impact’ view

Europeans In The Pacific

Revising the ‘fatal impact’ view

Where the Waves Fall: A New South Sea Islands His tory from First Settlement to Colonial Rule. By K.R.

Howe. Published by University of Hawaii Press, 1984. ISBN 0 8248 0921 1. $U529.95.

The effects of European contact and activities upon the historical experience of Pacific Islanders have been the subject of con siderable rethinking by Pacific historians over recent years.

Kerry Howe’s most recent work is “an attempt to survey the detailed findings of modern Pacific historians and present them to the layman in a less obscure and inaccessible form” than they now have. Although the book is sub-titled A New South Sea Islands History, the author makes no claim to com prehensiveness. But he says that the work is “more than just a compilation of this research”, describing it as “an endeavor to provide a synoptic overview, to take the detailed and self contained studies and place them in a wider thematic framework”. It is in essence

“one interpretation of the state of the art of modern Pacific history”.

Howe’s primary geographical focus is on the major island groups of Polynesia, specifically Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and New Zealand. Other chap ters discuss the islands of Melanesia, but in lesser depth, though the section on Fiji is probably the best of all.

One of the major themes which emerges is the various circumstances and conditions which gave rise to the unified kingdoms in Tahiti, Hawaii, and Tonga under the Pomares, Kamehameha, and Taufa’ahau Tupou respectively. The influ ences of native politics and sectional alliances, collabora tion with Europeans, and Christian missionaries are tre ated comparatively. Within such contexts, Howe makes several arguments. He claims, for example, that the introduc tion and use of firearms in native warfare has been ex aggerated in previous historical accounts, Rather, the posses sion of muskets gave a

psychological advantage to the natives not because of their noise and strangeness, but be cause such weapons symbol ised their association with Euro peans. The tribal wars of the 1830 s in New Zealand, Fiji, and Samoa are cited as examples.

Indeed, Howe argues, islander relations with Europeans should be viewed in terms of the recognition conferred by such contacts on native chiefs, “which in turn increased the prestige of these leaders in the

eyes of their followers”. Hence, transactions which followed from cultural contact situations should be seen not so much in terms of the influence of introduced technology, but rather “more in terms of customary political ambitions and strategies”.

The centralised governments created in Polynesia were admittedly unprecedented, but were developments “within the bounds of legitimate and accepted behavior”. While it is not to be denied that European assistance to ambitious chiefs was useful, and in some cases critical, the major thrust of European intervention in island affairs became more pronounced after some degree of political centralisation had been achieved. Political consolidation, reorganisation, and legitimation acceptable to native and foreigner alike became the major business of Europeans in Tahiti, Hawaii, and Tonga. The successes in these areas may be largely attributed to the highly stratified nature of their respective societies in sharp contrast to New Zealand,

where no such phenomenon occurred, The influence of Christianity likewise had multiple effects, While the Protestant missionar ies enjoyed an evangelical monopoly for a time in Polynesia, the nature of conver sion varied considerably. While mass conversion could be man ipulated by missionaries through the assistance of a single paramount chief as in Tahiti, Tonga, and Hawaii, it seems that the reverse was the case in New Zealand and Samoa. There the dispersed nature of native settlements, and the frequent rivalry and warfare between them, inhi bited rapid conversion of the islanders. Instead of coming from the top, it seems that the conversion of ordinary indi viduals in increasing numbers eventually prevailed over their ruling elites, Howe also takes issue with the notion that European trad ing strategies were “steeped in human blood and indescribable vice”. Closer examination of primary economic relationships between native and foreigner

suggests that “no one side had the monopoly of virtue and fair play”. The changing demands of natives, and their selectivity, reveal a growing sophistication on their part in the bargaining process. Conflict was most like ly to occur when one side attempted to obtain the better of the bargain in unacceptable terms.

Howe uses the comparative method in making his points.

His work therefore lacks the parochialism of some con temporary Pacific historiogra phy. His method, moreover, contributes to a relative even ness in his chapters, and a sense of transition and con tinuity.

In his epilogue, Howe argues that the “fatal impact” view should be rejected, or substan tially modified. To the contrary, islanders were “quite capable of taking their own initiative and rather than passively accepting Europeans and their ways, either rejected or deliberately exploited the newcomers for their own reasons”. Current scholarship has been less ethnocentric in its judgments

than that of earlier generations.

To return to the author’s prefacing statements in which it is readily admitted that one of the work’s shortcomings is that it is in the main a product of Australasian scholarship. It seems relevant to remark that perhaps this work is a few years premature. The omission of almost all of Micronesia, and of German activities, from discus sion cannot be lightly disre garded. Recent works on these two subjects for example may support or invalidate some of the author’s arguments. Some discussion on the age of ex ploration in the Pacific, and its philosophical and technological impact on Europe, would have been in order. The evolving perceptions of “noble” to “ignoble” savage in relation to Pacific societies are important considerations in any historical treatment of the Pacific.

Nonetheless, for those who have been eager for a gen eralised treatment of Pacific his tory Where the Waves Fall is a welcome addition to Pacific his

toriography.

William

Tagupa.