Culture contact and Polynesian identity in the European age

Journal of World History

Volumn 8, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 29-53

  Campbell, I C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY   (New Zealand)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COLONIALISM; CULTURAL IDENTITY; EUROPEAN CONTACT; HISTORICAL STUDY; INDIGENOUS PEOPLE;

PACIFIC;

EID: 0030763631     PISSN: 10456007     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jwh.2005.0078     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. A discussion of these developments is found in Jocelyn Linnekin and Lin Poyer, eds., Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in the Pacific (Honolulu, 1990) especially chap. 7, "The Politics of Culture in the Pacific," by Linnekin.
2. The point has also been made recently by Thomas Sowell, who also distinguishes between culture and identity. Race and Culture: A World View (New York, 1994), PP- 28-30.
3. Sione Lātūkefu, "The Definition of Authentic Oceanic Cultures with Particular Reference to Tongan Culture," Pacific Studies 4, no. 1 (1980): 60-81; Eric Hobshawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983); Richard Handler and Jocelyn Linnekin, "Tradition, Genuine or Spurious," Journal of American Folklore 97 (1984): 273-90; Roger M. Keesing, "Creating the Past: Custom and Identity in the Contemporary Pacific," Contemporary Pacific 1 (1989): 19-42; Karen Stevenson, "Politicization of La Culture Ma'ohi: The Creation of a Tahitian Cultural Identity," Pacific Studies 15, no. 4 (1992): 117-36.
4. Sione Lātūkefu, "The Definition of Authentic Oceanic Cultures with Particular Reference to Tongan Culture," Pacific Studies 4, no. 1 (1980): 60-81; Eric Hobshawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983); Richard Handler and Jocelyn Linnekin, "Tradition, Genuine or Spurious," Journal of American Folklore 97 (1984): 273-90; Roger M. Keesing, "Creating the Past: Custom and Identity in the Contemporary Pacific," Contemporary Pacific 1 (1989): 19-42; Karen Stevenson, "Politicization of La Culture Ma'ohi: The Creation of a Tahitian Cultural Identity," Pacific Studies 15, no. 4 (1992): 117-36.
5. Sione Lātūkefu, "The Definition of Authentic Oceanic Cultures with Particular Reference to Tongan Culture," Pacific Studies 4, no. 1 (1980): 60-81; Eric Hobshawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983); Richard Handler and Jocelyn Linnekin, "Tradition, Genuine or Spurious," Journal of American Folklore 97 (1984): 273-90; Roger M. Keesing, "Creating the Past: Custom and Identity in the Contemporary Pacific," Contemporary Pacific 1 (1989): 19-42; Karen Stevenson, "Politicization of La Culture Ma'ohi: The Creation of a Tahitian Cultural Identity," Pacific Studies 15, no. 4 (1992): 117-36.
6. Sione Lātūkefu, "The Definition of Authentic Oceanic Cultures with Particular Reference to Tongan Culture," Pacific Studies 4, no. 1 (1980): 60-81; Eric Hobshawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983); Richard Handler and Jocelyn Linnekin, "Tradition, Genuine or Spurious," Journal of American Folklore 97 (1984): 273-90; Roger M. Keesing, "Creating the Past: Custom and Identity in the Contemporary Pacific," Contemporary Pacific 1 (1989): 19-42; Karen Stevenson, "Politicization of La Culture Ma'ohi: The Creation of a Tahitian Cultural Identity," Pacific Studies 15, no. 4 (1992): 117-36.
7. Sione Lātūkefu, "The Definition of Authentic Oceanic Cultures with Particular Reference to Tongan Culture," Pacific Studies 4, no. 1 (1980): 60-81; Eric Hobshawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983); Richard Handler and Jocelyn Linnekin, "Tradition, Genuine or Spurious," Journal of American Folklore 97 (1984): 273-90; Roger M. Keesing, "Creating the Past: Custom and Identity in the Contemporary Pacific," Contemporary Pacific 1 (1989): 19-42; Karen Stevenson, "Politicization of La Culture Ma'ohi: The Creation of a Tahitian Cultural Identity," Pacific Studies 15, no. 4 (1992): 117-36.
8. For example, in the title and substance of Urs Bitterli, Cultures in Conflict, trans. Ritchie Robertson (Cambridge, 1989).
