European Society for Oceanists 2015 Conference

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Session Detail (parallel)

Staging the Pacific in performative events

Coordinator(s)

Franca Tamisari, Anke Tonnaer

Session presentation

What Clifford (2004) termed global ‘Indigenous presence’ has, in the last decade, become even more visible in settler-colonial and international contexts thanks to a variety of performative events. Such events include the organisation and institutionalisation of formal community and international festivals, impromptu displays in front of the media, different forms of play in everyday interactions, and Indigenous peoples’ widespread use of content-sharing platforms on the web. This panel invites authors to consider the technology of performative events and their cultural, economic, and administrative/management logic (Handelman 1998) as spaces of encounter and arenas of confrontation between historic and contemporary Pacific peoples’ concerns and European receptions and responses. The panel suggests the following broad themes to be considered:

• Public events in the context of sports, community and international cultural art/music festivals;
• Cultural performances in tourism;
• Cultural performances in the Indigenous use of media technology;
• Indigenous control on self-representation and Indigenous cultural performances in political and legal relations with Europe;
• European non-Indigenous appropriation of Indigenous cultural performances (art, music, new age movements);
• The spectacularisation of recognition: uses of performance to voice Indigenous people’s concerns;
• Cultural performance in the context of Indigenous claims of rights;
• Indigenous performance in education;
• Indigenous representations in colonial spectacles and theatrical events;
• Cultural performances at art exhibitions, installations in galleries and museums;
• Performances in Christian contexts;
• Interdisciplinary approaches in the study of public events.

Paper submissions are closed

Accepted papers

Samoan Ethnic Show Travellers to Germany, 1895-1911

Hilke Thode-Arora (Museum Fuenf Kontinente)

Between 1895 and 1911, three groups of Samoans travelled to Germany with Völkerschauen – ethnic shows, which were a wide-spread form of Western entertainment at the time. The most prominent visitor was high chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi who came in 1910/11, but there were titled and high-ranking persons in each of the groups. While the German recruiters meant the Samoans to perform for paying audiences, the Samoan dignitaries understood these travels as a diplomatic visit and malaga. Meeting the German emperor as well as other nobility, and receiving and giving valuables to them, some of the travellers intended the trip to Germany to strengthen their positions in the inner-Samoan political struggle for power. Behind the scenes of the shows, the representations of Samoanness and the political dimensions of the travels were under frequent negotiation by German and Samoan ‘actors’ with a considerable degree of agency on the Samoan side.

This paper explores the political background in Germany and Samoa, the recruiting and organising of the shows, European and Samoan perspectives. It is based on written, image and material sources in Samoan, New Zealand and European archives and museums, but also on interviews with those of the Samoan travellers’ descendants who could still be traced. A three-year research project resulted in a museum exhibition in Munich in 2014. The Samoan Head of State’s opening of the exhibition gave special significance to the multi-perspective reconstruction of the historical events, and triggered new Samoan-German spaces of encounter – from web platforms to today’s cultural-political arena.

Colonial Spectacle, Staged Authenticity and Other Heritage Paradoxes on a Fijian Island.

Guido Carlo Pigliasco (University of Hawai'i-Manoa)

This paper observes how spectacular indigenous rituals involving “savage” acts of bravery elicit the fantasies and voyeuristic gaze of tourist and media audiences. Shaped by the audiences’ predilection for highly visual cultural performances, the firewalking ceremony (vilavilairevo) has become a signature brand statement of Fijian culture. Nicholas Thomas reminds us that the British rule in the former Crown Colony of Fiji was an elaborate and paradoxical affair, characterized by intense interest in indigenous society and a singularly paternalistic and protective attitude towards it. Focusing on the representation of the Fijian firewalkers in colonial and contemporary narratives, the paper analyzes the circulation of tourist-oriented images and trite clichés on indigenous cultural products accelerated by certain tourist media. Ten years ago the Sawau community of Beqa launched The Sawau Project (A Ituvatuva Ni Vakadidike E Sawau), a multimedia digital storytelling limited distribution DVD advocating a form of social intervention in situ to negotiate and promote alternative forms of sui generis protection of the Sawau tangible and intangible heritage. More recently, with all six Sawau villages linked in via open social media like Facebook interchanges and dialogue enabled an unforeseen indigenous response to the perpetuation of Sawau cultural heritage. Ten years after, The Sawau Project may show that the imposition of culturally alien technology does not necessarily dissociate indigenous culture from its context, depriving it of meaning. In particular, the Sawau community responses may suggest a new role for digital and social “archives” as tools for repatriating audiovisual Sawau cultural documentation, and their capacity to extend traditional cultural worlds into new domains.

