Easter Island - History
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Overview
From Captain Cook's voyages to Kevin Costner's 1994 film, Rapanui has captured the interest and imagination of many people. Most accounts of Rapanui (as the people of Easter Island call themselves and their land) describe a barren, empty landscape. This book places people prominently in that landscape. Grant McCall has spent more than two decades studying Rapanui and in this revised second edition he presents the details of how Easter Island came to be what it is today. Rapanui is the absorbing story of the survival of an ingenious population of scarcely 3,000 people who cling to the rocky home they love. The first part of the book offers the reader a concise outline of the latest discoveries in the prehistory and history of Rapanui. Later chapters on contemporary life flow around the familiar concepts of family and group, belief, earning a living, relations with one's kin and with strangers. The final chapter describes the most recent changes and concludes with ideas about what the next millennium might bring to the people of the world's most remote island.Editorials
Booknews
McCall (anthropology, U. of New South Wales) offers a history of the development and conditions of Rapanui (both the people and the place) which is fundamentally optimistic, focusing on the Islanders' resilience and adaptability to external forces. He explores the family and its structure, spiritual beliefs, material life, emigration, attitudes toward outsiders, and conditions since 1992, when he left. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Book Details
Published
January 31, 1988
Publisher
University of Hawai'i Press
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780824816414