Exchange relations between Fijians and Euro-Americans (1774-1854), with reference to museum collections

This thesis is an interpretative study of early museum collections from Fiji. It combines art-­‐historical, historical and anthropological approaches to museum items, in order to investigate exchange relations between Fijians and Euro-­‐ Americans between 1774 and 1854. It proposes two ways of considering early museum objects from Fiji. First, it suggests they can, and to some extent must, be primarily regarded as exchanged objects — i.e. as the results of reciprocal transactions and the agents of a shared history between Fiji, Europe and the U.S.A. Secondly, it argues that museum artifacts can be used as major evidences to study early exchange relations between Fijians and Euro-­‐Americans, at least as important as contemporaneous literary and pictorial sources — most of them European or American. Four chapters (2-­‐5) explore and justify the above arguments. Based on historical case studies, the demonstration exemplifies the extent of reciprocity in Fiji-­‐West early transactions, as well as the exchangeability of their objects. Especially, attention is called to the political agencies, material values and intellectual representations at stake between 1774 and 1854, projected onto objects from both sides of the exchanges. The first section sets the reflexion in its intellectual context, by explaining its methodologies and briefly reviewing the literature that helped in framing the research. The concluding chapter examines possible consequences for research and museum policies today, with regards to current Fijian concerns and interests.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of East Anglia

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Leclerc-Caffarel, Stephanie

Language dc:language

en