Welcome to Country Performances on the Tourist Stage

Franca Tamisari (Ca' Foscari University of Vencie)

In Australia ‘welcome to country’ rituals have now become an institutionalised feature and are regularly performed at a growing number of formal and informal public gatherings such as conferences, exhibitions, sporting events, building openings, commemorations and policy launches. These rituals have mainly been observed in city or town settings and interpreted as ambiguous performing statements that occupy the highly and ever contested space of belonging and recognition in Indigenous and non indigenous relations (Merlan 2014). With reference to my recent fieldwork research at an Indigenous ecotourism development in North Queensland, the paper presents an instance of a ‘smoking’ or ‘welcome ceremony’ performed for and with tourists in the “bush” at the beginning of a walk taking them into the Daintree Rain Forest. The paper explores the meaning this performance acquires when it is staged on Indigenous land and performed by local Indigenous land owners with the participation of a group of domestic and international tourists. Focusing on how the host-guest relationship is questioned and redefined, the paper argues that this performance does not merely serve to celebrate Indigenous belonging and connection to land, nor is it aimed at staging an authentic Aboriginality highly sought by visitors, but it is rather an opportunity to state that tourists are outsiders and, despite their participation, remind them that guests are and remain strangers. As strangers, tourists not only need to be protected as they might be harmed by a living and sentient country that does not recognise them, but they may disturb and harm the country and thus need to be cleansed warding off their “bad feelings”. Focusing on Simmel’s (2002) notion of ‘the stranger’, this performance offers an opportunity to investigate the subtle social dialectic between belonging and distance, inclusion and exclusion in the tourist encounter.

The Spirit of Polynesia: A Collective Approach in Maintaining Cultural Performances in Australia

Dr Vaoiva Ponton (Auckland University of Technology)

Polynesians have navigated countries by sea, air or land spaces which they inhabit with success; sharing their knowledge of survival through dance which is modelled through collective efficacy. Collective efficacy is evident when people work collaboratively to achieve specific goals that are often set at a community level (Kim, 2015). An issue may be identified that requires the support and assistance of many to ensure a positive outcome is met (Avanzi, Schuh, Fraccardi & van Dick, 2015). With respect to continuing the maintenance of Polynesian dance in Melbourne and other states in Australia, the actions and sentiments shown by participants, is evidence of a collective contribution to showcasing the beauty of Polynesian dance. Director of Nuholani Entertainment (Tiffany Noelani Le Nevez) has inspired many to take part in performances from festival, educational workshops and corporate events to experiencing the benefits of utilising Polynesian dance as a fitness regime. She is one of a few emerging dance directors who have used Polynesian dance as a form of sharing knowledge in public and private spaces. What will be explored is not only the sharing of traditional knowledge in contemporary spaces, but the use of performance to create collective collaboration and participation in various spaces; be it in parks, dance studios, festival parades and community halls to name a few. This has led to the collaboration of artists in spaces where many have joined as one; uniting to perform under the umbrella of ‘The Spirit of Polynesia’ for specific events. What is enduring is the empowering mana that is shared with participants which is confirmed by their powerful responses in how they feel when performing traditional/contemporary items. Not only were participants involved in performing, the coming together to weave costumes and learn about traditional practices of sharing everything was explored by those who were of non-Polynesian background.

Social media is used as a space whereby communication is initiated inviting anyone to participate in Polynesian dancing –a call to all not just a selected few. This paper looks at performance as a way of sharing stories, identifying factors influencing the maintenance of cultural dancing in spaces. Participants were asked to comment on why they performed and what inspired them to keep attending rehearsals, events or workshops that offered Pacific knowledge on dance and craft. The latter is also related to performances as events where spaces are used to create costumes dancers wear. The preparations for performances not only encompass a sharing of traditional and contemporary knowledge to do with dance but also include the preparation of costumes which adds another dimension to what it means to bring forth ‘The Spirit of Polynesia/the Pacific’ through the act of sharing (Fairbairn-Dunlop, 2013). Within these spaces there are exchanges of conversations, food, gifts and giving of more than just dance. Participants share of their empowerment in not only contributing to the performance but being embraced in what is and develops into a close knit community.

