This dissertation uses the writings of sailors, traders, and diplomats, American missionaries, and Hawaiian chiefs, as well as anthropological theories and ethnographic insights about Hawaiian culture to examine the cultural milieu created by western sojourners in Hawaii, contestation over the interrelated issues of morality, sexuality, religion, economics, and politics that occurred with the arrival of American evangelists, and the ways in which Hawaiian chiefs and commoners negotiated a delicate and calculated path between the embattled imperialist forces in their islands. This study places Hawaiian experiences within the broader outlines of American social, religious, and expansionist history. It offers a distinctly new interpretation of imperial relations in Hawaii, one that others may choose to build upon. In the past two decades, scholars of postmodernism and subaltern studies have devised new approaches to examining western imperialism in Africa, India, and China. However, only a handful of scholarly works have focused on western imperialism in Hawaii. Following trends in colonial scholarship and anthropological theory, particularly the work of Marshall Sahlins, this study uses an ethnographic approach to explain how Hawaiians viewed the religious, social, political, and cultural changes that resulted from the presence of foreigners in their kingdom and their responses to the challenges of imperialism. As such, this dissertation is highly interdisciplinary and draws upon the secondary literature in anthropology, missiology, colonialism, and Native American history. The issue of Hawaiian sovereignty has received national attention in recent years. Most scholars date the loss of Hawaiian independence to the moment in 1893 when U.S. Marines helped dethrone Queen Lili'uokalani. In reality, the forces that led to the annexation of the islands to the United States began with Captain James Cook's 1778 arrival in Hawaii. By focusing on the complex relations between two polarized groups of foreigners---American missionaries and western traders, sailors, and diplomats---and Hawaiian chiefs and commoners, this study reveals how the combined effects of western economic, religious, cultural, and political imperialism, cultural disintegration, native factionalism, and chiefly miscalculation created the context for the loss of Hawaiian political and economic control after 1839, much earlier than previously asserted in the literature.

This study of resistance in the Pacific Islands is an attempt to achieve both a wider and deeper understanding of colonization as it impinged on the Pacific peoples and as it was perceived by their German rulers. The thesis is by no means another imperial history. The major focus is on the Pacific Islander himself, the processes of change in local socirty under the impact of European expansion and a western cash economy, and on the way the colonial relationship functioned at the level of the individual island administration. It emphasizes the power and ability of the Pacific Islanders to make their own adjustments - of interest and ideology - to the new culture and its demands and does so through the comparison of three cultural regions within the one historical dimension, a method which Pacific historians have barely exploited at all. It represents the first intensive history of German Ponape in particular, using original documentation, while it opens up totally unexplored areas of that 'forgotten imperialism' which was such a critical phase in the modern histories of the new states of Samoa and New Guinea. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part One consists of three 'case studies' of colonial contact and interaction. In each case the pre-German period has been examined for a broader historical background. The modes of adaptation achieved in this earlier period largely determined the pattern of Pacific Island response under German rule. For more than two decades before 1900, Europeans and Samoans had been engaged in a constantly fluctuating struggle for the right to control the group's economic and political destiny. The Samoan district factions often encouraged this conflict in an effort to have their various candidates recognized as the paramount chief of the Samoan Islands, but they were also capable of offering solid opposition when Europeans interfered in their political affairs above certain limits. The history of Samoan response to German rule after 1899 details the struggle between the older chiefly elites and the Governor, tfilhelm Solf. The chiefs, under the orator Lauaki, campaigned shrewdly to have their traditional political authority and prerogatives institutionalized as part of the German system of colonial rule. Though Golf, whose objectives were diametrically opposed to the traditional political dynamics of the group, was at first forced to compromise with the chiefs, he thwarted their campaign in the end by exploiting inherent weaknesses in the political structure and relying on his growing paternal authority with the mass of the people.

Idealized presentations of female behavior prescribed by Ban Zhao (A.D. 45-120) and later male Confucians defined women in the role of inner helpers, thus confining them to the domestic arena. Close scrutiny of data however reveals a cluster of new values for Song women evident through personal cultivation and devotional practices both "within" and "without" the inner sphere. This dissertation offers a preliminary investigation of Song women's practices such as bodily and spiritual cultivations as well as their devotional and philanthropic activities. It examines why and how these specific inner and outer practices evolved into regnant womanly practices that ultimately becarne exemplary behaviors during the Song period. Through the lens of female daily practices, this study also investigates the diverse interactions between genders in the Song era. The first part of this dissertation explores Song women's bodily and spiritual observances within the inner quarters. Song women performed bodily cultivations through various forms of ascetic behaviors, including fasting, vegetarianism, the abstinence from slaughtering living beings, and seclusion in their daily lives, which can be deemed gendered practices. Spiritual cultivation through religious practices such as sutra recitation and other related observances functioned not only as accessible avenues of female spiritual pursuits, but also served as alternative conduits for Song women's literary aspirations. Part Two first discusses the gender discourse and the tension between the norms and historical reality during the Song. The last two chapters examine Song women's practices such as their religious offerings and involvement in community public works and philanthropy outside the domestic realm. In contrast to women's inner practices, women's outer sphere endeavors put their personal cultivation and volition into practice, and also extended their influential financial autonomy beyond the domestic arena into the greater society. This study concludes that despite deviations from conventional Confucian values, these inner and outer womanly practices were perceived as paragons of female virtues. Lastly, it suggests a negotiated process in the workings of gender in the Song culture.

