THE ISLAND WORLD OF POLYNESIA - A Survey of the Racial Family and its Far-Flung Cultures

Book by Dodd, Edward

In this fifth and final volume of the Ring of Fire series, Dodd traces Polynesian civilizations from their origins in the Chinese province of Fukien to their present locations. Some 6000 years ago groups migrated to the islands of Southeast Asia, springboard for far-flung movements. The first generation of migrants settled in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, 3000-2500 B.C.; the second generation sailed to the Marquesas, Societies and Tuamotu, 100 B.C. to A.D. 300. The final migration, 400-1100, took them to Easter Island, Hawaii and New Zealand. Dodd discusses the Polynesian system of navigation in detail; he makes a plausible case for two-way voyaging--one for exploration, the second for migration. He examines the diverging material cultures island by island, suggesting a parallel between Polynesian civilization and the Galapagos finches in their adaptation to environment. Readers interested in the archeology and anthropology of the South Pacific will find Dodd's interpretation stimulating and engaging. Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This volume brings to a sad end the late Dodd's "Ring of Fire" series about the islands and people of Polynesia. It makes unsupportable racial judgments, as when Melanesians are dismissed as somehow inferior to Polynesians, who are "generally recognized as closer to the evolutionary goal toward which the rest of the world seems to be moving." It ignores almost all recent anthropological research, making selective use only of current archaeological work. Meant as an overview, it is uneven, patchy, and tendentious, and will serve only to mislead the reader in search of a good introduction to this area. Better volumes in this series are Polynesian Art, Polynesian Seafaring, Polynesia's Sacred Isle, and The Rape of Tahiti. -- Glenn Petersen, Baruch Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.