Reading Our Sea Of Islands by Epeli Hau’ofa
Hau’ofa, E. (1994). Our Sea of Islands. The Contemporary Pacific, 6(1), 148–161. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23701593
Our sea of islands is an essay written by Epeli Hau’ofa to challenge derogatory beliefs held over many generations in Oceania. Hau’ofa’s essay has inspired many since its publication including this indigenous reader. In its time it offered something very few had done before, a new outlook on what it truly means to be a part of the Sea of Islands. Hau’ofa discovered that identity in our region has been very heavily influenced by the impact of neocolonial views passed unchecked through the generations. Hau’ofa sets out to challenge the narrative that there is no hope for autonomy and that our scattered islands are too small and isolated. I believe he wrote this piece to inspire and encourage the hearts and minds of young oceanic peoples and perhaps to reconcile the role he played many years ago as a lecturer perpetuating neocolonial views.
The essay focuses on the experiences of ordinary people of the oceanic region, arguing that the grassroots perspective is often overlooked and undervalued and yet mirrors the movements and behaviors of their ancestors. This level also suffers the greatest impact from policies and decisions made by faceless bureaucrats and landlubbers who overlook the contribution they make to the region.
Hau’ofa uses his writing to highlight the consequences of neocolonialism on grassroots belief systems. These views went unchecked for many generations and like all oppressive colonial messages became internalised. He spends but a brief moment lamenting the role he played for many years in perpetuating this hopelessness in his workplace as a university lecturer. After generations of hearing this type of discourse, even the most passionate of advocates for his region wasn’t immune. What hope then is there for young people? How do they define themselves under the burden of all this despondency? Hau’ofa attempts to inspire them with his narrative.
Hau’ofa highlights and contrasts the neocolonial narrative with the actual movements, oral traditions, and historical accounts of the everyday peoples of Polynesia and Micronesia. I see that he hopes to draw the attention of youth to the actions of their ancestors. He attempts to clear a new path for young people.
He recounts from oral traditions, large regions of Polynesia and Micronesia where integrated trading and multi-dimensional systems were in operation centuries before European arrival. This led to highly skilled navigators, travelers, negotiators and tradespeople who played a vital role in the wealth and knowledge flow of the region. The argument he makes here is that people from the sea of islands were certainly not isolated.
Hau’ofa then disagrees with the view that geographical size hinders the ability to be economically viable. He argues size is dependent on your relationship to the land. Early European views were determined by what economic value they could gain from the geography of the islands. Their prevailing view was that people from such ‘small’ islands would always be at the mercy of larger economies and could never hope to contribute meaningfully to the world economy.
However indigenous ancestors had a vastly different view of the world. Their view included the vast ocean expanse and as far as their most talented sea-faring navigators could take them. Their view included sophisticated understandings of stars and constellations, so much so they created rich oral traditions that included gods and heavens to explain their place in the world. When asking what factors influence indigenous peoples’ worldview, their worldview focussed on relationships of people to their environment. Land size was never a factor. It was irrelevant.
Hau’ofa continues his argument by observing the everyday person in modern times. He notes their capacity to take advantage of advances in communication and travel. Thousands of people, like their ancestors before travel thousands of kilometers for employment, trade and work, send money back to support their families and maintain and strengthen connections back to their homelands. They adapt to their environment, are mobile, resourceful and hardworking. They actively contribute to their local and international communities. Hau’ofa insists you only need to go to a local airport to see the daily trade and exchange of people and products. At the macro-level these movements often go unnoticed, perhaps it does not serve their interests to advertise to young minds that their world is what they make of it and that they too can contribute meaningfully to the global exchange as their ancestors had done for centuries. Armed with the knowledge their ancestors were in fact highly skilled, intelligent and resourceful, a young person would certainly not consider their situation hopeless.
Some critics of Hau’ofas writing argue he focuses on romantic notions of the region instead of offering a more balanced view. I believe his goal is to encourage a future generation to think about themselves differently, not to meet the criteria imposed on him by his academic peers.
Hau’ofas’ laid-back voice is entertaining and enticing. His writing conjures up stunning imagery but delivers each hard-hitting message with an undertone of sarcasm and cynicism. I could relate to this style as it mirrors the style of most Māori storytellers. He succeeds at making the point that indigenous people of Oceania have been defined for generations by those outside influencers who stand to gain more through the active oppression of indigenous peoples. This is still relevant today. This reading however gives the young person something else to grasp and ride with. He offers the young person a chance to put aside derogatory beliefs and take on the attributes of their ancestors.
To look to the ocean with wonder and hope....
Comments