The Pacific

In thinking of seas and oceans, Fernand Braudel famously illuminated his Mediterranean by imagining multiple civilizations joined by trade and cultural exchange; his Annales approach of a longue durée built upon archaeological and ecological evidence shaped a brilliant chronicle of kingdoms and powers. Yet as he noted of his subject itself, the Mediterranean was not even a single sea, but rather “a complex of seas, and the seas are broken up by islands, a tempest of peninsulas ringed by insistent coastlines.”1 To establish the project, he knew, “the question of boundaries is the first to be encountered.” Defining the “Pacific” is an equally daunting challenge. As Robert Borofsky has posited, “We need to remember that the field's self-defined area of study—the ‘Pacific’—is a constructed artifact of the discipline. Why, for example, should Pacific historians study large Pacific islands such as New Zealand and New Guinea but ignore the Philippines and Indonesia?” He also ponders the inclusion or exclusion of Australia in multiple accounts and points out the constructedness of Pacific designations: “For those living in Hawaiʕi, the ‘Pacific’ refers to the islands lying within ‘Melanesia,’ ’Polynesia,’ and ‘Micronesia’ (constructed categories themselves). For others on the West Coast of the United States, the ‘Pacific’ usually includes the Pacific rim—China, Japan, and Korea.”2 Such multiplicities evoke the question, What, where, and when is “Pacific history”? How can a subject be constituted? The what of the “Pacific” can first be reckoned through its cultural imaginary, for which there are multiple claims made upon its unique attributions: tales of “cargo cults,” atoll-centered nuclear testing, hula, kava, taro; the Samoan tatau, the voyages of Cook and Bougainville, cannibals and natives, blue lagoons; trading and exchange networks: kula, sandalwood, copra, tea, bêche-de-mer, Toyotas; Japanese capital, California, Tahiti; the Maori haka; the Treaty of Waitangi; whaling and blackbirding; coral reefs. It is a multilocal space marked by nominatives of conflict: Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, the Pali, Fatuaua, the mutiny on the Bounty, 1878 in New Caledonia, 1893 in Honolulu, nuclear testing in the Marshalls and Moruroa, Fiji coups, struggles in the Solomon Islands.3 The where of these moments and lives in the Pacific is the enormous water world covering one-third of the Earth's surface, framed by continents, joined by islands. It is a geography distinguished by a famous fluid distinction between north and south. The south is the realm of Herman Melville's Typee, Paul Gauguin's paintings, Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific; of writers Albert Wendt and Patricia Grace and stories of cultural collision, nationalist revolution, and coups. The north is the theater of East Asia, of labor migrations and capital flows to and from Japan and China and Hawaiʕi and the Philippines.4 To even begin to suggest history drawn from such a complex set of boundaries, nested temporalities, and geographies requires focus. The approach here is to underscore small islands, large seas, and multiple transits—not to concentrate on the continental and economic “Rim” powers of East and Southeast Asia and the Americas to define the Pacific, but to propose an oceanic history much more located in thinking outward from Islanders and local cultures. Such a “Pacific” has specific markers: it is heavily invested in anthropological methodologies and histories tightly linked to issues of political sovereignty and cultural preservation. Such histories explore “native knowledge,” and confront Euro-American narratives of discovery, adventure, and romance, while grappling with real implications of trade, migration, and empire. Much of the work is about constitutions of historical knowledge that are not academic (although they are increasingly becoming so) and about the highlighting of interdisciplinary categories—archaeological reconstructions, oral tales and dance, studies of epidemic disease, research on leisure and tourism, and ecological and oceanographic modeling.5 The Pacific is not lacking in grand conceptual vocabularies. As Braudel framed the Mediterranean as a complex of maritime civilizations and Paul Gilroy cogently articulated the diasporic logic of a Black Atlantic, so the “Pacific” has been historically reimagined many times: from an ancient Polynesian and early modern Magellanic space of transit, to an Enlightenment theater of sensual paradise, to a strategic grid of labor movements and military “island-hopping,” to a capitalist basin, the key to a Pacific Century of emerging wealth and “globalization” at the end of the last millennium.6 Many of these grand narratives are framed by histories of Southeast Asia and peninsular peoples of Malaysia and Indonesia; more are anchored in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, connected by movements of peoples and goods from the coasts of North and South America.7 Speaking in 1917 as the former president of the American Historical Association, Theodore Roosevelt asserted his faith in the Pacific as part of a new twentieth-century frontier, underscoring his role in securing the rights to the Panama Canal. Other academics declaimed upon the Philippines, China, Mexico, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand as part of a “Pacific Era,” enthusing, “the history of the Pacific Ocean is a chapter in the history of civilization,” while establishing that “it was reserved for European peoples to traverse those wastes of water and to establish regular communications.”8 The Pacific was the global future, although one to be instigated from Europe and America; Asia