Traditional Micronesian Societies

Traditional Micronesian Societies PDF Author: Glenn Petersen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824865286
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Traditional Micronesian Societies explores the extraordinary successes of the ancient voyaging peoples who first settled the Central Pacific islands some two thousand years ago. They and their descendants devised social and cultural adaptations that have enabled them to survive—and thrive—under the most demanding environmental conditions. The dispersed matrilineal clans so typical of Micronesian societies ensure that every individual, every local family and lineage, and every community maintain close relations with the peoples of many other islands. When hurricanes and droughts or political struggles force a group to move, they are sure of being taken in by kin residing elsewhere. Out of this common theme, shared patterns of land tenure, political rule, philosophy, and even personal character have flowed. To describe and explain Micronesian societies, the author begins with an overview of the region, including a brief consideration of the scholarly debate about whether Micronesia actually exists as a genuine and meaningful region. This is followed by an account of how Micronesia was originally settled, how its peoples adapted to conditions there, and how several basic adaptations diffused throughout the islands. He then considers the fundamental matters of descent (ideas about how individuals and groups are bound together through ties of kinship) and descent groups and the closely interlinked subjects of households, families, land, and labor. Because women form the core of the clans, their roles are particularly respected and their contributions to social life honored. Socio-political life, art, religion, and values are discussed in detail. Finally, the author examines a number of exceptions to these common Micronesian patterns of social life. Traditional Micronesian Societies illustrates the idiosyncrasies of individual Micronesian communities and celebrates the Micronesians’ shared ability to adapt, survive, and thrive over millennia. At a time when global climate change has seized our imaginations, the Micronesians’ historical ability to cope with their watery environment is of the greatest relevance.

Traditional Micronesian Societies

Traditional Micronesian Societies PDF Author: Glenn Petersen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824865286
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
Traditional Micronesian Societies explores the extraordinary successes of the ancient voyaging peoples who first settled the Central Pacific islands some two thousand years ago. They and their descendants devised social and cultural adaptations that have enabled them to survive—and thrive—under the most demanding environmental conditions. The dispersed matrilineal clans so typical of Micronesian societies ensure that every individual, every local family and lineage, and every community maintain close relations with the peoples of many other islands. When hurricanes and droughts or political struggles force a group to move, they are sure of being taken in by kin residing elsewhere. Out of this common theme, shared patterns of land tenure, political rule, philosophy, and even personal character have flowed. To describe and explain Micronesian societies, the author begins with an overview of the region, including a brief consideration of the scholarly debate about whether Micronesia actually exists as a genuine and meaningful region. This is followed by an account of how Micronesia was originally settled, how its peoples adapted to conditions there, and how several basic adaptations diffused throughout the islands. He then considers the fundamental matters of descent (ideas about how individuals and groups are bound together through ties of kinship) and descent groups and the closely interlinked subjects of households, families, land, and labor. Because women form the core of the clans, their roles are particularly respected and their contributions to social life honored. Socio-political life, art, religion, and values are discussed in detail. Finally, the author examines a number of exceptions to these common Micronesian patterns of social life. Traditional Micronesian Societies illustrates the idiosyncrasies of individual Micronesian communities and celebrates the Micronesians’ shared ability to adapt, survive, and thrive over millennia. At a time when global climate change has seized our imaginations, the Micronesians’ historical ability to cope with their watery environment is of the greatest relevance.

Traditional Micronesian Societies

Traditional Micronesian Societies PDF Author: Glenn Petersen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824832485
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Traditional Micronesian Societies explores the extraordinary successes of the ancient voyaging peoples who first settled the Central Pacific islands some two thousand years ago. They and their descendants devised social and cultural adaptations that have enabled them to survive—and thrive—under the most demanding environmental conditions. The dispersed matrilineal clans so typical of Micronesian societies ensure that every individual, every local family and lineage, and every community maintain close relations with the peoples of many other islands. When hurricanes and droughts or political struggles force a group to move, they are sure of being taken in by kin residing elsewhere. Out of this common theme, shared patterns of land tenure, political rule, philosophy, and even personal character have flowed. To describe and explain Micronesian societies, the author begins with an overview of the region, including a brief consideration of the scholarly debate about whether Micronesia actually exists as a genuine and meaningful region. This is followed by an account of how Micronesia was originally settled, how its peoples adapted to conditions there, and how several basic adaptations diffused throughout the islands. He then considers the fundamental matters of descent (ideas about how individuals and groups are bound together through ties of kinship) and descent groups and the closely interlinked subjects of households, families, land, and labor. Because women form the core of the clans, their roles are particularly respected and their contributions to social life honored. Socio-political life, art, religion, and values are discussed in detail. Finally, the author examines a number of exceptions to these common Micronesian patterns of social life. Traditional Micronesian Societies illustrates the idiosyncrasies of individual Micronesian communities and celebrates the Micronesians’ shared ability to adapt, survive, and thrive over millennia. At a time when global climate change has seized our imaginations, the Micronesians’ historical ability to cope with their watery environment is of the greatest relevance.

