The Other Side: Ways of Being and Place in Vanuatu

John Patrick Taylor

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2008

The Other Side

Ways of Being and Place in Vanuatu

John Patrick Taylor

Volume 24 in the series Pacific Islands Monographs Series

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824864903

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Other Side is the first major ethnographic and historical study of the Sia Raga people of north Pentecost Island, a region that was home to the late Father Walter Lini, Vanuatu’s first prime minister. Exploring Raga social, spatial, and historical consciousness, this richly poetic account provides important theoretical contributions to ongoing debates in Pacific anthropology about the relation between structure and history, and place and time. It reveals important insights into the convergence of indigenous and exogenous cosmologies and hegemonies historically, and shows how these are implicated in contemporary social, ritual, and material cultural expressions. These analyses engage with broader concerns relating to colonial and postcolonial identities, political economy, and globalization in island Melanesia.

The Other Side combines original and substantial ethnography with sophisticated theoretical reflection that will appeal broadly across the field of anthropology. It will also be of considerable value to scholars of Pacific and Melanesian history, politics, and society. The clear writing and entertaining narrative combine to create a work that is accessible to a wide audience. The volume’s critical and reflective analysis of anthropological research makes it a valuable teaching aid in courses that focus on ethnographic methods and writing. Students in Pacific anthropology will find it especially useful.37

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Prologue: Ways of the Place Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One: Intimate Histories
1. Locating the Anthropologist, Defining the Field Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2. The Story of Jimmy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
3. The Ways of the Land-Tree: Sia Raga Cosmography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
Part Two: Intimations of Structure
4. Fluid Technologies: Paths of Relationship, Spirals of Exchange Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
5. Shifting Habitats and Dynamics of Space: Gender and the Sacred in Sia Raga Social Practice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
6. Sia Raga Architectonics: Knowledge and Agency of Houses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Epilogue: And Still They Go to the Moon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
other volumes in the pacific islands monograph series Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	240

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 254
Illustrations
- Other: 29 b&w images, 7 line drawings, 3 maps

eBook

Published: July 8, 2008
ISBN: 9780824864903