This collection of essays, edited by leading scholars in the field, focuses on how expressive genres such as music, dance and poetry are of enduring significance to social organization. The contributors have all carried out first-hand fieldwork, often over a period of many years, and they bring their experience to bear on both the aesthetic and the analytical aspects of their materials.

Explores the significance of expressive genres for the social processes of coping with and adjusting to change, either from outside forces or from internal ones. This book covers Austronesian and non-Austronesian speakers in the wider Indo-Pacific region.

'This collection of essays is a welcome addition to the literature on expressive arts in the Indo-Pacific region. The topics of dance, music and poetry have been relatively little explored here by anthropologists, and this book, edited by two well known researchers, fills a significant gap. All of those with interests in these expressive genres, and Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Taiwan generally, will find it a most valuable collection.' Professor Paul Sillitoe, University of Durham, UK 'The contributors...eloquently demonstrate how transformations in the political or religious landscape are reflected and enacted in reformulations of local cultural heritage and expressive styles...Through richly described and illustrated transformations of expressive forms, this book acquaints us with the flexibility and dynamics of aesthetic and narrative genres, and with the dilemmas, emotions and strategies of people in transitional situations.' Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde