On not knowing one’s place

Ethnographers have described many cultural worlds of the Pacific with subtlety and energy, but those worlds were and are always more complex than most standard forms of ethnography have recognized. The ASAO model for the presentation of expertise, while an impressive vehicle for demonstrating ethnographic skills and thoroughness, has yet to reform the accepted boundaries of the discipline or the tradition of Pacific societies seen as "social wholes." It has depended on a division of labor that allocates theory and field-work to different roles, it has recognized ethnographic authority as accruing to those with a concretely territorial claim to represent others, and it has encour-aged a static, monocultural sense of its audiences. I hasten to add that ASAO is not unique in this regard; these strictures apply to academic anthropology in general. Moreover, change is always possible as ethnographers strive to reinvent their discipline beyond the boundaries of the possible. But the historically closed and compartmentalized nature of academic knowledge means that challenges to its perceptual boundaries tend to result from the serendipitous recognition of moments where one does not "know one's place.

Translated identities: 'Pakeha' as subjects of the Treaty of Waitangi

The politics of translation is clearly a perennial focus of debate in New Zealand, as shown by thematic links between the New Zealand social anthropology conferences at Waikato in 1990 and Auckland in 2004. Of the many issues of translation swirling around ongoing attempts to interpret the Treaty of Waitangi, a surprisingly neglected one concerns the identities of the people on behalf of whom the Crown signed the Treaty. The term 'Pakeha' appears only once in the Treaty, the question of whom it refers to is by no means straightforward, and it would be unwise to presume that it had the same range of meanings in 1840 as it does in present-day biculturalism. This point is demonstrated by a re-reading of historical material concerning the parties present at or implicated in the signing of the Treaty, including the so-called Pakeha Maori

The evolution of Marshall Sahlins

MARSHALL SAHLINS (born 1930), the Charles Grey Distinguished Professor at the University of Chicago, is the highest-profile American anthropologist currently working in the field of Oceania. There is no denying his influence in theoretical areas of concern to the discipline as a whole but his final reputation is likely to rest on a number of writings on Pacific topics. Because he is an accomplished archival researcher as well as a fieldworker, his scholarship transcends anthropology and spills over into history, greatly increasing the impact his ideas have had in contemporary intellectual life

Who owns native nature? Discourses of rights to land, culture, and knowledge in New Zealand

Michael Brown famously asked ‘Who owns native culture?’ This paper revisits that question by analyzing what happens to culture when the culturally defined boundary between it and nature becomes salient in the context of disputes between indigenous and settler populations. My case study is the dispute between the New Zealand government and Maori tribal groupings concerning ownership of the foreshore and seabed. Having been granted the right to test their claims in court in 2003, Maori groups were enraged when the government legislated the right out of existence in 2004. Though the reasons for doing so were clearly political, contrasting cultural assumptions appeared to set Maori and Pakeha (New Zealanders of European origin) at odds. While couching ownership of part of nature as an IPR issue may seem counter-intuitive, I argue that as soon as a property claim destabilizes the nature/culture boundary, IPR discourse becomes pertinent

Our Place in New Zealand Culture: How the Museum of New Zealand Constructs Biculturalism

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa opened in 1998 amidst controversy but has been a huge popular success and has become an icon of national identity. The controversy was confined to elite circles and stemmed from criticisms of the contrasting ways in which Maori and Pakeha (European) cultural items were displayed — the former in a reverential manner and the latter as a kind of 'amusement arcade' of supposedly incoherent, temporary and mocking exhibits. Through an analysis of these displays and of the representations surrounding them, this paper argues that the sacred/profane dichotomy promulgated by the Museum may be open to argument but is probably an inescapable feature of the official policy of biculturalism in a postcolonial setting

Don’t Spray the Wasps! Using \u3ci\u3ePolistes\u3c/i\u3e Paper Wasps for Pest Management in the Home Garden

Pest control poses a challenge to all gardeners, especially those wishing to use organic practices. We examined the potential use of Polistes paper wasps as a bio-control agent in the organic backyard garden. Polistes are important predatory insects which may potentially consume thousands of soft bodied pest insects per season. We planted 8 garden plots with leaf lettuce, cabbage, pole beans and tomatoes. In 4 experimental plots, we established 8 Polistes dominulus nests, while in the remaining control plots we did not establish wasp nests. We measured the abundance of pest insects, the extent of damage from insect pests, and the weight of the plants at harvest. We did not observe any statistically significant differences between the experimental and control plots, however, we did find that cabbage plants from plots with more wasps had less insect damage than plants from plots with fewer wasps. Although our study appears to demonstrate that Polistes wasps were not effective in controlling pests, the observation that wasp number influenced damage levels in cabbage suggests that, at least for that crop, there is a density of wasps that can be effective

Vot Long Pati Ia! (Your vote, our party)

Review of the film "Vot Long Pati Ia!" The film is made by Wan Smolbag Theatre in Vanuatu and is a fascinating dramatization of political and developmental dilemmas in the South Pacific

Reforming women in the United States and Aotearoa/New Zealand: A comparative ethnography of welfare reform in global context

Historically, the United States and Aotearoa/New Zealand symbolize opposite poles of an individualist-collectivist welfare state continuum. Until recently, Aotearoa/New Zealand was known as a "cradle-to-grave" welfare state, with "universal" employment and coverage in health and education. U.S. history, in contrast, is marked by an unabashed individualism and a residualist approach to welfare. Recent neoliberal reforms, however, have engendered a convergence between the two countries in the conceptualization and organization of assistance for poor single mothers. Most notable are the "workfare" provisions of legislative changes made in 1996 in the two countries, which work to reconstitute poor mothers as potential able-bodied workers. In this article we analyze welfare reform in the United States and Aotearoa/New Zealand, with particular reference to how poor single mothers respond to, comply and cope with, or resist neoliberal strategies. Analysis is based on participant-observation, interviews, and focus groups conducted between 1989 and 1999