9. For example, in the various works of James Axtell.
10. "Polynesia" is an ethnological category referring to the inhabited islands in the eastern Pacific encompassed by a triangle with apexes at Hawai'i, Easter Island, and New Zealand, and including part of Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, Niue, the Cook Islands, the Austral Islands, Society and Leeward Islands, the Tuamotu and Gambier archipelagoes, and the Marquesas Islands. The term is used to distinguish a relatively homogeneous cultural group from Melanesia and Micronesia, the neighboring cultural groups to the west.
11. LC. Campbell, "Polynesian Perceptions of Europeans in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," Pacific Studies 5, no. 2 (1982): 65-68.
12. James McAuley, "We Are Men - What Are You?" Quadrant 4, no. 3 (1960): 73-79.
13. Clements Markham, ed., The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros 1595-1606, 2 vols. (London, 1904), 1:21, 25; J. C. Beaglehole, ed., The Journals of Captain James Cook, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1955-67), 1:75, 195, 215-16, 514, 567.
14. Clements Markham, ed., The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros 1595-1606, 2 vols. (London, 1904), 1:21, 25; J. C. Beaglehole, ed., The Journals of Captain James Cook, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1955-67), 1:75, 195, 215-16, 514, 567.
15. For example, Richard Storry, A History of Modern Japan (Harmondsworth, England, 1963), introduction and chap. 11. The modernization of Turkey, under the influence of the nationalist Young Turks movement before World War I and Mustapha Kemal Ataturk afterward, further demonstrates the autonomy of identity with regard to culture. Parallels may be found in the modern histories of China and Russia.
16. The essential difference between settlement and contact is often overlooked in anthropological critiques, which evince a monolithic concept of colonialism in which authority ("control") is not distinguished from large population inflows. Anthropologists, of course, are aware of the difference, but it seems not to be incorporated into their analytical framework. For example, Linnekin and Poyer, Cultural Identity and Ethnicity, pp. 4, 6, 171.
17. Jocelyn Linnekin, Alan Howard, Michael Howard, and others make the same point but think of Polynesian concepts of nationhood as being postcolonial, while in fact they were precolonial (but not precontact). For Linnekin and Alan Howard, see Linnekin and Poyer, Cultural Identity and Ethnicity; also Michael C. Howard, ed., Ethnicity and Nation-Building in the Pacific (Tokyo, 1989).
18. Jocelyn Linnekin, Alan Howard, Michael Howard, and others make the same point but think of Polynesian concepts of nationhood as being postcolonial, while in fact they were precolonial (but not precontact). For Linnekin and Alan Howard, see Linnekin and Poyer, Cultural Identity and Ethnicity; also Michael C. Howard, ed., Ethnicity and Nation-Building in the Pacific (Tokyo, 1989).
19. New Zealand and Hawai'i obviously became colonies of settlement, respectively with and without foreign political domination. Settlement elsewhere in Polynesia occurred on the basis of foreign assimilation or the development of enclave communities partially dependent on native society. See Caroline Ralston, Gross Huts and Warehouses (Canberra, 1977), especially chaps. 3 and 4.
20. W. H. Pearson, "European Intimidation and the Myth of Tahiti," Journal of Pacific History 4 (1969): 199-217.
21. Colin Newbury, Tahiti Nui: Change and Survival in French Polynesia (Honolulu, 1980), P. 13.
22. For example, Beaglehole, ed., Journals, 1:177-78, 188-89, 281-82.
23. For a Hawaiian example, see S. M. Kamakau, The Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii (Honolulu, 1967), pp. 92-95.
24. H. A. H. Driessen, "Outrigger Canoes and Glorious Beings: Pre-Contact Prophecies in the Society Islands," Journal of Pacific History 17 (1982): 3-28.
25. Campbell, "Polynesian Perceptions," pp. 65-68.
26. Douglas Oliver, Ancient Tahitian Society, 3 vols. (Honolulu, 1974), pp. 1284-85.
27. R. S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854: Foundation and Transformation (Honolulu, 1938), pp. 23, 26, 47-48, 82-99; H. W. Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii (Stanford, 1942), pp. 23-24, 55-62, 69-70; Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time (Honolulu, 1974), p. 45.
28. R. S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854: Foundation and Transformation (Honolulu, 1938), pp. 23, 26, 47-48, 82-99; H. W. Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii (Stanford, 1942), pp. 23-24, 55-62, 69-70; Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time (Honolulu, 1974), p. 45.
