Documents
eHRAF is comprised of thousands of ethnographic sources including monographs, journal articles, dissertations and manuscripts. Use this page to find relevant documents by searching or filtering. Each document in eHRAF also contains a Publication Information page with added metadata including brief abstracts written by HRAF analysts who have subject-indexed the file.
Malay fishermenBook 1946 • Firth, Raymond
Malays • Asia > Southeast Asia
This study is based on a general survey in 1939-1940 covering nearly all the fishing communities in the states of Kelantan and Trengganu and some villages in the north of Pahang. Firth carried out eight months of intensive work in fishing villages an...Culture summaryessay 1995 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is a culture summary of the Tikopia....Primitive Polynesian economyBook 1939 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is a complete and detailed analysis of the economic system in Tikopia. Principles of land ownership, rules for gift-giving on ceremonial occasions and in payment for work, and kinship obligations governing mutual aid are discussed in detail. Sin...We, the TikopiaBook 1936 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is an analysis of the importance of kinship in the regulation of Tikopia life. The interpenetration of kinship with other aspects of culture is pointed out most clearly by the author in his evaluation of the Tikopia regulation of land ownership,...The work of the gods in TikopiaBook 1940 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is an exhaustive and thorough account of the major religious cycle of the Tikopia, the Work of the Gods. Firth was present at or participated in many of the rites, and the result is a detailed description of the procedural form of the individual...The meaning of dreams in Tikopiaessay 1934 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This article presents a short account of the native explanation of dreams, their interpretation of them as omens for good or evil, and the reasons why the expected actions were not borne out in fact, if they were not. It was not possible for Firth in...Bond-friendship in Tikopiaessay 1936 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This article explains the purpose of this institutionalized form of friendship found in Tikopia, and the functions it performs in the social life of the two people it joins. Individual cases of bond friendship are cited, and incidents of strange orig...A dart match in Tikopiaarticle 1930 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
In this article Firth discusses the actual throwing techniques employed in the dart match, the methods of scoring, the ceremonies performed to obtain victory, the songs composed on victory or defeat, and the importance of the sport itself and the fun...Totemism in Polynesiaarticle 1931 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
In this study Firth discusses the question of the form of totemism existing in Polynesia, and uses materials from his study in Tikopia to demonstrate a form of totemism, and to explain the native attitude regarding it....Report on research in Tikopiaarticle 1930 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This summary account of the Tikopian culture is one result of a study of the relation of Polynesian to Melanesian cultures. The article covers economic conditions, social organization, religion, and history of the culture....Marriage and the classificatory system of relationshipsarticle 1930 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This article is a discussion of the modifications of kinship terms and kin relationships consequent to 'anomalous' marriages in Tikopia. 'Anomalous' marriages are those unions of classificatory kin whose marriageability with regard to each other is l...Tatooing in Tikopiaarticle 1937 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This article consists of a brief description of tattooing in Tikopia, including material on specialists, transmission of the skill, special tools, designs, and associated ritual. An account of the traditional origin of the art is also presented....The sociology of 'magic' in Tikopiaarticle 1954 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This paper consists of a description of Tikopian magic of 'production,' 'protection,' and 'destruction,' and discusses the changes in form and content of magic which occured between the time of the author's first field trip (1928-29) and his second (...Bark-cloth in Tikopia, Solomon Islandsarticle 1947 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is a brief account of the manufacture and use of bark-cloth in Tikopia. A Tikopian synoptic text and its translation of the process of bark-cloth making is included....A native voyage to Rennellarticle 1931 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is an account of a voyage of two young Tikopian men to Rennell Island. Firth includes the English translation of the native text of the canoe trip and summarizes the comments of the informant, who stayed for six months, with Rennell customs....Privilege ceremonials in Tikopiaarticle 1951 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is an account of some 'privilege ceremonials' (rituals performed by particular groups which have 'rights' to them) associated with specific kin groups in Tikopia. Firth analyzes the role of these ceremonials in the integration of the society. Na...Economics and ritual in sago extraction in Tikopiaarticle 1950 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is a description of the preparation of sago and related ritual. A brief discussion of 'Sago in the Western Pacific' is included. Firth's conclusions relates sago ritual to the more general function of ritual in the integration of Tikopia society...The analysis of manaarticle 1939 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is a summary of Tikopian concepts of magical force, or mana. Firth defines the relevant native terms and furnishes contextual material in the form of ethnographic descriptions and native texts. The appendix consists of texts....Privilege ceremonials in Tikopiaarticle 1955 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
Firth intended this article to be an addition to an article he wrote four years earlier (14: Firth. Privilege Ceremonials in Tikopia). In this second account of 'privilege ceremonials,' Firth adds material gathered during his second field trip to Tik...Authority and public opinion in Tikopiaessay 1949 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This article is concerned with the expression of public opinion and the action taken in regard to it, and is discussed particularly in terms of decision, leadership, and organization....Social change in TikopiaBook 1959 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This monograph is a restudy of Tikopia a generation after Firth's first field work there. The book covers two major topics. The first of these topics is the adjustment the community made to a famine while Firth was there in 1952. The second major top...Ceremonies for children and social frequency in Tikopiaarticle 1956 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
In this paper Firth describes rites for the child that are held during pregnancy, at birth and during early childhood. From these data Firth raises two questions: what are the social functions of these rites and what theoretical explanations can be g...Rumor in a primitive societyarticle 1956 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This article is a study of the nature and social function of rumor in a small scale society. Many of the causes and incidents discussed were part of the author's field experience and reflect on the role of the anthropologist in the society which he i...Succession to chieftainship in Tikopiaarticle 1960 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
This is an intensive study of the institution of chieftainship and its importance to the Tikopia political system and religion. Firth discusses qualities desired for elevation to chieftainship, principles of succession, and the actual mechanism of el...Rank and religion in TikopiaBook 1970 • Firth, Raymond
Tikopia • Oceania > Polynesia
Firth describes the process of transition from the Tikopians' aboriginal religion to Christianity during the period ca. 1925-1955. The effect and processes of this transition on the whole socio-cultural system are analyzed in detail. According to thi...