POLYNESIAN CULTURES ANTHROPOLOGY 447 Summer 2014 University of Hawai i at Mānoa

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1 POLYNESIAN CULTURES ANTHROPOLOGY 447 Summer 2014 University of Hawai i at Mānoa Instructor: Forrest Young Ph.D. Anthropology, M.A. Anthropology, M.A. Philosophy, M.A. Political Science. Office: Office Hours: Telephone: forresty@hawaii.edu This course will introduce students to the cultures, social issues, and global predicaments of Pacific Island worlds in the region of Polynesia. Particular attention is given to theoretical issues of space, place, and cultural identity. The course begins with an overview of some of the official geography, history, linguistics, and global dimensions of Polynesia in the world region of Oceania. It proceeds with an introduction to indigenous place-making, cultural memory, and representation of the region proposed by Tongan anthropologist Epili Hau ofa. The course continues with an examination of ethnographic studies of four Polynesian island worlds of Oceania: Hawai i, Tahiti, Tonga, and Rapa Nui. While the focus of the course is ethnographic representations of Polynesian cultures, key voices in Pacific Islander literature and the arts are also introduced occasionally. TEXT BOOKS Kahn, Miriam 2011 Tahiti Beyond the Postcard: Power, Place, and Everyday Life. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Small, Cathy 2011 Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Tengan, Ty Kawaika 2008 Native Men Remade: Gender and Nation in Contemporary Hawai i. Duke University Press.

2 COURSE REQUIREMENTS EXAMS (250 points): There will be one mid-term and a final exam (100 points for the mid-term; 150 points for the final). The exams will be take-home style to fit with the on-line nature of the course. The exams will consist of a combination of essay, short answer, and identification questions. TERM PAPER (150 points): Students are to write an approximately 6-8 page paper analyzing postcards in Hawai i that articulates with the principles introduced in Kahn s text on Tahitian postcards and issues of Kānaka Maoli introduced by Tengan s text as well as other course materials. Detailed instructions to follow. PARTICIPATION ASSIGNMENTS (100 points): During the course of the term I will occasionally have class assignments organized. This may involve reflections on readings, on-line chats, etc. Students will be given points for their contributions to these assignments. Details will be provided as the course develops. GRADING: Students will be graded according to the standard UHM grading scale. The total points possible will be 500.

3 COURSE SCHEDULE INTRODUCTIONS The course begins with a review of anthropological, geographic, and linguistic definitions of Polynesia and Polynesian. We note some of the genealogy of the concept of Polynesia the social conditions in which the term developed and who coined the term. We note how the concept foregrounded peoples and cultures within a typology that contrasted Polynesia to Melanesia and Micronesia and develop critical perspective on this knowledge production. Kiste, Robert C Pre-colonial time. In Tides of history: the Pacific Islands in the twentieth century, edited by K. R. Howe, Robert C. Kiste and Brij V. Lal, Pp Honolulu: Marck, Jeff 2000 Introduction. Topics in Polynesian Language and Culture History. Canberra: The Australian National University Press. PLACING POLYNESIAN CULTURES Having examined Western concepts of Polynesia and the Pacific Islands, we turn to consider Tongan anthropologist Epili Hau ofa s indigenous cultural memory and cartography of the region. Hau ofa introduces a central analytical concern of the course: that Pacific Islander place-making in Oceania, and hence Polynesia is contested and embedded in complex struggles for identity and power in the region. We proceed by exploring Pacific Islander placemaking in selections of contemporary Pacific Islander Literature (poetry and short stories) to further explore the cultural sensibility of Hau ofa s perspective. Hau ofa, Epili 2008 Our Sea of Islands. In We are the Ocean: Selected Works, Pp Honolulu: 2008 Pasts to Remember. In We are the Ocean: Selected Works, Pp Honolulu: Grace, Patricia 2000 Ngati Kangaru. In Remembrance of Pacific Pasts: an Invitation to Remake History, Robert Borofsky, ed. Pp Honolulu: Wendt, Albert 2000 Inside Us the Dead. In Remembrance of Pacific Pasts: an invitation to remake history, Robert Borofsky, ed., Pp Honolulu:

4 PLACING TAHITI Origin Stories In these classes we examine Kahn s analysis of Tahitian (Maohi) issues of space and place in the context of French governed global tourism. We learn how popular culture like postcards, and tourist industry development entangles the island worlds of Tahiti in symbolic and material violence. We also read a short story by Mataeta-Allain on globalization for Tahitians as well as a poem by Henri Hiro a major Maohi poet to broaden our understanding of issues of culture, place, and globalization in Tahiti. Hiro, Henri 2006 Devour Ravaged Time. In Varua Tupu: New Writing from French Polynesia, Frank Stewart, Kareva Mateata-Allain, Alexander Dale Mawyer, eds., Pp Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Kahn, Miriam 2011 Tahiti Beyond the Postcard: Power, Place, and Everyday Life. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Mataeta-Allain, Kareva 2006 The Arrival. In Varua Tupu: New Writing from French Polynesia, Frank Stewart, Kareva Mateata-Allain, Alexander Dale Mawyer, eds., Pp Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. KĀNAKA MAOLI PLACE IN HAWAI I Readings continue this week with issues of settler colonialism in Polynesia. We examine Ty Kawika Tengan s work on masculinity among Kānaka Maoli in Hawai i nei. We compare and contrast Kānaka Maoli struggles for place with our prior studies of Tonga and Tahiti. Tengan, Ty Kawaika 2008 Native Men Remade: Gender and Nation in Contemporary Hawai i. Duke University Press.

5 GLOBAL PLACES OF TONGANS While the case study of Tahiti and Hawai i focused on indigenous senses of place within the island worlds of Polynesia, the Tongan case study examines issues of Tongan cultural identity and social predicament as migrants in the global system. Discussion will focus upon ways Tongans retain and transform their traditional practices in response to the global political economy. To broaden our understanding of Tonga, we also read a short poem of a leading Tongan poet, intellectual, and educator: Konai Helu Thamen. Small, Cathy 2011 Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Thamen, Konai Helu 2000 My Blood. In Remembrance of Pacific Pasts: an invitation to remake history, Robert Borofsky, ed., Pp Honolulu: PLACING RAPA NUI The course concludes considering issues of Rapa Nui cultural identity and place amidst increasing tourist and military development under Chilean settler colonialism. Special attention is given to the role of Rapa Nui language in stabilizing identity and place. Recent occupations and state violence in the island in 2010 are foregrounded and discussed. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs 2012 Rapa Nui: The Human Rights of the Rapa Nui People on Easter Island. IWGIA Report 15. Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. Young, Forrest Wade In Press Talking with the Moai in Easter Island: Placing Rapa Nui Language. In Cultural Encounters: Ethnographic Updates from Asia and the Pacific. Mary Conran, Suzanne Finney, Guido Carlo Pigliasco, and Forrest Young, eds. Honolulu: 2012 I Hē Koe? Placing Rapa Nui. The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs, Vol. 24 (1): 1-30.

The Contemporary Pacific

The Contemporary Pacific A ] ournalof Island Affairs Volume II. Number 2 Fall 1999 CENTER FOR PACIFIC ISLANDS STUDIES & UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I PRESS The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal ofisland Affairs