PACIFIC 201

Pacific Worlds

Please note: this is archived course information from 2018 for PACIFIC 201.

Description

This course deals with the "histories" of Pacific societies and cultures as they are presented and interpreted in historical and ethnographic studies and in the writing of indigenous Pacific scholars. A historical "event" prior to World War II will be examined through both western and indigenous lenses in order to trace the transformation of Polynesian cultures. Cultural systems - diversity, complications and rank -  will be considered in terms of a series of related themes - reproduction, sexuality and kinship, gender relations, religion and politics - in which the diversities and comparabilities of lifeways in three Polynesian islands and the influence of "contact" will be explored.

Availability 2018

Not taught in 2018

Lecturer(s)

TBA

Reading/Texts

Coursebook is available from the University Bookshop. Early readings are based on the Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders, D. Denoon et al (eds.) NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1997. These will give students an in-depth overview of the history of the Pacific and the latter readings will provide the ethnographic contexts.

Assessment

Coursework + exam

Points

PACIFIC 201: 15 points

Prerequisites

15 points from ANTHRO 104, LINGUIST 102, PACIFIC 100, 105 and 15 points from COOKIS 101, 201, 301, SAMOAN 101, 201, 301, TONGAN 101, 201, 301, or 45 points in BGlobalSt courses