REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Man in the Pacific Islands: Essays on Geographical Change in the Pacific Islands, edited by R. Gerard Ward Flinders University of South Australia Regional Development Experiences and Prospects in South and Southeast Asia, by Louis Lefeber and Mrinal Datta-Chaudhuri, with special contributions by Andreé Béteille, Bennett Harrison and Thomas Vietorisz     

From the Archives: Pacific Research Archives

The Pacific Research Archives (PRA) is one of three national collections held in the archives at the Australian National University (ANU). This paper describes the origins of and relationships among the three core archival collections: the Noel Butlin Archives Centre, the ANU University Archives and the Pacific Research Archives. The entire ANU Archives boasts over 20 kilometres of records, largely held in the ‘Acton Tunnel’, an underground car park redeveloped as a repository. Established in 2007, the Pacific Research Archives includes over 150 collections created by scholars, missionaries, colonial administrators, organisations and individuals who were working, or had interests, in the Pacific Islands in the politico-cultural regions of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia. This paper traces the origins of the university’s role as a leader in Pacific studies, the context in which the Pacific Research Archives was created in 2007 and its current method of operation in a collaborative and digital world.     

REVIEW

Tongan Culture and History: Papers from the 1st Tongan History Conference held in Canberra 14–17 January, 1987. Edited by Phyllis Herda, Jennifer Terrell and Niel Gunson. Canberra: Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian History, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. 1990.     

Captain Cook upon Changing Seas: Indigenous Voices and Reimagining at the British Museum

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the British Museum exhibition, Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific Perspectives, 29 November 2018–4 August 2019. It situates the exhibition within a global context of exhibitions held around the 250th anniversary of Cook’s first voyage, and critically considers its attempt to reframe dominant narratives surrounding Cook, his voyages and more broadly the colonization of the Pacific through a focus on Pacific Islander perspectives within a changing museum sector.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: R.G., Golledge, H. Couclelis, P. Gould (editors) A Ground for Common Search, Santa Barbara E.W. Soja Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory Bill McGibben The End of Nature G.J.R. Linge, and G.A. van der Knaap, (editors) Labour, Environment and Industrial Change Sophie Watson Accommodating Inequality D.I. Smith and J.W. Handmer (editors) Flood Insurance and Relief in Australia G.J. Symen, B.J. Shaw, D.M. Fenton and W.S. Mueller (editors) The Planning and Evaluation of Hallmark Events M. Hordern Mariners are Warned! John Lort Stokes and H.M.S. O.H.K. Spate The Pacific since Magellan Allen J. and White J.P., 1988: “The Lapita homeland: some new data and an interpretation” Campbell I.C., 1990; A History of the Pacific Islands Pacific Islands, Journal of the Polynesian Society Spate, O.H.K., 1978: The Pacific as an Artefact, In N. Gunson, (ed.), The Changing Pacific: Essays in Honour of HE Maude Spate, O.H.K., 1983: The Pacific since Magellan: Il. Monopolists and Freebooters J.A. Kesby and K.J. Frawley The Forest Record in Australian Local and Regional History: An Annotated Bibliography Panbiogeography Special Issue New Zealand Journal of Zoology Jim Falk and Andrew Brownlow The Greenhouse Challenge: What's to be done?     

From Science to Religion: Justifying French Pacific Voyaging and Expansion in the Period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy

Abstract

What explains the generous state sponsorship of the French Pacific voyages of scientific exploration in the period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy, and what links did these voyages have with the beginnings of a French Pacific empire from 1842? While it is argued that the early voyages owed much to state advancement of science, this goal receded as a reviving France became increasingly imperial minded. In justifying imperial expansion into the Pacific, the French monarchy turned increasingly to another source of national identity and global influence: the activities of French missionaries. Though the promotion of French missions did not constitute a primary goal of French Pacific expeditions, their reports helped to strengthen the alliance between French missions and an increasingly expansionist state. Ironically it was the voyagers’ attention to religion rather than science that was to be more directly linked with the foundations of a French Pacific empire.     

Review article: Turning the talk of war into history

The Pacific Theater: Island Representations of World War II. Edited by Geofffrey M. White and Lamont Lindstrom. Pacific Islands Monograph Series No. 8, Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaii. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989. xiv, 433 pp. maps, photos, notes, bibliogs, indexes, US$34.00. Co‐published at Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1990. A$44.95.     

