Tokelau: A Historical Ethnography is the outcome of over two decades of intensive and wide-ranging research in and about the three tiny Polynesian atolls of Tokelau. It is both a comparative ethnographic study of the islands, and a narrative record of their past. The ethnographic study is set in the years around 1970. The combined stories of the atolls' traditional, contact and colonial pasts are told through the foreign documents which complement local narratives and records. Throughout, ...

Hawaii is a group of islands known throughout the world for it's physical beauty, and is one of the most popular of tourist destinations. However, few visitors ever learn much about the Hawaiian people themselves and their history, dating back at least 2000 years.This book covers the origins of the Hawaiians, their traditions, royalty, and history up to the end of the 19th century, when Hawaii was annexed by the United States.How many people know that there were two distinc...

A new edition of the bestselling short history on New Zealand, updated to include the Helen Clark years, the rise of John Key, the Christchurch earthquakes and the 2011 Rugby World Cup! A lively and accessible history written by one of New Zealands most well-known commentators on matters past and present. Succinct and well referenced, this book is the most accessible introduction to New Zealand history currently in print.

Tangata Whenua: A History presents a rich narrative of the Māori past from ancient origins in South China to the twenty-first century, in a handy paperback format. The authoritative text is drawn directly from the award-winning Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History; the full text of the big hardback is available in a reader-friendly edition, ideal for students and for bedtime reading, and a perfect gift for those whose budgets do not stretch to the illustrated edition. Maps and diagrams c...

A new paperback reprint of this best-selling and ground-breaking history. When first published in 1996 Making Peoples was hailed as redefining New Zealand history. It was undoubtedly the most important work of New Zealand history since Keith Sinclair's classic A History of New Zealand.Making Peoples covers the period from first settlement to the end of the nineteenth century. Part one covers Polynesian background, Maori settlement and pre-contact history. Part tw...

A rich, complex and engaging account of Cook's voyages across the Pacific, from actor and raconteur Sam Neill.Captain James Cook first set sail to the Pacific in 1768, just over 250 years ago. These vast waters, one third of the earth's surface, were uncharted but not unknown. A rich diversity of people and cultures navigated, traded, lived and fought here for thousands of years. Before Cook, the Pacific was disconnected from the power and ideas of Europe, Asia and...

This compelling ethnography offers a nuanced case study of the ways in which the Maisin of Papua New Guinea navigate pressing economic and environmental issues. Beautifully written and accessible to most readers, Ancestral Lines is designed with introductory cultural anthropology courses in mind. Barker has organized the book into chapters that mirror many of the major topics covered in introductory cultural anthropology, such as kinship, economic pursuit, social arrangements, gen...

Thousands of years ago migrants from South China began the journey that took their descendants through the Pacific to the southernmost islands of Polynesia. Atholl Anderson’s ground-breaking synthesis of research and tradition charts this epic journey of New Zealand’s first human inhabitants.Taken from the multi-award-winning Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History this Text weaves together evidence from numerous sources: oral traditions, archaeology, genetics, linguistics, ethnography, his...

Iceland appears to many a country shrouded in mystery and legend, and marked by contradiction: a part of Europe, and yet separated from it by the Atlantic Ocean; seemingly inhospitable, and yet home to more than 300,000 souls.Wasteland with Words explores the evolution and transformation of Icelandic society and culture, investigating the literary and historical factors that created the rich cultural heritage enjoyed by Icelanders today. Sigurdur Gylfi Magnússon presents a...

This book is a celebration of His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta'isi Efi's intellectual and cultural legacy to Samoa, providing Tui Atua's writings and thoughts on Samoan indigenous knowledge. It was first compiled and published as a festschrift in commemoration of his seventiethbirthday. Tui Atua is Samoa'sHead of State and is currently the only holder of one of Samoa's four pāpā (aristocratic chiefly) titles –Tui Atua. The book also contains responses fromfourteenof Samoa's leading ...

Marshall Sahlins centers these essays on islands—Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand—whose histories have intersected with European history. But he is also concerned with the insular thinking in Western scholarship that creates false dichotomies between past and present, between structure and event, between the individual and society. Sahlins's provocative reflections form a powerful critique of Western history and anthropology.

'Us Maoris used to practice slavery just like them poor Negroes had to endure in America . . .' says Beth Heke in Once Were Warriors. 'Oh those evil colonials who destroyed Maori culture by ending slavery and cannibalism while increasing the life expectancy,' wrote one sarcastic blogger. So was Maori slavery 'just like' the experience of Africans in the Americas and were British missionaries or colonial administrators responsible for ending the practice? What was the nature of fr...