Routledge Library Editions
SOCIAL CHANGE IN TIKOPIA
ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY
Routledge Library Editions
Anthropology and Ethnography
RAYMOND FIRTH: COLLECTED WORKS
In 6 Volumes
| I | Capital, Saving and Credit in Peasant Societies |
| Firth & Yamey |
| II | Elements of Social Organization | Firth |
| III | Primitive Polynesian Economy | Firth |
| IV | Social Change in Tikopia | Firth |
| V | Themes in Economic Anthropology | Firth |
| VI | We, the Tikopia | Firth |
SOCIAL CHANGE IN TIKOPIA
Re-study of a Polynesian Community after a Generation
RAYMOND FIRTH
First published in 1959
Reprinted in 2004 by
Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X14 4RN
Transferred to Digital Printing 2006
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
1959 George Allen and Unwin Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Social Change in Tikopia
ISBN 978-0-415-33018-3
Miniset: Raymond Firth: Collected Works
Series: Routledge Library Editions Anthropology and Ethnography
RAYMOND FIRTH
F.B.A
Social Change in Tikopia
RE-STUDY OF A POLYNESIAN COMMUNITY
AFTER A GENERATION
ILLUSTRATED
Ruskin House
GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD
MUSEUM STREET LONDON
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1959
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no portion may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiry should be made to the publisher.
George Allen and Unwin Ltd. 1959
To
PA FENUATARA
Where virtue has not the first place,
there aristocracy cannot be firmly established
ARISTOTLE, Politics, (II, ii)
Ko taku foe taumuri voko
Ko taku foe
Mai mata vaka
Kua seke
Tanu i a vaerangi
Te maveteveteranga o a tau rima
Soa E!
TIKOPIA SONG TO A BOND-FRIEND
Oh my paddle from the stem of the canoe
My paddle
From the bow
Has slipped away
Buried beneath far skies
The unfastening of our hands
My friend.
An anthropological field expedition to a remote island in the Western Pacific must be indebted to a variety of people and institutions for many services and kindnesses outside the ordinary run of professional relations. This was so with the Tikopia expedition of 1952/3 which I carried out with the help of my colleague, Mr James Spillius. It had been my wish since the war to make a re-study of Tikopia society. This became possible through the facilities afforded me by the Australian National University. After being for some time a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the University during its formation, by leave of my College I was able to accept an invitation from the Vice-Chancellor and Council of the new University to serve for a year as the Acting Director of its Research School of Pacific Studies, not long after its establishment in Canberra. As part of this arrangement the University sponsored a re-study of Tikopia. I was able to spend from March to the beginning of August 1952 on the island and Mr Spillius, who accompanied me, stayed until July 1953. The various acknowledgments which I am glad to make here are primarily my own, though necessarily some of them relate also to our joint work.
I wish first to acknowledge my debt to the Director and the Governors of the London School of Economics and Political Science for the grant of leave which made the expedition possible. I am most deeply indebted to Sir Douglas Copland, (then) Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University, to Mr R. A. Hohnen, Registrar, and to other members of the University staff for their very great help and untiring courtesy in all the arrangements for the expedition. To a generous travel grant from the British Dominions and Colonies Program of the Carnegie Corporation, and to further financial assistance from the Australian National University I owe the co-operation of Mr Spillius. To the late Professor S. F. Nadel, whose untimely death in 1956 was such a loss to the University, I am indebted for putting me in touch initially with Mr Spillius, and for much other assistance.
In preparing for the expedition we had the invaluable help and advice of Mr H. E. Maude, (then) Executive Officer for Social Development in the South Pacific Commission. We were also helped very greatly by Mrs Nancy Phelan of the Social Development Section of the Commission who even, at a critical moment, personally superintended the loading of some of our essential stores. We were indebted to the Social Development Section also for the loan of a tape recorder and generator which enabled Mr Spillius to secure some unique records of Tikopia speech and music. To Amalgamated Wireless of Australia Ltd we were most grateful for the loan of an Australophone which, operated by Mr Spillius, was invaluable in maintaining communication with our neighbours at Vanikoro, and at the seat of Government, 600 miles distant. Without this radio telephone communication we would have been greatly hampered in our work, and the Tikopia would have been even more gravely affected by the famine which developed during our stay.
We are very glad to acknowledge also the many facilities put at our disposal by the officials of the Western Pacific High Commission and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Government. For much personal kindness in addition we were indebted to the Resident Commissioner, Mr H. G. Gregory Smith, to the Director of Medical Services, Dr W. H. McDonald, and to the various Government Officers in charge of the Eastern Solomons District. I myself owe a particular debt of gratitude to Mr H. G. Wallington, a generous host both ashore and afloat, who took us down to Tikopia in March 1952 and did much to assure the success of the expedition. To Sir Robert Stanley, High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, the expedition owed many kind services at a later period. To members of the staff of the Kauri Timber Company at Vanikoro we were also grateful for hospitality and help. The Melanesian Mission, as always, was most hospitable, and to the Bishop and other members of the Mission we were greatly indebted.
