Indigenous Textual Cultures
Reading and Writing in the Age of Global Empire
Published on 11. September 2020
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-1-4780-0976-4 (ISBN)
Description
As modern European empires expanded, written language was critical to articulations of imperial authority and justifications of conquest. For imperial administrators and thinkers, the non-literacy of "native" societies demonstrated their primitiveness and inability to change. Yet as the contributors to Indigenous Textual Cultures make clear through cases from the Pacific Islands, Australasia, North America, and Africa, indigenous communities were highly adaptive and created novel, dynamic literary practices that preserved indigenous knowledge traditions. The contributors illustrate how modern literacy operated alongside orality rather than replacing it. Reconstructing multiple traditions of indigenous literacy and textual production, the contributors focus attention on the often hidden, forgotten, neglected, and marginalized cultural innovators who read, wrote, and used texts in endlessly creative ways. This volume demonstrates how the work of these innovators played pivotal roles in reimagining indigenous epistemologies, challenging colonial domination, and envisioning radical new futures.
Contributors. Noelani Arista, Tony Ballantyne, Alban Bensa, Keith Thor Carlson, Evelyn Ellerman, Isabel Hofmeyr, Emma Hunter, Arini Loader, Adrian Muckle, Lachy Paterson, Laura Rademaker, Michael P. J. Reilly, Bruno Saura, Ivy T. Schweitzer, Angela Wanhalla
Contributors. Noelani Arista, Tony Ballantyne, Alban Bensa, Keith Thor Carlson, Evelyn Ellerman, Isabel Hofmeyr, Emma Hunter, Arini Loader, Adrian Muckle, Lachy Paterson, Laura Rademaker, Michael P. J. Reilly, Bruno Saura, Ivy T. Schweitzer, Angela Wanhalla
Reviews / Votes
"Indigenous Textual Cultures is a cohesive, well-edited collection of twelve articles written by an international community of experts in indigenous cultures and colonialism. . . . These scholars bring a fresh approach that focuses on using original-language indigenous sources and interpreting this array of materials within their proper cultural contexts." - Julie K. Tanaka (RBM) "Research that draws on decolonizing methodologies remains urgent and necessary. This powerful, eloquent collection of new essays sets innovative agendas for this research." - Gillian Whitlock (Australian Historical Studies) "Each chapter offers well-written, engaging, and thoughtful illustrations and analyses. . . . [Indigenous Textual Cultures] is an important contribution to the role of communication in the vicious and devastating struggles between colonial structures and Indigenous communities." - David Troolin (Pacific Affairs) "There is great value in this collection for historians of the American West. . . . Each chapter brings much needed nuance to our understanding of Indigenous responses to colonialism and forced assimilation." - Justin Gage (Western Historical Quarterly) "The wide variety of topics covered and the discussion of so many different Indigenous textual cultures have helped create a collection that is an extremely important resource. In particular, this book will appeal to researchers from a range of disciplines, such as cultural studies, postcolonial studies, linguistics and Indigenous studies and, more specifically, to anyone who is interested in transcultural concepts. The coverage of various theoretical and methodological approaches as well as the Indigenous perspectives voiced are very impressive, sound and innovative." - Hanne Birk (Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
15 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
862 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4780-0976-4 (9781478009764)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Tony Ballantyne is Pro-Vice-Chancellor in the Division of Humanities at the University of Otago in New Zealand. His many books include Entanglements of Empire: Missionaries, Maori, and the Question of the Body, also published by Duke University Press.
Lachy Paterson is Professor at the University of Otago's Te Tumu: School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies.
Angela Wanhalla is Associate Professor of History at the University of Otago.
Lachy Paterson is Professor at the University of Otago's Te Tumu: School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies.
Angela Wanhalla is Associate Professor of History at the University of Otago.
Content
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction. Indigenous Textual Cultures, the Politics of Difference, and the Dynamism of Practice / Tony Ballantyne and Lachy Paterson 1
Part I. Archives and Debates
1. Ka Waihona Palapala Maneleo: Research in a Time of Plenty. Colonialism and the Hawaiian-Language Archives / Noelani Arista 31
2. Kanak Writings and Written Tradition in the Archive of New Caledonia's 1917 War / Alban Bensa and Adrian Muckle 60
3. Maori Lteracy Practices in Colonial New Zealand / Lachy Paterson 80
Part II. Orality and Texts
4. "Don't Destroy the Writing": Time-and Space-Based Communication and the Colonial Strategy of Mimicry in Nineteenth-Century Salish-Missionary Relations on Canada's Pacific Coast / Keith Thor Carlson
5. Talking Traditions: Orality, Ecology, and Spirituality in Mangaia's Textual Culture / Michael P. J. Reilly 131
6. Polynesian Family Manuscripts (Puta Tuana) from the Society and Austral Islands: Interior History, Formal Logic, and Social Uses / Bruno Saura 154
Part III. Readers
7. Print Media, the Swahili Language, and Textual Cultures in Twentieth-Century Tanzania, ca. 1923-1939 / Emma Hunter 175
8. Going Off Script: Aboriginal Rejection and Repurposing of English Literacies / Laura Radmaker 195
9. "Read It, Don't Smoke It!": Developing and Maintaining Literacy in Papua New Guinea / Evelyn Ellerman 216
Part IV. Writers
10. Colonial Copyright, Customs, and Indigenous Textualities: Literary Authority and Textual Citizenship / Isabel Hofmeyr 245
11. He Pukapuka Tataku i nga Mahi a Te Rauparaha Nui: Reading Te Rauparaha through Time / Arini Loader 263
12. Writing and Beyond in Indigenous North America: The Occom Network / Ivy Schweitzer 289
Bibliography 315
Contributors 345
Index
Introduction. Indigenous Textual Cultures, the Politics of Difference, and the Dynamism of Practice / Tony Ballantyne and Lachy Paterson 1
Part I. Archives and Debates
1. Ka Waihona Palapala Maneleo: Research in a Time of Plenty. Colonialism and the Hawaiian-Language Archives / Noelani Arista 31
2. Kanak Writings and Written Tradition in the Archive of New Caledonia's 1917 War / Alban Bensa and Adrian Muckle 60
3. Maori Lteracy Practices in Colonial New Zealand / Lachy Paterson 80
Part II. Orality and Texts
4. "Don't Destroy the Writing": Time-and Space-Based Communication and the Colonial Strategy of Mimicry in Nineteenth-Century Salish-Missionary Relations on Canada's Pacific Coast / Keith Thor Carlson
5. Talking Traditions: Orality, Ecology, and Spirituality in Mangaia's Textual Culture / Michael P. J. Reilly 131
6. Polynesian Family Manuscripts (Puta Tuana) from the Society and Austral Islands: Interior History, Formal Logic, and Social Uses / Bruno Saura 154
Part III. Readers
7. Print Media, the Swahili Language, and Textual Cultures in Twentieth-Century Tanzania, ca. 1923-1939 / Emma Hunter 175
8. Going Off Script: Aboriginal Rejection and Repurposing of English Literacies / Laura Radmaker 195
9. "Read It, Don't Smoke It!": Developing and Maintaining Literacy in Papua New Guinea / Evelyn Ellerman 216
Part IV. Writers
10. Colonial Copyright, Customs, and Indigenous Textualities: Literary Authority and Textual Citizenship / Isabel Hofmeyr 245
11. He Pukapuka Tataku i nga Mahi a Te Rauparaha Nui: Reading Te Rauparaha through Time / Arini Loader 263
12. Writing and Beyond in Indigenous North America: The Occom Network / Ivy Schweitzer 289
Bibliography 315
Contributors 345
Index