Transcending the colonial gaze: Empathy, agency and community in the South Pacific photography of John Watt Beattie1

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry M. Brown

For three months in 1906, John Watt Beattie, the noted Australian photographer – at the invitation of the Anglican Bishop of Melanesia, Cecil Wilson – travelling on the church vessel the Southern Cross, photographed people and sites associated with the Melanesian Mission on Norfolk Island and present-day Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. Beattie reproduced many of the 1500-plus photographs from that trip, which he sold in various formats from his photographic studio in Hobart, Tasmania. The photographs constitute a priceless collection of Pacific images that began to be used very quickly in a variety of publications, with or without attribution. I shall examine some of these photographs in the context of the ethos of the Melanesian Mission, British colonialism in the Solomon Islands, and Beattie’s previous photographic experience. I shall argue that Beattie first exhibited a colonial gaze of objectifying his dehumanized exotic subjects (e.g. as ‘savages’ and ‘cannibals’) but with increased familiarity with them, became empathetic and admiring. In this change of attitude, I argue that he effectively transcended his colonial gaze to produce photographs of great empathy, beauty and longevity. At the same time, he became more critical of the colonial enterprise in the Pacific, whether government, commercial or church.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayvan Etebari ◽  
James Hereward ◽  
Apenisa Sailo ◽  
Emeline M Ahoafi ◽  
Robert Tautua ◽  
...  

Incursions of the Coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB), Oryctes rhinoceros, have been detected in several countries of the south-west Pacific in recent years, resulting in an expansion of the pest's geographic range. It has been suggested that this resurgence is related to an O. rhinoceros mitochondrial lineage (previously referred to as the CRB-G biotype) that is reported to show reduced susceptibility to the well-established classical biocontrol agent, Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV). We investigated O. rhinoceros population genetics and the OrNV status of adult specimens collected in the Philippines and seven different South Pacific island countries (Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu). Based on the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) in the mitochondrial Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit I (CoxI) gene, we found three major mitochondrial lineages (CRB-G, a PNG lineage (CRB-PNG) and the South Pacific lineage (CRB-S)) across the region. Haplotype diversity varied considerably between and within countries. The O. rhinoceros population in most countries was monotypic and all individuals tested belonged to a single mitochondrial lineage (Fiji, CRB-S; Tonga, CRB-S; Vanuatu, CRB-PNG; PNG (Kimbe), CRB-PNG; New Caledonia CRB-G; Philippines, CRB-G). However, in Samoa we detected CRB-S and CRB-PNG and in Solomon Islands we detected all three haplotype groups. Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS) methods were used to genotype 10,000 snps from 230 insects across the Pacific and showed genetic differentiation in the O. rhinoceros nuclear genome among different geographical populations. The GBS data also provided evidence for gene flow and admixture between different haplotypes in Solomon Islands. Therefore, contrary to earlier reports, CRB-G is not solely responsible for damage to the coconut palms reported since the pest was first recorded in Solomon Islands in 2015. We also PCR-screened a fragment of OrNV from 260 insects and detected an extremely high prevalence of viral infection in all three haplotypes in the region. We conclude that the haplotype groups CRB-G, CRB-S, and PNG, do not represent biotypes, subspecies, or cryptic species, but simply represent different invasions of O. rhinoceros across the Pacific. This has important implications for management, especially biological control, of Coconut rhinoceros beetle in the region.


1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Leckie

While recently on the island of Pohnpei in the South Pacific, I made enquires about labour relations there and was repeatedly infoxmed that there are none! The same answer might be given for several of the island states within the South Pacific but this would overlook that even if formal industrial relations Channels are weakly established, employment and labour relations issues are by no means absent from the Pacific Islands. This special issue developed from a perceived lack of analysis and infotmation about the background of and current trends in labour relations in the South Pacific. The countries represented here are selective. This reflects the selectivity of research in the Pacific, particularly in the field of industrial relations. The nations chosen are of special relevance to New Zealand and Australia and those with the most developed industrial relations structures (Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands) are included. Papua New Guinea and Fiji also have the biggest workforces in the region. In contrast, industrial Jielations in a small micro-state, Kiribati, are also analysed. It is regrettable that only one Polynesian country, Western Samoa, is discussed but this reflects the restricted role or absence (e.g., in Tonga) of fotrnal industrial relations in much of Polynesia. The papers also have not generally tackled their subjects from an employers' perspective, again an area of resean;h which has been virtually ignored in the South Pacific.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-144
Author(s):  
Adinda Normala Putri