REVIEW

Contemporary Pacific Societies. Studies in Development and Change. Edited by Victoria S. Lockwood, Thomas G. Harding and Ben J. Wallace. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. 1993. In Exploring Cultures: A Prentice Hall Series in Anthropology. Pp. x + 374. Social Change in the Pacific Islands. Edited by Albert B. Robillard. London: Kegan Paul International. 1992. Pp. xvi + 507. Price £45 (cloth bound).     

The new ‘Pacific Century’ and the rise of China: an international relations perspective

The re-emergence of the ‘Pacific Century’, or ‘Asia-Pacific Century’, discourse centred on the rise of Chinese power raises important questions in the discipline of international relations (IR). These questions relate to the conceptualisation of the Pacific Century discourse, its application to the contemporary empirical case, and its relationship and amenability to IR theories. In order to address these questions, the article subjects the concept of a ‘Pacific Century’ to critical analysis through the synergy of three pertinent ‘debates’. First, it creates a novel analytical framework to define and codify the parameters of the Pacific Century debate; a discourse that has until now remained diffuse and inchoate. Second, it engages with the present ‘great debate’ in IR between the traditional/rationalist and critical/reflectivist approaches, applying them in juxtaposition to the notion of a ‘new’ Pacific Century, led by China. Thirdly, then, the article speaks to the ‘rising China’ debate, which currently captivates commentators both in academic and policy-making circles. The article explores how the ‘Pacific Century’ concept is a compound of both ideational and material factors: it is at once both a political/ideological project and a reified intellectual frame of reference. Through this multidimensional analysis, the article aims to shape the re-emerging debate on the Pacific Century, affirm the enduring value of the term, and demonstrate the efficacy of IR theories in deconstructing conceptual problems.     

Visionary experience and social protest in Polynesia: A note on ‘Ofa Mele Longosai

The Making of Modern Samoa: Traditional Authority and Colonial Administration in the Modern History of Western Samoa. By Malama Meleisea. Suva, Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1987. xiv, 280 pp, illus., notes, bibliog., index.

Oceania: The Native Cultures of Australia and the Pacific Islands. By Douglas L. Oliver. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989. 2 vols, xii, 1275 pp, figs, plates, maps, notes, bibliog., indexes.

The Pacific Islands. 3rd ed. By Douglas L. Oliver. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989. xi, 304 pp, maps, illus., bibliog., index. US$14.95.

Ples Blong Iumi, Solomon Islands: The Past Four Thousand Years. Edited by Hugh Laracy. Suva, Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1989. xiv, 176 pp, maps, illus., bibliog., index.

Pacific Prelude: A journey to Samoa and Australasia, 1929. By Margery Perham. Edited and with an introduction by A. H. M. Kirk‐Greene. London, Peter Owen, 1988. 272 pp, appendix, notes, bibliog., index.

Torres Strait Islanders: Custom and Colonialism. By Jeremy Beckett. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987. xii, 251 pp, plates, maps, bibliog., index. Hardcover, $A45.00. Paper, $A19.35.

Tangan Music. By Richard Moyle. Auckland, Auckland University Press, 1987. xiv, 256 pp, plates, figures, bibliog., index. $NZ75.

Atlas des Iles et Etats du Pacifique Sud. By Benoit Antheaume and Joel Bonnemaison. Montpellier &; Paris, GIP RECLUS/PUBLISUD, 1988. 126 pp.

History's Anthropology: The Death of William Gooch. By Greg Dening. ASAO Special Publications. No. 2. Lanham, University Press of America, 1988. xix + 122 pp, bibliog.     

The Art of Contested Histories: In Pursuit of Venus [Infected] and the Pacific Legacy

ABSTRACT

European artists of the eighteenth century framed an exotic textual and visual narrative of the Pacific, drawing largely on knowledge gained from exploratory journeys of the 1760s and 1770s. Visual representations of the Pacific became socially fashionable and commercially successful. The French wallpaper manufacturer, Dufour, captured this commercial potential in a dramatic, panoramic wallpaper that told stories of European encounters with Pacific peoples: Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique (1804). Yet it was selective, defining the Pacific by moments of contact with Cook and other explorers. Lisa Reihana's In Pursuit of Venus [Infected] (2015–17) dramatically interrogates the eighteenth-century narrative of the Pacific, responding to Dufour's wallpaper in a complex, panoramic work. By attending to ways in which the factual and speculative are brought together in Enlightenment artefacts and Reihana's restaging of them, we explore how art might be put to use in the service of historical interpretation.     

REVIEWS

E dward P eters : Inquisition. New York and London, The Free Press/Macmillan, 1988; pp. vi + 362.
The Letters of St Catherine of Siena, trans, with introduction and notes by Suzanne Noffke OP, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, Binghampton, New York. 1988.
F rank N eal : Sectarian Violence: The Liverpool Experience, 1819-1914. Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1988; pp. 272.
A rthur J. F erch (ed.): Symposium on Adventist History in the South Pacific, 1885-1918. Wahroonga, New South Wales, South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists, 1986.     