Articulated Identities: Tourism and touring with the Vanuatu Women’s Water Music

Thomas Dick (Southern Cross University)

Communities throughout the Pacific Islands are configuring and re-configuring themselves and their cultures. This article examines the intergrade of “transitional identities” in the case of the Leweton “cultural village” – performers of the Vanuatu Women’s Water Music – and the forces that influence the (self-) representation of their cultural heritage. The process is complexified by the intangible and mobile elements of the Water Music. Leweton is a destination for tourists visiting the islands of Vanuatu, as well as an ensemble often “on tour” performing at international festivals and events.

Using a framework of decolonizing methodologies, this ethnographic study provides rich insights into the perspectives of an indigenous community actively promoting itself as a both a heritage tourism destination and a performing arts troupe. This trans-disciplinary study draws on articulation theory to ask the question: how does the Leweton community create a cohesive vision of their cultural heritage – one that is persuasive to (young and old) members of the community itself, to visiting tourists, and other stakeholders (such as neighbouring villages, the world music industry, and the Vanuatu government)?

Meeting up at “an ancient playground”: On the fringe allure of an indigenous cultural festival

Anke Tonnaer (Radboud University Nijmegen)

In this paper I focus on the historical trajectory of an annual small-scale indigenous cultural festival near Katherine, North Australia. The festival was first organized in 2002 by an indigenous arts corporation that was then in the process of formation. Ever since its début the festival has been gaining increasing status as a remarkable fringe event, and sells out each year, gathering different regional indigenous people (e.g., dance groups) and non-indigenous people, visitors coming from across Australia and internationally. It has also established significant cross-cultural collaborations with famous (non-indigenous) Australians, such as humanitarian journalist Jeff McMullen and Olympic sports man Ian Thorpe, and a renowned Sydney-based theatre company. The actual festival, consisting of various “corroborees” takes place at a spectacular, remote Aboriginal site that is normally sealed off to visitors, and lasts for one night only. Based on ethnographic research, I trace the (cultural) appeal and success of this festival through an analysis of the multiplicity of performances that creates it, including its online presentation.
Perhaps more than other well-known Aboriginal events in the Northern Territory such as Garma or Barunga Festival that equally present (often explicit) invitations to ‘culture sharing’ to a non-indigenous audience, this festival has acquired a particular off-the-grid identity. During the evening show the sharing starts in the immediacy of the experience and aesthetic reception (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1997). The organizers do this by viewing the artists as artists first and foremost and not through their indigeneity, and by foregrounding the performances as events to be savored as an aesthetic, corporeal and phenomenological experience rather than by providing explanatory frames for cross-cultural understanding. This paper examines in what way the festival’s success can be explained through its artistic intents and to what extent the omnipresent frame of culture sharing actually gains a new vitality.

Staging Māori identity and recognition vis-à-vis the non-indigenous world: the performance of the haka in international rugby events and the European responses

Domenica Gisella Calabrò (University of the South Pacific)

As a prelude to the rugby match, the All Blacks, the New Zealand national team, performs a haka, a Māori dance. Even though its goal is to represent the nation, the performance of the dance is, first and foremost, the powerful manifestation of indigenous presence in contemporary New Zealand society. Such performance has resulted into visibility for the Māori community and into fascination in their culture, particularly in Europe. This phenomenon has favoured the acknowledgement of Māori, their economic development and their cultural renaissance. At the same time, European responses such as the (mis)appropriation of the haka, the essentialization of Māori culture, and the oversimplification of the dance’s meanings, the haka coming to be merely identified as a war dance, have challenged the Māori control of their practice and of their self-representation. Furthermore, European recognition has transformed into rejection when elements of a new All Black’s haka did not suit the European taste.
However, the performance of the haka as the mise-en-scène of their presence and their recognition in front of the non-indigenous world is ubiquitous: from other rugby contexts, such as the matches of the Māori national rugby team, to Māori cultural performances in tourism and museums, from the welcoming of international visitors to political events. The result of the revitalization and reinterpretation of a performative practice inherited by the ancestors, the use of the haka in contemporary public events seems to have been reinforced by the international recognition of the Māori dance within rugby. Focusing on the performance of the haka in international rugby events, this paper will, then, observe the Māori negotiations and the cultural, political and economic logic in the use of the haka as a site of encounter and confrontation with Europe.

