Through over sixty works, this book explores traditional, or kastom, beliefs in ancestral ghosts, the world of spirit beings, ocean-bound raiding expeditions and the indigenous aesthetics of the self - the use of adornments to express identity and status from the mid nineteenth to the mid twentieth centuries.--From back cover.

Although the life story of prominent Solomon Islander Sir Lloyd Maepeza Gina has a unique value for Solomon Islanders, it also has universal aspects. This book provides vivid insights into the richness of his family and spiritual life and how this gave meaning to his strivings, as well as support in his disappointments.

Through over sixty works, this book explores traditional, or kastom, beliefs in ancestral ghosts, the world of spirit beings, ocean-bound raiding expeditions and the indigenous aesthetics of the self - the use of adornments to express identity and status from the mid nineteenth to the mid twentieth centuries.--From back cover.

An engaging explanation of Oceanic art and an important gateway to wider appreciation of Oceanic heritage and visual culture

Focusing on visual approaches to performance in global cultural contexts, Perspectives in Motion explores the work of Adrienne L. Kaeppler, a pioneering researcher who has made a number of interdisciplinary contributions over five decades to dance and performance studies. Through a diverse range of case studies from Oceania, Asia, and Europe, and interdisciplinary approaches, this edited collection offers new critical and ethnographic frameworks for understanding and experiencing practices of music and dance across the globe.

Art, Observation, and an Anthropology of Illustration examines the role of sketches, drawings and other artworks in our understanding of human cultures of the past. Bringing together art historians and anthropologists, it presents a selection of detailed case studies of various bodies of work produced by non-Western and Western artists from different world regions and from different time periods (from Native North America, Cameroon, and Nepal, to Italy, Solomon Islands, and Mexico) to explore the contemporary relevance and challenges implicit in artistic renditions of past peoples and places. In an age when identities are partially constructed on the basis of existing visual records, the book asks important questions about the nature of observation and the inclusion of culturally-relevant information in artistic representations. How reliable are watercolours, paintings, or sketches for the understanding of past ways of life? How do old images of bygone peoples relate to art historical and anthropological canons? How have these images and technologies of representation been used to describe, illustrate, or explain unknown realities? The book is an essential tool for art historians, anthropologists, and anyone who wants to understand how the observation of different realities has impacted upon the production of art and visual cultures. Incorporating current methodological and theoretical tools, the 10 chapters collected here expand the area of connection between the disciplines of art history and anthropology, bringing into sharp focus the multiple intersections of objectivity, evidence, and artistic licence.

This book showcases a unique collection of the National Gallery of Australia. During the early 1970s an impressive array of traditional arts through a program of field collecting on the Islands of Ambrym and Malakula. Central to many traditional practices, better known as 'Kastom', are masked performances and displays of sculpture including iconic upright slit drums.

In this remarkable book, the renowned Mexican healer Sergio Magaña reveals the fascinating secrets of the ancient Toltec tradition. Closed to outsiders until now, this rich spiritual tradition is over 5,000 years old. The original holders of this secret knowledge, the Chichimeca, were considered to be masters, with a deep understanding of the dream state and a working knowledge of how our perceptions form our reality, as well as the capacity to influence matter. The Toltec Secret reveals the incredibly powerful rituals and symbols that will enable you to: • become lucid in your dreams • create your life through your dreams like the Toltecs did • send healing to others while in the dreaming state • communicate with your ancestors • develop your intuition and use Toltec techniques to see the aura • heal and rejuvenate your body by connecting with the energy of the sun • use the mysterious obsidian mirror for healing yourself and others • practise the powerful dances of the Toltecs and Mexihcas.