The Pacific is the last major world region to be discovered by humans. Although small in total land area, its numerous islands and archipelagoes with their startlingly diverse habitats and biotas, extend across a third of the globe. This revised edition of a popular text explores the diverse landforms, climates, and ecosystems of the Pacific island region. Multiple chapters, written by leading specialists, cover the environment, history, culture, population, and economy. The work includes new or completely revised chapters on gender, music, logging, development, education, urbanization, health, ocean resources, and tourism. Throughout two key issues are addressed: the exceptional environmental challenges and the demographic/economic/political challenges facing the region. Although modern technology and media and waves of continental tourists are fast eroding island cultures, the continuing resilience of Pacific island populations is apparent. This is the only contemporary text on the Pacific Islands that covers both environment and sociocultural issues and will thus be indispensable for any serious student of the region. Unlike other reviews, it treats the entirety of Oceania (with the exception of Australia) and is well illustrated with numerous photos and maps, including a regional atlas. Contributors: David Abbott, Dennis A. Ahlburg, Glenn Banks, John Barker, Geoffrey Bertram, David A. Chappell, William C. Clarke, John Connell, Ron Crocombe, Julie Cupples, Derrick Depledge, Colin Filer, Gerard J. Fryer, Patricia Fryer, Brenden S. Holland, E. Alison Kay, David M. Kennedy, Lamont Lindstrom, Rick Lumpkin, Harley I. Manner, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Nancy McDowell, Hamish A. McGowan, Frank McShane, Simon Milne, R. John Morrison, Dieter Mueller-Dombois, Stephen G. Nelson, Patrick D. Nunn, Michael R. Ogden, Andrew Pawley, Jean-Louis Rallu, Vina Ram-Bidesi, Moshe Rapaport, Annette Sachs Robertson, Richard Scaglion, Donovan Storey, Andrew P. Sturman, Lynne D. Talley, James P. Terry, Randolph R. Thaman, Frank R. Thomas, Caroline Vercoe, Terence Wesley-Smith, Paul Wolffram.

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.

Academic survey of the Pacific Islands. Includes maps, photographs, tables, diagrams, atlas, and detailed index.

Pacific Islander Americans constitute one of the United States' least understood ethnic groups. As expected, stereotypes abound: Samoans are good at football; Hawaiians make the best surfers; all Tahitians dance. Although Pacific history, society, and culture have been the subjects of much scholarly research and writing, the lives of Pacific Islanders in the diaspora (particularly in the U.S.) have received far less attention. The contributors to this volume of articles and essays compiled by the Pacific Islander Americans Research Project hope to rectify this oversight. Pacific Diaspora brings together the individual and community histories of Pacific Island peoples in the U.S. It is designed for use in Pacific and ethnic studies courses, but it will also find an audience among those with a general interest in Pacific Islander Americans. Contributors: Keoni Kealoha Agard, Melani Anae, Kekuni Blaisdell, John Connell, Wendy Cowling, Vincente M. Diaz, Michael Kioni Dudley, Dianna Fitisemanu, Inoke Funaki, Lupe Funaki, Karina Kahananui Green, David Hall, Jay Hartwell, Craig R. Janes, George H. S. Kanahele, Davianna Pomoaikai McGregor, Brucetta McKenzie, Helen Morton, Dorri Nautu, Tupou Hopoate Pauu, A. Ravuvu, Carol E. Robertson, Joanne Rondilla, E. Victoria Shook, Paul Spickard, Haunani-Kay Trask, Debbie Hippolite Wright.

The authors are social anthropologists affiliated with Southern Oregon University. They write here about their fieldwork in Nanumea, one of eight separate island communities comprising the modern Pacific nation of Tuvalu. The book includes a glossary, a bibliography, and a study guide, but, inexplicably, no index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

An encyclopaedia of information on major aspects of Pacific life, including the physical environment, peoples, history, politics, economy, society and culture. The CD-ROM contains hyperlinks between section titles and sections, a library of all the maps in the encyclopaedia, and a photo library.