We, the Tikopia; a Sociological Study of Kinship in Primitive Polynesia

by Raymond Firth

Recognized as a major work when first published, this title has, over the years, become a classic. Forming the basis of modern social anthropology, We the Tikiopia stands in the forefront of its literature.
The book is an excellent example of fieldwork analysis of a primitive society; a complete account of the working of a primitive kinship system; and an exhaustive and sophisticated study of Polynesian social institutions.
First published in 1936.

Genres: Anthropology

Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Sir Raymond William Firth CNZM FRAI FBA was an ethnologist from New Zealand. As a result of Firth's ethnographic work, actual behaviour of societies (social organization) is separated from the idealized rules of behaviour within the particular society (social structure). He was a long serving professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics, and is considered to have singlehandedly created a form of British economic anthropology.

Reviews

[Karie Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good information... HORRIBLY dry. Obviously not meant to be read for anything other than scholarly work!

[Edward Amato · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent ethnography but would be a boring read for anyone not into detailed anthropology.

[Yasin Mohamad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Popularly marked as a significant work at the time of its publication, We The Tikopia has probably made it to the classics list of anthropology. As a book of extensive and at times exhaustive account of how people live and carry themselves around Tikopia, for a general leader and times even for elementarily informed ones, it is destined to come off as extremely dry and of little purpose outside its scholarly world. Raymond Firth’s ethnographic project of Tikopia, in this particular case, is a niche launch. For his mastery of the Maori language and for the handful of population that Firth could engage with in his stay at Tikopia, it would be safe to assume that the book is, at more times than often, a personal engagement. Multiple resonations of the same can be felt as he tries to tell the story of Tikopian kinship through the lives of his favorite informants.
With the title, the book is supposed to place an importance on the Kinship system. Firth, clarifies effortlessly in the book that this importance is more or less pertaining to the topic of interest that the author has aligned the book upon. The effort at illustration is notable as this intention has been successful despite the fact that kinship ties in Tikopia can very well be over-rode by references to spaces that in turn becomes the house-names for families. It is often visible how the book intends to bring a balanced analysis of the importance of kinship and land-ownership that are related in various ways.
It can be established that Firth’s approach to kinship as it is discussed in the book has considered a wide variety of factors and angles that can have influences on the system. Nowhere is this more obvious than the instances where he treats Kinship through what can be called a five-fold system involving approaches that are spatial, alimentary, material , linguistic and biographical. The effort behind such an extensive plan that extended multiple times through-out the bulk of the book have probably made a general and attentive observation that kinship relations should help us see how situations are managed in certain ways between two individuals and that it is surely a concern that extends far beyond the ways of configuring and sustaining procreation. It is surely a synthesis that would have had significant influence at that particular stage of developments in anthropology. For reasons similar, it has probably been successful in posting workable and re-thinkable contributions to the discipline.
With pages that are numerous and brimful with extremely detailed of a content, the book might not always be of inspiration too young scholars trying to engage with the problem. This is further enhanced with a classic possibility for missing the woods for the tree among its lavishly elaborated details. The book may still remain a classic and for that a monument to how anthropology thought about itself at the time. When it might seem as simply less relevant to the many discussions of anthropology in the present century, it may find its temporary retirement among other classics.

[Repa Kustipia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secara sekilas buku ini menceritakan :

Tikopia yang dibaptis terdiri sekitar setengah dari populasi, dan meskipun dari empat gereja dua berada di sisi timur pulau, mayoritas orang Kristen tinggal di distrik Faea, di sisi barat atau lee. Inilah satu-satunya tempat berlabuh yang nyaman untuk kapal. Hal ini menjadi salah satu faktor predisposisi terjadinya konversi masyarakat lokal. Persaingan tradisional antara distrik, karakter kepala klan dominan Faea yang seorang lelaki tua berkemauan keras dengan mata yang berbeda untuk peluang utama serta adanya sistem pembayaran kepada guru untuk sebuah misi dalam barang-barang Eropa, yang sangat didambakan oleh penduduk asli termasuk keinginan menambah elemen lain dalam situasi tersebut.

Studi kasus yang akan membawa pembaca berpetualang dalam sistem sosial.