Hiapo
For about ten years, Nicholas Thomas, Professor of Historical Anthropology, Cambridge University, England, collaborated with John Pule, an Auckland poet and artist of Niuean descent, on Hiapo, a study on Niuean barkcloth or tapa. Publishers are often wary about taking on cross-disciplinary works, deliberating on how best to market and sell such publications. According to Thomas, Wendy Harrex, the current publisher ‘not only understood what we were trying to achieve’, but also ‘appreciated the quirkiness of it’ and ‘worked long and creatively to shape it.’ Receiving excellent reviews, this book is an important first in the field.