Product Description

Anthropological research has increasingly focused on the effects of material and social change on traditional cultures. Ethnological autobiographies such as this, allow members of such cultures to speak for themselves, providing a unique insight into the subject's life. Michael Kwa'ioloa explains the importance of his traditional culture in providing a stable foundation for life in changing times. He describes his childhood in the forest of East Kwara'ae, his exposure to Western culture in the capital, his arranged marriage and conversion to Christianity. In first-hand testimony, he considers the contrasts between rural society and urban life, exchanges of shell money and working for cash, the power of ancestral ghosts and Christian belief, traditional practices of restitution and modern notions of crime and punishment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2638478 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 169 pages

Review
"By enabling Kwa'ioloa to tell his own story, we receive a warts-and-all account of Solomon Islands life which draws us into the very essence of his time and place."