Ambivalent empires: historicising the Trobriand islands, 1830-1945

Abstract

This thesis is an exercise in historicising the Trobriands Islands of Papua New Guinea, in recasting the islands beyond the anthropological frame into which they have been conventionally set. This is done through an archival exploration, informed by ten months of historio-ethnographic fieldwork in the islands, of the period from the first direct encounters with Europeans in the 1830s to the Pacific War and its aftermath in the 1940s. I examine in detail the construction of a culture of engagement and exchange in the mid to late 1800s, the first visits of 'discovery' by British New Guinea Administrator William MacGregor, the initial years of the first Christian mission and its leader Samuel Fellows, and the establishment and conduct of resident government under a series of Anglo-Australian officers. I then place the anthropological project alongside these other narratives, highlighting anthropology's own historical role in the construction of a Trobriands visible and desirable to a European gaze, from the accounts and publications of a string of early visitors to the pioneering fieldwork and writings of Bronislaw Malinowski. Throughout these accounts, the conflicts and collusions between Trobrianders and colonial actors are highlighted, as well as the many interconnections amongst the colonial actors themselves, and the prominent role that various Islander intermediaries played in each European endeavour. I finish with a history of the Pacific War in and around the Trobriands and its aftermath, using this as a touchstone for an examination of present-day attitudes towards the past in the islands today. I conclude that Trobriand encounter with the forces of colonialism, Christianity, mercantilism and war have brought manifold transformations to the islands, yet these transformations have always been mediated and managed through an enduring Trobriand agency and sensibility. All parties to the colonial conversation have exhibited ambivalence in various forms, not just to others but also towards their own projects. Yet for all, this ambivalence evolves into nostalgia over time, with long-time European residents becoming 'Trobriandised' and recalling the islands with fondness upon departure, and older Trobrianders today evincing heartfelt nostalgia for the good times of the colonial era. Finally, the present and future implications of continuity and transformation in Trobriand pasts are considered, through one Islander's commentary on 'Trobriand history'.