Two Tahitian Villages

2e de couv.: This book is based on two years of field study supplemented by the archival research that went into the writing of the author's three-volume Ancient Tahitian Society. It has three objectives: -to describe in detail the activities and social relations of rural Tahitians in the mid-twentieth century; -to do so by the method of "controlled comparison"; and in doing so -to focus on the economies of the villagers studied. The ways of life portrayed in these pages were products of nearly two centuries of contact between Polynesians and Europeans, but still contained many features of the aboriginal culture described in Ancient Tahitian Society. Subsequent to the field study, however, these islands were subjected to new and much more massive kinds of outside influences (mainly those resulting from expanded tourism and from France's nuclear experiments nearby), so that much of what is described in this book has disappeared, which lends extra value to the description - another relic to be placed in the Museum of Humanity's Past. Because of anthropologist's inability (and unwillingness) to conduct sufficiently controlled experiments upon the societies they study, the method of controlled comparison employed in writing this book has been proposed as the sole means of arriving at scientific generalizations. It is left to the reader to judge whether this opinion has been confirmed. As for the book's focus on the "economics of village life," an effort has been made to broaden the applicability and the usefulness of this way of viewing human societies-large or small industrialized or "primitive."

2e de couv.: This book is based on two years of field study supplemented by the archival research that went into the writing of the author's three-volume Ancient Tahitian Society. It has three objectives: -to describe in detail the activities and social relations of rural Tahitians in the mid-twentieth century; -to do so by the method of "controlled comparison"; and in doing so -to focus on the economies of the villagers studied. The ways of life portrayed in these pages were products of nearly two centuries of contact between Polynesians and Europeans, but still contained many features of the aboriginal culture described in Ancient Tahitian Society. Subsequent to the field study, however, these islands were subjected to new and much more massive kinds of outside influences (mainly those resulting from expanded tourism and from France's nuclear experiments nearby), so that much of what is described in this book has disappeared, which lends extra value to the description - another relic to be placed in the Museum of Humanity's Past. Because of anthropologist's inability (and unwillingness) to conduct sufficiently controlled experiments upon the societies they study, the method of controlled comparison employed in writing this book has been proposed as the sole means of arriving at scientific generalizations. It is left to the reader to judge whether this opinion has been confirmed. As for the book's focus on the "economics of village life," an effort has been made to broaden the applicability and the usefulness of this way of viewing human societies-large or small industrialized or "primitive."

As culturally diverse, non-Western communities are drawn into the international division of labour, capitalism takes root in a number of ways. This book describes how capitalism has become a part of the lives of rural Tahitians, starting with the arrival of Westerners to the islands and detailing the nature of the transformation brought about by missionaries, merchants, and French colonisers - a transformation whose pace has accelerated with the islands' rapid modernisation and incorporation into the French welfare state.

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.

Tahiti evokes visions of white beaches and beautiful women. This imagined paradise, created by Euro-American romanticism, endures today as the bedrock of Tahiti's tourism industry, while quite a different place is inhabited and experienced by ta'ata ma'ohi, as Tahitians refer to themselves. This book brings into dialogue the perspectives on place of both Tahitians and Europeans. Miriam Kahn is professor of anthropology at the University of Washington and author of Always Hungry, Never Greedy.

Most modern discussions of the relationship of biological sex to gender presuppose that there are two genders, male and female, founded on the two biological sexes. But not all cultures share this essentialist assumption, and even Western societies have not always embraced it. Bringing together historical and anthropological studies, Third Sex, Third Gender challenges the usual emphasis on sexual dimorphism and reproduction, providing a unique perspective on the various forms of socialization of people who are neither “male” nor “female.” The existence of a third sex or gender enables us to understand how Byzantine palace eunuchs and Indian hijras met the criteria of special social roles that necessitated practices such as self-castration, and how intimate and forbidden desires were expressed among the Dutch Sodomites in the early modern period, the Sapphists of eighteenth-century England, or the so-called hermaphrodite-homosexuals of nineteenth-century Europe and America. By contextualizing these practices and by allowing these bodies, meanings, and desires to emerge, Third Sex, Third Gender provides a new way to think about sex and gender systems that is crucial to contemporary debates within the social sciences.

Alphabetically arranged entries, ranging in length from a paragraph to several pages, describe the important people, food, native animals, politics, history, and culture of Polynesia, which is made up of more than a dozen countries, including American Samoa, French Polynesia, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Tonga. The book includes a four-page list of acronyms, an extensive chronology, and appendices with the names of Polynesian islands and lists of political rulers of the various states through history. Author Craig (emeritus, history, Alaska Pacific U.) has created several other dictionaries on Oceania, Polynesian mythology, and Hawaii. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

"This book presents a comprehensive and balanced description of major aspects of Polynesian cultures, using both the accounts of the European "discoverers" and the up-to-date writings of archaeologists and anthropologists".--BOOKJACKET.