29. R. S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854: Foundation and Transformation (Honolulu, 1938), pp. 23, 26, 47-48, 82-99; H. W. Bradley, The American Frontier in Hawaii (Stanford, 1942), pp. 23-24, 55-62, 69-70; Gavan Daws, Shoal of Time (Honolulu, 1974), p. 45.
30. Archibald Campbell, A Voyage Around the World, from 1806 to 1812 (Charleston, 1822; reprint, Honolulu, 1967), p. 144. See also pp. 99, 100-101, 111-12.
31. Kamehameha acquired a fleet of foreign ships, but they were not used for foreign trade, except for a limited attempt in 1817 in partnership with the Winship brothers, See Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, p. 86; Daws, Shoal of Time, p. 50. For the use of Kamehameha's vessels in intra-Hawaiian trade, see Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, pp. 95-96.
32. Kamehameha acquired a fleet of foreign ships, but they were not used for foreign trade, except for a limited attempt in 1817 in partnership with the Winship brothers, See Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, p. 86; Daws, Shoal of Time, p. 50. For the use of Kamehameha's vessels in intra-Hawaiian trade, see Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, pp. 95-96.
33. Kamehameha acquired a fleet of foreign ships, but they were not used for foreign trade, except for a limited attempt in 1817 in partnership with the Winship brothers, See Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, p. 86; Daws, Shoal of Time, p. 50. For the use of Kamehameha's vessels in intra-Hawaiian trade, see Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, pp. 95-96.
34. Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, pp. 84-94, 171, 434-46; Bradley, American Frontier pp 60-71 These developments are also discussed by Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, Native Land and Foreign Desires (Honolulu, 1992). PP. 145-46 and passim. Kame'eleihiwa adopts a Hawaiian nationalist perspective with more sympathy for the chiefs caught between a supposed native obligation to display wealth and to be generous and the ruthlessness of capitalist commerce.
35. Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, pp. 84-94, 171, 434-46; Bradley, American Frontier pp 60-71 These developments are also discussed by Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, Native Land and Foreign Desires (Honolulu, 1992). PP. 145-46 and passim. Kame'eleihiwa adopts a Hawaiian nationalist perspective with more sympathy for the chiefs caught between a supposed native obligation to display wealth and to be generous and the ruthlessness of capitalist commerce.
36. Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, pp. 84-94, 171, 434-46; Bradley, American Frontier pp 60-71 These developments are also discussed by Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, Native Land and Foreign Desires (Honolulu, 1992). PP. 145-46 and passim. Kame'eleihiwa adopts a Hawaiian nationalist perspective with more sympathy for the chiefs caught between a supposed native obligation to display wealth and to be generous and the ruthlessness of capitalist commerce.
37. Caroline Ralston, "Hawaii, 1778-1854: Some Aspects of the Maka'ainana Response to Rapid Cultural Change," Journal of Pacific History 19, no. 1 (1984): 21-40.
38. Marshall Sahlins, Anahulu: The Anthropology of History: Historical Ethnography (Chicago, 1992), p. 112.
39. Ralston, "Hawaii, 1778-1854," pp. 29-30, 36-37; Sahlins, Anahulu, pp. 84-86 and passim for the behavior of chiefs.
40. Ralston, "Hawaii, 1778-1854," pp. 29-30, 36-37; Sahlins, Anahulu, pp. 84-86 and passim for the behavior of chiefs.
41. David E. stannard, "Disease and Infertility: A New Look at the Demographic Collapse of Native Populations in the Wake of Western Contact," Journal of American Studies 24,no.3 (1990): 325-50.
42. Jocelyn Linnekin, "Statistical Analysis of the Great Mahele," Journal of Pacific History 22, no. 1 (1987): 15-33. Also Kame'eleihiwa, Native Lands and Foreign Desires pp. 177-97. Kame'eleihiwa sees land reform as an act of betrayal inspired and executed by grasping foreign advisers of mission background.
43. Jocelyn Linnekin, "Statistical Analysis of the Great Mahele," Journal of Pacific History 22, no. 1 (1987): 15-33. Also Kame'eleihiwa, Native Lands and Foreign Desires pp. 177-97. Kame'eleihiwa sees land reform as an act of betrayal inspired and executed by grasping foreign advisers of mission background.
44. For example, Isabella L. Bird, Six Months in the Sandwich Islands (London, 1890; reprint, Rutland, Vt., 1974), pp. 34, 307-309.
45. Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs, pp. 53-54.
46. For a general discussion, see Newbury, Tahiti Nui, chaps. 1-2.
47. The establishment and dissemination of Christianity in Tahiti and neighboring archipelagoes is comprehensively covered in John Garrett, To Live among the Stars: Christian Origins in Oceania (Geneva, 1982), chap. 1. See also G. S. Parsonson, "The Litetate Revolution in Polynesia," The Journal of Pacific History 2 (1967): 39-58.
48. The establishment and dissemination of Christianity in Tahiti and neighboring archipelagoes is comprehensively covered in John Garrett, To Live among the Stars: Christian Origins in Oceania (Geneva, 1982), chap. 1. See also G. S. Parsonson, "The Litetate Revolution in Polynesia," The Journal of Pacific History 2 (1967): 39-58.
49. Greg Dening, islands and Beaches: Discourse on a Silent Land: Marquesas 1774-1880 (Melbourne, 1980).
50. Fully discussed in Sione Lātūkefu, Church and State in Tonga (Canberra, 1974); and I. C. Campbell, island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient and Modern (Christchurch, 1992).
51. Fully discussed in Sione Lātūkefu, Church and State in Tonga (Canberra, 1974); and I. C. Campbell, island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient and Modern (Christchurch, 1992).
52. Basil Thompson, Diversions of a Prime Minister (London, 1894), pp. 232-33; J. S. Neil, Ten Years in Tonga (London, 1955).
53. Basil Thompson, Diversions of a Prime Minister (London, 1894), pp. 232-33; J. S. Neil, Ten Years in Tonga (London, 1955).
54. The sociocultural history (if culture contact in Polynesia has received a good deal less attention than the political and commercial aspects, hut for Tonga, see Campbell, Island Kingdom, chap. 8.
55. That is, the unmeasurable point at which ideology and economic opportunity made further social change undesirable and unattainable, respectively.
56. The process is traced in R. P. Gilson, Samoa 1830-1900: The Politics of a Mulri-cultural Community (Melbourne, 1970); and David Routledge, Matanitū: The Struggle for Power in Early Fiji (Suva, 1985).
57. The process is traced in R. P. Gilson, Samoa 1830-1900: The Politics of a Mulri-cultural Community (Melbourne, 1970); and David Routledge, Matanitū: The Struggle for Power in Early Fiji (Suva, 1985).
58. Newbury, Tahiti Nui, chaps. 3-8.
59. Newbury, Tahiti Nui, pp. 164-66, 168-69, 174, 216-29.
60. Peter France, The Charter of the Land: Custom and Colonizationin Fiji (Melbourne, 1969), chaps 7-8; J. K. Chapman, The Career of Arthur Hamilton Gordon, First Lord Stanmore (Toronto, 1964), chap. 5.
61. Peter France, The Charter of the Land: Custom and Colonizationin Fiji (Melbourne, 1969), chaps 7-8; J. K. Chapman, The Career of Arthur Hamilton Gordon, First Lord Stanmore (Toronto, 1964), chap. 5.
62. France, Charter of the Land, chap. 9; T. J. Macnaught, The, Fijian Colonial Experience (Canberra, 1982), chap. 2 and passim.
63. France, Charter of the Land, chap. 9; T. J. Macnaught, The, Fijian Colonial Experience (Canberra, 1982), chap. 2 and passim.
64. Roger Joyce, Sir William MacGregor (Melbourne, 1971), pp. 47-66; Bruce Knapman, "The Rise" and Fall of the White Sugar Planter in Fiji, 1880-1925, " Pacific Studies 9, no. 1 (1985): 53-82; K. L. Gillion, Fiji's Indian Migrants (Melbourne, 1962), pp. 8-9, W. P. Morrell, Britain in the Pacific Islands (Oxford, 1960), p. 395.
65. Roger Joyce, Sir William MacGregor (Melbourne, 1971), pp. 47-66; Bruce Knapman, "The Rise" and Fall of the White Sugar Planter in Fiji, 1880-1925, " Pacific Studies 9, no. 1 (1985): 53-82; K. L. Gillion, Fiji's Indian Migrants (Melbourne, 1962), pp. 8-9, W. P. Morrell, Britain in the Pacific Islands (Oxford, 1960), p. 395.