and Oceania were presumed to be trapped along distant shores and landfalls, limited and circumscribed by an expanse understandable only as barrier—those “wastes of water.” Perhaps the most resonant challenge to such imperial tales of isolation, helplessness, and dependency has been the commentary surrounding Tongan writer and scholar Epeli Hauʕofa's “Our Sea of Islands,” which directly reversed the notion of “wastes” and emptiness of water and reimagined them as oceanic transits. Drawing on centuries of Pacific-wide navigation and settlement, Hauʕofa was moved to confront notions that Pacific Islanders were fated by vast oceanic barriers to inhabit small, isolated, marginal countries. He began to imagine “isolation” not as geographic, but as historical—a narration imposed by continental and colonial assumptions. “Oceania,” on the contrary, was tied to ancestors, kin, and culture from Antarctica to the North Pacific, a realm of wide-ranging seafaring peoples intimately tied both to the sea and to each other. The “belittlement” of possible Pacific histories had created historiographical closure on lived pasts, such that “Oceania has no history before imperialism, only what is called ‘prehistory.’”9 Against this notion, Hauʕofa proposed a “Sea of Islands” and a resonant response to the “when” of Pacific histories: newly imagined chronicles rooted in ancient legacies tied to contemporary from Polynesian by the to Cook Islanders or Maori in New or or by global and cultural The logic of thinking the Pacific as an history such to movements and and navigation of peoples in and in of a “Pacific and an to “Pacific and South as historical these are the of multiple the in Pacific is with anthropological and Pacific on and an with The of the Polynesian to the of culture Pacific is an of and and the “Rim” approach to the with the United States, China, Japan, and Southeast The New Zealand of The of Pacific and The Pacific are historically and on academic they are heavily invested in cultural and histories with political and Many are from the research and in Australia, New Zealand, and approach to Pacific history between many of these Pacific historians and in specific such as the or “Rim” are to the study of issues and of wealth and and American is the of culture and in Japan, China, and where in the Philippines, and and in Southeast Asia work on the the and the histories movements and rather and on an although this should not suggest a or maritime focus. that an approach to the Pacific the many peoples of New Guinea, or the of New Caledonia, for is as as not more Many of and and out for as as Papua New Guinea, and upon to and and Pacific in this are connected by trading and can be peoples the Such is the when as of and in the between the and The logic of an history is that of both and histories and with with a Pacific through of from and to and history of the Pacific is much a where and maritime are as and from European in with those of and peoples from the studies of on Euro-American the “Pacific” as and as the and Pacific It was a of and and a of Ocean and and for by peoples from Asia through and of such work as between and and The of a “Pacific” rooted in the notion of a is in and has much to with what Euro-American histories as the vast It be to suggest that this from in the Pacific to maritime from and Polynesian for European The of the “Pacific” has been that of by an European of water on the Japanese or the and of the Maori and the of has a for the it has not and not be Yet “the was not a notion lacking in it had and of discovery, but of Much of the work in this area has been by historical and and to the cultural of the Maori in New Zealand with an of In the by for of the an large “Pacific” from the of Hawaiʕi to the Maori of The “Pacific” was a of but not of outward adventure, discovery, or in the of European It was more a of to to an In this an Pacific is a vast notion, one for which the world was to both the and the are a Pacific in Euro-American by the and voyages of and by the and and legacies shaped the Philippines, and and the and of the South brilliant by and others in the European of The of transit, and with the the wealth and civilizations of the and much of the cultural of the South the to histories or tales of the where and were to Australia and New As a of the of the and joined by the Japanese and maritime voyages and the and trading the of and were out and through the of colonial and strategic transits. of were in and from in the of by tales of and by histories such as that of the Bounty, as with and and and as sensual for much of the world by Paul in and the Yet Pacific were and through dance, and oral Many of these been in the and the the in New the in and Such of only of historical knowledge as of and and were not for the of and that historians As of in the Pacific is the of the a that the of such as and history as a in the historians were of The of and cultural has been for Pacific is resonant the other. For with the Pacific from the colonial by on anthropological and with many of the and and The of Pacific history is to the of the first in “Pacific at the by in new famously not in but in the was a shaped by “the of and an to a from the that was to of the world and tales of of local and of and culture in an and and a on the of of Pacific histories in with early on or what of In the European in Oceania as in political and economic but the anthropological of and local Pacific histories marked as the was Many of and in cultural and and others of political and cultural histories by struggles by and in New Caledonia, and the The local and implications of the studies that “the is not a of East and Southeast and South Pacific work and