It is striking that in many Pacific nations, 'national' narratives are subordinate to other fundamental historical imaginings, such as those concerning local political dynasties and conversion to Christianity. While leaders in Pacific states have frequently sought to legitimate new nations through local 'tradition' and 'custom', these constructions of identity frequently mask divisions arising from gender, hierarchy, and other social relationships. These studies from Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa and the Cook Islands add much to our knowledge of historical imaginings and contemporary culture in the Pacific, but raise wider questions concerning the current transformation of national identities.
A collection of essays which focuses upon local perceptions of the state, efforts to ground nationhood in tradition, the character of national narratives and recent transformations of the Pacific nationalism. Case studies are included from Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa and the Cook Islands.
This book offers a unique analysis of how political representatives construct ideas about the nation in contemporary Indonesian politics. In their struggle to define what the authors call the ‘national narrative’, would-be national leaders seek to develop a story about the nation’s past, present and future. These stories feature a unique plot, set of characters, and a moral that the political narrator hopes will resonate. In contemporary Indonesia, the authors assess two prominent national narratives: the technocratic and populist national narratives. The book concludes with an analysis that considers other potential sources of ideas about the nation, as well as the potential implications for domestic politics and Indonesian grand strategy.
Fast money schemes in Papua New Guinea, collectivities in rural Solomon Islands, gambling in the Cook Islands, and the Vanuatu tax haven—all feature in the interface between Pacific and global economies. Since the 1970s, Melanesian countries and their peoples have been beguiled by the prospect of economic development that would enable them to participate in a world market economic system. Access to global markets would provide the means to improve their standard of living, allowing them to take their places as independent nations in a modern world. Managing Modernity in the Western Pacific takes a broad sweep through contemporary topics in Melanesian anthropology and ethnography. With nuanced and rigorous scholarship, it views contemporary debate on modernity in Melanesia within the context of the global economy and cultural capitalism. In particular, contributors assess local ideas about wealth, success, speculation, and development and their connections to participation in institutions and activities generated by them. This innovative and accessible collection offers a new intersection between Western Pacific anthropology and global studies.
This is one of the first books to explore the nexus between civil society, religion, and global governance, their impact on human security and well-being, and significance for current debates in international politics. The contributors examine salient aspects of the secular state whose monopoly on, and control of, institutional violence has reified its use of power to such an extent that the modernistic separation of church and state is being called into question, as institutional limits are sought to the abuse of that power. The volume is clearly divided into six key sections: human security and human rights the politics of civil religion the ethics of civil development civil society and global governance cross-cultural perspectives on institutional development for civil society international civil society. Within these sections the illuminating case studies span a wide geographical extent from Central and Eastern Europe to Egypt, to Latin America, Iran, Bangladesh, Australia, the Pacific and East and Southeast Asia. Civil Society, Religion and Global Governance will be of strong interest to students, policy makers and researchers in the fields of human rights, religion, political science and sociology.
From 1888 to 1915 Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London were uniquely placed to witness and record the imperial struggle for the South Pacific. Engaging the major European colonial empires and the USA, the struggle questioned ideas of liberty, racial identity and class like few other arenas of the time. Exploring a unique moment in South Pacific and Western history through the work of Stevenson and London, this study assesses the impact of their national identities on works like The Amateur Emigrant and Adventure; discusses their attitudes towards colonialism, race and class; shows how they negotiated different cultures and peoples in their writing and considers where both writers are placed in the Western tradition of writing about the Pacific. By contextualizing Stevenson's and London's South Pacific work, this study reveals two critical voices of late nineteenth-century and early 20th-century colonialism that deserve to stand beside their contemporary Joseph Conrad in shaping contemporary attitudes towards imperialism, race, and class.
Many states in the Asia Pacific region are not built around a single homogenous people, but rather include many large, varied, different national groups. This book explores how states in the region attempt to develop commonality and a nation and the difficulties that arise. It discusses the consequences which ensue when competing narratives clash, and examines the nature of resistance to dominant narratives which arise. It considers the problems in a wide range of countries in the region including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
South Pacific Museums: Experiments in Culture is a collection of outstanding analyses of museums in the South Pacific, written by cultural, museum and architectural critics, and historians. A series of snapshots introduce the reader to key museums in the region and longer essays explore these museums in broad terms.Over the last 50 years, museums have been regarded by many scholars and cultural critics as archaic institutions far from the cutting edge of cultural innovation. This judgement is being proved wrong across the globe, with innovative museums staking out new territory. Nowhere is this more striking than in the South Pacific where new and redeveloped institutions have included the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum of Australia, the Melbourne Museum, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, the Museum of Sydney, the Gab Titui Cultural Centre in the Torres Strait, the Auckland Museum, the Centre Culturel Tjibaou and the Vanuatu Cultural Centre.South Pacific Museums make sense of these museums as part of the complex field of heritage, where national economies meet global tourism, cities brand themselves, and indigeneity articulates with colonialism. The effect is one of cultural experimentation. Part One, 'New Museums', introduces three different museums in distinctive national contexts - Te Papa, the Centre Culturel Tjibaou and the National Museum of Australia. Essays in this part grapple with the role of these museums in the nation at particular historical moments under specific political pressures. Part Two, 'New Knowledges', documents practices and exhibitions at the point of tension between indigenous and non-indigenous interests in the museum. Part three, 'New Experiences', explores the ways in which museums in the South Pacific are producing that ineffable cultural phenomenon - experience.
