Nameless vast ocean: Imagined and reimagining Oceania
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Authors
ʻIlaiu Talei, C.
Schnoor, Christoph
Schnoor, Christoph
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Date
2024
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Conference Contribution - Oral Presentation
Ngā Upoko Tukutuku (Māori subject headings)
Keyword
Oceania
Hauʻofa, ʻEpeli (1939-2009)
geographical names
Pasifika architecture
architectural history
history
decolonisation of knowledge
counter colonialism
Pasifika
Hauʻofa, ʻEpeli (1939-2009)
geographical names
Pasifika architecture
architectural history
history
decolonisation of knowledge
counter colonialism
Pasifika
ANZSRC Field of Research Code (2020)
Citation
'Ilaiu Talei, C., & Schnoor, C. (2024, June, 19-23). Nameless vast ocean: Imagined and reimagining Oceania {Paper presentation] EAHN24, 8th International Conference, Athens, Greece. https://hdl.handle.net/10652/6607
Abstract
ALTERNATIVE TITLE
Oceania: The nameless vast ocean that connects architectures
The term ‘Oceania’ became re-popularised in the 1990s when Tongan anthropologist ‘Epeli Hau‘ofa (1939–2009) disrupted contemporary Pacific discourse to describe a ‘New Oceania.’ Hau‘ofa’s (1994, 2008) writings empowered a Pacific reimagining of the Pacific Ocean as what it always was to Pacific peoples: unbounded, nameless and beyond imposed colonial markers. Hau‘ofa’s work has since revolutionised Pacific architectural design thinking and reframed Pacific architectural histories (‘Ilaiū Talei 2023). Linguistic and conceptual complexity, however, is added through the fact that the term ‘Oceania’ was coined by colonial nations in the early 19th century. Between 1814 and 1837, both in French and German, the terms ‘Océanie’ and ‘Ozeanien’ appear. Oceania, a term used by different sides of colonial realities presents a fascinating conundrum. As authors, positioned from cultural backgrounds of these colonial trajectories German and Tongan we see an opportunity to longitudinally map the usage of this term in an architectural historical context. This is important given the rise of Pacific Indigenous-led architectural scholarship in recent years, emerging from scholars who turn to Hau ‘ofa’s progressive writings. However, rather than dismissing the colonial period completely, we welcome a dialogue from these seemingly opposing yet sometimes complementary colonial and post-colonial vantage points, in particular on modernity and cultural appropriation in Pacific architecture. Through this paper, we address pluralised notions of modernity, from different sides of the colonial experience. When pursuing a purer form of modernity, early 1900s German architects (and artists) were appropriating Pacific architectural forms and ideas. Equally, Tongans around that time and into the present were appropriating architectural styles and materials from colonial states to assert their own sense of modernity. Alongside our review of ‘Oceania’ a term reflecting these complex sides of architectural histories past and present we also present architectural translations of cultural modernities from this sphere.
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