"Embark on a fascinating anthropological journey through the Western Pacific with Felix Speiser in 'Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific.' Penned in the early 20th century, this ethnographic account offers readers a firsthand glimpse into the lives, cultures, and traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific islands. As Speiser immerses himself in the daily routines and rituals of the native communities, he unfolds tales of unique customs, social structures, and the symbiotic relationship between the people and their natural surroundings. 'Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific' is more than an ethnographic study; it's a nuanced exploration of cultural diversity and human connections in a remote and enchanting part of the world. Join Speiser on this anthropological expedition where each page reveals a new layer of understanding, making 'Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific' an essential read for those captivated by tales of cultural exploration and the enduring traditions of Pacific island communities."

Classic text in a modern e-book form. Download it to your handheld reader today and enjoy reading! [From Preface] My esteemed friend, Dr. B. Malinowski has asked me to write a preface to his book, and I willingly comply with his request, though I can hardly think that any words of mine will add to the value of the remarkable record of anthropological research which he has given us in this volume. My observations, such as they are, will deal partly with the writer's method and partly with the matter of his book. In regard to method, Dr. Malinowski has done his work, as it appears to me, under the best conditions and in the manner calculated to secure the best possible results. Both by theoretical training and by practical experience he was well equipped for the task which he undertook. Of his theoretical training he had given proof in his learned and thoughtful treatise on the family among the aborigines of Australia; of his practical experience he had produced no less satisfactory evidence in his account of the natives of Mailu in New Guinea, based on a residence of six months among them. In the Trobriand Islands, to the east of New Guinea, to which he next turned his attention, Dr. Malinowski lived as a native among the natives for many months together, watching them daily at work and at play, conversing with them in their own tongue, and deriving all his information from the surest sources — personal observation and statements made to him directly by the natives in their own language without the intervention of an interpreter. In this way he has accumulated a large mass of materials, of high scientific value, bearing on the social, religious, and economic or industrial life of the Trobriand Islanders. These he hopes and intends to publish hereafter in full; meantime he has given us in the present volume a preliminary study of an interesting and peculiar feature in Trobriand society, the remarkable system of exchange, only in part economic or commercial, which the islanders maintain among themselves and with the inhabitants of neighbouring islands.

Bronislaw Malinowski’s pathbreaking Argonauts of the Western Pacific is at once a detailed account of exchange in the Melanesian islands and a manifesto of a modernist anthropology. Malinowski argued that the goal of which the ethnographer should never lose sight is ‘to grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realise his vision of his world.’ Through vivid evocations of Kula life, including the building and launching of canoes, fishing expeditions and the role of myth and magic amongst the Kula people, Malinowski brilliantly describes an inter-island system of exchange - from gifts from father to son to swapping fish for yams - around which an entire community revolves. A classic of anthropology that did much to establish the primacy of painstaking fieldwork over the earlier anecdotal reports of travel writers, journalists and missionaries, it is a compelling insight into a world now largely lost from view. With a new foreword by Adam Kuper.

Islands are special because they promote unique forms of life, and large proportions of the species they hold are found nowhere else on Earth. The mammals of the South-west Pacific are no exception, with many distributed only across single islands or archipelagos. Mammals of the South-west Pacific details the natural history for more than 180 species of marsupials, bats and rodents from 24 Pacific nations and territories. Species profiles are accompanied by distribution maps, illustrations and photographs – many being the first images ever captured for the species. By combining available knowledge with unpublished data collected over years of field work, Mammals of the South-west Pacific forms a definitive guide to the mammals from this region.