example, of Japanese economic to Pacific islands in exchange for at Such studies and the of as in the of political between and in Fiji or and and in the Pacific is an area invested with the and in and Hawaiʕi, to the to contemporary and such as Grace in and and in of the area an on of to of and with many of the categories and in Other with in with tales that and the of and with an In histories as not only for but also a notion of that with of and as they and in and historiographical articulated in from to the of to culture and exchange within colonial trading In one of the most academic of the last imagined the of Cook within a of through a question of European as challenge from a in response to the and out in to much or not the research or that that were the the of to Pacific and of that to the possible of as in the the of Such and suggest Pacific history has in that it is a subject not by academic but rather by and political and been much about and by are and about the of which on multiple academic as through and are in part histories as invested in and and As has about the and of Pacific to that the of history in Oceania is from what is to be the of history in the Euro-American is an academic but also a with and of histories: and and and of cultural and such as that as by the New the of the which the of only by the from Hawaiʕi to Tahiti; or the of and at the of the South Pacific at and are not or even points of but rather with “Pacific” of on of oral and and tales and as of cultural and historical Such are of the of and studies that had in for to global historical at the of and called “the of to historical and anthropological in and imperial Pacific increasingly with contemporary legacies of and and academic and as for “native to and and subject as such as and such by and and and not only and but also the logic of a of shaped the of and within an academic by such to of a of in for example, been historical and which be on the of as an and it be that it to political the of narratives on through Such of or ancestors, are and by not as or but as of cultural and evidence of and political scholar and famously a of American political and of Hawaiʕi are not are or are not from the Pacific are to the Pacific, are the of and created the of Hawaiʕi tales a historical of and The of such and has as underscoring the and in the of Pacific histories from multiple It is that one of the most narratives the early historical Pacific to the voyages of the The challenge of the of in was and is of both Pacific and with about the of the before the European the and of to historical The of part only to and but also to an Pacific-wide of cultural and claims for historical The in and also were or academics from the American the and the to its by on his from the Marshalls in The of these been at they in no suggest an of historical The Pacific is a a an space of transit, and in a longue durée of local peoples and what and academic of the this or in of Pacific an Pacific connected by a that the with on from archaeological and trading and imperial is also by of the Pacific which the and of in on the by Robert with and and from to trade, and along the of a of of the Pacific Islanders up multiple and both and with Robert of Pacific a of multiple and in an to framed by challenge to knowledge and academic In a of the Pacific through while he was as history invested in centuries shaped of trade and of these are in of the “isolation” and limited of a distant or The to European tales of and the living of histories and newly of and from in of The approach studies islands as of and exchange rather small, rather are by and As and these are and colonial in and The narratives of histories are and where stories are global histories of from European and of and tales of and the of in the and early narratives new of and with and each and As has the of first are by and from to and trade with and from and from has articulated many of the key by as a that has been by the of colonial to in most not shaped by the and of and this was for early been reimagined as of and for what has called “the underscoring the of and at notions of by the in which European and while Islanders on European as as and and be and as and or in or in Hawaiʕi military and to to political in islands in the early narratives increasingly underscore these and multiple such as of colonial and military has to such as those of and Pacific diasporic and stories are the of peoples and marked by of cultural and of these tales been the as chronicles of and were first as of as the of which that of here in and this was a to for which the Pacific be a a to to these narratives with both and cultural of the and multiple studies of and created and also of study that the of local to the of Such histories and up the legacies of and ecological while and of local As the legacies from this the of Pacific are in the of from Pacific and European histories: the and of from the of the of of and legacies and and the of the Pacific in early modern is the specific historical that has most shaped of the Pacific as a space of of and of or of to and wealth of Asia and Such stories created the European Pacific of the Enlightenment that the distant and of in the and Pacific was from multiple and of and such as the legacies of that from continental in East and Southeast Asia and South the at the of the this is a of of and through with and and studies to with the of the logic of for and Pacific one and the the between and for between and Much of the work with and with with local and and of multiple of and The Pacific is one of the of study for such of and cultural famous and in the are the of the history that as while the are to to and cultural by Pacific in