Book about the social life and customs of the Trobriand Islanders of Papua New Guinea

Book about the social life and customs of the Trobriand Islanders of Papua New Guinea

This volume deals with the children’s socialization on the Trobriands. After a survey of ethnographic studies on childhood, the book zooms in on indigenous ideas of conception and birth-giving, the children’s early development, their integration into playgroups, their games and their education within their `own little community’ until they reach the age of seven years. During this time children enjoy much autonomy and independence. Attempts of parental education are confined to a minimum. However, parents use subtle means to raise their children. Educational ideologies are manifest in narratives and in speeches addressed to children. They provide guidelines for their integration into the Trobrianders’ “balanced society” which is characterized by cooperation and competition. It does not allow individual accumulation of wealth – surplus property gained has to be redistributed – but it values the fame acquired by individuals in competitive rituals. Fame is not regarded as threatening the balance of their society.

Ethnography of how a sex-positive culture responds to HIV/AIDS

Malinowski's Kiriwina presents nearly two hundred of Malinowski's previously unpublished photographs of the Islanders among whom he lived between 1915 and 1918. The images are more than embellishments of his ethnography; they are a recreation in striking detail of a distant world.

East of Java, west of Tahiti and north of the Cape York Peninsula of Australia lie the unknown paradise islands of the Coral, Solomon and Bismarck Seas. They were perhaps the last inhbited place on earth to be explored by Europeans and even today many remain largely unspoilt, despite the former presence of German, British and even Australian colonial rulers. The historic anthropological work of Bronislaw Malinowski guides the author through the seductive labyrinth of the Trobriand 'Islands of Love' and the erotic dancers of the yam festival. Darkly humorous characters, both historical and contemporary, spring vividly to life as the author steers the reader through the ricly fascinting cultures of Melanesia.

The series builds an extensive collection of high quality descriptions of languages around the world. Each volume offers a comprehensive grammatical description of a single language together with fully analyzed sample texts and, if appropriate, a word list and other relevant information which is available on the language in question. There are no restrictions as to language family or area, and although special attention is paid to hitherto undescribed languages, new and valuable treatments of better known languages are also included. No theoretical model is imposed on the authors; the only criterion is a high standard of scientific quality.