BLAK: Forced into Images

Georges Petitjean (AAMU - Museum of contemporary Aboriginal art)

This paper deals specifically with Indigenous control on self-representation through the presentation of the work of six prominent Indigenous Australian artists: Destiny Deacon, Michael Riley, Richard Bell, Christian Thompson, Bindi Cole and Fiona Foley. All six artists work with video, film, photography and performance as preferred media. Their work explores constructs of representation of Aboriginal people according to popular stereotypical framing that denies non-conformist appearance, behaviour and sexual preference. Strategies of how one gets pidgeonholed, how one is 'forced into images' in order to fit a certain stereotype, are exposed and undermined. This is achieved by mocking the cliché portraiture of Indigenous people and frustrating the patterns of expectation that these portraits fulfill. One primordial question that is raised in the artworks is who or what determines someone's cultural identity? For instance, not every person that identifies as Aboriginal has a dark skin colour. Which role does skin colour, heritage or sexual preference play in the determination of identity? Identity, skin colour and gender are the topics that the work by these artists deals with. Quite often the artsits will assume the role of performers in their own artworks, disguised as the exotic other. Their work disrupts stereotypes and tackles sensitive themes with humour, satire and irony.

Process of self-identification and networks of solidarity around Pacific performances staged in France

Géraldine Le Roux (Université de Bretagne Occidentale )

Aboriginal art is often taken as a model for its fast and growing inclusion in the global art market. By comparing the 1983 Festival d’Automne exhibition entitled ‘D’un autre continent: l’Australie, le rêve et le réel’, with the ‘Magiciens de la terre’ exhibition, Fred Myers in an article published in 1998 concluded that the organisers followed an aesthetic logic which decontextualised local productions and integrated them into a system of universal values. In the first part of this paper, I focus on the strategies deployed by the Lajamanu and Warlpiri artists selected for these two Parisian exhibitions to show how they tried, and to a certain extent, succeeded, in imposing their own cultural principles. The second part of the paper highlights the fact that the organisation and reception of Pacific art events differ according to the area where the events take place. In regions where politics of identity are strong, such as in Celtic Brittany (France), other definitions of authenticity, more anchored in a dynamic vision, circulate and lead to unique cultural practices such as the raising of flags, the importance given to vernacular languages and respect for customary practices. The paper aims to discuss the way the notion of ‘globalised alterity’ (Cunin, 2006) occults the diversity of discourses and practices of local visitors, and in particular when visitors become ‘spect’actors’ (Boal in Castro, 2012). I demonstrate how Pacific performances help visitors to both better understand cultural, political and ecological issues faced by Pacific people and to reconsider their own sense of identity, generating locally a new understanding of cultural singularities.

Acrylics & Websites: staging Aboriginal identities, bridging Aboriginality(es)

Roser Bosch i Darné (Pompeu Fabra University)

Since the 1980s, acrylic paintings from the Australian deserts have provided a foundational turning point for Aboriginal presence, visibility and empowerment at the (inter)national stage. This artistic success parallels the social importance and engagement at the local producing communities. With the rise of the contemporary digital context, the producing groups are using the opportunities of the digital media to expand and affirm their presence across the globe in their own terms. In this new scenario, websites have become an increasing useful tool for art centers from the deserts to promote and sell their art, as well as open spaces where larger virtual Aboriginality(es) are consciously performed. This has turned virtual visitors into something more than potential acrylic-buyers: by visiting these websites and reading/viewing their locally constructed contents/images, visitors become part of an intercultural dialogue based on (virtually mediated) intersubjective experiences. As a consequence, websites are significant virtual intercultural encounter spaces today.
Under the context above described, the aim of this paper is, on one hand, to analyze the main objectives, as well as, discourses that most websites share to stage their artists/groups Aboriginality(es). And, on the other hand, the paper focuses on how such discourses are interwoven with and against non-Aboriginal visitors’ assumptions and expectations. In this double-analysis, key-concepts such as nature/country, spirituality/Dreaming, ritual/elders, dots/no-dots, ancient/contemporary or traditional/modern inform, not only the acrylics’ understandings, but, the daily experiences of these producing groups and the (historical) imaginary of most non-Aboriginal virtual visitors, too. How do they interplay? How their dialogue produce, challenge or even deconstruct stablished notions of authenticity/unauthenticity?