the early Such culture and moved from of and on the of narratives The history of the Pacific for academics has been by in the and the and by of in and the and of The of the of as the up been and also invested in with the as and in of new anthropological on and and set a for and both for the in which lives is that the boundaries of the and and are as much about the of or are in Pacific are where they study the academic that of and question the of the such area of is the called “cargo the of and by Solomon Islanders in the these in of American and them in such as that “cargo is a a about for goods an of with and and an to tied to political and and The approach the legacies of Pacific histories and them to global cultural and political The of many of these histories has its in the of and of the colonial in the narratives chronicle and strategic the in and New Caledonia, struggles with and the of that are to the Pacific, such as “the of the South and Pacific such both by out and historical and of Pacific and by sovereignty and colonial of and of and imperial For both north and south of the the is a that the of and European and on a global categories that define the Pacific to this trading colonial the political and imperial boundaries of what Braudel as the and Polynesian and trade of a of as new tied to and in Japan the and the trading the of the “Pacific in the of the trade, and copra, and the of and the of a on the of and movements and of both and and were in these famously studies by peoples and from the were to the of Australia, and to New Such movements also and New Caledonia, and at the of the Pacific, the in of to in are the and from were Fiji to for the and a in the a by legacies of and struggles between and political and economic In the histories that began with ancient migrations from Asia and Southeast Asia by Asia and North to the of Pacific to and and to and the of the in the Pacific with American in the Philippines, and the of In Hawaiʕi, the of the was the of of political and economic and between peoples and of in and political to trading and of the The for the in the for and histories underscore resonant is part of the American such as and famously the of and in American north and and to tales of by and the histories of the the and Oceania within narratives of a at within tales of and The histories of and Japanese shaped the Pacific of for and and are marked in the of American exclusion and this to for a culture of and Pacific within and the cultural of the histories of and claims for inclusion while distinction are not by and they are out the Pacific and in Australia and New Caledonia, Cook Islanders in New Zealand, and of peoples in and one of the most resonant and of history has been that which economic and and the of Pacific peoples to labor and on labor from Pacific diasporic of also framed within and of local The is part of the question also Pacific histories to “Pacific chronicles to the and of and to Pacific in Europe colonial in Papua New Guinea, in and the with made as to Japan in The seas of the and been framed by the of the Pacific of China, American and colonial in the East and the Yet narratives of Guadalcanal, “island-hopping,” and Iwo are stories of American and Japanese imperial collision, and with of Pacific in and local of the this with oral of and and from and new such as and the by the to in and they and both Japanese and American and from local of such oral and and to the for histories that the Pacific at a not only of but of and of colonial and imperial colonial legacies are in the that were as and strategic the Such the of the Pacific of American in the Philippines, Hawaiʕi, and by and to military and political in China, and The of this is with the global at the of coral and ecological the and nuclear testing that began at in the and was by the and the and as a of and colonial The in Pacific history is one of its by the of Islanders in the of American and and as peoples of on of islands. The ecological and of testing in a on nuclear in the Pacific, and the of the by of the in also to the political of continental studies the of in that legacies with imperial The are In Pacific struggles and legacies are both and at by histories the from the and New to Fiji and many of them with of and and and The sovereignty question has been in Hawaiʕi, where and articulated for a also in Australia, a with economic through its and and political and military for in East and in the The at with an from China, and and a history of with culture it struggles to at such as its New Zealand equally with Maori claims by and through and and in is a with in the on the of leisure and is the Pacific a through the of the in Hawaiʕi, on Japanese and American capital in and or the on local of to and in The between history and culture is a large question, and of tourism, while not and of propose as a historical out the and of and in the Pacific as a to a of a local culture and “Pacific tied to and and of the and of these to of and others been to that between and and to political and economic rights Pacific histories at the of from academic political and and The is by and and by and It is a with and in culture and and drawn from tales and linked to of and in of navigation and from and to to from Albert and to tales of and from to Grace to in of or of these of and Many To what Pacific histories and histories of East and Southeast Asia and should these be the Pacific a colonial or methodologies research where academic has been only one approach to The approach here has been to of the ancient colonial labor and strategic and culture these narratives be the work that and through islands and connected by and that in multiple define the histories of an