Melanesian Tribes vs. Polynesian Chiefdoms: Recent Archaeological Assessment of a Classic Model of Sociopolitical Types in Oceania

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dc.contributor.author Sand, Christophe
dc.date.accessioned 2010-08-04T19:51:03Z
dc.date.available 2010-08-04T19:51:03Z
dc.date.issued 2002
dc.description.abstract The late prehistoric period is crucial to the study of anthropology, as the area of Island Melanesia has provided the world with one of its great anthropological stereotypes, the "Big Man" society. This was developed by Sahlins (1963) on the basis of Oliver's (1955) ethnography of the Siwai of southern Bougainville as observed during the late 1930s. It has led to a gross ethnographic oversimplification of Melanesia as having Big Man societies, contrasted with Polynesia having chiefly societies. Where chiefs were found in Melanesia, their presence has often been interpreted as a cultural borrowing under Polynesian influence (Spriggs 1993: 198). KEYWORDS: Melanesia; Polynesia; Big Man society; Polynesian chiefdom.
dc.identifier.citation Sand, C. 2002. Melanesian Tribes vs. Polynesian Chiefdoms: Recent Archaeological Assessment of a Classic Model of Sociopolitical Types in Oceania. Asian Perspectives 41 (2): 284-96.
dc.identifier.issn 1535-8283 (E-ISSN)
dc.identifier.issn 0066-8435 (Print)
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10125/17176
dc.publisher University of Hawai'i Press (Honolulu)
dc.relation.ispartofseries Volume 41
dc.relation.ispartofseries Number 2
dc.subject Melanesia
dc.subject Polynesia
dc.subject Big Man society
dc.subject Polynesian chiefdom
dc.subject.lcsh Prehistoric peoples--Asia--Periodicals.
dc.subject.lcsh Prehistoric peoples--Oceania--Periodicals.
dc.subject.lcsh Asia--Antiquities--Periodicals.
dc.subject.lcsh Oceania--Antiquities--Periodicals.
dc.subject.lcsh East Asia--Antiquities--Periodicals.
dc.title Melanesian Tribes vs. Polynesian Chiefdoms: Recent Archaeological Assessment of a Classic Model of Sociopolitical Types in Oceania
dc.type Article
dc.type.dcmi Text
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Asian Perspectives, 2002 - Volume 41, Number 2 (Fall)