UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND

 

DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY

 

105.204: ETHNOGRAPHY OF ISLAND POLYNESIA

2003 Summer School

Course Outline

 

Lecturers:        Associate Professor Judith Huntsman

                        Office HSB 837 (by appointment)

 

                        Helen Mavoa

                        E-mail: hm.mavoa@auckland.ac.nz

                            HSB 847

                            Office hours: Mondays 3:15-4.00

                                                  Tuesdays 12:15-2:00

 

Guest lecturers (in order of appearance):

Dr Judith Macdonald

Dr Tupeni Baba

Dr Melani Anae

                       

Tutor:            Marama Muru-Lanning

 

Lectures:            Mondays 10:00-12 noon (OCH2)

               Tuesdays 10:00-11:00 (OCH2)

               Wednesdays10:00-11:00 (OCH2)

               Thursdays 10:00-12 noon (OCH2)

 

Tutorials:      HSB 411/OCH2

      Tuesdays 11:00-12:00

Wednesdays 11:00-12:00

NB tutorials start 7 January

 

Readings:    A book of readings is available at cost from HSB 855

 

Coursework: In order to pass this paper, all coursework must be submitted and the examination attempted.

Map test―pass required; the first opportunity will be during the test.

          Test (15%)―16 January, 10:00-11:00am

Essay (25%) based on book from list provided of ethnographies and related books on Polynesia ―Due10am, 3 February.

   Examination (60%)―18 February, 2:15-5:30pm

 

1.      Lecture/Tutorial Schedule

Week One:

6 January   Introduction to Polynesia. (Judith Huntsman)

7 January   Introduction to Polynesia. (Judith Huntsman)

8 January   Introduction to Polynesia. (Judith Huntsman)

9 January    Tikopia. (Judith Macdonald)

 

       Tutorial 1:        Polynesia. (Marama)   

Tutorial 2:        Ethnography. (Helen)

 

Reading:          *Chapter one (see reader) and one other chapter to be selected in class from We the Tikopia.

      

       Bellwood, P. 1979. The Oceanic context. In J. Jennings (ed.), The Prehistory of Polynesia.

       Burrows, E. 1940. Culture areas of Polynesia. Reprinted in Vayda (ed.) 1968, Peoples and Cultures of the Pacific. An Anthropological Reader. American Museum of Natural History.

       Clark, R. 1979. Language. In J. Jennings (ed.), The Prehistory of Polynesia.

 

Week Two:

13 January   The atolls of Tokelau. (Judith Huntsman)

14 January   The atolls of Tokelau. (Judith Huntsman)

15 January   The atolls of Tokelau. (Judith Huntsman)

16 January   Test 10:00-11:00

    

       Tutorial 3:        Discussion of: We the Tikopia

Tutorial 4:        Test preparation

 

Reading:          *Wessen, et al. 1992. The neo-traditional social order in Tokelau. Ch. 4 of Migration and Health in a Small Society: The Case of Tokelau. Oxford: Clarendon.

 

           Huntsman, J. 1971. Concepts of kinship and categories of kin in Tokelau, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 80: 317-54.

           Wessen et al., 1992. Ch. 3: The history of Tokelau: 1841-1948.

 

Week Three:

20 January   Samoa: Complications. (Judith Huntsman)

21 January   Samoa: Complications. (Judith Huntsman)

22 January   NZ-born identity journeys. (Melani Anae)

23 January                 Tonga: Rank and gender. (Helen Mavoa)

 

Tutorial 5:    Tokelau and Samoa. (MML)

Tutorial 6:          Tongan ethnographers. (HM)

 

Reading:          *Shore, B. 1982. The matai system. Excerpt from Sala‘ilua:A Samoan Mystery. Columbia University Press.

     *Melesia, M. 1995. “To whom gods and men crowded”: chieftainship and hierarchy in ancient Samoa. In J. Huntsman (ed.), Tonga and Samoa: Images of Gender and Polity. Chistchurch: Canterbury University

     *Readings for Dr Anae’s lecture will be distributed in class.

     *Cummins, H. 1977. Tongan society at the time of European contact. In N. Rutherford (ed.), The Friendly Islands. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.

    

     Bott, E. 1982. Tongan Society at the time of Captain Cook’s visits: Conversations with Her Majesty Queen Sālote Tupou. Polynesian Society Memoir 44.

     Marcus, G. 1978. The Nobility and the Chiefly Tradition in the Modern Kingdom of Tonga. Polynesian Society Memoir No.42.

    

 

Week Four:

27 January     Public Holiday—no lecture

28 January                 Fiji. (Helen Mavoa)

29 January                 Fiji. (Tupeni Baba)

30 January                 Fiji. (Tupeni Baba)

 

       Tutorial 7:    Fiji. (Marama)

Tutorial 8:                 Essay preparation. (Helen)

 

Reading:            *Nayacakalou, R. 1975. The structural basis of traditional leadership. Ch. 2 of Leadership in Fiji.

     *Baba, T. 1997. From mill pond to main stream- challenges to Fiji leadership. In Chand and Naidu (eds), Fiji: Coups, Crises, and Reconciliation, 1987-1997.

    

     Sahlins, M. 1962. Moala: Culture and Nature on a Fijian Island.

            France, P. 1969. The Charter of the Land. Oxford University Press

     Groves, M. 1963. The nature of Fijian society. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 72: 272-291.

 

Week Five:

       3 February          Ethnography and gender. (Helen Mavoa)

       4 February          Ethnography and gender. (Helen Mavoa)

       5 February          Ethnography and children. (Helen Mavoa)

  6 February              Waitangi Day—no lecture  

 

Tutorial 9:                       Gender. (Marama)

Tutorial 10:          Children. (Helen)

 

Reading: *Huntsman and Hooper 1975. Male and Female in Tokelau Culture. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 84: 415-30.

     *Schoeffel, P. 1978. Gender, status and power in Samoa. Canberra Anthropology, 1.

     *Morton, H. 1996. Children’s everyday lives. Ch. 3 Becoming Tongan: An Ethnography of Childhood.

 

Week Six: Polynesian narratives and cultural constructions

10 February                       Fiji and Tonga. (Judith Huntsman)

11 February          Tikopia. (Judith Huntsman)

12 February          Samoa. (Judith Huntsman)

13 February          Tokelau. (Judith Huntsman)

                 Course overview.

                                               

       Tutorial 11:          Myths and ethnography.(MML)

Tutorial 12:          Exam preparation.(HM)

 

       Readings:                *Excerpt from: R. Firth, History and Traditions of Tikopia. Polynesian Society Memoir 33..

                                      *Excerpt from: P. Schoeffel, 1987, Rank, gender and politics in Samoa. Journal of Pacific History, 22(3-4): 178-83.

                                      *Excerpt from: J. Huntsman and A. Hooper, 1996. Tokelau: A Historical Ethnography. Ch. 4.

     *Excerpt from: E. Bott, 1982. Tongan Society at the time of Captain Cook’s visits: Conversations with Her Majesty Queen Sālote Tupou. Polynesian Society Memoir 44.

     *Excerpt from Sahlins, M. 1983. Raw women, cooked men, and other ‘great things’ of the Fiji islands. In P. Brown and D. Tuzin (eds), The Ethnography of Cannibalism.

 

                                      Bott, E. Power and rank in the kingdom of Tonga. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 90:7-81.

                                      Hooper, A. 1981. Why Tikopia has Four Clans. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Occasional Paper No. 38.

                                      Huntsman, J. and A. Hooper 1985. Structures of Tokelau history. In A. Hooper and J. Huntsman (eds), Transformations of Polynesian Culture. Polynesian Society Memoir 45, pp. 33-49.

                                      Sahlins, M. 1981. The Stranger-king or Dumézil among the Fijians. Journal of Pacific History, 16:107-32.

                                      Schoeffel, P. 1987. Rank, gender and politics in Samoa. Journal of Pacific History, 22(3-4): 174-94.