The migration towards the center uprooted the great clans from their local areas and encouraged the rise of local ruffians to power during the late T'ang. This historical background shaped the social and political climate of the Wu regime in South China, which had been characterized by its military flavor. By enhancing the civil administration and adopting various ways of recruiting the literati and encouraging the cultural growth, Hsu Chih-kao and his successors were able to achieve complete bureaucratization of the regime, which in turn diminished the military influence and revitalized the neglected cultural tradition of their domain. South China thus became a haven of culture, and its role was particularly important as the cultural development in North China was subsequently devastated by civil wars and foreign invasions during the Five Dynasties. After the collapse of the Southern T'ang, the preservation of culture in South China allowed it to become a major source in shaping the cultural features of the Sung. Compared with other states, the Southern T'ang enjoyed considerable peace and stability, and scholar-officials had a peaceful and comfortable environment in which to develop a special style of living. Some tastes and habits had a great impact on the daily life of the Sung scholar-officials. However, cultural polices adopted by the Southern T'ang caused the decline of national strength, for many military clans who underwent the process of civil transformation were eventually deprived of the military vitality necessary to defend the country. Also, because of the cultural inferiority, some of the Sung rulers and scholar-officials were eager to seek revenge by humiliating and oppressing the "subsidiary" officials from the south. Although the Sung adopted repressive and discriminatory measures when appointing "subsidiary" officials, some were in fact employed by the new dynasty due to the heavy demand for qualified officials. Eventually, the "subsidiary" officials could improve their prospects for promotion and favorable treatment by taking the civil service examinations. Their literary ability and knowledge of rituals also enabled them to gain imperial favor, which was vital to strengthening their position in the Sung bureaucracy.

The recent discovery of Chinese medical manuscripts in a tomb dated to the second century BC in Ma-wang-tui, Ch'ang-sha, has revealed extremely interesting new information on the subject of ancient Chinese childbirth practices. The scrolls contain detailed advice concerning a proper and auspicious treatment of the placenta, an astronomical chart for choosing the perfect location for the burial of the placenta, and a description of the custom of exposing the newborn infant on the earth directly after birth. This paper offers a translation of these paragraphs and an interpretation based on a Japanese medical text that reflects Chinese medieval practices, basic knowledge of Chinese cosmology, society and religion and also general cross-cultural patterns for the treatment of the placenta that have been established through an anthropological research into placenta-related practices, beliefs and mythology from many different traditional cultures.

During the twentieth century, Soviet Armenian society has been witness to numerous situations in which national identity has become an expression of cultural paradox. From the 1940's to the 1990's, Armenia has been in a transitory state, oscillating between seemingly contradictory categories of East/West, capitalism/communism, traditional/modern, past/present and death/survival. Despite this state of flux, Armenian self-representations insistently point to a collective identity that defines itself as firmly rooted, fixed in space and enduring in understandings. This project explores stories and histories, especially anecdotes collected in the course of fieldwork in Soviet Armenia conducted over two extended periods from 1987 to 1992. What was sought were mechanisms that lend to culture the malleability to bend and twist without radical rupture, allowing culture to reinvent itself endlessly in the face of social pressures and to allow space for new cultural constructions of meaning. I chart the deeply contradictory symbolic structure of Soviet Armenian society as an instrument by which these reworkings are achieved. In so doing, it becomes clear that contradiction does not lead to cultural paralysis. On the contrary, the articulation of contradiction within a narrative mode allows for mediation of difference in a manner that is non-divisive. Further, I trace the modern history of Armenia to reveal the ways in which Armenians manage the affects of Sovietization, of the Diaspora and repatriation, and of Armenian independence and emergence into a new geo-political matrix. Special attention is given to the Soviet Nationality Policy of the 1920's and 1940's and to the disastrous earthquake of 1988, both of which have led to a renewed sense of nationalism and of peoplehood among the Armenians. In tracing symbolic repertoires, I reveal the transitory character of meanings and their implicational associations as culture repositions itself and renegotiates contradictions in new settings.

Investigating the concepts of qi and mai and their functions in the oldest extant, recently excavated, second century BCE practice-oriented guides to pulse taking, moxibustion, and needling practices, this thesis aims to show the prominent influence of water imagery and suggests a way to conceptualize its significance. These texts can be seen as transitional in the development of acupuncture, whose later practice would involve use of metal needles and be almost exclusively associated with the cosmological concepts of yin yang and wu xing and circular movements of qi that reached popularity in the Qin and Han dynasties and attested in the oldest and most famous Chinese medical compilation, also of the Han, the Huangdi neijing . In contrast, the paradigm of water, with its unidirectional free flows, is what informs these early medical manuscripts' understanding of qi and mai and their physiological movements.

