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51 - Pacific Bodies and Personal Space Redefined, 1850–1960

from Part X - The Colonial Era in the Pacific

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2022

Anne Perez Hattori
Affiliation:
University of Guam
Jane Samson
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
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Summary

This bold statement about the pervasive penetration of colonialism, into the most intimate spaces of life, challenges narratives of the colonial project being imposed through brute violence, and then the word of God, colonial pacification and commercial development, or ‘saving’ Indigenous societies. Post-colonial deconstruction has considered how colonialism pervaded the lives, bodies, and spaces of Pacific peoples. The ‘fatal impact’ of exogenous diseases on the Pacific has been intensely debated,2 but health history monographs tended to focus on specific islands and colonial administrations.3 Yet commonalities within and between far-flung islands reveal how colonialism introduced and imposed medical and associated regimes (such as in education and labour) and infrastructure that redefined bodies and spaces across the ocean. Discourse, power, and practices in relation to health, that aimed to ‘save the race’, mapped, classified, legislated, incarcerated, separated, excluded, nurtured, treated, vaccinated, educated, trained, and employed Pacific bodies and minds. These patterns applied throughout the tropical Pacific Islands. This chapter focuses on the British colonies (especially Fiji), and on American (mainly Guam and Hawai‘i) and New Zealand territories, and refers to some Australian and French colonies.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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