Abstract
Culture in Polynesia.—In a monograph entitled “An Enquiry into the Question of Cultural Stability in Polynesia”, which is published as Vol. 9 of the Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology (issued in England by the Oxford University Press, lOs. 6d. net), Miss Margaret Mead has reviewed the evidence afforded by the culture of Polynesia in its bearing on certain general questions—such as the problem of the relation of different elements in a culture, that is, the relative stability of ritual and technique, of terms of relationship and of the moiety, of the field of decoration and elements of the design, and so forth. Canoe building, house building, and tattooing were considered in five insular cultures: in Hawaii, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa, and among the Maori. In the case of canoe building, it was found that variations in technique and mechanical principles were rare, but the relative importance of priest and craftsman varied enormously between the extremes in Hawaii, where the priest performed the skilled parts of the work and the builders were held in low esteem, and in Samoa, where the priest had no function and the builders were all-powerful, while in New Zealand some parts of the work was left to the chief only. The taboos also varied in extent and in degree. The extent to which the canoe entered into the religious complex was different in the different areas. In house building there was little deviation. The most definite individualisation occurred in the shape and appearance of the house, and where they were closely allied with decoration the most highly developed individualisation also was found. In tattooing the technique was even more constant, but the style was unique and specially developed in each area. The closest association appeared between Hawaii and southern New Zealand. The status of the craftsman also varied; only in New Zealand did the priest play an important part. The content of the associated taboos and rites was different in each group. So far as the evidence carries, it would appear that technique is the more stable element, and form and decorative elements the most variable. Such data as these, therefore, would not appear valid evidence for possible culture contact between, for example, Oceania and America or Africa and Melanesia.
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Research Items. Nature 124, 387–389 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/124387a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/124387a0