Absence From the Map of the World:
The world map as it is know today does not do justice to Oceania. Eurocentered geography for long did not recognize the existence of this region which do exist geographically and is rich in life and culture.
Islandism: Like orientalism, a system of 'islandism' was constructed less through contact with others than through textual exchange between Europeans. […] The islands and their inhabitants are paradoxically positioned as 'contained' and 'isolated', yet this bellies the consistent visitation by colonials, shipwreck, anthropology, and tourism - in fact, the narrative of island isolation depends upon these visitors. (Deloughrey 2001)
Literature: The Nubile Savage // The Dusky Maiden:
Far away, who was my peculiar favourite. Her free pliant figure was the very perfection of female grace and beauty. Her complexion was a rich and mantling olive, and when watching the glow upon her cheeks I could almost swear that beneath the transparent medium there lurked the blushes of a faint vermilion. The face of this girl was a rounded oval, and each feature as perfectly formed as the heart or imagination of man could desire. Her full lips, when parted with a smile, disclosed teeth of dazzling whiteness and when her rosy mouth opened with a burst of merriment, they looked like the milk-white seeds of the 'arta,' a fruit of the valley, which, when cleft in taiwan, shows them reposing in rows on each side, embedded in the red and juicy pulp. Her hair of the deepest brown, parted irregularly in the middle, flowed in natural ringlets over her shoulders, and whenever she chanced to stoop, fell over and hid from view her lovely bosom. Gazing into the depths of her strange blue eyes, when she was in a contemplative mood, they seemed most placid yet unfathomable; but when illuminated by some lively emotion, they beamed upon the beholder like stars. […] The easy unstudied graces of a child of nature like this, breathing from infancy an atmosphere of perpetual summer, and nurtured by the simple fruits of the earth; enjoying a perfect freedom from care and anxiety, and removed effectually from all injurious tendencies, strike the eye in a manner which cannot be portrayed.
Herman Melville: Typee, or a Peep at Polynesian Life (1846)
Anthropology: Margaret Mead: Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) Sexual Freedom
The Samoan background which makes growing up so easy, so simple a matter, is the general casualness of the whole society. For Samoa is a place where no one plays for very high sakes, no one pays very high prices, no one suffers for his convictions or fights to the death for special ends. [O]ur children are face with half a dozen standards of morality: a double sex standard for men and women, a single standard for men and women, and groups which advocate that the single standard should be freedom while others argue that the single standard should be absolute monogamy. […] The Samoan child faces no such dilemma. Sex is a natural, pleasurable thing.
Hollywood Cinema: Paradise // The Dark side of Paradise
[The convention of the island genre] included shipwrecks, strange environments, native feasts and rituals, hidden treasures, exotic music and dance, scantily clad natives, breathtaking scenery and underwater discoveries. Movie audiences could only dream about these faraway places and strange native customs and cultures. Therefore, it is easy to imagine why, to many moviegoers burdened with dull jobs and lives, the South Sea island films served as a fountainhead for dreams, fantasies, nostalgia and paradisiacal yearnings. Several of these films also suggested the dark side of the vision, with images of hostile tribes, volcanic eruptions, mutinies and human sacrifice. […] Often the native was made to appear superstitious, simple and ignorant. […] Island women were portrayed as overly sensual creatures bent on seducing, corruption or betraying young, naive, white males. (Langman 1998: ix-x)
Tourist Discourse: Exoticism
Small wonder that famous Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson chose to spend the last few years of his life in Samoa; with its lush rainforest clothing volcanic peak, sparkling white beaches, stunning waterfalls and warm, welcoming locals, this destination truly is a visitor's Treasure Island.
The sun overhead is beaming down from a cloudless sky, a gentle breeze is rippling the sparkling warm and water and your second piña colada is lulling you into a gentle doze. There's a faint scent of frangipani blossom in the air, and your only concern is whether you can get away with possibly having fresh fish for dinner one more time without turning into one yourself. It's all so clichéd, isn't it… But the funny thing about clichés is that they're accurate. And Fiji is indeed a cliché, in all the best ways. The water really does sparkle when that tropical sun is shining, and it really is that easy to slip into a daily routine
from: http://www.houseoftravel.co.nz
The New Oceania:
Our quest should not be for a revival of our past cultures but for the creation of new cultures which are free from the taint of colonialism and based firmly in our own pasts. The quest should be for a New Oceania. (Albert Wendt 1996)
Noumea Simi, (Samoa)
What are we?
