Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2020. 172 pp. US$23.95, paper. ISBN 978-1-4780-0847-7.
Depending on the circumstances, constructing a university course can be burdensome or blissful, and teaching about the Pacific—with its enormous scope and range of thematic possibilities—can be a challenge for both expert and novice. In A Primer for Teaching Pacific Histories, Matt Matsuda offers guidance on course structure, themes for inquiry, and resources to consult. The author’s multitude of overarching main ideas and supporting examples supply enough fundamentals for instructors working outside of their comfort zone as well as seasoned scholars looking for new perspectives.
In the introduction, Matsuda proposes a class structured by a chronological narrative spanning the exploration and settlement of the Pacific through the present “Pacific Century,” suggesting that instructors can start at different points in the timeline according to their interests, such as archaeology, linguistics, or post-colonial identities, while asserting that “the most interesting teaching experiences come, in my view, where these intersect” (5).
The book is organized into ten chapters within three sections. In the first section, “Laying Foundations,” Matsuda commences the chronological approach with the Lapita, utilizing museum collections to stimulate conjecture about pre-contact European societies from material objects, pottery styles, and language to establish similarities in societies while noting the discrete differences developed over time. Next, Matsuda moves to the navigation and mobility of Pacific societies—suggesting research into the Hōkūleʻa as a centrepiece—and how inter-Oceanic relationships and means of exchange are definitive features of island societies. He also challenges his students to explore binary narratives and tropes of island life.
How can instructors connect the Pacific—from a Pacific orientation—to other key areas in the world based on exploration, commerce, exchange, resource movement, and conquest? Matsuda suggests introducing the influences of the Arabian Peninsula and India, China, and then the Europeans—and varied connections such as the Straits of Melaka, the samurai of Japan, and sea piracy. The final chapter in the first section offers broad themes around which to construct narratives based in the Pacific: globalization, the Enlightment, and religion.
The second section, “Devising Strategies,” is divided into four chapters. Matsuda addresses imperialism and empire as a means of understanding ethnic and class struggle, and the geographical flows of material goods, crops, supply chains, and labour movements amongst the Pacific, Mexico, South America, and Canada. In examining conflict and identity as themes, the author includes examples of environmental movements, gender and activism, as well as a nod to the role of contemporary music in justice movements.
The final section, “Performed Histories,” incorporates a chapter suggesting ways to deconstruct diverse representations of Pacific peoples—including cargo cults, tourism, displacement, and terrorism—then moves into suggestions for course assessments and project work. Matsuda urges instructors to “provide students with an archive of possible entry points into Pacific histories” (135) and presents ideas with a wide range of appeal—including anime, tattooing, food, museums, public health, and global finance.
Throughout the book, Matsuda successfully fulfills twin aims of introducing multiple, Pacific-centred approaches to material, while also suggesting as many entry points as possible into the material for students of varied disciplines—or in connection with their personal interests or activist causes. Another strength of the book is the broad imagining of the Pacific, which moves beyond Eurocentric narratives to focus upon Asian and Spanish exploration, travel, conquest, and exchange: “Imagining the Pacific from west to east, east to west, and north to south” (4). Perspectives on the Pacific are inevitably shaped within countries’ present and former colonial ties (New Zealand to West Polynesia, the United States to Hawaiʻi, and the Marshall Islands), and Matsuda’s conceptions will help instructors to rethink these norms.
Inevitably, despite Matsuda’s thoroughness, some readers will find omissions of their trusted resources a basis for critique. For myself, it was the perfunctory mention of Epeli Hauʻofa, whose work is seminal in New Zealand for conceiving the contemporary Pacific, as well as Pacific poets and fiction writers. Music and dance get very little space, and the tradition/modernity intersections of Pacific festivals are omitted. