Pacific Islands

The Frangipani is Dead. Contemporary Pacific Art In New Zealand by Karen Stevenson. This book offers a contextual understanding of the contemporary Pacific art movement in New Zealand and includes 88 full colour plates of Pacific art.

Paperback. 228 pages. NEW.

Body Trade, Captivity, Cannibalism and Colonialism in the Pacific, Otago University Press, 2001. Essays on the ‘traffic’ in human bodies in the Pacific from the 18th century until today. International scholars examine the ‘captive body’ as it is represented in a range of media from Captain Cook’s journals and Melville’s novels to popular culture and film. This book , exposes the myths surrounding the trade in heads, cannibalism, captive white women, the display of indigenouse people in fairs and circuses, Australia’s stolen generations, the ‘comfort’ women and the making of the exotic/erotic body.

Softback, Illustated, 320 pages.  NEW

Islanders The Pacific in the Age of Empire. Author Nicholas Thomas presents an alternative to the long held view that Pacific Islanders were utterly exploited by colonial powers during the age of empire. Using previously unused archives he documents the period to 1900 from the point of view of Pacific Islanders themselves to reveal a world of Islander explorers, traders, sailors, whalers, warriors, priests and migrants.  

Yale University Press, 2010. Hardback with dust-jacket, illustrated, 336 pages. NEW

Showcasing over 250 examples from throughout the Pacific from the collection of the Auckland Museum these beautiful pieces of jewellry convey important aspects of status and power in traditional Pacific societies. Beautiful illustrations.

Bateman Publishers. Softback. 190 pages. NEW.

This book is in two parts. The first covers regional music and dance from 20 specific areas in Polynesia and the second part describes the instruments used, performance, composition, teaching and structure of music across the entire region. Includes a CD sampler.

Auckland University Press, 1999. Hardback with dust jacket. 543 pages, with CD. AS NEW 

Essays by various authors on Pacific material culture, past and present, with broad themes of origins, the movement of peoples and development of their technologies. A thoroughly up to date and wide ranging survey.

Otago University Press, Dunedin, 2007. Hardback with dust jacket. 319 pages. NEW