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In traditional Maori knowledge, the weather, birds, fish and trees, sun and moon are related to each other, and to the people of the land, the tangata whenua. It is truly an interconnected world - a vast family of which humans are children of the earth and sky, and cousins to all living things. In this richly illustrated book, Maori scholars and writers share the traditional knowledge passed down the generations by word of mouth. It provides a unique window on the relationship of the people of t...

The Cunning of Recognition is an exploration of liberal multiculturalism from the perspective of Australian indigenous social life. Elizabeth A. Povinelli argues that the multicultural legacy of colonialism perpetuates unequal systems of power, not by demanding that colonized subjects identify with their colonizers but by demanding that they identify with an impossible standard of authentic traditional culture. Povinelli draws on seventeen years of ethnographic research among northwest coast ind...

Lauga or Samoan oratory is a premier cultural practice in the fa'asamoa (Samoan culture), a sacred ritual that embodies all that fa'asamoa represents, such as identity, inheritance, respect, service, gifting, reciprocity and knowledge. Delivered as either lauga fa'amatai (chiefly speeches) or lauga fa'alelotu (sermons), lauga is captivating and endowed with knowledge, praxis and skill. Lauga is enjoyed by many, but today many Samoan people, especially in the Samoan diaspora, also remain disconne...

'Why don't you check out Papunya? It's the sniffing capital of Australia, it's a Bermuda triangle for taxpayer funds. Nobody in the NT government gives a rats. The council just tossed out World Vision. People are frightened to talk.' For award-winning journalist Russell Skelton a five year journey of inquiry that coincided with one of the biggest shifts in indigenous policy in Australian history began on the day he received this email. Set with the backdrop of Papunya, a Northern Territory Abori...

Aboriginal artists today practise in one of the world's longest continuous tradition of art - and perhaps the last to be generally recognised. Widely sought after, aboriginal art has now taken its place in the cozlections of leading museums and galleries. This concise survey looks at the work of Australia's indigenous visual artists from all parts of the continent. Building on traditions that stretch back at least 50,000 years, many of the artists have worked in a variety of contexts, from the s...

Drawing on early colonial cources as well as the writing of amateur and professional anthropologists, liguists and archaeloogists, Aboriginal Economy and Society compares the socail life and culture os seven regions of Australia as they appear to have been at the threshold of colonisation. With a focus on the economy,the broad scope of the book encmpasses variation in environmental conditions, resources and technologies; key institutions including kinship,cosmologies and governance; and organisa...

Published in association with the Australian National Museum, this book explores the constructions of indigenous heritage in European-Australian writings. From the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, European-Australians were actively recording, documenting and collecting Aboriginal heritage. This book examines how they did this, exploring perceptions of authenticity and innovation in Aboriginal heritage and approaches to ethnographic collecting. If indigenous people were pre...

In this first detailed account of growing up in Tonga, Helen Morton focuses on the influence of anga fakatonga (""the Tongan way"") in all facets of Tongan childhood, from the antenatal period to late adolescence. Childhood is a crucial period when cultural identity and notions of tradition are constructed, as well as beliefs about self, personhood, and emotion. Based on her anthropological fieldwork and her experiences in Tonga over several years, Morton traces the Tongan socialization process-...

Since the late 1960s Tongans have been leaving their islands in large numbers and settling in many different nations. Tongans Overseas is a timely look at their settlement experiences as they relate to cultural identity, particularly among the younger generations raised outside Tonga. What does being Tongan mean to these young people? Why do some proudly proclaim and cherish their Tongan identities while others remain ambivalent, confused, or indifferent? Helen Morton Lee's innovative research o...

Te Maori came out of exhibition of the same name which took New York by storm during the late 1980s. The historic artefacts in this book demonstrate the power and the beauty of Maori art and include canoe prows, doorways, clubs, tiki, pendants, masks, amulets and boxes. This book has been out of print for four years; it contains 37 taonga Maori of importance, beauty and mana.

This book explains the history of the Maoris and the outlook for their future. They arrived in New Zealand about 1200 years ago, having travelled by canoe across the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 1000 years later, in the 18th-century, the arrival of Europeans led to wars being fought over land. Today, the Maoris and white New Zealanders have a more peaceful relationship, though land disputes continue. The "People of the World" series is an easy-reader edition of the "Original Peoples" series. The text h...