344 pp. October 2007
cloth, ISBN 978-0-8248-3170-7, $77.00
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Keywords: |
Pacific
Melanesia
Micronesia
Polynesia
anthropology |
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Pacific Ethnomathematics: A Bibliographic Study
by Nicholas J. Goetzfridt
This ground-breaking bibliography by distinguished Pacific researcher Nicholas Goetzfridt examines mathematical concepts and practices in Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. It covers number systems, counting, measuring, classifying, spatial relationships, symmetry, geometry, and other aspects of ethnomathematics in relation to a wide range of activities such as trade, education, navigation, construction, rituals and festivals, divination, weaving, tattooing, and music. In compiling nearly five hundred citations, Goetzfridt makes use of the vast resources of writing about the Pacific from the 1700s to the present. In addition to discussing Pacific knowledge systems in general, his introductory chapter includes a helpful overview of the relatively new field of ethnomathematics and important theoretical reflections on the discipline as a research program.Extensive subject and geographic indexes provide numerous ways to experience the rich heritage and history of Pacific ethnomathematical concepts covered in this book, including: the 256 possible knotted fates enabled by the Carolinian sky god Supwunumen, etak segmentation concepts in stellar based voyaging, the highly diverse counting systems of Papua New Guinea, the alignment of stone structures with stars to mark the appearance of the equinox and solstice, and contemporary educational issues in the standardized teaching of Western mathematics.
Nicholas J. Goetzfridt is professor of library science and Micronesian studies at the University of Guam. He has experience as a collection development and reference librarian and has published books on historical interpretations of Micronesia, indigenous Pacific literature, and indigenous navigation and voyaging, as well as various chapters and articles on information issues in Pacific communal and epistemological contexts and Pacific library history.
Read the introduction (PDF).
table of contents
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