Reaction to disaster : continuity and change in Rapanui social organisation

Abstract

This work traces the changes in Easter Island kinship organisation from its prehistoric past to the present day as it has undergone modifications due to environmental, historical, and political circumstances. The two chapters in Part one concern the development of Easter Island society before and after 1862 , the crucial year in the contact history of the tiny island. The four chapters in Part two look at the details of Easter Island kinship organisation, relations of respect and affection, and seniority and authority within the surviving kinship categories. Part two closes with an investigation of adoption and marriage as structurally similar institutions by which persons and groups acquire kin from others. Part three, the~ discusses how Islanders relate to outsiders using indigenous methods of social organisation. There is ambivalence in kinship relations between Islanders that is congruent with Chilean notions of social race. An important consequence of Chile being Easter Island's colonial overlord is that the Islanders can become temporary Chileans, whilst still maintaining their abiding commitments to homeland goals. Show more