Guides: Alumni Travel Reading: South Pacific Islands

History & Culture

Dancing from the Heart by Kalissa Alexeyeff
Call Number: GV1728.C66 A54 2009
ISBN: 9780824832445
Publication Date: 2009-05-01
Alexeyeff demonstrates how dancing and expressive culture is central to the aesthetic, political, economic and moral lives of 21st Century Cook Islanders.
Tahiti Beyond the Postcard by Miriam Kahn
Call Number: GN671.S55 K34 2011
ISBN: 9780295991023
Publication Date: 2011-02-09
A post-colonial perspective on the history of Tahiti and the lives of Tahitians. How has the mythological power of Tahitian paradise affected the present day realities of the island? This book is about the power of place.
Aphrodite's Island by Anne Salmond
Call Number: DU870 .S335 2010
ISBN: 9780520261143
Publication Date: 2010-01-12
Another book with a similar perspective as the one above.
Paradise Past by Robert W. Kirk
Call Number: DU29 .K57 2012
ISBN: 9780786469789
Publication Date: 2012-10-24
Kirk records the changes that took place on the islands throughout the period of exploration and colonization. He tracks the rapid deterioration or disappearance of peoples, cultures, and practices, societal structures, and environments. By 1900 most of the islands had been colonized by European countries, the United States, or Chile. While some interventions brought positive changes, others, not surprisingly, benefited the colonizers more than the colonized.

Kirk is also two additional books that may prove interesting reads for the journey: Pitcairn Island, the Bounty Mutineers and Their Descendants: A History and History of the South Pacific since 1513: Chronicle of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Polynesia, Melanesia and Robinson Crusoe Island.
Made in Oceania by Edvard Hviding, editor, et al.
Call Number: GN663 .M33 2011
ISBN: 9781907774065
Publication Date: 2011
This book takes a look at the new cultural practices that have developed during the recent post-colonial era.

Film: An Angel at My Table, a Trilogy

An Angel at My Table: a Trilogy. Criterion Collection, 2005 (originally released in 1989).

Jane Campion directed the film version of Janet Frame’s autobiographies.

Watch the trailer below.

South Pacific Islands

The South Pacific Islands are home to some of the earliest human settlements, are prominent in the European history of exploration and colonization, are the homes of prominent writers, and continue to be places with rich cultures, literary histories, and diversity. Below is sampling of recent writings about the different Islands, the history of exploration, and significant films and fiction.

Travel & Exploration: a Combination of Historical and Contemporary Accounts

Pacific Paradises by Trevor Lummis
Call Number: DU870 .L87 2005
ISBN: 0750938935
Publication Date: 2005-10-01
The reports of Tahitian paradisiacal beauty and a colonial lifestyle unfettered by the strict mores of European society received mixed responses in 18th century Europe. In contrast, while Tahiti was colonized by those who were ready to share in the local way of life, Hawaii was colonized for trade and industry. This book compares the colonial pasts of these two Island cultures looking at the consequences for both the colonized and the colonizer.
Mutiny and Aftermath by James Morrison; Vanessa Smith (Editor); Nicholas Thomas (Editor); Maia Nuku (As told to)
Call Number: DU20 .M676 2013
ISBN: 9780824836764
Publication Date: 2013-11-30
Already read the novel? Then dip into this firsthand account of the events of the sea voyage of Captain Bligh and his crew as told by boatswain's mate James Morrison. Morrison was among the crew members who decided to settle in Tahiti. Although not a scientist by training, Morrison was a careful observer who had respect for the Islanders, which gives his narrative a unique perspective.
The History of the Pacific Islands by Deryck Scarr
Call Number: DU28.3 .S25 1990
ISBN: 0732902096
Publication Date: 1990
This book is unique among those listed here in that it looks back to the earliest times, rather than focusing on exploration and colonization. Although in its survey of the story of humankind in the Pacific, the author brings the reader into the present times. Writing from the perspective of the peoples native to the Pacific Islands, Scarr relates the tales that native people told of their own history as well as the ways they incorporated Western ideas and practices into their day to day lives.
The Fragile Edge by Julia Whitty
Call Number: QH198.F74 W48 2007
ISBN: 0618197168
Publication Date: 2007-05-07
For a little present day adventure, documentary film maker Julia Whitty takes you beneath the waves to experience through her eyes, the varieties of underwater life and its fragile nature. Whitty is also an environmental journalist and blogger and author of a collection of short stories, A Tortoise for the Queen of Tonga.

Film: Once Were Warriors

Film adaptation of Duff's Once Were Warriors directed by Lee Tamahori and it is available through New Line Home Entertainment, 2002.

Watch the trailer below.

Fiction

The Complete Autobiography by Janet Frame
Call Number: PR9639.3.F7 Z4619 1990
ISBN: 0704350726
Publication Date: 1990-01-01
Frame is one of New Zealand’s, and the English language’s preeminent writers. Her autobiography is in the form of a trilogy and makes up an important part of her literary oeuvre. She is the author of eleven novels, four collections of short stories, a book of poetry, a young adult novel, and these three volumes (in this edition all in one) of autobiography. Frame was confined to a psychiatric hospital, and it was only the national recognition of her literary gifts that saved her from a scheduled lobotomy. Some of this story she recounts in her autobiographies and her collection of short stories Prizes: Selected Short Stories.
Once Were Warriors by Alan Duff
Call Number: PR9639.3.D792 O5 1994
ISBN: 0824815939
Publication Date: 1994-04-01
Duff used a stream of consciousness style narrative for this dark tale of the difficult conditions of poverty and deprivation for one Maori community in New Zealand. The publisher describes the novel as, “a frank and uncompromising portrayal of Maori in New Zealand society. It is a raw and powerful story in which everyone is a victim until the strength and vision of one woman transcends brutality and leads the way to a new life.”
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Call Number: PR9639.3.H75 B6 1985
ISBN: 0807112844
Publication Date: 1985-10-01
Keri Hulme grew up in Christ Church in New Zealand’s South Island with her parent who were of British, Nordic, and Maori heritage. Her first published book The Bone People won the prestigious Booker Prize. She was the first writer from New Zealand to achieve this honor. Hulme’s work has been inspired by her dreams, and the mythology belonging to the Maori, Celtic, and Norse cultures.

A pictorial work with photographs by Robin Morrison is sadly, not widely available: Homeplaces: Three Coasts of the South Island of New Zealand.
The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
Call Number: PR9639.3.I5 W453 2003
ISBN: 0152050167
Publication Date: 2003-05-01
This novel, made into a popular film in 2003, tells the story of Pai who, raised by her grandparents after the death of her mother and Pai’s baby brother, takes on the role of the first born male in the family and rides the whale.
The Bounty Trilogy: Comprising the Three Volumes, Mutiny on the Bounty, Men against the Sea & Pitcairn's Island by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
Call Number: PS3527.O437 B59 1946
Publication Date: 1940
We shouldn’t forget these long time classics about travel on the high seas.
Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas Mardi, and a Voyage Thither by Herman Melville; G. Thomas Tanselle
Call Number: PS2381.5 .T38 1982
ISBN: 0585250561
Publication Date: 1982-01-01

Film: Whale Rider

Film adaptation of Ihimaera's Whale Rider directed by Niki Caro and available from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2003).

Watch the trailer below.