of Hawaiian but also an analysis and critique of nearly every work ever written about the language.

Early chapters examine the attitudes expressed by European and American visitors about Hawaiian - in particular, the influence of the Noble Savage concept. Throughout the study there is an attempt to trace the development and spread of knowledge about Hawaiians in terms of the social and scientific climate of the times. Linking these themes is an account of how the language was analyzed, including a discussion of the standardization of the writing system in 1826. Schütz then looks at the growth of literacy in Hawaiian and the complex and emotional contest between Hawaiian and English, suggesting reasons for the language's near-demise and describing recent efforts to repair the damage of decades of linguistic dormancy."

Schütz, Albert J.: All about Hawaiian.

1995 (May). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0 8248 1686 2.

"Whether you're a visitor or a resident, you'll find this quick and lively tour of the Hawaiian language not only useful, but enjoyable as well. This brief sketch of Hawaiian begins by uncovering the fascinating and often controversial history of the language, from its place among the other languages of Polynesia to the usual problems faced by missionaries in devising an alphabet.

With the help of a clear and concise guide to pronunciation, learn the importance of the 'okina (') and the kahako (^-) (the last o of kahako should have one), and how these marks affect the meaning as well as the pronunciation of words. Helpful vocabulary lists introduce words heard and seen most often on street signs, in restaurants, and in Hawaiian songs - including those commonly mispronounced even by lifelong Hawai'i residents. Lastly, the author dicusses current efforts to preserve Hawaiian as a living language through teaching programs."

Spickard, Paul (ed.): Pacific Island Peoples in Hawaii.

1994. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Special issue (Vol.36) of Social Process in Hawaii. ISSN 0737 6871.

"Pacific Islanders make up one of the largest portions of Hawai'i's peoples. With the exception of Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders in Hawai'i are little studied and less understood. This special issue of Social Process in Hawaii begins to redress that lack by examining several issues important to Pacific Island peoples in Hawai'i."

Stephenson, Nigel: Historical Atlas of Ethnic and Linguistic Groups in Papua New Guinea. Volume 2 (containing "Part 1: North-West Coast" and "Part 2: Sepik Highlands").

(Forthcoming). Basel: Verlag Wepf & Co. (distribution).

See listing for: Keck, Verena.

Stevens, Christine: White Man's Dreaming. Killalpaninna Mission 1866-1915.

1994. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 19 553574 X (hardback).

"This history of Killalpaninna Mission in the far north of South Australia tells how a group of Lutheran missionaries, intent on spreading their religious faith to the 'underprivileged heathen' of the New World, made their way to the desert-dwelling Diyari Aborigines and established the Killalpaninna Mission.

A microcosm of the metamorphosis of Aboriginal culture since European colonialism, White Man's Dreaming is underpinned by the prolific correspondence between the Lutherans and their superiors in Adelaide and Germany. It uses interviews with the families of missionaries and Aborigines who survived the mission, while the many photographs also constitute a graphic record of European appropriation."

Thieberger, N.: Handbook of Western Australian Aboriginal Languages South of the Kimberley Region.

1993. Canberra: Dept of Linguistics, RSPacS, ANU. Pacific Linguistics Series C, No.124. ISBN 0 85883 418 9.

"This handbook lists material available in and about the Aboriginal languages spoken south of Kimberley region, Western Australia. Sixty-nine languages are discussed including two post-contact languages, Western Australian Aboriginal English and Kriol. Each section contains maps showing the approximate traditional locations of the languages concerned."

Verhaar, John W.M.: Toward a Reference Grammar of Tok Pisin. An Experiment in Corpus Linguistics.

1995 (April). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications No.26. ISBN 0 8248 1672 2 (pb).

"Tok Pisin, an English-based lingua franca of Papua New Guinea, originated more than a century ago and is now spoken by the majority of the country's three million inhabitants. This valuable work contains the most comprehensive corpus of Tok Pisin grammatical structures ever assembled - an unprecedented million and a half words culled from published texts, including a translation of the Bible. The study will enable linguists to test the grammaticality of virtually any construction and to develop for the first time a grammar that does justice to the intricacies of the language.

Linguistic concepts are explained first, based on what anglophone readers may already know about English grammar. This constructive approach serves two purposes: while clearly showing the continuing influence of English on the language, it shields anglophone learners from misinterpreting Tok Pisin texts - a common occurrence because of the language's apparent similarity to English. This detailed grammar will be wecomed by not only linguists but public servants, church leaders, educators, editors, and others interested in learning more about the language."

Wassmann, Jürg: Historical Atlas of Ethnic and Linguistic Groups in Papua New Guinea. Volume 3 (containing "Part 4: New Britain", "Part 5: New Ireland" and "Part 6: Bougainville").

1995. Basel: Verlag Wepf & Co. (distribution). ISBN 3 85977 193 0.

See listing for: Keck, Verena.