An exemplary investigation into music and sustainability, Singing and Survival tells the story of how music helped the Rapanui people of Easter Island to preserve their unique cultural heritage. Easter Island (or Rapanui), known for the iconic headstones (moai) that dot the island landscape, has a remarkable and enduring presence in global popular culture where it has been portrayed as a place of mystery and fascination, and as a case study in societal collapse. These portrayals often overlook the remarkable survival of the Rapanui people who rebounded from a critically diminished population of just 110 people in the late nineteenth century to what is now a vibrant community where indigenous language and cultural practices have been preserved for future generations. This cultural revival has drawn on a diversity of historical and contemporary influences: indigenous heritage, colonial and missionary influences from South America, and cultural imports from other Polynesian islands, as well as from tourism and global popular culture. The impact of these influences can be perceived in the island's contemporary music culture. This book provides a comprehensive overview of Easter Island music, with individual chapters devoted to the various streams of cultural influence from which the Rapanui people have drawn to rebuild and reinforce their music, their performances, their language and their presence in the world. In doing so, it provides a counterpoint to deficit discourses of collapse, destruction and disappearance to which the Rapanui people have historically been subjected.
Dan Bendrups is an ethnomusicologist who investigates the role of music in sustaining cultural heritage. His research spans communities and cultures in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific, as well as migrant communities in Australia and New Zealand. He lectures in research education and development at La Trobe University, Australia, where he is also a member of the La Trobe University Institute of Latin American Studies.
Bendrups weaves a remarkable story from historical sources and his own fieldwork that reveals how the people of Easter Island have used opportunities presented to them over the past 150 years to survive, to sing, and to create new music on their own terms.
FAXNELD, Faxneld, Per Faxneld, Jesper Aa. Petersen, Stockholm University) Faxneld, Per (Doctoral research fellow, department of the History of Religions, Doctoral research fellow, department of the History of Religions, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Petersen, Jesper Aa. (Associate Professor, Programme for Teacher Education, Associate Professor, Programme for Teacher Education
Jennifer Nedelsky, University of Toronto) Nedelsky, Jennifer (Professor of Law and Political Science, Professor of Law and Political Science, NEDELSKY, Nedelsky
JACOBSON, Jacobson, Cardell Jacobson, Lara Burton, Brigham Young University) Jacobson, Cardell (Karl G. Maeser General Education Professor and Professor of Sociology, Karl G. Maeser General Education Professor and Professor of Sociology, Brigham Young University) Burton, Lara (PhD Candidate, PhD Candidate
Moyra Smith, Irvine) Smith, Moyra (Professor Emeritus, Human Genetics Professor Recalled, Professor Emeritus, Human Genetics Professor Recalled, Dept. of Pediatrics, University of California, SMITH, Smith
BINGAMAN, Bingaman, Brock Bingaman, Bradley Nassif, Wesleyan College) Bingaman, Brock (Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Program Director, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Program Director, North Park University) Nassif, Bradley (Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies
ALLEN, Allen, Franklin Allen, Elena Carletti, Jan Pieter Krahnen, Marcel Tyrell, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania) Allen, Franklin (Nippon Life Professor of Finance and Professor of Economics, Nippon Life Professor of Finance and Professor of Economics, European University Institute) Carletti, Elena (Professor of Economics, Professor of Economics, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt) Krahnen, Jan Pieter (Chair of Corporate Finance, Chair of Corporate Finance, Friedrichshafen) Tyrell, Marcel (Professor of Entrepreneurship & Finance, Professor of Entrepreneurship & Finance, Zeppelin University
Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Dustin Avent-Holt, University of Massachusetts Amherst) Tomaskovic-Devey, Donald (Professor, Professor, Department of Sociology, Georgia Regents University) Avent-Holt, Dustin (Associate Professor of Sociology, Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Social Work, TOMASKOVIC-DEVEY, Tomaskovic-Devey
Norcross, NORCROSS, John C. Norcross, Bruce E. Wampold, University of Scranton) Norcross, John C. (Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Norway) Wampold, Bruce E. (Research Institute Director, Research Institute Director, Modum Bad Psychiatric Center