<p> "Kara kagami" (The Mirror of China) is something of an enigma&mdash;only six of an original ten scrolls survive, and there is no critical edition with comprehensive annotation or previous translation. A work composed for Imperial Prince-cum-Shogun Munetaka by the scion of a distinguished line of Confucian scholars, Fujiwara no Shigenori, on a topic of pressing interest in the thirteenth century&mdash;the fate of Continental China&mdash;it embodies many of the characteristic concerns of Kamakura Japan. Tensions between privatization and circulation of learning, imperial and warrior authority, Japan's envisioning of China and her relations thereto, as well as a larger cosmological narrative all run through the work. Yet they do so ways that challenge now long-held ideas of language, stance towards the Continent and its traditions, and narratives of generic development and resistance. </p><p> This dissertation explores the ways in which "The Mirror of China" defies familiar-yet-pass&eacute; conceptions of medieval Japan. It examines afresh how three issues in medieval discourse&mdash;language selection, portrayals of China, and narrating Japan&mdash;are refracted in "The Mirror of China" in order to better understand text-based claims of political, cultural, and philosophical authority. "The Mirror of China"'s linguistically diverse manuscripts invite question of the worldviews or allegiances of identity a multilingual text can intimate. Its depiction of China and the implied narratives such a vision creates likewise differ markedly from those of contemporary works. And lastly, the linguistic and thematic innovation it brings to the Heian genre of "Mirror" writing marks a previously obscured turning point in medieval historiographic writing, one that allows an appreciation of the genre as a medieval experiment in crafting histories as legitimating narratives. Drawing on multiple understudied works in addition to better-known writings, this dissertation provides a new understanding of how medieval thinkers exploited languages, images, and traditions in order to create their own visions of authority.</p>

<p> This study focuses on the Chinese community of Manila from 1570 to 1770, revealing that the community was not an insular, ethnic enclave unified in its efforts and aspirations but one made up of different groups with varying goals. Not all Chinese saw the Spanish presence as conducive to their livelihoods but certain sectors of the community did. I argue the collaboration of these elements within the Chinese community was essential in maintaining the Spanish presence in Manila. Those whose interests most closely aligned with Spanish aims included a small group of wealthy Chinese merchants involved in supplying the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade with merchandise (mainly silk), merchants and artisans in the Chinese quarter called the Pari&aacute;n and Chinese leaders who acted as middlemen linking the needs of the regime with Southern Fujianese workers to supply the city with services, food, and labor. In return, Spaniards provided New Spanish silver, government monopolies and recognition of the authority of Chinese elites over laborers. In that way, the Spanish empire in the Asia-Pacific region was a collaborative enterprise, constructed in the cooperation of various interest groups. </p><p> When the abuses of Spanish authorities threatened the lives of those they ruled, Chinese intermediaries could not maintain their claims of mitigating the demands of the regime on behalf of Chinese workers and lost control of those under their supervision. In 1603, 1639, and 1662, Chinese laborers raised the banner of revolt. These moments of violent rupture with the colonial order indicate that mediation was crucial to preserving the Spanish presence in Manila. Coercion could put down threats to control but on its own could not hold colonial society together. </p><p> The Chinese, with others, created the ties that bound colonial society together through kinship and credit networks for mutual aid. <i>Compadrazgo </i> (coparenthood), <i>padrinazgo</i> (godparenthood), and marriage connected Chinese to colonial society and provided a means of profit, protection and recruiting labor. These links persisted into the nineteenth century and helped the Chinese shape the ecology of Manila to their purposes, albeit within the confines of Spanish sovereignty. </p><p> Sources: baptismal records, notarial books (<i>protocolos de Manila </i>), court cases.</p>

<p> While there is a tradition that the population of Rapa Nui was large during prehistory, there is remarkably little evidence used to support to these claims. This study represents an empirically-based estimate of pre-contact agricultural productivity to create a sound evaluation of Rapa Nui&rsquo;s prehistoric population. In this study, I map the spatial distributions of lithic mulching using satellite imagery, RPV aerial photography, <i> in situ</i> spectral reflectance analyses, and supervised and sub-pixel image classification methods. Using the results of these analyses, I estimate the total mapped lithic mulch area and combine this estimate with previously documented distributions of <i>manavai</i>. Together these analyses provide an estimate of the extent of these two important cultivation practices and an upper-limit magnitude of prehistoric food production. The spatial data, when evaluated in conjunction with appropriate agricultural cultivation statistic proxies, are then used to conservatively quantify the island&rsquo;s carrying capacity. In my final analysis, I argue that the prehistoric productivity was insufficient to support the large populations that have been suggested. </p>