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Ulithi: A Micronesian Design for Living
This succinct, clear account of the design for living carried out by the people of Ulithi Atoll emphasizes ancestor worship, magic and divination, and sexual behavior in the context of social and legal obligations and family life. The reader is launched on a journey back in time to a cluster of low islets of carbonate rock in the western Pacific to discover the lives of a mild, expressive people dominated by work, group activity, and cooperation.
- GenresAnthropology
118 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 23, 2019
Long ago life, long ago methods
William Lessa went to Ulithi, a remote island of Micronesia, just after WW II and did some ethnographic research. Later, in the early 1960s, he went back and did the kind of research that was in vogue in those days. There is absolutely no local voice, nor does the author provide any information about himself or his stay. This was par for the course for the numerous volumes in this series published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston over many years in the ‘60s and ‘70s. It provides a sort of short, basic guide to a Micronesian culture of six decades or more ago. There is no reference to any other work of anthropology nor any connection to theory. I believe these books were designed for beginning students of anthropology or for anyone who wanted a potted guide to a particular local culture. Back in those days, these books might have had some use, but to read them today is pure social history, and not very interesting either because they all were written to a certain format.
The most interesting part for me was the early history of the place: contacts with Europeans, Japanese and Americans. If you want to know how the people of this small atoll lived and arranged their lives in the past, then forget what I’ve said. I've given it two stars because it's so out of date, but this might be for you.
The population of Ulithi has increased since Lessa’s days, but I imagine the culture has changed out of sight. People have video players and cell phones, there is a high school, a small tourist hotel, and a considerable population who go to bigger islands to work. Being a place of 40 small islands in a huge lagoon (only 4 are inhabited), and with a population of not more than 700 today, Ulithi does not offer much in the way of employment, yet with the rise in knowledge of the outside world, people must have acquired some material desires. Beautiful tropic islands are great, but if you are born there in the modern world, you probably wish to widen your horizon and participate more fully in the modern life you certainly know about. In Wikipedia you may find that the first English-Ulithian dictionary was begun only in 2010. That raises many questions, but especially about the relevance of this book to modern Ulithi.
William Lessa went to Ulithi, a remote island of Micronesia, just after WW II and did some ethnographic research. Later, in the early 1960s, he went back and did the kind of research that was in vogue in those days. There is absolutely no local voice, nor does the author provide any information about himself or his stay. This was par for the course for the numerous volumes in this series published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston over many years in the ‘60s and ‘70s. It provides a sort of short, basic guide to a Micronesian culture of six decades or more ago. There is no reference to any other work of anthropology nor any connection to theory. I believe these books were designed for beginning students of anthropology or for anyone who wanted a potted guide to a particular local culture. Back in those days, these books might have had some use, but to read them today is pure social history, and not very interesting either because they all were written to a certain format.
The most interesting part for me was the early history of the place: contacts with Europeans, Japanese and Americans. If you want to know how the people of this small atoll lived and arranged their lives in the past, then forget what I’ve said. I've given it two stars because it's so out of date, but this might be for you.
The population of Ulithi has increased since Lessa’s days, but I imagine the culture has changed out of sight. People have video players and cell phones, there is a high school, a small tourist hotel, and a considerable population who go to bigger islands to work. Being a place of 40 small islands in a huge lagoon (only 4 are inhabited), and with a population of not more than 700 today, Ulithi does not offer much in the way of employment, yet with the rise in knowledge of the outside world, people must have acquired some material desires. Beautiful tropic islands are great, but if you are born there in the modern world, you probably wish to widen your horizon and participate more fully in the modern life you certainly know about. In Wikipedia you may find that the first English-Ulithian dictionary was begun only in 2010. That raises many questions, but especially about the relevance of this book to modern Ulithi.
July 27, 2010
Dry. Essential reading, however, if I go there.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews