The History of Melanesian Society

The History of Melanesian Society
Author: William Halse Rivers Rivers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 619
Release: 2014-08-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1107419344

This two-volume work from 1914 presents William Halse Rivers' theory of the diffusion of culture in the south-west Pacific. Volume Two details the many similarities and differences among the societies of Melanesia and the possible ways in which these contrasts could have arisen.

God's Gentlemen

God's Gentlemen
Author: David Hilliard
Publisher: University of Queensland Press(Australia)
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2013-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1921902027

David Hilliard's God's Gentlemen, originally published in 1978, remains the only detached and detailed historical analysis of the work of the Melanesian Mission. Starting with its New Zealand beginnings and its Norfolk Island years (1867-1920), the work follows the Mission's shift of headquarters to the Solomon Islands and on until the beginning of the Second World War. The Mission, which grew out of the personal vision of the first Church of England Bishop of New Zealand, George Selwyn, formally defined its field of work as 'the Islands of Melanesia' although its activities were confined almo.

The Gender of the Gift

The Gender of the Gift
Author: Marilyn Strathern
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 1988-09-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780520910713

In the most original and ambitious synthesis yet undertaken in Melanesian scholarship, Marilyn Strathern argues that gender relations have been a particular casualty of unexamined assumptions held by Western anthropologists and feminist scholars alike. The book treats with equal seriousness—and with equal good humor—the insights of Western social science, feminist politics, and ethnographic reporting, in order to rethink the representation of Melanesian social and cultural life. This makes The Gender of the Gift one of the most sustained critiques of cross-cultural comparison that anthropology has seen, and one of its most spirited vindications.

History and Tradition in Melanesian Anthropology

History and Tradition in Melanesian Anthropology
Author: James G. Carrier
Publisher:
Total Pages: 280
Release: 1992
Genre: History
ISBN:

Melanesian societies, like village societies in many parts of the world, are frequently portrayed as existing in a timeless, traditional present. The effects of this view are seen not only in overall popular and academic understandings of these societies but also in more abstract debates within anthropology about the nature of kinship, exchange, or social organization. History and Tradition in Melanesian Anthropology offers an alternative view, from authors who believe that historical evidence can and must inform our understanding of contemporary cultures. This collection of original essays brings together scholars in anthropology and history. They point out ways in which the "timeless-traditionalism" approach of anthropology is inadequate. Life in the existing societies of Melanesia cannot be understood, they say, without taking firmly into account how these societies are shaped by their interactions with Western influences. In different ways all the contributors bring the history of Melanesian societies into their analyses, whether discussing the generally dismissive attitude of ethnographers toward the large numbers of Melanesian Christians; the ethnocentrism that led European observers to interpret fighting among the Melanesians solely according to whether it was for or against the Europeans; or the mechanism by which a practice such as kerekere (the soliciting of goods or services in Fijian society) became reified as a "custom." While the essays are critical of much of the anthropology that is done in Melanesia, they also exemplify a responsible, historically informed approach to the study of Melanesian societies - sober, constructive, and ideologically disinterested. Historians and anthropologists of Melanesia and the Pacific in general will find here original and enlightening work that is sure to influence the theoretical orientation of Melanesian anthropology.

Time and Its Object

Time and Its Object
Author: Paolo Fortis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2021-03-30
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1000366944

This volume examines the way objects and images relate to and shape notions of temporality and history. Bringing together ethnographic studies from the Lowlands of Central and South America and Melanesia, it explores the temporality inhering in images and artefacts from a comparative perspective. The chapters focus on how peoples in both regions ‘live in’ and ‘navigate’ time each through their distinctive systems of images and the processes and actions by which these come to be manifest in objects. With original theoretical and ethnographic contributions, the book is valuable reading for scholars interested in visual and material culture and in anthropological approaches to time.

The History of Melanesian Society

The History of Melanesian Society
Author: William Halse Rivers Rivers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2014-08-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 110741931X

This two-volume work from 1914 presents William Halse Rivers' theory of the diffusion of culture in the south-west Pacific. Volume One details aspects of the customs and practises of the islands in Melanesia and beyond, including the Hawaiian islands.

The History of Melanesian Society

The History of Melanesian Society
Author: William Halse Rivers Rivers
Publisher:
Total Pages: 610
Release: 2012
Genre: Ethnology
ISBN: 9780659129970

Volume 2 of a 2 volume set. For individual volumes in the set seeCIHM nos. 66018 - 66019.