The South Pacific: Culture and Contact

HST 250/350 20 credit points

SUBJECT GUIDE
CENTRAL COAST CAMPUS OURIMBAH
SEMESTER I, 1997

Subject convenor: Associate Prof Peter Hempenstall
Head of Department
Department of History
The University of Newcastle
New South Wales 2308
Australia
Phone: 049-215216
Fax: 049-216940
e-mail: hipjh@cc.newcastle.edu.au

I. MAIN THEMES

Absorbed in our comfortable high-tech urban Australian world, we seldom think of the vast array of Island cultures that form a virtual backyard to our continental home. Or if we do, the superficial images of romance and exoticism so beloved of the travel brochures and film makers tend to predominate. Yet the Pacific Islands have been the sphere of influence for Australian commerce, government and churches since the invasion and colonisation of 1788. Latterly they have become an Australian holiday playground without any substantial apprehension on the part of most Australians about how these societies operate, how they view us, and how we continue to influence their lives as 'Big Brother/Sister' in the region.

This subject will attempt to explore the complex and fast-changing Pacific world. The first semester will involve a study of key features of the Oceanic societies of the Pacific and of the Europeans who encountered them in the 18th and l9th centuries. An examination of key features of Pacific cultures will be followed by a study of situations in which Oceanic and European peoples encountered each other. Most of the encounters studied will be of a non-official kind - of Islanders with traders, missionaries, beachcombers and planters; but early settlement and the advent of European law and the nation-state will be important themes towards the end of the semester. The struggle for land, the goals of imperialists and the nature of European settlements in the Islands (compared to, say, Australia and New Zealand) will become prominent issues. The subject will lead into a second semester in which Islander responses to these developments will be studied and the current problems of Pacific Island societies in relation to the rest of the world examined.

The scenes of the various encounters will be drawn from different parts of the Pacific Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, Tahiti, Hawaii, New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and New Zealand. During the course we will also be reflecting on the nature of history and of historical representation of cross-cultural situations and doing documentary exercises to augment our historical skills. The Pacific has become one of the major areas of debate between historians and anthropologists and cultural studies scholars about how to tell the story of peoples of other cultures and other times.

II. COURSE OBLIGATIONS AND ASSESSMENT

(a) Attendance
There will be two two-hour sessions per week. The session 5-7 p.m. will consist of a background lecture or lectures in which students are invited to interact with questions and comments. This session will unfold the sequence of the peopling of the Pacific and the contexts for more detailed study of historical encounters. They give the background which will be necessary for a complete understanding of complex themes; regular attendance at lectures is expected. The two hour seminar each week will provide opportunity for students to take up in more detail topics raised in the previous week, and will be regarded as the most important focus for our studies throughout the year. Satisfactory attendance at seminars is a requirement of the subject and 10Y~ of marks are allocated for preparation and contributions to seminar discussion. Students who fail to attend seminars regularly will be liable to be excluded from the subject.

(b) Assessment system
The Department has established a series of benchmark skills which each student can anticipate being trained in at both second and third year level. The assessment system is built around these skills.

Upper level students are encouraged to show more reflective depth in their treatment of History as a mode of knowledge. Students will be expected to demonstrate evidence of the following abilities (with suitable adjustment of expectations between 200 level and 300 level students):

1. Critically read secondary literature, especially historiographical debates
2. Show increased awareness of the theoretical issues behind History as a discourse.
3. Show increased awareness of the contexts in which historical problems must be analysed.
4. Improve writing skills
6. Develop oral skills in discussion and argument.
7. Develop their use of the historical imagination.

For these reasons, this subject introduces the critical literature survey as one of the assessment exercises. This is designed to train advanced students in making comparative judgments between the sources that constitute our knowledge of the past. The aim of the exercise is NOT simply to describe what the piece says (though a brief outline of the argument is part of the job), but to judge what kind of a source you are reading: what position does it take? Is it part of a debate? Is it an objective account or partisan? Where is it coming from (that is, is there an ideological position behind it)?

The seminar papers will enable you to do some deep historical research on a selected theme, while the test will check to what extent you have internalized the range of themes throughout the subject.

Assessment marks

Fifty percent of marks anywhere in the subject will earn a Pass.

(c) Critical literature surveys
Each student will be required to do a critical survey of the literature for one of the weekly seminar themes.

(d) Seminar papers
Seminar topics will be divided up among the class by the subject convenor at the beginning of the semester. A draft is to be prepared and used to introduce discussion of the topic in the seminar; a revised version is to be submitted a week later, taking into account the discussion.

There will be no major essay beyond these papers.

Format for seminar papers and literature surveys
Papers should be word-processed where possible. If written they must be neat and legible. Seminar papers must follow the recommended department conventions as to footnotes and bibliography. The argument should be expressed in clear, error free English and may be handed back for re-writing if it is not.

Literature surveys must be ready on the day that theme is being considered in class. Footnotes will not be necessary for these, though a full bibliography of the literature surveyed will be.

Each assignment is to be handed to the subject convenor or posted to the Callaghan address; papers must not be left under lecturers' doors. All possible care will be taken by staff to safeguard properly submitted papers but if essays go missing the student will be expected to provide a clean copy.

Penalty policy
Extensions will only be granted in special circumstances, properly documented, and must be obtained before the due date. Assignments submitted late without an approved extension will be penalized by three marks for each week or part of a week late.

