title: TATAU: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing [Book review]

authors: McCormack, Fiona

abstract: This book is a homage to tatau, honouring its deep socio-political significance and central mediating role in Sāmoan culture, past and present. As much as this is a social anthropological account, however, it is also a paean to tatau as a high art form, to the tufuga ta tatau who create these remarkably beautiful marks on the skin as well as the contemporary artists who wear and celebrate them. Indeed, many of the images reproduced in the book have adorned the walls of art galleries in and beyond Oceania.

text: TATAU: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing [Book review] This book is a homage to tatau, honouring its deep socio-political significance and central mediating role in Sāmoan culture, past and present. As much as this is a social anthropological account, however, it is also a paean to tatau as a high art form, to the tufuga ta tatau who create these remarkably beautiful marks on the skin as well as the contemporary artists who wear and celebrate them. Indeed, many of the images reproduced in the book have adorned the walls of art galleries in and beyond Oceania.

year: 2021

title: A preliminary redating of the Holocene Roonka burials, south-eastern Australia

authors: Littleton, Judith

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Roonka is one of the most complete excavations of an Aboriginal burial ground in south‐eastern Australia. The chronology of the site and the nature of its use have proven difficult to interpret. Previous dating and chronological interpretations of the site have emphasised a chronology of changing use and burial practices, but the nature of the site and the dates obtained do not clearly support these interpretations. We report on the direct dating of human bone from a further ten burials from the main excavation. In order to further investigate the cultural chronology set out by Pretty (1977), samples were selected to cover a range of burial types and preservation states. Comparison of these dates with the previous conventional dates and early AMS dates not only shows the impact of improving technology but demonstrates that multiple burial styles were in use contemporaneously. Moreover, the results suggest that use of the site may have been discontinuous. Consequently, interpretations that assume a chronological sequence for Roonka based on burial practice are not supported, while analyses based on a synchronic interpretation may ignore significant temporal change.

text: A preliminary redating of the Holocene Roonka burials, south-eastern Australia Roonka is one of the most complete excavations of an Aboriginal burial ground in south‐eastern Australia. The chronology of the site and the nature of its use have proven difficult to interpret. Previous dating and chronological interpretations of the site have emphasised a chronology of changing use and burial practices, but the nature of the site and the dates obtained do not clearly support these interpretations. We report on the direct dating of human bone from a further ten burials from the main excavation. In order to further investigate the cultural chronology set out by Pretty (1977), samples were selected to cover a range of burial types and preservation states. Comparison of these dates with the previous conventional dates and early AMS dates not only shows the impact of improving technology but demonstrates that multiple burial styles were in use contemporaneously. Moreover, the results suggest that use of the site may have been discontinuous. Consequently, interpretations that assume a chronological sequence for Roonka based on burial practice are not supported, while analyses based on a synchronic interpretation may ignore significant temporal change.

year: 2017

title: Maori thinking with a dead white male: Philosophizing in the realm of Novalis

authors: Mika, Carl Te Hira

subjects: Novalis

abstract: In this paper I shall discuss my experiences of referring to Novalis in the context of Maori postcolonialism and metaphysical philosophy. As with other methods of research, from a Maori perspective one always alights on and then carries the effects of the philosopher that stands behind the method, whether the philosopher is silent or explicit. This important onto-epistemological interaction, in a general sense, acknowledges for the indigenous person that one is always ‘within’ the world and not detached from it. The maligned dead white male hence unavoidably becomes the highly constructive, living impulse behind what is to become fresh and innovative indigenous thinking.

text: Maori thinking with a dead white male: Philosophizing in the realm of Novalis In this paper I shall discuss my experiences of referring to Novalis in the context of Maori postcolonialism and metaphysical philosophy. As with other methods of research, from a Maori perspective one always alights on and then carries the effects of the philosopher that stands behind the method, whether the philosopher is silent or explicit. This important onto-epistemological interaction, in a general sense, acknowledges for the indigenous person that one is always ‘within’ the world and not detached from it. The maligned dead white male hence unavoidably becomes the highly constructive, living impulse behind what is to become fresh and innovative indigenous thinking.

year: 2014