Home - Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Art and Life in Melanesia
Author: Susan Cochrane
Date Of Publication: Jan 2007
Isbn13: 9781847180889
Isbn: 1-84718-088-4
What represents Melanesian art today? Is there modern Melanesian art? Who are the artists? What are the subjects of their art? Art and Life in Melanesia is timely in its exploration of Melanesian artists and their voices, providing an important juncture for many in the region and beyond to take stock of what is happening in Melanesian art.

The thirteen chapters are linked essays premised around major cultural themes including Kastom, Christianity, Indigenisation and Globalisation, Markets, Festivals, Diasporas, Urban Culture and Politics. Each theme focuses on ideas, issues and some specific arts practices, drawing examples from a few localities. Not every country is addressed under each theme, an approach that provides the reader with substantive country-specific information. Research for this book was supported by the University of Queensland.

"Melanesia gets a lot of attention in Australia on matters political, economic and social under the tag of ‘failed states’ but there has been very little focus on the cultural side of things. Susan has been an ardent supporter and campaigner for arts in Melanesia and a book by her is a worthy publication supporting some of the quality things that are happening in the region."

Dr Michael Mel

University of Goroka, PNG

"Art and Life in Melanesia is based on many years of research in the area and will be an extremely welcome and timely addition to the publishing on this subject.

Susan’s research and writing is of the highest quality and she has earned the respect of the field through her consistent work on contemporary Pacific arts, and this book is enhanced by the fact that she has the cooperation of many key players who assisted her with putting it together."

Stephanie Britton

Executive Editor

Artlink

"Susan Cochrane’s knowledge of her area is well recognized and highly esteemed among her colleagues, and she is also capable of presenting information in a way that is immediate and engaging with the broadest of audiences. Her combination of stringent academic skills, passion for her subject matter and a high level of communication offer a combination which promises to make a first rate publication for the broad public as well as the academic and art worlds."

Ass. Prof. Pat Hoffie

Queensland College of Art

Griffith University

Susan Cochrane (b.1949) is a scholar and curator specialising in contemporary indigenous art. Her research interests since 1984 have been in the field of recent and contemporary Pacific art and art history and the past, present and future representation of indigenous Pacific cultures in museums. She grew up in Papua New Guinea and has worked on collaborative projects in PNG, New Caledonia the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu over many years. Speaking French and Tok Pisin facilitates her cross-cultural research.

She gained her MA (Hons) degree at the School of Creative Arts at Wollongong University in 1984, followed by the achievement of her Doctorate in 1995, both in the discipline of Art History. In 2005 she was awarded MPhil (Creative Writing) at the University of Queensland.

Her publications include Contemporary Art from Papua New Guinea (1997), Bérétara : New Pacific Art (2001 in English and French editions) and Art and Life in Melanesia (in press). She was editor of Aboriginal Art : Highlights from Collections in Australian Museums and Art Galleries (2001) and is co-editor with Max Quanchi of Hunting the Collectors: Pacific Collections in Australia. Research and writing commissions include essays, encyclopaedia entries, feasibility studies, catalogue essays, articles and reviews for leading art journals. As a curator she headed the Department of Contemporary Pacific Art at the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia (1995-98) and was a consultant to the Asia Pacific Triennial (1996 and 1999), Sydney Olympics Arts Festival (2000) and other major arts events.

"Cochrane's books has many positive qualities, including excellent writing, abundant photos, impressive scope and a worthy ethical vision. Rather than dwelling in the aesthetic past, Cochrane foregrounds the agency, biographies, and creativity of living men and women...the book is unquestionably informative, useful, timely and moral."

Eric K. Silverman, Wheelock College, Boston in Pacific Affairs: Volume 82, No. 3 - Fall 2009

Price Uk Gbp: 39.99
Price Us Usd: 59.99

Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)

We recommend

Language and Literature
Middle-earth and Beyond: Essays on the World of J. R. R. Tolkien

History
Arctic Discourses

Education
The Supportive School: Wellbeing and the Young Adolescent

Interesting reviews

From Navigating Music and Sound Education

“We rarely have the opportunity and time to engage with the practicalities of music teaching through the lens of evidence-based practice. This book provides us with a wonderful exception that is accessible to beginning and established teachers. It contains a wide range of stimulating and thought-provoking material that draws on real-world experiences and events, which are contextualised, informed and structured by theory. This is a powerful combination that we can visit again and again for insight and inspiration. Congratulations to all involved, particularly the editors for shaping such a valuable contribution!”
—Professor Graham F. Welch, University of London; President, International Society of Music Education

“Navigating music and sound education draws together a range of issues increasingly acknowledged to be at the basis of reflective and effective music learning and teaching: social settings, cultural dimensions, gender, indigeneity, varying cognitive approaches, inter-disciplinary connections, technology, types of learning, and creativity. It opens up areas of pedagogy that go beyond classroom methodology to acknowledge student individuality and encourage music learning and teaching grounded in the reality of students’ musical and social lives. It will be invaluable for those training to become educators and for teachers already in the field.”
—Associate Professor Peter Dunbar-Hall, University of Sydney

“This book brings an important contribution to music teacher education as it challenges the readers to rethink their paradigms of music education. It highlights the importance of preparing a reflective teacher, autonomous, creative and conscious of the multifaceted and multicultural locus in which they will work. The book also draws on the importance for music teachers to consider the context in which they work, and establish a dialog between local musical traditions, informal music practices and global trends of music teaching and learning. Most importantly, all chapters are in one way or another derived from research carried out on specific areas, thus stressing the importance of the research informed practice in music education.”
—Professor Liane Hentschke, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; International Society of Music Education Immediate Past President

Many readers will appreciate Steve Dillon and Kathy Hirche’s description of the future of education in their work with dynamic technological contexts.

Navigating Music and Sound Education is a wonderful guide and resource for pre-service music teachers, for teachers in the field, and for teacher educators.

It offers a range of fresh perspectives on the state of music education as it is and as it might be. Kari K Veblen

Navigating Music and Sound Education is an ambitious project which features current research from 20 individuals whose professional identities run the gamut from musician to songwriter to student to educator to music therapist to ethnomusicologist. The book’s scope is perhaps the most exciting aspect of Navigating Music and Sound Education.
Kari K Veblen
University of Western Ontario
British Journal of Music Education
October 2011