Books in the Anthropology and Cultural History in Asia and the Indo-Pacific series

Explores the significance of expressive genres for the social processes of coping with and adjusting to change, either from outside forces or from internal ones. This book covers Austronesian and non-Austronesian speakers in the wider Indo-Pacific region.

Authored by well-established and respected scholars, this work examines the kinds of efforts that have been made to adopt Western modernity in Melanesia and explores the reasons for their varied outcomes. The contributors take the work of Professor Marshall Sahlins as a starting point, assessing his theories of cultural change and of the relationship between cultural intensification and globalizing forces. They acknowledge the importance of Sahlins'' ideas, while refining, extending, modifying and critiquing them in light of their own first hand knowledge of Pacific island societies. Also presenting one of Sahlins'' less widely available original essays for reference, this book is an exciting contribution to serious anthropological engagement with Papua New Guinea.

This is a fascinating exploration of the relationship between marriage, violence and sorcery in an Australian Aboriginal community. Of Marriage, Violence and Sorcery offers an archive of valuable primary materials, drawing on the author's forty-year knowledge of the community on Mornington Island.

Examining the multifaceted nature of Christianity in Fiji, My God, My Land reveals the deeply complex and often paradoxical dynamics and tensions between processes of change and continuity as they unfold in representations and practices of Christianity and tradition in people''s everyday lives. The book draws on extensive, multi-sited fieldwork in different denominations to explore how shared values and cultural belonging are employed to strengthen relations. As such My God, My Land will be of interest to anthropologists of Oceania as well as scholars and students researching into social and cultural change, ritual, religion, Christianity, enculturation and contextual theology.

Drawing on ethnography of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia, Mortality, Mourning and Mortuary Practices in Indigenous Australia focuses on the current ways in which indigenous people confront and manage various aspects of death. The contributors employ their contemporary and long-term anthropological fieldwork with indigenous Australians to construct rich accounts of indigenous practices and beliefs and to engage with questions relating to the frequent experience of death within the context of unprecedented change and premature mortality. The volume makes use of extensive empirical material to address questions of inequality with specific reference to mortality, thus contributing to the anthropology of indigenous Australia whilst attending to its theoretical, methodological and political concerns. As such, it will appeal not only to anthropologists but also to those interested in social inequality, the social and psychosocial consequences of death, and the conceptualization and manipulation of the relationships between the living and the dead.

A rich and fascinating ethnography of domestic architecture and activities among the high caste Chhetris of Kholagaun in Nepal, this book focuses on the spatial organization, everyday activities and ritual performances that generate and display Chhetri houses as ''mandalas'', sacred diagrams that are both maps of the cosmos and machines for revelation. Describing the orientation and layout of the Chhetri house and surrounding compound; it shows how the orientation and distribution of everyday social activities with the domestic mandala shape people''s experience of the enigmas of their lifeworld as householders; and analyses the double significance of rituals that take place in the domestic mandala. By treating the Nepali house as more than just the background of people''s everyday life, the author reveals the Chhetri everyday lifeworld as a revelation of Hindu tantric cosmology, its enigmatic illusion, and the path to liberation from it. The themes addressed in the book make a unique contribution to the fields of anthropology, architecture and human geography.

Collective Creativity offers an analysis of the explosion of artistic creativity currently taking place on the South Pacific island of Rarotonga. With a close examination of tourism, galleries and, of course, the artists themselves Katherine Giuffre presents a detailed picture of a complex and multi-faceted community through the words of the art-world participants themselves. This book will appeal to South Pacific anthropologists as well as scholars concerned with ethnicity, creativity, globalization and network analysis.

This intriguing anthropological study investigates how the boatmen of Banaras have repositioned themselves within the traditional social organization and used their privileged position on the river to contest upper-caste and state domination. Assa Doron examines the evolution of the boatmen community, drawing on a variety of sources to illuminate the cultural politics of social and economic inequality in contemporary India. Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges offers insight into recent debates about the cultural and historical forms of social practice and resistance at the juncture between tradition and the global economy, and will therefore appeal not only to anthropologists, but to anyone working in the field of development studies, globalization, religion, politics and cultural studies.

Offers an analysis of the explosion of artistic creativity on the South Pacific island of Rarotonga. By exploring the construction of this art-world through the ways in which creativity and innovation are linked to social structures and social networks, this book investigates the social aspects of making fine art.

A study of power and resistance in everyday life which investigates how the boatmen of Banaras have repositioned themselves within the traditional social organisation and used their privileged position on the river to contest upper-caste and state domination.

The Anthropology of Morality in Melanesia and Beyond examines how Melanesians experience and deal with moral dilemmas and challenges. Taking Kenelm Burridge’s seminal work as their starting point, the contributors focus upon public situations and types of people that exemplify key ethical contradictions for members of moral communities. While returning to some classical concerns, such as the roles of big men and sorcerers, the book opens new territory with richly textured ethnographic studies and theoretical reviews that explore the interface between the values associated with indigenous village life and the ethical orientations associated with Christianity, the state, the marketplace, and other facets of ’modernity''. A major contribution to the emerging field of the anthropology of morality, the volume includes some of the most prominent scholars working in the discipline today, including Bruce Knauft, Joel Robbins, F.G. Bailey, Deborah Gewertz and Frederick Errington.

Drawing on sociological, historical and demographic data, this book provides an analysis of family, gender and kinship in Australia, with implications for modern kinship and gender at large. It charts the cultural basis that underlies kinship practices and argues that the Australian family is characterized by deep cultural and social continuities.

Analyses art from an Australian Aboriginal community to interpret Aboriginal claims about the relationship between their art, identity and culture, and how the art should be protected in law. The issue that the claims are true is relevant to North American debates about the appropriation of art, and this book engages with this literature.

Presents a sustained description of male-to-female transgendered identities, explaining how the fa'afafine fit within the wider gender system of Samoa and examining both the impact of westernisation on fa'afafine identities and lives, and the experiences of fa'afafine who have migrated to New Zealand.

Explores the different aspects of cultural politics in the world's most populous Muslim nation. This book engages with complex issues of cultural translation, localization and globalization from various perspectives through analyzing a diverse range of cultural forms, including government or palace-based celebrations, and ceremonies and rituals.

Drawing on ethnography of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia, Mortality, this volume focuses on the ways in which indigenous people confront and manage various aspects of death. It is suitable to anthropologists and to those interested in social inequality, and the social and psychosocial consequences of death.

Focusing on cultural change and the socio-political movements in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, this book uses both anthropological and historical analysis to examine the way the relationship between gender and Christianity has shaped processes of social change.

Offers an insight into the social and cultural hybridity of the Uyghurs, an officially recognised minority mainly inhabiting the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. This book provides an understanding of this group, focussing on the post-Soviet Central Asian states, and Sinology.

Examines the contemporary relations and history of Indigenous families in Australia, specifically referencing issues of government control and the official recognition of Aboriginal 'traditional owners'. This title develops a discussion of the anthropological issues of kinship and relatedness within colonial and 'postcolonial' contexts.

Examines how Melanesians experience and deal with moral issues. In a variety of ethnographic and theoretical locations, this title focuses upon public situations and types of people who exemplify key ethical contradictions for members of moral communities.