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Series

Volume 6

Pacific Perspectives: Studies of the European Society for Oceanists

Reviews

“Even if one is not always in agreement with the authors’ analyses, the contributions in this collection are so explicitly and empirically argued, that it furthers novel thinking. For that achievement alone this volume is a little gem, it is full of interesting case material, and at the same time it encourages new ways of thinking about Pacific realities.” • Anthropos

“The edited book is a collaborative effort by independent researchers who each respectively crafts their case study to elucidate ‘the possibilities for resilience and for loss, abandonment, and dramatic change,’ thereby illuminating the ‘interaction between a past that can be imagined as holistic and virtuous and an envisaged future that fulfills contemporary desires.’ This ‘constant flux’ calls for a vision beyond a simplistic judgment of cultural loss and cultural continuity. As an Oceanic academic concerned with the self-determination and well-being of the locals, I appreciate the insight towards the delicate and nuanced stance that the authors suggest we, as researchers, take, when we face each case in its specific context.” • Pacific Affairs


“…an important contribution to a better understanding of life worlds in Oceania (with a slight overrepresentation of Melanesia). Although this volume is a poignant reminder of the challenges indigenous people face in the current global condition, it also aptly demonstrates the agency of these social actors to resist these challenges and act resiliently. Presumably, Pacific Realities will mainly draw attention from scholars interested in Oceania. However, it should be read well beyond this limited circle because it offers rich ethnographic insights and a handy theoretical framework to better grasp contemporary island societies and cultures and their respective place in the world today.” • Island Studies Journal

Description

Throughout the Pacific region, people are faced with dramatic changes, often described as processes of “glocalization”; individuals and groups espouse multilayered forms of identity, in which global modes of thinking and doing are embedded in renewed perceptions of local or regional specificities. Consequently, new forms of resistance and resilience – the processes by which communities attempt to regain their original social, political, and economic status and structure after disruption or displacement – emerge. Through case studies from across the Pacific which transcend the conventional “local-global” dichotomy, this volume aims to explore these complex and interwoven phenomena from a new perspective.

Subject: Anthropology (General)Development StudiesPolitical and Economic Anthropology

Area: Asia-Pacific

Contents

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Of Related Interest

Manufacturing Tibetan Medicine

The Creation of an Industry and the Moral Economy of Tibetanness

Crude Domination

An Anthropology of Oil

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Language Revivalism and the Culture of Ethnic Identity in Northern Ireland

When God Comes to Town

Religious Traditions in Urban Contexts