Tikopia Ritual and Belief (Routledge Revivals)
Tikopia Ritual and Belief (Routledge Revivals)

Author: Raymond Firth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-11-12

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 1136505431

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First published in 1967, this book gives some of the fruits of the author's study of Tikopia ways of thought as the result of three field expeditions. Most Polynesians became Christians more than a century ago but Tikopia had a substantial pagan population until quite recent years. This book of essays describes rites and beliefs of a people who still maintained their traditional institutions remote from civilization. Studies of totemism, of magic and of beliefs in the fate of the soul in the afterworld, not only throw new light on Polynesian attitudes but also contribute some novel ideas to the interpretation of standard theoretical problems in social anthropology. Studies of rumour, suicide, and a new essay on spirit mediumship, also provide links between social anthropology and psychology. A general review based on the author's visit in 1966 describes the modern position after the adoption of Christianity.

Rank and Religion in Tikopia (Routledge Revivals)
Rank and Religion in Tikopia (Routledge Revivals)

Author: Raymond Firth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-05

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 1136505504

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Originally published in 1970, this book represents a unique study of beliefs and ritual practices in a pagan religion, and of the processes by which a transformation to Christianity took place. Christianity came to the major islands of Polynesia nearly two centuries ago, and within a couple of generations, the traditional pagan religion had disappeared. Only a few remote islands such as Tikopia preserved their ancient cults. Over eighty years ago, the author first observed and took part in these pagan rites, and on later visits he studied the change from paganism to Christian faith. Unique in its rich documentation, this book presents a systematic account of the traditional beliefs in gods and spirits and of the way in which these were fused with the social and political structure. The causes and dramatic results of the conversion to Christianity are then described, ending with an examination of the religious situation at the time of the book’s original publication. The book is both a contribution to anthropology and a case study in religious history. It completes the major series of studies of Tikopia society for which the author is famous. It gives the first full account of a Polynesian religious system in a state of change.

Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity
Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity

Author: Roy A. Rappaport

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1999-03-25

Total Pages: 566

ISBN-13: 9780521296908

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Roy Rappaport argues that religion is central to the continuing evolution of life, although it has been been displaced from its original position of intellectual authority by the rise of modern science. His book, which could be construed as in some degree religious as well as about religion, insists that religion can and must be reconciled with science. Combining adaptive and cognitive approaches to the study of humankind, he mounts a comprehensive analysis of religion's evolutionary significance, seeing it as co-extensive with the invention of language and hence of culture as we know it. At the same time he assembles the fullest study yet of religion's main component, ritual, which constructs the conceptions which we take to be religious and has been central in the making of humanity's adaptation. The text amounts to a manual for effective ritual, illustrated by examples drawn from anthropology, history, philosophy, comparative religion, and elsewhere.

The Work of the Gods in Tikopia
The Work of the Gods in Tikopia

Author: Raymond Firth

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2021-01-07

Total Pages: 511

ISBN-13: 1000321231

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First published in 1939 and long out of print, this book remains unique as the only full and detailed account by a social anthropologist of a complete pagan Polynesian ritual cycle. This new single-volume edition omits some of the Tikopia vernacular texts, but includes a new theoretical introduction; postscripts have also been supplied to some of the chapters comparing the performances of 1928-9 with those witnessed by Professor Firth on his second visit to Tikopia in 1952. There is a specially written Epilogue on the final eclipse of the traditional ritual, based on a third visit by the author during the summer of 1966.

Bellona Island Beliefs and Rituals
Bellona Island Beliefs and Rituals

Author: Torben Monberg

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 1991-05-01

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 9780824811471

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"Monberg's account of the Bellonese religion is descriptive ethnography at its best. It is rich in detail, and the organization of the material gives a coherent view of Bellonese culture and society. While not a comparative study in itself, it provides an abundance of data that will be invaluable for other works that are more comparative in nature." -from the Editor's Note Pacific Islands Monograph Series No.9 Center for Pacific Islands Studies, UH

We, the Tikopia
We, the Tikopia

Author: Raymond Firth

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 672

ISBN-13: 9780415330206

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Recognized as a major work when first published, this title has, over the years, become a classic. Forming the basis of modern social anthropology, We the Tikiopia stands in the forefront of its literature. The book is an excellent example of fieldwork analysis of a primitive society; a complete account of the working of a primitive kinship system; and an exhaustive and sophisticated study of Polynesian social institutions. First published in 1936.

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.

The Insider/Outsider Problem in the Study of Religion
The Insider/Outsider Problem in the Study of Religion

Author: Russell T. McCutcheon

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 1999-01-07

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1441115781

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Thirty classic and contemporary readings - from such writers as Kant, Hume, Schleiermacher, and Otto, to Ninian Smart, Mircea Eliade, Karen McCarthy-Brown, and Wendy Doniger.

Religion, Morality and the Person
Religion, Morality and the Person

Author: Meyer Fortes

Publisher: CUP Archive

Published: 1987-10-15

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780521336932

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Meyer Fortes (1906-1982) was one of the foremost anthropologists of this century, who for many years worked among the Tallensi of northern Ghana. Although he published seminally important monographs on Tallensi family and kinship and on political organization, his work on their religion has hitherto remained confined to disparate journals and edited volumes. This collection brings together in one place his major writings on religion.