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Pacific Encounters brings together for the first time many stunning Polynesian objects collected by voyagers and missionaries during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Illustrated are over 270 items gathered from the major regions of Polynesia. Many are from the British Museum, which houses fine and rare material from the expeditions of Captain Cook, Captain Vancouver, and members of the London Missionary Society. Ranging from massive images of gods to small fish hooks, they are discussed in the contexts of their local use and meanings, and their journeys to museums all over the world. These pieces have remarkable stories to tell of encounters between humans and their gods, between Polynesians and Europeans, their respective chiefs and priests, beliefs, and technologies. Pacific Encounters is a groundbreaking book that conveys the wonder and excitement not only of the objects themselves, but of the fascinating Polynesian cultures that produced them.
A Host of Devils provides an in-depth account of the background, origin and development of the spirit figure sculptures which emerged during colonial times among the Makonde people of Mozambique. The creation of such works is shown to connect with a regional system of knowledge and practice, within which spirits function as a format for expression. The book describes the ways in which the sculpture emerged, as well as the author's experience of learning how to carve.
The Global Lives of Things considers the ways in which ‘things’, ranging from commodities to works of art and precious materials, participated in the shaping of global connections in the period 1400-1800. By focusing on the material exchange between Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia, this volume traces the movements of objects through human networks of commerce, colonialism and consumption. It argues that material objects mediated between the forces of global economic exchange and the constantly changing identities of individuals, as they were drawn into global circuits. It proposes a reconceptualization of early modern global history in the light of its material culture by asking...
A bold new conceptualization of Islam that reflects its contradictions and rich diversity What is Islam? How do we grasp a human and historical phenomenon characterized by such variety and contradiction? What is "Islamic" about Islamic philosophy or Islamic art? Should we speak of Islam or of islams? Should we distinguish the Islamic (the religious) from the Islamicate (the cultural)? Or should we abandon "Islamic" altogether as an analytical term? In What Is Islam?, Shahab Ahmed presents a bold new conceptualization of Islam that challenges dominant understandings grounded in the categories of "religion" and "culture" or those that privilege law and scripture. He argues that these modes of ...
Annotation "Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture represents the culmination of thirty-five years of study. Pat Getz-Gentle offers here much new material and many fresh insights into a tradition, rooted in the Neolithic period, that spanned most of the third millennium B.C. She begins with a review of this tradition, placing particular emphasis on the stages leading to the reclining figure with folded arms that is the unique and quintessential icon of the early Bronze Age culture at the center of the Aegean. She then focuses on the styles of fifteen sculptors, several of whom are identified and discussed for the first time in this volume. By introducing little-known pieces attributable to these sculptors, she illuminates various phases of their artistic development."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Both anthropologists and conservation scientists are fascinated by Oceanic barkcloth, or tapa, as it is known by its generic Polynesian term. Historic tapa designs are often living cultural heritage, but today’s objects also combine content, form and tradition in new ways and are intimately connected with the social and cultural identity of individuals, groups, and even nations. With tapa being completely alien to European traditions, conservation scientists are challenged by the material and its restoration and preservation. Questions of adequate presentation in exhibitions touch upon both disciplines, particularly when cultural requirements of the source communities come into play. This ...
This insightful analysis of British imperialism in the south Pacific explores the impulses behind British calls for the protection and "improvement" of islanders. From kingmaking projects in Hawaii, Tonga, and Fiji to the "antislavery" campaign against the labor trade in the Western pacific, the author examines the deeply subjective, cultural roots permeating Britons' attitudes toward Pacific Islanders. By teasing out the connections between those attitudes and the British humanitarian and antislavery movements, Imperial Benevolence reminds us that nineteenth-century Britain was engaged in a global campaign for "Christianization and Civilization."
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