Summoning the Powers Beyond

Summoning the Powers Beyond PDF Author: Jay Dobbin
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 082486011X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Summoning the Powers Beyond collects and reconstructs the old religions of preindustrial Micronesia. It draws mostly from written sources from the turn of the nineteenth century and the period immediately after World War II: reports of the Hamburg South Sea Expedition of 1908–1910, articles by German Roman Catholic missionaries in Micronesia included in the journal Anthropos, and reports by the Coordinated Investigation of Micronesian Anthropology (CIMA) and the American Board of Commissioners of the Foreign Missions (ABCFM). A detailed introduction and an overview of Micronesian religion are followed by separate chapters detailing religion in the Chuukic-speaking islands, Pohnpei, Kosrae, the Marshall Islands, Yap, Palau, Kiribati, and Nauru. The Chamorro-speaking group of the Marianas is omitted because lengthy periods of intense military and missionary activity eradicated most of the local religion. The Polynesian outliers Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi are discussed at the end primarily to underscore the contrasts between Polynesian and Micronesian religion. In a concluding chapter, the author highlights the similarities and differences between the areas within Micronesia and then attempts an appreciation or evaluation of Micronesia religion. Finally, he addresses the evidence of a tentative hypothesis that Micronesian religion is sufficiently different from that of Polynesia and Melanesia to justify the continued claim of a separate Micronesian religion.

Traditional Micronesian Societies

Traditional Micronesian Societies PDF Author: Glenn Petersen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780824870140
Category : Chiefdoms
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Explores the extraordinary successes of the ancient voyaging peoples who first settled the Central Pacific islands some 2000 years ago. To describe and explain Micronesian societies, this book presents an overview of the region. It also considers scholarly debate about whether Micronesia actually exists as a genuine and meaningful region.

Making Sense of Micronesia

Making Sense of Micronesia PDF Author: Francis X. Hezel
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824836610
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Why are islanders so lavishly generous with food and material possessions but so guarded with information? Why do these people, unfailingly polite for the most part, laugh openly when others embarrass themselves? What does a smile mean to an islander? What might a sudden lapse into silence signify? These questions are common in encounters with an unfamiliar Pacific Island culture. Making Sense of Micronesia is intended for westerners who find themselves in contact with Micronesians—as teachers, social workers, health-care providers, or simply as friends—and are puzzled by their island ways. It is for anyone struggling to make sense of cultural exchanges they don’t quite understand. The author focuses on the guts of island culture: the importance of the social map, the tension between the individual and social identity, the ways in which wealth and knowledge are used, the huge importance of respect, emotional expression and its restraints, island ways of handling both conflict and intimacy, the real but indirect power of women. Far from a theoretical exposition, the book begins and ends with the real-life behavior of islanders. Each section of every chapter is introduced by a vignette that illustrates the theme discussed. The book attempts to explain island behavior, as curious as it may seem to outsiders at times, against the over-riding pattern of values and attitudes that have always guided island life. Even as the author maps the cultural terrain of Micronesia, he identifies those areas where island logic and the demands of the modern world conflict: the “dilemmas of development.” In some cases, changes are being made; in others, the very features of island culture that were highly functional in the past may remain so even today. Overall, he advocates restraint—in our judgments on island practices, in our assumption that many of these are dysfunctional, and in leading the charge for “development” before understanding the broader context of the culture we are trying to convert.

