The National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) is a research center for ethnology and cultural anthropology.

Senri Ethnological Studies (SES)

No. 78 Irrigated Taro (Colocasia esculenta) in the Indo-Pacific: Biological, Social and Historical Perspectives

March 30, 2012 Publication

Edited by Matthew Spriggs, David Addison and Peter J. Matthews

back numbers
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables

Part I HISTORICAL VIEWS

From Mendana to Riesenfeld: Early Accounts of and Speculation on Taro Irrigation in the Asia-Pacific Area
Matthew Spriggs
Vernacular Names for Taro in the Indo-Pacific Region: Implications for Centres of Diversification and Spread
Roger M. Blench
Yu Jing (The Book of Taro)
Shengzheng Huang (Translated by Jee Yan Chu; introduced by P. J. Matthews)

Part II EASTERN PACIFIC

The Taro Wars of the Austral Islands, East Polynesia
Robert Bollt
Wet Taro Cultivation on Atolls: A Techno-cultural Paradox?
Jean-Michel Chazine
Taro Irrigation and Primary State Formation in Hawai'i
Timothy Earle
Small Valley Irrigated Taro Agriculture in the Hawaiian Islands: An Extension of the 'Wet and Dry' Hypothesis
Mark D. McCoy and Michael W. Graves
Approaches to Dating Wetland Agricultural Features: An Example from Wailau Valley, Moloka'i Island, Hawai'i
Windy K. McElroy
Fluctuation in Colocasia Cultivation and Landesque Capital in Navosa, Viti Levu, Fiji
Trevor King

Part III WESTERN PACIFIC

'Certainly the Most Technically Complex Pondfield Irrigation Within Melanesia': Wet Taro Field Systems of New Caledonia
Christophe Sand
Produce to Exchange: The Taro Water-Gardens on Vanua Lava (Vanuatu), a Social and Sustainable Place
Sophie Caillon
Taro Culture in Western Santo, Vanuatu
Annie Walter and Fabienne Tzerikiantz
Irrigated Taro, Malaria and the Expansion of Chiefdoms: Ruta in New Georgia, Solomon Islands
Tim Bayliss-Smith and Edvard Hviding
The Decline of Taro and Taro Irrigation in Papua New Guinea
R. Michael Bourke

Part IV SOUTHEAST ASIA

Recovering, Analysing and Identifying Colocasia esculenta and Dioscorea spp. from Archaeological Contexts in Timor-Leste
Nuno Vasco Oliveira
Taro Before Rice Terraces: Implications of Radiocarbon Determinations, Ethnohistoric Reconstructions, and Ethnography in Dating the Ifugao Terraces
Stephen B. Acabado
Ethnobotany and Ecology of Wild Taro (Colocasia esculenta) in the Philippines: Implications for Domestication and Dispersal
P. J. Matthews, E. M.G. Agoo, D. N. Tandang and D.A. Madulid

CONCLUSION

Irrigated Taro in the Indo-Pacific: Multiple Perspectives
Matthew Spriggs and Peter J. Matthews
Index
List of Contributors