Making History: Pukapukan and Anthropological Constructions of Knowledge

by Robert Borofsky

Book Overview

Making History begins with a puzzle. In 1976 the inhabitants of Pukapuka, a Polynesian island in the South Pacific, revived a traditional form of social organization that several authoritative Pukapukan informants claimed to have experienced previously in their youth. Yet five professional anthropologists, who conducted research on the island prior to 1976, do not mention it in any of their writings. Had the Pukapukans 'invented' a new tradition?...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521396484
• ISBN13: 9780521396486
• Release Date: July 1990
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Borofsky's exquiste insight to Pukapukan life

In Robert Borofsky's, Making History, there is a fresh look into the lives of pacific islanders. Borofsky exquisitely shows us the pride the Pukapukans take in knowledge of their ways. Pukapukans have specific ways for attaining knowledge as well as for letting you know when your view of that knowledge is wrong. Robert Borofsky has opened a door to an aspect of pacific life that most anthropologists have a tendency of overlooking. While in the process of sharing the ways of Pukapukans, Borofsky raises the question as to, who has the right to speak for whom? Do Anthropologists have the right to go to another country and critique the lifestyle of the people? In this book, Robert Borofsky doesn't answer that question, but, what he does do is give us an unbiased, un-opinionated view of the culture on this island and leaves it up to you to decide the answer to the question. Pukapukans have their own way of doing things and Borofsky portrays their lifestyle clearly and effectively without swaying the reader's opinion to match his. It is an excellent piece of work and I would recommend it to anyone who likes to think.