Lec 4: Our sea of people

Question 1

What does it mean when we say, “we are not homogenous”?

Answer 1

We are not all the same, although we are connected our cultures, values, and some belief systems are different.

Question 2

How is our Pacific history diverse?

Answer 2

We remember through:

1. oral histories
2. dance
3. music
4. chant
5. material culture
6. Tattooing
7. Names
8. Genealogies

Question 3

In what ways was Time in the pacific used?

Answer 3

1. through languages and metaphors
2. Era’s marked by traditional landmarks, natural disasters
3. planting of vegetation around moon phases e.g., matariki

Question 4

How were pacific navigators guided on their expedition?

Answer 4

1. Astronomy
2. Winds & waves
3. Knowledge passed on (wayfinding)
4. Star compass

Question 5

Name the place believed to be the original meeting place of pacific peoples?

Answer 5

Rangiatea in Tahiti

Question 6

‘Near oceania’ refers to what?

Answer 6

Where one does not sail far. Close to continents.

a. Australia and PNG
b. settled about 30-35,000 years ago

Question 7

‘Remote oceania’ refers to what?

Answer 7

Movement is beyond this area. Settled 3-4000 years ago.

Question 8

What are some evidences of the Lapita peoples?

Answer 8

1. Lapita pottery found from New Guinea to Samoa

2. Discovery of Lapita sites that includes watercraft, settlement forms, tools & material culture

Question 9

What type of colonizers, colonized the pacific?

Answer 9

1. Extractive - used for raw materials
2. Military - used for location of military bases
3. Settler - displacing the indigenous to take over and claim

Question 10

Describe blackbirding

Answer 10

The slave trade in the pacific. Especially those taken from Melanesia to labour in different plantations e.g., Queensland, Fiji, NZ.

Question 11

What have been the effects/impacts of blackbirding?

Answer 11

1. Generational trauma suffered by those who are from one land but find it difficult to connect back to the motherland.
2. Language impacts e.g. pidgeon language created in Hawaii so those taken by blackbirding can communicate to each other (involves different parts of different languages)

Question 12

Name other types of people or groups brought to the pacific?

Answer 12

Refugees and Asylum seekers. Placed in detention camps (pacific solution) on Nauru and Christmas Island.