Gender on the Edge: Transgender, Gay, and Other Pacific Islanders

Gender on the Edge: Transgender, Gay, and Other Pacific Islanders, edited by Niko Besnier and Kalissa Alexeyeff and published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2014, is a peer-reviewed edited scholarly volume bringing together anthropological studies of transgender, gay and other gender-variant identities across Pacific Island societies, including fa'afafine and related figures. Its strength is that it is a peer-reviewed academic collection drawing on fieldwork from multiple Pacific societies by specialists in each. Its limit is that, as an edited volume, its coverage and depth vary by chapter and by the specific society each contributor studied, so a claim about one particular Pacific society's gender categories should be checked against the specific chapter addressing that society rather than the volume's general framing.