(on Mead / Freeman debate)
Do we know what we are
Mebbe mebbe not
Some palagi wommin
say we the childrun of free luv
shud be examples to prudish societies
But some palagi man
calls hisself a Free man
says No!
we the childrun of violence
cause we play war on cricket pitches
Dis Free man even say
we are liars
but only to Mead and not to him
and dat is why his word is god's
for he alone know what we are
So com on bruddah and me sister
your fuddah and me muddah
may have bin guinea fowls
for naive academics
and slit-minded brainwashers
to make a name
and make a proof
dat Samoan andropology is a miff
Leave us alone palagi man
we will bare to the world
our dents and flats
our blues and blacks
when it comes to us
Sia Figiel (Samoa)
"To a Tourist who wears Gauguinic Glasses"
(A word from the entertainer)
Why do you stare at me
As if Im some exotic bird?
Is it because the way I smile?
Is it because of the way I move my hips?
Is it because of my polynesian "complexion"?
I have a life behind that fabulous
Smile…
8 kids to feed
And faalavelave
Tattooed
On my thighs…
P.S. I think Gauguin was a peeping-tom too.
Tsiata Avia: Wild Dogs under my Skirt (2004)
After Paradise
When the film crew left
and he'd gone long before
for Boum sur Paris
one of the house-girls
took to wearing her clothes loose
and sleeping late
fiapalagi they called her
bad example the faletua said.
One of the boys found it
lying in the forest
very small, very white
with strange blue eyes.
Migration to New Zealand:
Sia Figiel, The Girl in the Moon Circle (1996).
In New Zealand apples and pears grow everywhere. So do ice-cream and chocolates. And everyone wears new clothes all the time always. And everyone has two sometimes three cars. Three TVs. One in each room. And everyone has their own room. […] A room with a closet to put all their new clothes in and toys and everyone has a bike. And lambs in the back of their houses. And they don't even turkey tails like us here in Samoa. […] And kids can do whatever they want in school and the teachers don't beat them up like Mrs Samasoni does. […] In New Zealand everyone's lucky. Everyone's rich and has no problems. Same as America and Australia. And we dream about ways of going there. Where we'll live. Like Cinderella. Happy ever after.
(picking the notion of the naive and playing with it to reverse the image of paradise).
Tusiata Avia: "Ode to da Life" (2004)
You wan da Ode?
OK, I give you
Here my Ode to da life
Ia, da life is happy an perfek
Everybodys smile, everybodys laugh
Lot of food like Pisupo, Macfonal and Sapasui
Even da dog day fat
You hear me, suga? Even da dog!
An all da Palagi dey very happy to us
Dey say Hey come over here to Niu Sila
Come an live wif us an eat da ice cream
An watch TV2 evry day
Days of Our Lives evry evry day
Hope an Beau an Roman an Tony de Mera.
Dat how I know my Ode to da life
An also Jesus - I not forget Jesus
He's say to us Now you can
Do anyfing you like
Have da boyfriend, drink da beer
Anyfing, even in front of your fadda
An never ever get da hiding
Jus Happy and laughing evry time.
Notice how stereotypes are revised through the following links:
Nesian Style (Polysaturated, 2002)
Pacific Islanders defining themselves and subverting the stereotypes: Kiwis / FOBs ...
Bro'Town: Go Home Stay Home.
bro'Town is a New Zealand Television animated series. The show used a comedy based format, targeted at a young adult audience.
The series is set amongst New Zealand's fast growing Pacific Islander community, and focuses on a central cast of five young boys.bro'Town is heavy with popular culture references, and is based on the performance of the local four-man group The Naked Samoans.
Vale, Valea, Jeff da Māori, Sione and Mack live in the suburb of Morningside (catchphrase: "Morningside 4 Life!"), and attend the local college, St Sylvester’s, where their principal is a Fa’afafine and the P.E. teacher is the legendary ex-All Black rugby player Michael Jones. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
