{"title":"Great families of Polynesia : inter-island links and marriage patterns","authors":"N. Gunson","doi":"10.1080/00223349708572835","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The great ruling and sacred families of Polynesia were the senior representatives of tribal groupings or clans claiming a common homeland, or cult, and sometimes canoe tradition. Using the traditional framework of Polynesian history the inter‐island links and marriage patterns are examined in the four traditional periods, the age of the gods, the legendary period of the national or tribal ancestors, the semi‐legendary first genealogical period and the fourth period which commences with an ancestor from whom living chiefs can trace their descent without contradiction. A fifth period dealing with the great families since European contact and the rise of independent monarchies is also introduced. Particular emphasis is given to the interdependent yet dichotomous nature of tribal culture, the principal example being the relationship between Tonga and Samoa which originally appeared to be culturally distinct but socially one unit made up of two moieties. While modern political boundaries are largely a...","PeriodicalId":45229,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF PACIFIC HISTORY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"1997-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/00223349708572835","citationCount":"11","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF PACIFIC HISTORY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00223349708572835","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 11
Abstract
Abstract The great ruling and sacred families of Polynesia were the senior representatives of tribal groupings or clans claiming a common homeland, or cult, and sometimes canoe tradition. Using the traditional framework of Polynesian history the inter‐island links and marriage patterns are examined in the four traditional periods, the age of the gods, the legendary period of the national or tribal ancestors, the semi‐legendary first genealogical period and the fourth period which commences with an ancestor from whom living chiefs can trace their descent without contradiction. A fifth period dealing with the great families since European contact and the rise of independent monarchies is also introduced. Particular emphasis is given to the interdependent yet dichotomous nature of tribal culture, the principal example being the relationship between Tonga and Samoa which originally appeared to be culturally distinct but socially one unit made up of two moieties. While modern political boundaries are largely a...
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Pacific History is a refereed international journal serving historians, prehistorians, anthropologists and others interested in the study of mankind in the Pacific Islands (including Hawaii and New Guinea), and is concerned generally with political, economic, religious and cultural factors affecting human presence there. It publishes articles, annotated previously unpublished manuscripts, notes on source material and comment on current affairs. It also welcomes articles on other geographical regions, such as Africa and Southeast Asia, or of a theoretical character, where these are concerned with problems of significance in the Pacific.