66. Roger Joyce, Sir William MacGregor (Melbourne, 1971), pp. 47-66; Bruce Knapman, "The Rise" and Fall of the White Sugar Planter in Fiji, 1880-1925, " Pacific Studies 9, no. 1 (1985): 53-82; K. L. Gillion, Fiji's Indian Migrants (Melbourne, 1962), pp. 8-9, W. P. Morrell, Britain in the Pacific Islands (Oxford, 1960), p. 395.
67. Roger Joyce, Sir William MacGregor (Melbourne, 1971), pp. 47-66; Bruce Knapman, "The Rise" and Fall of the White Sugar Planter in Fiji, 1880-1925, " Pacific Studies 9, no. 1 (1985): 53-82; K. L. Gillion, Fiji's Indian Migrants (Melbourne, 1962), pp. 8-9, W. P. Morrell, Britain in the Pacific Islands (Oxford, 1960), p. 395.
68. Implicit in numerous official statements, such as Fiji, Legislative Council Papers, 1901 No. 11, 1905 No. 14, 1910 No. 30. See also Brij V. Lal, Broken Waves: A History of the Fiji Islands in the Twentieth Century (Honolulu, 1992), chap. 1.
69. Fiji Legislative Council Papers, 1912 No. 57. Proficiency in Hindi was required on account of the large number of Indian labor migrants whose importation had been adopted to preserve the Fijians from the disruptive necessity of plantation employment. Gillion, Fiji's Indian Migrants, pp. 7-14.
70. For example, W. E. H. Stanner, The South Seas in Transition: A Study of Post-War Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Three British Dependencies (Sydney, 1953), part 2, chaps. 5-6.
71. A summary of policies can be found in Mary Boyd, "The Record in Western Samoa to 1045," in New Zealand's Record in the Pacific Islands in the Twentieth Century, ed. Angus Ross (Auckland, 1969), pp. 118, 129-42; J. W. Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa Melbourne, 1967) chap 5. Annual reports of the administration are found in New Zealand, Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (Wellington, 1923- ). These reports give detailed accounts of objectives, plans, and achievements. Both Boyd and Davidson are unsympathetic to the administration, its objectives, and its methods.
72. A summary of policies can be found in Mary Boyd, "The Record in Western Samoa to 1045," in New Zealand's Record in the Pacific Islands in the Twentieth Century, ed. Angus Ross (Auckland, 1969), pp. 118, 129-42; J. W. Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa Melbourne, 1967) chap 5. Annual reports of the administration are found in New Zealand, Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (Wellington, 1923- ). These reports give detailed accounts of objectives, plans, and achievements. Both Boyd and Davidson are unsympathetic to the administration, its objectives, and its methods.
73. A summary of policies can be found in Mary Boyd, "The Record in Western Samoa to 1045," in New Zealand's Record in the Pacific Islands in the Twentieth Century, ed. Angus Ross (Auckland, 1969), pp. 118, 129-42; J. W. Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa Melbourne, 1967) chap 5. Annual reports of the administration are found in New Zealand, Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (Wellington, 1923- ). These reports give detailed accounts of objectives, plans, and achievements. Both Boyd and Davidson are unsympathetic to the administration, its objectives, and its methods.
74. In 1922 the total revenue of the administration of Western Samoa, including the £16,000 subsidy, was £135,569, and the native population was 33,685. The New Zealand grant increased most years, reaching almost £40,000 in 1929-30. The other significant exceptions in providing subsidies for colonial administrations were Australia in Papua and New Guinea and Japan in Micronesia.
75. For Samoan contact history, see Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa, chap. 3; and Gilson, Samoa 1830-1900.
76. For Samoan contact history, see Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa, chap. 3; and Gilson, Samoa 1830-1900.
77. Gilson, Samoa 1830-1900, chap. 5.
78. J. A. C. Gray, Amerika Samoa (Annapolis, 1960), especially chaps. 17 and 21.
79. John Moses, "The Solf Regime in Western Samoa: Ideal and Reality, " New Zealand Journal of History 6 (1972): 42-56; Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa, pp. 76-90.
80. John Moses, "The Solf Regime in Western Samoa: Ideal and Reality, " New Zealand Journal of History 6 (1972): 42-56; Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa, pp. 76-90.
81. The sequence of events is given in Boyd, "The Record in Western Samoa," and Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa, though their interpretations differ from that given here .
82. The sequence of events is given in Boyd, "The Record in Western Samoa," and Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa, though their interpretations differ from that given here .
83. The story is told in intimate detail by Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa.