Remembrance Of Pacific Pasts: An Invitation To Remake History Project Muse Upcc Books

How does one describe the Pacific's pasts? The easy confidence historians once had in writing about the region has disappeared in the turmoil surrounding today's politics of representation. Earlier narratives that focused on what happened when are now accused of encouraging myths of progress. Remembrance of Pacific Pasts takes a different course. It acknowledges history's multiplicity and selectivity, its inability to represent the past in its entirety'as it really was'and instead offers points of reference for thinking with and about the region's pasts. It encourages readers to participate in the historical process by constructing alternative histories that draw on the volume's chapters.The book's thirty-four contributions, written by a range of authors spanning a variety of styles and disciplines, are organized into four sections. The first presents frames of reference for analyzing the problems, poetics, and politics involved in addressing the region's pasts today. The second considers early Islander-Western contact focusing on how each side sought to physically and symbolically control the other. The third deals with the colonial dynamics of the region: the'tensions of empire'that permeated imperial rule in the Pacific. The fourth explores the region's postcolonial politics through a discussion of the varied ways independence and dependence overlap today.Remembrance of Pacific Pasts includes many of the region's most distinguished authors such as Albert Wendt, Greg Dening, Epeli Hau'ofa, Marshall Sahlins, Patricia Grace, and Nicholas Thomas. In addition, it features chapters by well-known writers from outside Pacific Studies -- Edward Said, James Clifford, Richard White,and Gyan Prakash -- which help place the region's dynamics in comparative perspective. By moving Pacific history beyond traditional, empirical narratives to new ways for conversing about history, by drawing on current debates surrounding the politics of representation to offer different ways for thinking about the region's pasts, this work has relevance for students and scholars of history, anthropology, and cultural studies both within and beyond the region. Cover ......Page 1 Title ......Page 4 Publisher Information ......Page 5 Dedication ......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 Preface: In the Beginning......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 16 An Invitation......Page 18 SECTION ONE: Frames of Reference......Page 48 1 Inside Us the Dead......Page 52 2 Releasing the Voices: Historicizing Colonial Encountersin the Pacific......Page 60 3 Starting from Trash......Page 79 4 Indigenous Knowledgeand Academic Imperialism......Page 95 VALUING THE PACIFIC—AN INTERVIEWWITH JAMES CLIFFORD......Page 109 SECTION TWO: The Dynamics of Contact......Page 118 5 Possessing Tahiti......Page 129 6 Remembering First Contact: Realities and Romance......Page 150 7 Constructing “Pacific” Peoples......Page 169 A VIEW FROM A FAR (NORTH AMERICA)—A COMMENTARY BY RICHARD WHITE......Page 186 SECTION THREE: Colonial Engagements......Page 190 8 Hawai‘i in the Early Nineteenth Century: The Kingdom and the Kingship......Page 206 9 Deaths on the Mountain: An Account of Police Violence in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea......Page 229 10 Colonial Conversions: Difference, Hierarchy, and History in Early Twentieth-Century Evangelical Propaganda......Page 248 11 The French Way in Plantation Systems......Page 264 12 The New Zealand Wars and the Myth of Conquest......Page 272 13 Theorizing Mâori Women’s Lives: Paradoxes of the Colonial Male Gaze......Page 286 14 Conqueror......Page 304 15 World War II in Kiribati......Page 305 16 Barefoot Benefactors: A Study of Japanese Views of Melanesians......Page 309 A VIEW FROM AFAR (SOUTH ASIA)— AN INTERVIEW WITH GYAN PRAKASH......Page 313 SECTION FOUR: “Postcolonial” Politics......Page 320 17 Decolonization......Page 331 18 Colonised People......Page 350 19 My Blood......Page 355 20 Custom and the Way of the Land: Past and Present in Vanuatu and Fiji......Page 357 21 The Relationship between the United States and the Native Hawaiian People: A Case of Spouse Abuse......Page 375 22 Moe‘uhane......Page 378 23 Simply Chamorro: Tales of Demise and Survival in Guam......Page 379 24 Mixed Blood......Page 400 25 Ngati Kangaru......Page 402 26 Our Pacific......Page 416 27 Treaty-Related Research and Versions of New Zealand History......Page 418 28 Cook, Lono, Obeyesekere,and Sahlins......Page 437 A VIEW FROM AFAR (MIDDLE EAST)— AN INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD SAID......Page 460 Epilogue: Pasts to Remember......Page 470 Abbreviations and Newspapers......Page 490 Bibliography......Page 492 List of Contributors......Page 550 INDEX......Page 554 A Multicentred, Dialogic History Of The Pacific. Whether Set In Samoa, Fiji, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea Or Elsewhere, Each Essay Addresses Questions That Are Asked By Scholars Everywhere. Inside Us The Dead / Albert Wendt -- Releasing The Voices : Historicizing Colonial Encounters In The Pacific / Peter Hempenstall -- Starting From Trash / Klaus Neumann -- Indigenous Knowledge And Academic Imperialism / Vilsoni Hereniko -- Valuing The Pacific / An Interview With James Clifford -- Possessing Tahiti / Greg Dening -- Remembering First Contact : Realities And Romance / Edward Schieffelin And Robert Crittenden -- Constructing Pacific Peoples / Bernard Smith -- A View From Afar : North