My Wish Lists Login / Join

Payback

The Logic of Retribution in Melanesian Religions

By: No Information Available

Write A Review

Hardcover | 12 September 1994

At a Glance

Hardcover
568 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.39 x 15.6 x 3.18

Hardcover

RRP $204.95

$180.75

12%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $45.19 with

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

Near to the heart of the human predicament are impulses to avenge - what most of us will recognize to be negative, counterproductive reactions against others who pose a threat. By contrast, nothing re-establishes our faith in humanity more than extraordinary acts of concession, such as peace-making, generosity and sacrifice. In this ambitious study, the first monograph on religion and 'the logic of retribution' ever written, Garry Trompf shows how various aspects of 'payback', both negative and positive, provide the best indices to an understanding of Melanesian views of life. The book explores the reasons why people 'pay back' and opens up a whole new dimension in the cross-cultural study of human consciousness. The author conducts his readers through the most complex anthropological pageant on earth, illustrating his arguments from western New Guinea to Fiji.

Industry Reviews

"In this fascinating book, Trompf brings to fruition fifteen years of unstinting research on religion in the southwest Pacific region...Trompf's breadth of erudition and vision...is bound to stir fresh and stimulating debate, not only because it interprets the world of Melanesian retributive logics but also because it takes on the task of changing them." History of Religions "Trompf pointedly rebukes materialist theories of human behavior and also notions of primitive irrationality...The volume combines an extraordinary, even numbing, assortment of ethnographic detail with a simple, unitary, explanatory premise." Lamont Lindstrom, The Contemporary Pacific

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Religion & Beliefs Aspects of Religion for Non-Christians Theology History Regional & National History Australasian & Pacific History Society & Culture Social Groups Social & Cultural Aspects of Religious Groups Alternative Belief Systems Religion

Comparative Religion Biographies & True Stories Biographies Historical, Political and Military Biographies

Preface
Abbreviations
Preliminaries: the theory of retributive logic
Tradition
Revenge
Reciprocity
Integrating and explaining significant events
'Cargo Cultism'
Reprisal
Redemption
Wishing and explaining the extraordinary
Modernization
Recrimination in modern guises
Making money and modernizing reciprocities
Money, morals, meaning: old logics, new retributions
Conclusions and Recommendations
Bibliography
Index of Melanesian cultures
General index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Payback

The Logic of Retribution in Melanesian Religions

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Historical, Political and Military Biographies

Outside the Wire

On the front line with the SAS in Australia's war in Afghanistan

Communion

Finding My Way Back to Faith

Capitalism and Its Critics

A Battle of Ideas in the Modern World

Elizabeth II

In Private. In Public. The Inside Story.

Musquito

The real story of a legendary colonial warrior

Long Journey Home

The perilous escapes of Anzac POWs from fascists in wartime Italy

Kosciuszko

The incredible life of the man behind the mountain

Kate!

The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen

Survivor

Life in the SAS

100 Ways I Almost Died

The Fourth Turning

An American Prophecy: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny

Vanishing Girl of Kabul

Betrayal, Hope and an Extraordinary Fight for Women's Rights

Abandoned Women : Scottish Convicts Exiled Beyond the Seas

Running Deep

An Australian Submarine Life

A Grateful Son

An Autobiography

The Most Interesting People You've Never Heard Of

Out West

Big State, Small Town

Careless People

A story of where I used to work

Ellen Savage and the Heroes of AHS Centaur

from the bestselling author of SISTER VIV and MARY PENFOLD

My Long War

Leadership and Lessons from a Quarter Century of Coalition Warfare

Babylon

The Mother of All Cities, from the critically acclaimed ancient historian and author of The Persians

Where It All Went Wrong

The case against John Howard

A Fortunate Life

The Australian Classic

Rasputin

And the Downfall of the Romanovs

This product is categorised by