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a great deal of mixing. Chapter 3, Language Diversity and Endangerment in the Melanesian Cultural Area, by Multamia
RMT Lauder and Allan F. Lauder provides a linguistic perspective on the hundreds of languages in Indonesia. It highlights
the great diversity in languages and the value of this diversity in society. It also describes the worrying trend for some of
these languages to be lost and describes efforts needed to maintain them.
Chapter 4 Language Contact: Austronesian and Papuan Languages in North Maluku, Indonesia, by Ninuk Kleden
Probonegoro, takes an anthropological and linguistic perspective, but focuses on an area in eastern Indonesia where
Melanesian and Austronesian communities are in contact. It describes the processes of contact, borrowing and
accommodation that go on.
In Chapter 5, Geological and Climatic Influences on Early Human Migrations in the Indonesian Archipelago, Rovicky Dwi
Putrohari looks at the Indonesian archipelago from a geological perspective and describes in particular the way that the
environment, land and climate formed a context that enabled early modern humans to populate all parts of the archipelago.
Chapters 6 and 7 are from the perspective of history. Chapter 6, The Dynamics of Melanesian History in Indonesia
by Desy Usmany and Yudha P. N. Yapsenang, provides a good overview of the status of Melanesia in Indonesia across
different periods of history to the near present. Chapter 7, The History of Maritime Networks and Cross-Cultural Contexts
in Indonesia by Edward L. Poelinggomang, focuses on how Indonesia’s identity as a maritime nation is rooted in history.
Maritime trade and international contacts have been going on for at least two millennia.
The final two chapters, Chapters 8 and 9, are both by Gregorius Neonbasu, a Catholic priest and anthropologist who
is himself Melanesian. He paints a highly personal, and richly informed picture of life from this perspective. In Chapter 8,
Anthropology and Oral Traditions in the Melanesian World, he focuses on the Melanesian identity as can be seen through

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