Books, Reviews, writers

The New Pacific-A Question

Of Bias Or Non-Bias

Any author who sets out to pro mote the social, economic and political cause of an ethnic group other than his own is faced with a fundamental dilemma. No matter how closely he has been associated with the other ethnic group and no matter how long he has been as sociated with it, even at the most intimate levels, he cannot claim to speak without reservation for that group.

The very stuff of his personal socialisation into his own racial group raises a barrier which means that for evermore he has very fundamental values and attitudes which identify him with his own people.

As a Rarotongan once said to me “no matter how long you live in Rarotonga and no matter how closely you live with us you will never learn to think like a Maori, just as we will never come to think like a papa'a’".

A natural consequence arises when an author sets out to speak for a group other than his own, in the efforts to avoid the criticism of being ethnocentric he may project his thinking into avenues which reflect prejudices which may not necessarily be those of the group whose cause he espouses.

When I came to read R. G.

Crocombe’s The New Pacific I felt an unease —a feeling that here was an author who was so intent upon pleading the case of the Pacific Islander and so anxious to make sure that the reader understood the ways in which the European has often affected the islander’s way of life to his detriment that there was emerg ing a predilection to over-state the case.

Crocombe does not admit that his book is biased, but biased it is, and I am not saying here that to be biased is necessarily of a negative valency. If a book is to get over a fundamental social message, and this is what Ron Crocombe is attempting to do>, then he must, per se, be biased, but I think that he would do his cause a greater measure of good if he stated boldly that he is

biased, and if need be tell the reader why he is biased.

There are many very worthy features about The New Pacific, but I would have accepted the inbuilt premises contained in the book if the author had rather more plainly stated his personal position. By way of comparison, it is worthwhile look ing at Humphrey McQueen’s recent publication, Aborigines, Race and Racism, the contents of which in many ways parallel those of the Crocombe book and which addresses itself to what one must presume is a similar audience.

McQueen from the very outset tosses the matters of prejudice, stereo typing, racism, exploitation and other fundamental and controversial issues into the reader’s court. McQueen issues a clear challenge. He says, “This book is deliberately biased.

It has to be biased in order to tell the truth. For nearly two hundred years white Australians have lived a lie about the Aborigines. To see the truth clearly the balance has to be drawn in favour of the Aborigines, which means that this book begins by accepting that white Australians are prejudiced against Aborigines.”

In his preface Crocombe states that

his book “aims to provide a brief and personal view of some major trends in the past, present and pos sible future of the diverse and stimulating societies of the world’s most widely-scattered region”. A personal view by its very nature must be biased and it is better to admit that bias than to attempt to cloak it in the guise of pseudo-objectivity.

To return to Humphrey McQueen here is a book that makes clear the audience to which it is addressing itself, that is students in schools and colleges. I presume that this must also be the readership towards which The New Pacific is directed. If this is so, it serves its purpose adequately as it sets out succinctly and with a great deal of illustrative material a range of topics which are the standard stuff of texts about the developing regions of the world.

However, in order to have en compassed this task more adequately the book should have been tailor made for its ultimate purpose.

Throughout its entire length the book makes obvious its origins—a series of talks given at the University of the South Pacific, which were in turn used by the New Zealand Broad casting Commission. If I were to sit down and have The New Pacific read to me I would undoubtedly enjoy it more than 1 did the reading, and, perhaps, I wouldn’t have become so aware of the book’s deficiencies.

I do not in any way cavil at the sentiments expressed in the book, nor at the arguments concerning the directions to be taken in the future development of the South Pacific Region. However, 1 do feel that its very format leads this book into the dubious realms of generalisations.

Sure, it is very necessary to stress the pressures of population growth in the regions, but it is also im perative to let the reader appreciate that these pressures are not uniform and that they range from the 320 persons per square kilometre at Nauru (with its quite specific raison d’etre) to the 170 of the Tokelaus to the 5.3 of Papua-New Guinea.

Yes, it is valid to assert that Aus-

tralia has been tardy in advancing the interests of Papua-New Guinea, but in a book published in 1973 it is just not good enough to say, “Government policy is for eventual independence for New Guinea and most parties agree that it will be within the next five years and perhaps sooner”. True, as the book says, the ethnic mixture in Fiji has been considerable, but surely this rather glibly glosses over the funda mental areas of attitudes and values which continue to largely set apart the two major ethnic groups.

The happiest moments come in The New Pacific when the author does wear his heart on his sleeve.

Any person who has gone beneath the superficialities of the Pacific scene can more than appreciate the descrip tion of the neck-tie syndrome, of the lack of significance placed by many Pacific Islanders on the accumulation of property, of what Crocombe calls the religion of commerce. There is a perceptive statement on the role of Christianity in the Pacific and the question posed of “was the baby thrown out with the bathwater” gives perspective to an understanding of the religious practices of the region.

I feel that too narrow a view has been taken of whom to include in the generic term Pacific Islander—l agree that it is proper to give prime im portance to the indigenous peoples but it would be flying in the face of reality to consign to some obscure corner the very considerable group of peoples, whose origins are from outside the Pacific Basin, but whose home forevermore will be there.

This must be especially true of the Indian community in Fiji and The New Pacific would have had a better balance if it had given its readers a greater insight into the problems faced by these people.

I am conscious of the dangers of damning with faint praise, but I think that it is fair to say that The New Pacific is a book that should have been written, but as I said earlier, written as a book in its own right.

Unfortunately we have been left with a curate’s egg, which is unfortunate as the ingredients and expertise were there to have produced a really significant work.— W. G. Coppell. (THE NEW PACIFIC. By Crocombe, R. G.

Australian National University Press, P.O.

Box 4, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600. $4.50.)

• The Pacific Manuscripts Bureau was established in 1968 as part of the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National Uni versity, Canberra. Its purpose is to locate unpublished documents of value concerning the Pacific Islands and to obtain copies of them on microfilm for five world libraries specialising in Pacific research. The five libraries are the National Libraries of Aust ralia and New Zealand; the Mitchell Library, Sydney; the Library of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu; and the State Library of Victoria. This report from Canberra tells of some of the bureau’s latest acquisitions.