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Polynesian Culture. The People and Home. There is still debate over the definitive origins of Polynesian culture and that transfers also, to the notion of tattooing. One thing that is certain is that the term Polynesian or Polynesia incorporates many tribes including Marquesans, Samoans, Niueans, Tongans, Cook Islanders, Hawaiians, Tahitians and Maori. All of these tribes are genetically linked to the indigenous peoples from parts of Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia and in turn, Polynesia are sub-regions of Oceania, comprising of a large grouping of over 1000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean, within a triangle that encompasses New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island as it's corners. The people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs. However, Polynesian languages may actually vary slightly from each other, and in some cases they actually differ quite significantly. There are some words, which are basically the same throughout all Polynesian languages, reflecting the deepest core of all Polynesian cultures. Moana (ocean) and mana (spiritual force and energy) are two terms that transcend all Polynesian cultures.
In this groundbreaking study, Riet Delsing narrates the colonization of the Pacific island of Rapa Nui and its indigenous inhabitants. The annexation of the island by Chile, in the heydays of world imperialism, places the small Latin American country in a unique position in the history of global colonialism. The analysis of this ongoing colonization process constitutes a “missing link” in Pacific Islands studies and facilitates future comparisons with other colonial adventures in the Pacific by the United States (Hawai‘i, American Samoa), France (Tahiti), and New Zealand (Maori and Cook Islands). The first part of the book surveys the history of the Chile–Rapa Nui relationship from its beginning in the 1880s until the present. Delsing delineates the Rapanui people’s agency along with their cultural logic, showing their resilience and will to remain Rapanui— indigenous Pacific islanders rather than an ethnic minority forcefully integrated into the Chilean nation-state. In the second part, the author describes the Rapanui’s contemporary emphasis on the revitalization of their language, traditional concepts about land tenure, a unique corpus of material and performative culture, renewed contact with other Pacific island cultures, and creative acts of resistance against Chilean colonialism. Emergent in her analysis is the effect of Rapa Nui’s vibrant tourist industry—commodification of Rapanui difference is creating the possibility to loosen economic and political ties with Chile. Drawing on statements of several Rapanui, she concludes that over the past few decades they have acquired a different kind of interpretive power, based on which they are making choices that serve them as a people on the road to cultural and political self-determination. Contemporary Rapa Nui is thus a modern, articulated place, marked by spirited identity politics that show the resilience and adaptability of the indigenous people who inhabit this island.
Polynesian Cultures in Perspective is an in-depth look at the different regional cultures of the large number of Polynesian islands and countries, with an emphasis on current culture. The young reader is presented with an overview of a variety of regional cultures that developed historically and analyzes how the cultural History shapes the Polynesian region s current culture. The book is written in a lively and interesting style and contains the Polynesian region s languages, foods, music/dance, art/literature, religions, holidays, lifestyle, and most importantly contemporary culture in the country today. The book has been developed to address many of the Common Core specific goals, higher level thinking skills, and progressive learning strategies from informational texts for middle grade and junior high level students.
The authors are social anthropologists affiliated with Southern Oregon University. They write here about their fieldwork in Nanumea, one of eight separate island communities comprising the modern Pacific nation of Tuvalu. The book includes a glossary, a bibliography, and a study guide, but, inexplicably, no index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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.
After fourteen months of field research in 1972-73 and an additional four months of field work with the Anutans in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara in 1983, Richard Feinberg here provides a thorough study of Anutan seafaring and navigation. In doing so he gives rare insights into the larger picture of how Polynesians have adapted to the sea. This richly illustrated book explores the theory and technique used by Anutans in construction, use, and handling of their craft; the navigational skills still employed in interisland voyaging; and their culturally patterned attitudes toward the ocean and travel on the high seas. Further, the discussion is set within the context of social relations, values, and the Anutan's own symbolic definitions of the world in which they live.
How did Hawaiian and Polynesian culture come to dramatically alter American music, fashion and decor, as well as ideas about race, in less than a century? It began with mainland hula and musical performances in the late 19th century, rose dramatically as millions shipped to Hawaii during the Pacific War, then made big leap with the advent of low-cost air travel. By the end of the 1950s, mainlanders were hosting tiki parties, listening to exotic music, lazing on rattan furniture in Hawaiian shirts and, of course, surfing. Increasingly, they were marrying people outside of their own racial groups as well. The author describes how this cultural conquest came about and the people and events that led to it.
Tourist guide to the Polynesian Culture Center in Laie, Hawaiʻi. Includes description of the center, map, transportation information, and list and times of events that take place in the areas related to different Polynesian cultures.
4e de couv.: The essays in this volume exemplify a new synthesis emerging in Polynesian studies, based upon insights derived from structuralism. Working with the indigenous idioms of myth, genealogy, ritual, philosophy and history, the authors isolate common elements of Polynesian cultural theory and show how the structures variously constructed from them persist and recur in a variety of transformations in societies widely separated from one another both in time and space.
The monography deals with the problem of Polynesian culture hero – in local mythology named Māui. The purpose of this work is to summarise, analyse and compare individual motifs in the mythological cycle of this culture hero – who appears not only in Polynesia, but also in the mythology of Melanesia and Micronesia. I concentrated especially on searching the like and unlike motifs in eastern Polynesian and western Polynesian myths. The focus lays in comparing the mythological motifs from Māui cycle which relate to his most important actions – fishing up islands from the bottom of the sea, lifting the skies from the earth, restraining the movement of the sun in the sky, bringing the gift of fire and attempt at gaining immortality for mankind. Based on information acquired the purpose was to build a typology and overview of differences in the selected individual myths about this culture hero.