America / A Commentary By Richard White -- Hawai'i In The Early Nineteenth Century : The Kingdom And The Kingship / Marshall Sahlins -- Deaths On The Mountain : An Account Of Police Violence In The Highlands Of Papua New Guinea / August Kituai -- Colonial Conversions : Difference, Hierarchy, And History In Early Twentieth-century Evangelical Propaganda / Nicholas Thomas. The French Way In Plantation Systems / Michel Panoff -- The New Zealand Wars And The Myth Of Conquest / James Belich -- Theorizing Māori Women's Lives : Paradoxes Of The Colonial Male Gaze / Patricia Grimshaw And Helen Morton -- Conqueror / W. S. Merwin -- World War Ii In Kiribati / Sam Highland -- Barefoot Benefactors : A Study Of Japanese Views Of Melanesians / Hisafumi Saito -- A View From Afar : South Asia / An Interview With Gyan Prakash -- Decolonization / Stewart Firth -- Colonised People / Grace Mera Molisa -- My Blood / Konai Helu Thaman -- Custom And The Way Of The Land : Past And Present In Vanuatu And Fiji / Margaret Jolly -- The Relationship Between The United States And The Native Hawaiian People : A Case Of Spouse Abuse / Brenda Luana Machado Lee -- Moe'uhane / Joseph Balaz -- Simply Chamarro : Telling Tales Of Demise And Survival In Guam / Vicente M. Diaz. Mixed Blood / Tersia Kieuea Teaiwa -- Ngati Kangaru / Patricia Grace -- Our Pacific / Vaine Rasmussen -- Treaty-related Research And Versions Of New Zealand History / Alan Ward -- Cook, Lono, Obeyesekere, And Sahlins / Robert Borofsky -- A View From Afar : Middle East / An Interview With Edward Said. Edited By Robert Borofsky. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 475-532) And Index. How does one describe the Pacific's pasts? The easy confidence historians one had in writing about the region has disappeared in the turmoil surrounding today's politics of representation. Earlier narratives that focused on what happened when are now accused of encouraging myths of progress. Remembrance of Pacific Pasts takes a different course. It acknowledges history's multiplicity and selectivity, its inability to represent the past in its entirety "as it really was" and instead offers points of reference for thinking with and about the region's pasts. It encourages readers to participate in the historical process by constructing alternative histories that draw on the volume's chapters.The book's thirty-four contributions, written by a range of authors spanning a variety of styles and disciplines, are organized into four sections. The first presents frames of reference for analyzing the problems, poetics, and politics involved in addressing the region's pasts today. The second considers early Islander-Western contact focusing on how each side sought to physically and symbolically control the other. The third deals with the colonial dynamics of the region: the "tensions of empire" that permeated imperial rule in the Pacific. The fourth explores the region's postcolonial politics through a discussion of the varied ways independence and dependence overlap today.Remembrance of Pacific Pasts includes many of the region's most distinguished authors such as Albert Wendt, Greg Dening, Epeli Hau'ofa, Marshall Sahlins, Patricia Grace, and Nicholas Thomas. In addition, it features chapters by well-known writers from outside Pacific Studies -- Edward Said, James Clifford, Richard White,and Gyan Prakash -- which help place the region's dynamics in comparative perspective. By moving Pacific history beyond traditional, empirical narratives to new ways for conversing about history, by drawing on current debates surrounding the politics of representation to offer different ways for thinking about the region's pasts, this work has relevance for students and scholars of history, anthropology, and cultural studies both within and beyond the region. Remembrance of Pacific Pasts is brimming over with new ideas about how history can be found, rethought, understood, and told. The worlds of the Pacific emerge over several centuries in the hands of these talented writers, some celebrated historians and anthropologists, some just making their mark. Whether set in Samoa, Fiji, Hawai'i, Papua New Guinea or elsewhere, each fascinating essay has resonance for questions being asked by scholars everywhere. Rob Borofsky's edited volume is multicentered, dialogic history at its best. --Natalie Zemon Davis, Princeton University

History is always interpretation. The French Revolution as told by an aristocrat and by a sansculotte are not the same. The problem is how to bring these different views together in a way that makes sense of the whole. Rob Borofsky wonderfully succeeds at this difficult task. He turns widely different points of view into as asset. The narrative ceases being linear. We have instead a multidimensional history that the reader must approach from several angles and the meaning of which, like that of a musical piece, is apprehended globally. Remembrance of Pacific Pasts is a very impressive and important work. --Claude Levi-Strauss, College de France, Paris

With an impressive array of contributors and a brilliantly innovative format, Remembrance of Pacific Pasts makes a crucial invention not only in our attempt to understand the Pacific but also in our attempt to refashion cultural and historical study. This multi-faceted volume is a model for a whole new interpretive practice, a practice based not on monolithic claims but on multiple voices, shifting perspectives, and open-ended critical conversations. --Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University