Download Free Stars Of Tagai Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Stars Of Tagai and write the review.

"Stars of Tagai" creates a picture of a unique sea culture rich in meanings and custom. The author's observations of Islander life over the past fourteen years join with the life stories of Islanders so giving depth to the book's theme: how conservation of cultural tradition underlies a process of renewal. The rhythm of Islanders' lives follows the movement of the constellation Tagai, a mythical hero who stands in a canoe; his left hand, the Southern Cross, holds a fish spear. The stars of Tagai usher in seasonal changes and are a guide to voyaging and cultivating throughout the Torres Strait. The book explores four meanings of the Tagai myth in the life of the Islanders since the mid-nineteenth century. Its main focus is a growing identity and self-awareness. This is the first book to examine the social issues involved in the historic Mabo case and to give a picture of the fabric of life of the Mariam people of the Murray Islands, a subgroup of the Torres Strait Islanders. It considers local historical precedents for current moves for political autonomy, examines the various reasons behind moves for sovereignty in the 1980s, and considers future options.
This remarkable interdisciplinary collection spans twenty years of scholarship on Aboriginal religions. Contributors include Diane Bell, Ronald M. Berndt, Deborah Bird Rose, Frank Brennan, Max Charlesworth, Rosemary Crumlin, Norman Habel, Nonie Sharp, W. E. H. Stanner, Tony Swain and Peter Willis.
Presenting spectacular photographs of astronomical objects of the southern sky, all taken by author Stephen Chadwick, this book explores what peoples of the South Pacific see when they look up at the heavens and what they have done with this knowledge. From wives killing brothers to emus rising out of the desert and great canoes in the sky, this book offers the perfect blend of science, tradition and mythology to bring to life the most famous sights in the heavens above the southern hemisphere. The authors place this starlore in the context of contemporary understandings of astronomy. The night sky of southern societies is as rich in culture as it is in stars. Stories, myths and legends based on constellations, heavenly bodies and other night sky phenomena have played a fundamental role in shaping the culture of pre-modern civilizations throughout the world. Such starlore continues to influence societies throughout the Pacific to this day, with cultures throughout the region – from Australia and New Zealand in the south to New Guinea and Micronesia in the north - using traditional cosmology as a means of interpreting various aspects of everyday life.
In October of 2001, the Australian High Court confirmed aboriginal title to two thousand kilometres of ocean off the north coast. The decision, which was the result of a seven-year court battle, highlighted aboriginal belief that the sea is a gift from the creator to be used for sustenance, spirituality, identity, and community. This evocative study of the people of northern coastal Australia and their sea worlds illuminates the power of human attachment to place. Saltwater People: The Waves of Memory offers a cross-disciplinary approach to native land claims that incorporates historical and contemporary case studies from not only Australia, but also New Zealand, Scandinavia, the US, and Canada. Nonie Sharp discusses various issues of indigenous heritage, including land claims, concepts of public and private property, poverty, and the environment. Despite dispossession, the aboriginals of northern coastal Australia never faltered in their devotion to the sea, illustrating how profoundly such bonds are preserved in memory. Their moving story of surviving and winning a lengthy court battle provides valuable information for all countries dealing with similar issues of rights to tenure and natural resources. Sharp provides the first book-length study of an integrated statement on the many defining qualities of the cultural relationship of aboriginals, non-aboriginals, and the concept of ownership over the sea, and illustrates the wisdom that different traditions can offer one another.
The sixth in a series compiling the results of an ethnographical research expedition in the Torres Strait, New Guinea, and Borneo. Originally published in 1908, it contains information on the societies and belief structures of the indigenous peoples living in the eastern islands of the Strait.
Body Trade exposes myths surrounding the trade in heads, cannibalism, captive white women, the display of indigenous people in fairs and circuses, the stolen generations, the 'comfort' women and the making of the exotic/erotic body. This is a lively and intriguiung comtribution to the study of the postcolonial body.
The fourth volume concentrates on various traditions in arts and crafts from Torres Strait, New Guinea, and Borneo.