Discovery Under The Southern Cross
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A richly researched work of cultural history and anthropology, Discovery Under the Southern Cross chronicles the complex and often fraught encounters between European explorers and the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific and Australia. Roslyn Poignant draws on archival photographs, colonial records, and oral histories to uncover the power dynamics embedded in the act of discovery itself, arguing that such encounters were never neutral but were shaped by imperial ambition and cultural misunderstanding. Written with both scholarly rigor and narrative warmth, the work presents a nuanced reassessment of how Indigenous Australians and Pacific Islanders were observed, recorded, and represented by Western eyes. Poignant illustrates how photography and visual documentation became tools of colonial authority, while simultaneously preserving glimpses of Indigenous agency and resilience. The result is a compelling and thought-provoking study that challenges readers to reconsider the legacies of exploration and the stories that have long been told in its name.
Author: Roslyn Poignant
Format: Hardback
Published: 1976, Collins Publishers / Franklin Watts, Inc.
Genre: Travel & exploration
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A richly researched work of cultural history and anthropology, Discovery Under the Southern Cross chronicles the complex and often fraught encounters between European explorers and the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific and Australia. Roslyn Poignant draws on archival photographs, colonial records, and oral histories to uncover the power dynamics embedded in the act of discovery itself, arguing that such encounters were never neutral but were shaped by imperial ambition and cultural misunderstanding. Written with both scholarly rigor and narrative warmth, the work presents a nuanced reassessment of how Indigenous Australians and Pacific Islanders were observed, recorded, and represented by Western eyes. Poignant illustrates how photography and visual documentation became tools of colonial authority, while simultaneously preserving glimpses of Indigenous agency and resilience. The result is a compelling and thought-provoking study that challenges readers to reconsider the legacies of exploration and the stories that have long been told in its name.