Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; Part I. Orientations: 2. First encounters; 3. Portraits of the past; 4. Chiefs, persons and power; Part II. Transformations: 5. Crisis and Christianity; 6. Conversions and consolidation; Part III. Narrations: 7. Becoming Christian: playing with history; 8. Missionary encounters: narrating the self; Part IV. Revitalization: 9. Collisions and convergence; 10. The paramount chief: rites of renewal; 11. Conclusion; Notes; References.

Promotional Information

This book is about the construction of cultural identity through narratives of shared history.

Reviews

'White's book is a rich and nuanced contribution to the literature on perceptions of the past and colonial change in the Pacific … an important contribution to Pacific anthropology.' Man