Arts and Crafts of Micronesia

Arts and Crafts of Micronesia PDF Author: Barbara Wavell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781573063098
Category : Arts, Micronesian
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This image-driven book provides a detailed view of the artwork, craftsmanship, and history of the traditional arts of Micronesia using a unique blend of contemporary and historic collections to showcase such items as carved statuary, storyboards, model canoes, woven mats, baskets and fans. Wavell s book is an excellent comprehensive view of the artistic and practical handiwork of the peoples of Micronesia.

Living Culturally Responsive Mathematics Education with/in Indigenous Communities

Living Culturally Responsive Mathematics Education with/in Indigenous Communities PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004415769
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Living Culturally Responsive Mathematics Education with/in Indigenous Communities explores challenges and possibilities across international contexts, involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, teachers and Elders responding to calls for improved education for all Indigenous students. Authors from Australia, New Zealand, United States, Micronesia, and Canada explore the nature of culturally responsive mathematics education. Chapters highlight the importance of relationships with communities and the land, each engaging critically with ideas of culturally responsive education, exploring what this stance might mean and how it is lived in local contexts within global conversations. Education researchers and teacher educators will find a living pathway where scholars, educators, youth and community members critically take-up culturally responsive teachings and the possibilities and challenges that arise along the journey. Contributors are: Dayle Anderson, Dora Andre-Ihrke, Jo-ann Archibald Q'um Q'um Xiiem, Maria Jose Athie-Martinez, Robin Averill, Trevor Bills, Beatriz A. Camacho, A. J. (Sandy) Dawson, Dwayne Donald, Herewini Easton, Tauvela Fale, Amanda Fritzlan, Florence Glanfield, Jodie Hunter, Roberta Hunter, Newell Margaret Johnson, Julie Kaomea, Robyn Jorgensen, Jerry Lipka, Lisa Lunney Borden, Dora Miura, Sharon Nelson-Barber, Cynthia Nicol, Gladys Sterenberg, Marama Taiwhati, Pania Te Maro, Jennifer S. Thom, David Wagner, Evelyn Yanez, and Joanne Yovanovich.

American Anthropology in Micronesia

American Anthropology in Micronesia PDF Author: Robert Kiste
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824861426
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 649

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Book Description
This text evaluates how anthropological research in the Trust Territory has affected the Micronesian people, the US colonial administration and the discipline of anthropology itself. It analyzes the interplay between anthropology and history, in particular how American colonialism affected anthropologists' use of history, and examines the research that has been conducted by American anthropologists in specific topical areas of sociocultural anthropology. The text concentrates on disciplinary concerns, but also considers the connections between work done in the era of applied anthropology and that completed later when anthropology was persued mainly for its own sake.

Weekend Warriors

Weekend Warriors PDF Author: Mac Marshall
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
In a unique blend of historical investigation, cross-cultural comparison, and in-depth analysis, Weekend Warriors draws parallels between past traditions of aggression and the present-day problem of drunkenness on the Pacific island of Truk. Marshall demonstrates that many of our beliefs about drinking and drunkenness may be faulty and that a genuine understanding demands a social and cultural approach as well as a medical one.

Human Families

Human Families PDF Author: Stevan Harrell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429979606
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 541

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Book Description
This detailed study maps variations in family systems throughout the world, focusing on the ways families cooperate and interact with their societies. Harrell describes families in nomadic bands, traditional African societies, Polynesian and Micronesian societies, native societies of the Pacific Northwest coast, preindustrial class societies, and modern industrial societies. His extensive case studies are clearly illustrated with unique diagrams that allow comparison of complex groups and family processes extending over a generation. }This detailed study maps the variations in family systems throughout the world, focusing on the ways families interact with their societies. Tracing the developmental cycle of families in a wide range of times and places, Stevan Harrell shows how family members in different societies must cooperate to perform various activities and thus organize themselves in particular ways. Within six major divisions, the book describes families in nomadic bands, traditional African societies, Polynesian and Micronesian societies, native societies of the Pacific Northwest coast, preindustrial class societies, and modern industrial societies. Within each group, the authors copious examples demonstrate the variation from one family system to another. His case studies are clearly illustrated with a unique set of diagrams that allow comparison of complex groups and of family processes extending over a generation. Scholars and advanced students alike will find this ambitious book an invaluable resource. }