The Force of Ethnology: Origins and Significance of the Melanesia/Polynesia Division [and Comments and Replies]

Persistence of the gift: Tongan tradition in transnational context

“…10 Note that Appadurai (1986, 10) argues that barter and commodity exchange have a ''commonality of spirit,'' and that barter ought to be considered a form of commodity exchange unmediated by money. 11 For instance Thomas (1991) shows that even during the earliest point of contact in the Pacific, the exchange of goods between Europeans and Pacific Islanders sometimes occurred in ways that denied relationships rather than formed them. He thus suggests caution in assuming that societies in which gift exchange is significant, are unaware of, or incapable of denying the formation of relationships in the exchange context.…”

Histórias de crânios e o problema da classificação antropológica de Timor1

“…(cf. Granroth, 2004: 199-204;Thomas, 1989 Havia apenas dois anos, Mendes Correia -responsável pela jovem antropologia na…”

Persistence of the Gift: Tongan Tradition in Transnational Context

“…The tendency of ethnologists working in Polynesia to assume connection and similarity, as opposed to the narrative of difference and discontinuity found in Melanesian ethnology, has been noted (Huntsman 1995;Thomas 1989). Here I simply point out the assumptions of sameness within the Kingdom of Tonga which are played out in much of the literature.…”