Towards a New Pacific Historiography

Towards a New Pacific Historiography argues for a re-imagining of Pacific History using the idea of cultural theorist Hayden White that the historical text is a literary artefact. The book discusses the institutionalisation of Pacific History largely through the efforts of J. W. Davison. It also engages in a scrutiny of several Pacific History texts, evaluating the merits and demerits of these texts as literary artefacts. The book contends that the Western academic discipline of History has created a privileged space for itself by marginalising other forms of historical knowledge and that many Pacific historians continue to use sources and methodologies that are of European origin, and profess a world-view that is blatantly Western. The consequence of all this is that Pacific historiography has become a methodologically and stylistically reactionary discipline. The author suggests that only the re-imagining of Pacific History will allow the discipline to make a worthwhile contribution to new Pacific epistemologies; the program to re- imagine History could come from the way postcolonial theorists and creative authors have transformed English Literature and the English language.

Autorentext

Anurag Subramani teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.