Island Networks: Communication, Kinship, and Classification Structures in Oceania: 11 (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences, Series Number 11)

Hage, Per

ISBN 10: 052155232X / ISBN 13: 9780521552325

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1996

About this Item

Using network models from graph theory, this book analyses the formation of Pacific island empires. Series Editor(s): Granovetter, Mark. Series: Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences. Num Pages: 320 pages, 121 b/w illus. 4 maps 10 tables. BIC Classification: JHM. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 228 x 152 x 19. Weight in Grams: 640. . 1997. hardcover. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780521552325

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Island Networks: Communication, Kinship, and Classification Structures in Oceania: 11 (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences, Series Number 11)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 052155232X
• ISBN 13: 9780521552325
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Contrary to common perception and belief, most island societies of the Pacific were not isolated, but were connected to other island societies by relations of kinship and marriage, trade and tribute, language and history. Using network models from graph theory the authors analyze the formation of island empires, dialect groups, economic and political centers; the evolution and devolution of social stratification; and the development of kinship terminologies, marriage systems and descent groups.

From the Back Cover

In their previous book, Exchange in Oceania, anthropologist Per Hage and mathematician Frank Harary demonstrated that models from graph theory, a branch of pure mathematics, provide the essential basis for analyzing the great variety of exchange systems in Micronesian, Melanesian, and Polynesian societies. In this new book the authors extend these models and apply them to the analysis of communication, kinship, and classification structures in the island societies of Oceania, presenting the relevant topics from graph theory in a form accessible to the nonmathematical reader. The research problems include the formation of island empires, the social basis of dialect groups, the emergence of trade and political centers, the evolution and devolution of social stratification, the transformations of marriage and descent systems, the historical development of kinship terminologies, and the reconstruction of protosocieties.