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Sixth Conference of the
European Society for Oceanists (ESfO)
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Pacific Challenges: Questioning concepts, rethinking conflicts
Marseille (France), 6-8 July 2005
Paper abstracts
Show a list of all papers
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01: Colonial grievances info | papers
02: Reshaping Indigenous worlds info | papers
03: Dynamics of Pacific Religiosity info | papers
04: Mapping Oceania info | papers
05: Rethinking political conflicts, beyond ethnicity info | papers
06: Cultural festivals info | papers
07: Enchantments of technology info | papers
08: Ownership in effect info | papers
09: Spiritual material info | papers
10: Endangered Languages info | papers
11: Transculturation info | papers
12: New Caledonia in Oceania info | papers
13: Keynotes info | papers
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| id: | 1 | | Title: | Colonial grievances, justice and reconciliation | | Number of papers: | 12 | | Organizers: | Meijl, Toon van
(University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands)
Goldsmith, Michael
(University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand) | | Abstract: | The paradox of the decolonization process in the Pacific is that anti-colonial sentiments seem to have proliferated in the recent past. The question is how to address this contemporary form of counter-hegemonic resistance in the Pacific. The aim of this workshop is, first, to examine the similarities and differences in colonial grievances throughout the Pacific and, second, to discuss the various strategies that may be developed to establish justice and to realise reconciliation.
Colonial grievances are expressed in a variety of different ethno-historical conditions. Indigenous minorities in settler states are demanding the restoration of sovereignty and the return of properties that were dispossessed in the colonial past. Postcolonial nation-states that have obtained independence relatively recently continue to remind their former colonizers of their reponsibility to redress economic difficulties that are blamed on the history of colonization. The ongoing debate about the international exploitation of natural resources in the Pacific is, although not restricted to it, deeply rooted in the history of colonialism. Requests for the repossession, if not repatriation, of cultural heritage emerge from the uneasy relationship between colonizers and colonized. Colonialism has also left a whole range of other legacies that are in need of a permanent solution, for example, the ethnic tension, in somewhat different forms, in Fiji, in the Solomon Islands, in New Zealand, Australia and Hawai’i.
Political discussions in these divergent circumstances generally revolve around the issue of who is responsible for the harm that colonialism inflicted and the related issue of who was harmed. These lead, in turn, to the further questions how the perpetrators of harm are identified, how deserving cases of justice and reconciliation are constructed, and how the relevant discourses of responsibility respond to historical, political and cultural change. Case-studies on these questions are invited from all Pacific societies. |
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