Culture and Society in the Asia-Pacific takes up the crucial social and cultural factors in the rise of the Pacific region at the end of the twentieth century. Two interrelated themes are central. The first is the tension between tradition and modernity in an economically expanding region. Most of the nations of the Asia-Pacific have powerful traditional cultures, which have themselves exerted strong influence over their neighbours. At the same time, they have undergone the impact of Western culture and those phenomena which make up the modern world. The other theme is the impact on society and culture which a growing economy exerts. At the same time as their economies are growing, the societies and cultures of the nations in and around the Pacific Ocean are undergoing enormous changes which have radically altered the life of the average person at the end of the twentieth century and made it very different from that of their parents' generation, let alone their grandparents. The areas of concern to this volume are those which affect the everyday life of the people most directly. These include the family, gender relations and the position of women, religion, the arts and in particular film, ethnic relations, population migration education, and the images of the Pacific. Richard Maidmount Open University, UK; Prof Colin Mackerras Griffith University, Australia; David Schak Griffith University, Australia; J. Kathirithamby-Wells, Cambridge, UK; C