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Informal Session: From
Romance to "Reality": Representations of Pacific Islands
and Islanders Having met at the 2010 ASAO meeting (at least half of the participants
made it to Alexandria, and another portion who couldn’t make it sent
in abstracts), the participants have decided to advance to a working
session at the 2011 ASAO meeting. There were about 17 participants
in the informal session, some of whom “came along for the ride,” so
to speak, having not originally indicated a desire to participate in
the session. Of the several dimensions of the issue of “representation
of Pacific Islanders” that were discussed informally, the organizers
have decided to continue with their original focus on the analysis
of the creation, use, and change in various tropes – whether verbal,
visual or aural – used to represent Pacific Island peoples, places,
practices, and culturally specific ideas. As scholars such as Beverley
Haun, in her recent book Inventing Easter Island have pointed out,
many of these tropes have their origins in the cultural imaginary of
European explorers, sailors, and missionaries beginning as long ago
as the 18th century and yet are current today in popular culture and
mass media. The papers in this session are ethnographically grounded
and based on fieldwork or are the result of the close reading of documents
(visual or textual), exhibitions, or performances and are theoretically
focused, advancing our understanding of how cultural stereotypes of
Pacific Islanders have been created, maintained, or transformed over
time. An important aspect of the session are those contemporary case
studies that demonstrate how Pacific Islanders themselves are no longer
simply the subjects of these stereotypes or tropes but have been transforming
and refashioning them – sometimes ironically, sometimes humorously,
sometimes dead seriously – for new political, economic or social purposes
and new roles. Nancy Lutkehaus, Department of Anthropology, USC, Grace Ford Salvatori 126, Los Angeles CA 90089; <Lutkehau@college.usc.edu> Judith Schachter, Department of History, Carnegie Mellon, Baker Hall 240, Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890; <JM1e@andrew.cmu.edu> |
