The insular Pacific is a region saturated with great cultural diversity and poignant memories of colonial and Christian intrusion. Considering authenticity and authorship in the area, this book looks at how these ideas have manifested themselves in Pacific peoples and cultures. Through six rich complementary case studies, a theoretical introduction, and a critical afterword, this volume explores authenticity and authorship as “traveling concepts.” The book reveals diverse and surprising outcomes which shed light on how Pacific identity has changed from the past to the present.

Jeannette Mageo is Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Washington State University. She has authored ten books and edited collections. Her recent research examines the collision of Samoan and European cultures and psychologies in the colonial encounter through performance art, historical photos, and colonial artifacts.

Bruce Knauft is Samuel C. Dobbs Professor of Anthropology at Emory University. He is the author of nine books and edited collections, and has, in addition to Papua New Guinea, worked in East and West Africa, Mongolia, Myanmar, India, and Tibet.

“This is a fine collection of essays about the vexed question of what constitutes authenticity, how it relates to authorship, and, most importantly, how these concepts have travelled in cultural exchanges between Western and Pacific societies…The theoretical questions that are examined in this collection are presented in a substantial introduction by the editors, in which they situate their enquiry not only against the backdrop of Pacific anthropology, but also in a wider perspective on the subject of change in European philosophy since the Enlightenment. Their agenda is ambitious and intellectually challenging … a must-read for everyone interested in cultural change and the concept of authenticity.” • Anthropos