Being and Becoming Indigenous Archaeologists


Book Description

This volume tells the stories—in their own words-- of 37 indigenous archaeologists from six continents, how they became archaeologists, and how their dual role affects their relationships with their community and their professional colleagues.




Knots


Book Description

Knots are well known as symbols of moral relationships. This book develops an exciting new view of this otherwise taken-for-granted image and considers their metaphoric value in and for moral order. In chapters that focus on Japan, China, Europe, South America and in several Pacific Island societies, granular ethnography depicts how knots are deployed to express unity in daily and ritual embodiment, political authority and the cosmos, as well as in social thought. The volume will be of interest to anthropologists and other scholars concerned with metaphor and symbolism, material culture and technology.




Archaeology of Oceania


Book Description

This book is a state-of-the-art introduction to the archaeology of Oceania, covering both Australia and the Pacific Islands. The first text to provide integrated treatment of the archaeologies of Australia and the Pacific Islands Enables readers to form a coherent overview of cultural developments across the region as a whole Brings together contributions from some of the region’s leading scholars Focuses on new discoveries, conceptual innovations, and postcolonial realpolitik Challenges conventional thinking on major regional and global issues in archaeology




The Oxford Handbook of Zooarchaeology


Book Description

Animals have played a fundamental role in shaping human history, and the study of their remains from archaeological sites--zooarchaeology--has gradually been emerging as a powerful discipline and crucible for forging an understanding of our past. The Oxford Handbook of Zooarchaeology offers a cutting-edge compendium of zooarchaeology the world over that transcends environmental, economic, and social approaches, seeking instead to provide a holistic view of the roles played by animals in past human cultures. Incisive chapters written by leading scholars in the field incorporate case studies from across five continents, from Iceland to New Zealand and from Japan to Egypt and Ecuador, providing a sense of the dynamism of the discipline, the many approaches and methods adopted by different schools and traditions, and an idea of the huge range of interactions that have occurred between people and animals throughout the world and its history. Adaptations of human-animal relationships in environments as varied as the Arctic, temperate forests, deserts, the tropics, and the sea are discussed, while studies of hunter-gatherers, farmers, herders, fishermen, and even traders and urban dwellers highlight the importance that animals have had in all forms of human societies. With an introduction that clearly contextualizes the current practice of zooarchaeology in relation to both its history and the challenges and opportunities that can be expected for the future, and a methodological glossary illuminating the way in which zooarchaeologists approach the study of their material, this Handbook will be invaluable not only for specialists in the field, but for anybody who has an interest in our past and the role that animals have played in forging it.




Admiralty Islands


Book Description

"The traditional art forms of the Admiralty Islands occupy an important place in the art of the South Sea Islands. The originality of their oeuvre is manifested in monumental sculptures and magnificent wooden bowls and dishes as well as in small implements of virtuoso design. The works are decorated in a rich palette of red, black, brown and white tones that give severe, strongly contrasting visual effects. "[Featured here are] the artistically fashioned products of the archipelego's material culture. A centrally positions in occupied by representations of humans and animals and the adornment of ritual objects. Objects that played a role in religion and mythology, and above all, in the daily life of the inhabitants of the islands. " -- From the Preface by Lorenz Homberger




Election 2007


Book Description

Papua New Guinea’s general election in 2007 attracted particular interest for several reasons. Not only did it follow what was widely acknowledged as the country’s worst election ever, in 2002 (in which elections in six of the country’s 109 electorates were declared to be ‘failed elections’), it was the first general election to be held under a new limited preferential voting system. It also followed the first full parliamentary term under the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates, which had been introduced in 2001 in an attempt to strengthen political parties and create a greater degree of stability in the national parliament, and was the first to embrace a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to electoral administration, through an Interdepartmental Electoral Committee. This volume provides an analysis of the 2007 election, drawing on the work of a domestic monitoring team organized through the National Research Institute, and several visiting scholars. It addresses key issues such as voter education, electoral administration, election security, the role of political parties, women as candidates and voters, the shift to limited preferential voting, and HIV transmission, and provides detailed accounts of the election in a number of open and provincial electorates. It is generally agreed that the election of 2007 was an improvement on that of 2002. But problems of electoral administration and voting behaviour remain. These are identified in this volume, and recommendations made for electoral reform.




Papuan Pasts


Book Description

"An inter-disciplinary exploration of the history of humans in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands, which make up the biogeographic and cultural region that is coming to be known as Near Oceania, with particular reference to the people who speak Papuan (non-Austronesian) languages"--Back cover.




A Polymath Anthropologist


Book Description

This volume honours Ann Chownings contributions to anthropology as a whole and to the anthropology of Melanesia in particular. It reflects the scope of her interests by bringing together a wide range of scholars and topics. A biographical narrative (by Judith Huntsman) of her life to date traces her career and there is a comprehensive bibliography of her works (Kathryn Creely). The essays deal primarily with issues in Oceania, except for two addressing one of her favourite pasttimes detective fiction, as a source of innovative word formation (Laurie Bauer) and its parallels to ethnography (Claudia Gross). Three archaeology essays discuss stone artefacts in Papua New Guinea (Pamela Swadling, Jim Specht, Susan Buhner), and one essay surveys dental morphology in Oceania (Daris R. Swindler). Essays in linguistics range from surveys of Oceanic plant names (Malcolm Ross), Proto Micronesian (Ward II. Goodcnough) and Proto Oceanic (Andrew Pawley) to detailed analyses of the languages of Tokelau (Robin Hooper) and Aneityum (John Lynch). The largest section consists of essays in socio-cultural anthropology, combining themes that have been the focus of Ann Chowning's work: marriage and social organisation, gender and sexuality, social and economic change, leadership, religion, myth and human-animal relations. These essays include a survey of anthropology in Oceania (Harriet D. and Andrew P. Lyons) and cover Polynesia (Phyllis Herda, Judith Huntsman, Penelope Schoeffel), New Zealand (Joan Metge, Julie Park), the Solomon Islands (Christine Dureau) and Papua New Guinea (John Barker, Mark Busse, Michael Monsell-Davis, Mark Mosko, Maev O'Collins, Marilyn Strathern). There are also essays recollecting Ann Chowning as a teacher, colleague and friend (Jane C. Goodale, Virginia Greene, Harriet D. Lyons, Luisa Margolies, James Urry, Michael W. Young).