For Better or for Worse : Translation As a Tool for Change in the South Pacific

The essays in this book explore the vital role translation has played in defining, changing and redefining linguistic, cultural, ethnic and political identities in several nations of the South Pacific. While in other parts of the world postcolonial scholars have scrutinized the role and history of translation and exposed its close relationship with the colonizers, this has not yet happened in the specific region covered in this collection. In translation studies the Pacific region is terra incognita. The writers of this volume of essays reveal that in the Pacific, as in all other once colonized parts of the world, colonialism and translation went hand in hand. The unsettling power of translation is described as it effected change for better or for worse. While the Pacific Islanders' encounter with the Europeans has previously been described as having a 'Fatal Impact', the authors of these essays are further able to demonstrate that the Pacific Islanders were not only victims but also played an active role in the cross-cultural events they were party to and in shaping their own destinies. Examples of the role of translation in effecting change - for better or for worse - abound in the history of the nations of the Pacific. These stories are told here in order to bring this region into the mainstream scholarly attention of postcolonial and translation studies. Introduction / Sabine Fenton -- The Humpty Dumpty Principle At Work: The Role Of Mistranslation In The British Settlement Of Aotearoa. -- The Declaration Of Independence And He Whakaputanga O Te Rangatiratanga O Nga Hapü O Nu Tïreni / Margaret Mutu -- Survival By Translation: The Case Of Te Tiriti O Waitangi / Sabine Fenton & Paul Moon -- Translating The Ancestors: Grey's Polynesian Mythology / John O'leary -- Interpreting As A Tool For Empowerment Of The New Zealand Deaf Community / Rachel Locker Mckee -- Translation In New Caledonia: Writing (in) The Language Of The Other: The Red Virgin, The Missionary, And The Ethnographer / Raylene Ramsay -- Foreigner Talk To Exonorm: Translation And Literacy In Fiji / Paul Geraghty -- Decolonization By Missionaries Of Government: The Tokelau Case / Tony Angelo & Tioni Vulu -- The Translation Of Queen Salote's Poetry / Melenaite Taumoefolau -- Notes On Contributors -- Index Edited By Sabine Fenton. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Title Page 2 Copyright Page 3 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 Introduction 9 The Humpty Dumpty Principle at Work The Role of Mistranslation in the British Settlement of Aotearoa The Declaration of Independence and He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o nga hapu o Nu Tireni 20 Survival by Translation The Case of Te Tiriti o Waitangi 45 Translating the Ancestors Grey’s Polynesian Mythology 71 Interpreting as a Tool for Empowerment of the New Zealand Deaf Community 97 Translation in New Caledonia Writing (in) the Language of the Other The ‘Red Virgin’, the Missionary, and the Ethnographer 142 Foreigner Talk to Exonorm Translation and Literacy in Fiji 180 Decolonization by Missionaries of Government The Tokelau Case 216 The Translation of Queen Sälote’s Poetry 250 Notes on Contributors 281 Index 285 The essays in this volume explore the vital role translation has played in defining, changing and redefining linguistic, cultural, ethnic and political identities in several nations of the South Pacific.