(e) Examination
There will be a test worth 30% of the total marks in the first week after the end of semester, Monday evening 16 June, 5-7 p.m.

(f) Plagiarism
The Department's general rules on plagiarism will apply. Please read the rules carefully from your 100 level subject guides or ask for a copy of the new undergraduate handbook. Plagiarism may give rise to action by the University's disciplinary committee.

III. READING

Pacific history is increasingly well served with general histories which deal with most of the themes covered in this subject. The best for the topics of this semester is still K R Howe, Where the Waves Fall, which should be consulted for each topic. Three recent books are also valuable, Deryck Scarr, The History of the Pacific, Ian Campbell, A History of the Pacific Islands and Max Quanchi and Ron Adams, Culture Contact in the Pacific. The early chapters of a brand new book in the field Tides of change, edited by K R Howe, Brij Lal and Bob Kiste will be useful for the second half of the semester. Max Quanchi, Pacific People and Change, Cambridge UP, 1991, though written for senior secondary students, is a useful introduction to the Pacific in the 20th century.

For reflective and relevant theoretical approaches consult Greg Dening, Islands and Beaches, which will be useful for some themes during the course, and Aletta Biersack (ed), Clio in Oceania, which has essays exploring new ways to write about Pacific history.

As well as the readings for each week's lectures and seminars, all of which are on Short Loans in the Library, I have arranged to have a selection of general books on Pacific Island historical themes transported to Ourimbah Library for the duration of this course. This list, which follows, should be used for extra research and background information. Most of it will be placed on Short Loans; some books are already in the Ourimbah general collection. Callaghan books will be returned to Callaghan campus at the end of first semester 1997.

J.C. Beaglehole, The exploration of the Pacific
P. Bellwood, Man's conquest of the Pacific
P. Bellwood, The Polynesians (already CCC collection)
J. Connell, New Caledonia or Kanaky? A political history of a French colony (already CCC collection)
J.W. Davidson & D. Scarr, Pacific Islands Portraits
J. Dunmore, Who's who in Pacific navigation (already CCC collection)
J. Garrett, To live among the stars
N. Gunson, Messengers of Grace
N. Gunson (ed), The changing Pacific. Essays in honour of H.E. Maude
T.G. Harding and Ben Wallace (eds), Cultures of the Pacific: selected readings
P. Hempenstall & N. Rutherford, Protest and dissent in the colonial Pacific (already CCC collection)
A. Howard and R. Borofsky (eds), Developments in Polynesian ethnology (already CCC collection)
S. Latukefu (ed), Papua New Guinea. A century of colonial impact
D. Lewis, We the navigators (already CCC collection)
E. Mantovani (ed) An introduction to Melanesian religions
H.E. Maude. Of Islands and Men
D. Merwick, Dangerous liaisons: essays in honour of Greg Dening
C. Moore, J. Leckie, D. Munro (eds), Labour in the South Pacific
S. Neill, A history of Christian Missions
C.W. Newbury, Tahiti nui. Change and survival in French Polynesia 1767-1945
N. Rutherford (ed), Friendly Islands. A history of Tonga
P. Ryan (ed), Encyclopedia of Papua New Guinea
D. Scarr, Fragments of empire (already CCC collection)
M. Spencer et al, New Caledonia. Essays in nationalism and dependency (already CCC collection)
G. Trompf, Melanesian religion
A.P. Vayda, Peoples and cultures of the Pacific
J. Young, Adventurous spirits

The main journal references are

The Journal of Pacific History (JPH)
The Journal of the Polynesian Society (JPS)
Pacific Studies
New Zealand Journal of History (NZJH)
Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes (JSO)
The Contemporary Pacific

Bibliographies are always important information finding aids. In print are two good bibliographies:

Pacific History Bibliography and Comment. From 1988 on this was renamed The Journal of Pacific History Bibliography. Produced by JPH, it contains lists of just-out theses, books and articles, as well as political chronicles of various islands and book reviews. It is catalogued separately from JPH.

Clive Moore (compiler), Pacific History Journal Bibliography. Produced in 1992 this lists 4,435 articles from 16 journals, covering the Pacific.

You should also seek instruction from Library staff on the use of the CD-Rom system for finding references for essay work.

WEEKLY PROGRAMME

(All references listed are on short loan at CCC for the duration of semester I. Sometimes only an article from a book or journal is in SL, sometimes the entire book. Check the annotations in the reading guide)

WEEK 1: (beginning 3 March 1997)

WEEK 2: ( 10 March)

WEEK 3: (17 March)

WEEK 4: (24 March)

WEEK 5: (31 March) EASTER BREAK - NO CLASSES

WEEK 6: (7 April)

WEEK 7: (14 April)

WEEK 8: (21 April)

WEEK 9: (28 April)

WEEK 10: (5 May)

WEEK 11: (12 May)

WEEK 12: (19 May)

WEEK 13 (26 May)

WEEK 14 (2 June)

WEEK 15 (9 June) QUEENS BIRTHDAY HOLIDAY - NO CLASSES

WEEK 16 (16 June)

TEST

KIT READINGS

This kit contains the documents set for study in weeks 2 (Cook in Mercury Bay), 11 (Solf's colonial policy) and 13 (The Rabaul Strike).

It also contains one reading as a STARTER reading for the seminars each week. These are NOT intended to be the sole reading and students will be expected to show evidence week by week of multiple reading for the theme being discussed.

WEEK 17 (23 June)

[Subject: History; Pacific/Comparative]

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