Laying the Foundation of U.S. Power in the Pacific

Book reviewed in this article:
David M. Pletcher, The Diplomacy of Involvement: American Economic Expansion across the Pacific, 1784–1900     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: On the Edge of the Global: Modern Anxieties in a Pacific Island Nation By Niko Besnier Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, and Political Organization Glenn Petersen     

Australia’s Detention Centres on Manus Island and Nauru: An End of Constructive Pacific Engagement?

The ‘Pacific Solution’ of transporting asylum seekers who arrive by boat in Australian waters to detention centres on Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has attracted considerable international attention. Most of this has focused on the treatment of those detained and the morality, practicality and sustainability of Australian refugee policy. In this issue of ‘Pacific Currents’, we focus on the consequences for the Island nations. This article sets the scene for articles on Nauru and Manus Island by: 1. outlining the policy debates that led to the two phases of the ‘Pacific Solution’; 2. assembling data covering the numbers and costs involved; and 3. exploring the policy options in the wake of the PNG Supreme Court’s April 2016 ruling that the Manus Island centre was in violation of the constitution. All three papers are particularly concerned to explore the domestic political and legal ramifications of the centres for Nauru and PNG, and to examine the impact on Australia’s reputation in the Pacific region.     

Trade agreements and strategic rivalry in Asia

The Asia Pacific is currently beset by two contradictory trends: growing economic interdependence and deepening strategic rivalry. Amidst these trends, new sets of regional trade agreements are being negotiated, primarily the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This article argues that these proposals represent a third phase of competitive regionalism in the Asia Pacific, which will be more complex than the previous two rounds. This complexity is driven by two factors: this time, rivalry is not over scope or leadership but regional order; and this time there is a greater number of leading players in the rivalry.     

The Revenge of Practical Reason? A Review Essay On Gananath Obeyesekere's The Apotheosis of Captain Cook

The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific. By Gananath Obeyesekere. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. Pp. xvii + 251. Price $US 24.95.     

REVIEWS

Urbanisation in the Island Pacific: Towards sustainable development By John Connell and John Lea . London and New York: Routledge. 2002. Pp:xiv + 240. Price: £65     

Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal people and the Australian nation. By Russell McGregor

Imagining the Pacific. In the wake of the Cook voyages. By Bernard Smith. New Haven/London, Yale University Press, 1992. 262 pp, illus. (175 b/w, 40 colour), refs, bibliog., index. $US70.00. ISBN 0–300–05053–4.

History and Tradition in Melanesian Anthropology. Edited by James G. Carrier. Berkeley, The University of California Press, 1992. ix, 257 pp, index. ISBN 0–520–07523–4. $US38.

Not the Way It Really Was: Constructing the Tolai Past. By Klaus Neumann. Pacific Islands Monograph Series No. 10. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1992. xvi, 312 pp, maps, photos, notes, glossary, bibliog., index. ISBN 0–8248–1333–2.

Social Change in the Pacific Islands. Edited by Albert B. Robillard. London, Kegan Paul International, 1992. xv, 507 pp. ISBN 0–7103–0400–5.

Winds of Change: Rapidly Growing Religious Groups in the Pacific Islands. By Manfred Ernst. Suva, Pacific Conference of Churches, 1994. xvii, 357 pp, maps, tables, graphs, illus., notes, appendices, glossary, bibliog., index. ISBN 982–200–067–7. $F. 14.50.

A Short History of Papua New Guinea. By John Dademo Waiko. Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1993. xi, 275 pp, maps, plates, index. ISBN 019–553–164–7. $A24.95.

Culture Contact in the Pacific. Edited by Max Quanchi and Ron Adams. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998. xiv, 186 pp, maps, diagrams, tables, illus., bibliogs, notes, appendices, index. ISBN 0–521–42284–1. $A24.95.

A Politics of Virtue: Hinduism, Sexuality and Countercolonial Discourse in Fiji. By John D. Kelly. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1991. xvi, 266pp, bibiog., index.

These Roots Remain: Food Habits in Islands of the Central and Eastern Pacific since Western Contact. By Nancy J. Pollock. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1992. xviii, 298 pp, index, bibliog., illus. $US 32.

In the Way: a study of Christian missionary endeavours. By Kenelm Burridge. Vancouver, UBC Press [1991]. xvi, 307 pp, appendix, index.