Title: How "natives" think : about Captain Cook, for example /
Authors: Sahlins, Marshall David, 1930-
Publisher: University of Chicago Press,
Year: 1995
Subjects: Obeyesekere, Gananath.; Cook, James,; Hawaiian mythology; Ethnology Polynesia; Ethnology Hawaii Philosophy.; Ethnologists Attitudes.; Hawaii History Historiography.
Abstract: When Western scholars write about non-Western societies, do they inevitably perpetuate the myths of European imperialism? Can they ever articulate the meanings and logics of non-Western peoples? Who has the right to speak for whom? Questions such as these are among the most hotly debated in contemporary intellectual life. In How "Natives" Think, the distinguished anthropologist Marshall Sahlins addresses these issues head on, while building a powerful case for the ability of anthropologists working in the Western tradition to understand other cultures.
Contents: Preface -- Introduction -- Captain Cook at Hawaii -- Cook after death -- Historical fiction, makeshift ethnography -- Rationalities : how "natives" think -- Epilogue: Historiography, or symbolic violence -- Appendixes. A. 1. What the sailors knew ; A. 2. Liberalism and culture ; A. 3. On the Kāliʹi rite ; A. 4. Historiography of the Makahiki ; A. 5. Calendrical politics ; A. 6. Cook wrapped ; A. 7. Lono at Hikiau ; A. 8. Clark Gable for Cook? ; A. 9. Blurred images ; A. 10. Cookamamie ; A. 11. Priests' sorrows, women's joys, and stereotypic reproduction ; A. 12. Divine chiefs of Polynesia ; A. 13. Priests and genealogies ; A. 14. On the wrath of Cook ; A. 15. The language problem ; A. 16. Kamakau's gods ; A. 17. Atua in the Marquesas and elsewhere.