Developments in Polynesian Ethnology
Developments in Polynesian Ethnology

Author: Robert Borofsky

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2019-03-31

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0824881966

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Development in Polynesian Ethnology assesses the current state of anthropological research in Polynesia by examining the debates and issues that shape the discipline today. What have anthropologists achieved? What concerns now dominate discussion? Where is Polynesian anthropology headed? In a series of provocative and original essays, leading scholars examine prehistory, social organization, socialization and character development, mana and tapu, chieftainship, art and aesthetics, and early contact. Together these essays show how history, anthropology, and archaeology have combined to give a broad understanding of Polynesian societies developing over time--how they represent a blend of modernity and tradition, continuity and change. This book is both an introduction to Polynesia for interested students and a thought-provoking synthesis for scholars charting new directions and posing possibilities for future research. Scholars outside Polynesian studies will find the perspectives it offers important and its comprehensive bibliography an invaluable resource.

Essays in Polynesian Ethnology
Essays in Polynesian Ethnology

Author: Robert W. Williamson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-06-16

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 1107600731

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This 1939 text examines whether the formation of a cohesive ethnology of Polynesia could be possible.

Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia
Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia

Author: Patrick Vinton Kirch

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-03-15

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 9780521788793

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The power of an anthropological approach to long-term history lies in its unique ability to combine diverse evidence, from archaeological artifacts to ethnographic texts and comparative word lists. In this innovative book, Kirch and Green explicitly develop the theoretical underpinnings, as well as the particular methods, for such a historical anthropology. Drawing upon and integrating the approaches of archaeology, comparative ethnography, and historical linguistics, they advance a phylogenetic model for cultural diversification, and apply a triangulation method for historical reconstruction. They illustrate their approach through meticulous application to the history of the Polynesian cultures, and for the first time reconstruct in extensive detail the Ancestral Polynesian culture that flourished in the Polynesian homeland - Hawaiki - some 2,500 years ago. Of great significance for Oceanic studies, Kirch and Green's book will be essential reading for any anthropologist, prehistorian, linguist, or cultural historian concerned with the theory and method of long-term history.

The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms
The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms

Author: Patrick Vinton Kirch

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1984-10-18

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 9780521253321

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This is an archaeological perspective on the elaborate system of chiefdoms found in the islands of Polynesia. While the growth and development of complex social and political systems in this region have long interested anthropologists and ethnographers, the islands' rich sources of archaeological data have since been exploited. The author combines this fresh archaeological data with comparative ethnographic and linguistic materials to present an innovative and perceptive account of the processes of culture change in the islands over three millennia. Using comparative ethnography, lexical reconstruction and direct archaeological evidence, the author reconstructs the broad outlines of Ancestral Polynesian Society, from which the diverse societies of the Polynesian region descended. Major processes of cultural change are analysed in detail, including colonization, adaptation to changing environments, development of intensive production and social conflict and competition.