Picture-perfect images of enticing tropical lagoons, and coconut palm-rimmed beaches, set against a rugged and majestic mountainous backdrop: an understandably huge drawcard for visitors to Rarotonga! What many travellers to these shores are unaware of are fascinating and at times conflicting or controversial stories, about various landmarks around the island. This guide will tell you about: why people were urged by the early forebearers of Christianity to move from their inland homes in the mountains and valleys to the coast; significant marae where chiefly titles were invested and offerings made to the many deities; the intriguing stories of tūpāpāku (ghosts / spirits); the story behind the ‘curse’ of the never-completed ‘Sheraton Hotel’; and so much more. This is the ultimate guide to uncovering some of Rarotonga’s historical and culturally significant sites and stories. Explore the island following the simple directions and location information provided in this book, while learning about the fascinating history of this small island paradise.

Picture-perfect images of enticing tropical lagoons, and coconut palm-rimmed beaches, set against a rugged and majestic mountainous backdrop: an understandably huge drawcard for visitors to Rarotonga! What many travellers to these shores are unaware of are fascinating and at times conflicting or controversial stories, about various landmarks around the island. This guide will tell you about: why people were urged by the early forebearers of Christianity to move from their inland homes in the mountains and valleys to the coast; significant marae where chiefly titles were invested and offerings made to the many deities; the intriguing stories of tūpāpāku (ghosts / spirits); the story behind the 'curse' of the never-completed 'Sheraton Hotel'; and so much more. This is the ultimate guide to uncovering some of Rarotonga's historical and culturally significant sites and stories. Explore the island following the simple directions and location information provided in this book, while learning about the fascinating history of this small island paradise.

The architecture of the Cook Islands' coral churches has entangled indigenous and foreign beliefs, social practice and place-making since their instigation by the London Missionary Society in the 1840s. As well as examining the historical significance of their formation, this thesis explores Rarotonga's churches, now under the Cook Islands Christian Church, as contemporary cultural landscapes. The study examines how place meanings have been recontested, recontextualised and renewed through the churches' continued use, and questions how architectural conservation practices may respond to their living heritage. Research methods included site investigation in Rarotonga in 2014 and an analysis of literature and images. Fieldwork involved: first, physical investigation of the island's historical churches, focusing on the Matavera church as a case study, and second, interviews with local people. Adopting a qualitative approach enabled people's complex emotional and cultural connections to church places to be explored in ways that directly shaped research findings. The study supports earlier scholarship and local perspectives suggesting that churches were conceptualised and constructed as the island's "new marae," their presence physically restating tribal rights to land. This has bearing on their contemporary significance as places embedded in ancestral meaning and constellational understandings of time. Research findings indicate that it is churchscapes' temporal and intangible aspects, rather than their physical form, that remain their most enduring heritage. Local agency directs modifications and use, highlighting the living reality of church places as not only indigenised but indigenous. These findings have implications for heritage conservation in a context where decisions are based on local consensus and collective process. Churchscapes, like marae, remain entwined with tribal mana, hierarchy and land. This may mean that they continue to have cultural value for increasingly diasporic Cook Islands communities. Responding holistically to their complex and sometimes contradictory strands of intangible and tangible significance may become increasingly important for their living sustainment. Keywords: Cook Islands, coral church, place attachment, cultural landscape.

History and Traditions of Rarotonga is the earliest known literary work in the Cook Island Mâori language. Its author, Te Ariki Tara 'Are, was a pre-eminent scholar who recorded the historical traditions of his people in the mid-nineteenth century. This volume allows the historical and literary importance of the work to be appreciated.

Dancing from the Heart is the first study of gender, globalization, and expressive culture in the Cook Islands. It demonstrates how dance in particular plays a key role in articulating the overlapping local, regional, and transnational agendas of Cook Islanders. Kalissa Alexeyeff reconfigures conventional views of globalization’s impact on indigenous communities, moving beyond diagnoses of cultural erosion and contamination to a grounded exploration of creative agency and vital cultural production. Central to the study is a rich and textured ethnographic account of contemporary Cook Islands dance practice. Based on fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and archival research, it offers an engrossing analysis of how Cook Islands social life is generated through expressive practices. Dance is explored in a variety of settings, including beauty pageants, tourist venues, nightclubs and community celebrations at home and within Cook Islands communities abroad. Contemporary Cook Islands dance practices are also shaped by competing ideas about the past. Debates about precolonial traditions, missionization, and colonialism pervade discussions about dance and expressive culture. Alexeyeff shows how the politics of tradition reflect the competing moral, political, personal, and economic practices of postcolonial Cook Islanders. Throughout the work the stories and voices of individuals are brought to the fore. Their views are juxtaposed with scholarship on tradition, modernity, and social dynamics. Engaging and accessible, Dancing from the Heart illuminates specific and intimate aspects of Cook Islands social life while, at the same time, addressing fundamental questions within anthropology and indigenous, performance, and postcolonial studies.

The Cook Islands is a small island nation located in the South Pacific, northeast of New Zealand. The country consists of 15 islands spread out over 1.2 million square kilometers of ocean, with a population of around 17,500 people. The Cook Islands was first settled by Polynesian explorers over a thousand years ago, and has been influenced by various European powers throughout its history. The islands are known for their stunning natural beauty, with white sandy beaches, clear blue waters, and lush rainforests. The economy is primarily based on tourism, and the country boasts a vibrant culture with traditions and customs unique to the Cook Islands.

The fourth in a series that documents architectural conservation in different parts of the world, Architectural Conservation in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands: National Experiences and Practice addresses cultural heritage protection in a region which comprises one third of the Earth’s surface. In response to local needs, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands have developed some of the most important and influential techniques, legislation, doctrine and theories in cultural heritage management in the world. The evolution of the heritage protection ethos and contemporary architectural conservation practices in Australia and Oceania are discussed on a national and regional basis using ample illustrations and examples. Accomplishments in architectural conservation are discussed in their national and international contexts, with an emphasis on original developments (solutions) and contributions made to the overall field. Enriched with essays contributed from fifty-nine specialists and thought leaders in the field, this book contains an extraordinary breadth and depth of research and synthesis on the why’s and how’s of cultural heritage conservation. Its holistic approach provides an essential resource and reference for students, academics, researchers, policy makers, practitioners and all who are interested in conserving the built environment.