Islands and Cultures: How Pacific Islands Provide Paths toward Sustainability

by Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Te Maire Tau, Peter M. Vitousek

A uniquely collaborative analysis of human adaptation to the Polynesian islands, told through oral histories, biophysical evidence, and historical records
 
Humans began to settle the area we know as Polynesia between 3,000 and 800 years ago, bringing with them material culture, including plants and animals, and ideas about societal organization, and then adapting to the specific biophysical features of the islands they discovered. The authors of this book analyze the formation of their human-environment systems using oral histories, biophysical evidence, and historical records, arguing that the Polynesian islands can serve as useful models for how human societies in general interact with their environments.
 
The islands’ clearly defined (and relatively isolated) environments, comparatively recent discovery by humans, and innovative and dynamic societies allow for insights not available when studying other cultures. Kamana Beamer, Te Maire Tau, and Peter Vitousek have collaborated with a dozen other scholars, many of them Polynesian, to show how these cultures adapted to novel environments in the past and how we can draw insights for global sustainability today.

248 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2022

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with many edited volumes the quality of the work in heterogeneous. Many chapters were excellent, with a special recognition for chapters on Rapa Nui and Tikopia. It is an academic text so I think if it’s an area you study there’s a lot to get out of it. If it’s not your area then the work may not resonate with you.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of research and data in this book, which is aimed at anthropologists and not your average reader. Some good points about sustainability and how it developed on islands.