South Pacific Oral Traditions

"This collection of articles touches upon some important issues in humanistic anthropology. . . . Folklorists, students of comparative literature, and anthropologists can all find something of interest in these essays." ―American Anthropologist

"Superbly edited, impeccably researched, and discriminatingly tied together as a coherent gathering of insight, the volume is a welcome addition to a significant field of study that is only now beginning to appreciate the finer achievements of the South Pacific's unique contribution." ―Rongorongo Studies

" . . . the defining collection on contemporary verbal arts in Oceania. . . . of real value to scholars concerned with the relationships between verbal art, social change, gender, power, [and] social organization." ―Don Brenneis

". . . it will be welcome to historians of the South Pacific and useful to others grappling with problems of oral tradition." ―Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"The volume abundantly illustrates the continuing vitality of oral traditions in the South Pacific, as well as the continuing wealth these traditions provide for researchers." ―Pacific Affairs

RUTH FINNEGAN is Professor in Comparative Social Institutions at the Open University and author of Oral Poetry and Oral Literature in Africa. MARGARET ORBELL, Reader in the Department of Maori at the University of Canterbury, is the author of The Natural World of the Maori and Hawaiki: A New Approach to Maori Tradition.