The Solomon Islands shifted their diplomatic support from Taiwan to China in September 2019 after 36 years of diplomatic relations, which was followed by Kiribati, leaving Taiwan with only four South Pacific countries that still formally recognize it. China and Taiwan have long been the main actors in the competition for influence in the South Pacific, which is mainly due to the capacity of the Pacific islands to provide diplomatic recognition, where the pressure exerted by China on Taiwan has intensified since the election of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016. This journal discusses the motives of the Solomon Islands to turn to China, using the bandwagoning theory by Randall L. Schweller with the argument that the Solomon Islands bandwagons the wave of the future, a decision taken because the ally is considered to represent the future. The method used in this journal is a qualitative method that aims to describe and analyze a phenomenon systematically, which will explain the motive behind the Solomon Islands decision to shift its diplomatic support supported by theory and secondary data. This journal will first elaborate on China and Taiwan's rivalry in the South Pacific and continue with the Solomon Islands' motives to shift their diplomatic support from China to Taiwan.   Keywords: Solomon Islands, China, Taiwan, bandwagoning   Abstrak   Kepulauan Solomon mengalihkan dukungan diplomatiknya dari Taiwan ke Tiongkok pada September 2019 setelah 36 tahun memiliki hubungan diplomatik, yang diikuti oleh Kiribati, meninggalkan Taiwan dengan sisa empat negara Pasifik Selatan yang masih mengakuinya secara internasional. Tiongkok dan Taiwan telah lama menjadi aktor utama dalam persaingan pengaruh di Pasifik Selatan, yang disebabkan terutama oleh kapasitas Kepulauan Pasifik untuk memberikan pengakuan diplomatik, di mana tekanan yang diberikan oleh Tiongkok terhadap Taiwan semakin intensif sejak terpilihnya Presiden Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen pada tahun 2016. Jurnal ini membahas tentang motif Kepulauan Solomon berpindah haluan ke Tiongkok, dengan menggunakan teori bandwagoning yang dicetuskan oleh Randall L. Schweller dengan argumen bahwa Kepulauan Solomon melakukan bandwagoning wave of the future, yang dilakukan karena pihak sekutu dianggap merepresentasikan masa depan. Metode yang digunakan dalam jurnal ini adalah metode kualitatif yang bertujuan menggambarkan dan menganalisa suatu fenomena secara sistematis. Metode ini akan menjelaskan motif di balik keputusan Kepulauan Solomon mengalihkan dukungan diplomatiknya didukung dengan teori dan data sekunder. Adapun dalam pembabakan jurnal ini, akan dijabarkan rivalitas Tiongkok dan Taiwan di Pasifik Selatan dan dilanjutkan dengan motif di balik keputusan Kepulauan Solomon mengalihkan dukungan diplomatiknya dari Tiongkok ke Taiwan.   Kata kunci: Kepulauan Solomon, Tiongkok, Taiwan, bandwagoning    


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-10
Author(s):  
David Robie

IN SAMOA during July 2015, a new Pacific journalism education and training advocacy era was born with the establishment of the Media Educators Pacific (MEP) after a talkfest had gone on for years about the need for such a body. A draft constitution had even been floated at a journalism education conference hosted at the University of the South Pacific in 2012. The initiative created unity of sorts between the Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) media institutes from Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and the regional University of the South Pacific journalism programme. Founding president Misa Vicky Lepou of the National University of Samoa pledged at the time to produce a vision with a difference:


2021 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Joanna Siekiera ◽  

Cooperation in the South Pacific region is unique due to the characteristics of its participants. Following the period of decolonization (1962-1980), countries in Oceania have radically changed. Achieving independence gave those nations international legal personality, yet complete independence from their former colonial powers. The following consequence was gaining an opportunity to draft, adopt and execute own laws in national and foreign policy. PICT (Pacific island countries and territories) have been expanding connections, political and trade ones, within the region since the 1960s when permanent migration of islanders and intra-regional transactions began. Migrations along with foreign aid are considered as the distinctive characteristics of the Pacific Ocean basin. Since the 1980s, the regional integration in Oceania, through establishing regional groupings and increasing the regional trade agreements number, took on pace and scope. The MIRAB synthetic measure (migration, remittances, aid, bureaucracy) has been used in analyzing the Oceania developing microeconomies. Last but not least, migration and foreign aid have been retaining the region from a deeper and more effective stage of regionalism.


Author(s):  
Peter Dauvergne

Chapters 2–6 survey the political and socioeconomic forces underlying the global sustainability crisis. Understanding the scale and depth of contemporary forces of capitalism and consumerism requires a close look at the consequences of imperialism and colonialism on patterns of violence and exploitation. This chapter begins this process of understanding by sketching the history of ecological imperialism after 1600, seeing this as a reasonable starting date for the beginning of what many scholars are now calling the Anthropocene Epoch (or the age of humans, replacing the geologic epoch of the Holocene beginning 12,000 years ago). It opens with Captain Pedro Fernandes de Queirós’s voyage across the Pacific Ocean in 1605–06 to “discover” modern-day Vanuatu, before turning to look more globally at the devastation of imperialism – and later colonialism – for the South Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Over this time conquerors enslaved and murdered large numbers of indigenous people; cataclysmic change came as well, however, from the introduction of European diseases, plants, and animals. This chapter’s survey of imperialism, colonialism, and globalization sets the stage for Chapter 3, which explores the devastating history of the South Pacific island of Nauru after 1798.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-48
Author(s):  
Laura Olcelli

Tuscan-born and Spanish-trained Alessandro Malaspina (1754-1810) captained the most significant scientific expedition ever launched by Spain in the years 1789-1794. After a survey of the Spanish colonies in America, he directed the course of the Descubierta towards the South Pacific and anchored at Port Jackson on 11 March 1793. In my essay I will scrutinize the New South Wales leg of Malaspina’s voyage account, comparing 'Viaje político-científico alrededor del mundo' (the original 1885 Spanish edition) and 'Journal of a Voyage by Alejandro Malaspina' (its 2001 English translation), and integrating them with the captain’s secret reports. The examination of Malaspina’s comments on the infant colony will simultaneously expose the Spanish attitude to early British colonialism in New South Wales, and help assess Malaspina’s complex role as the first explorer who reached Terra Australis from the Italian peninsula.


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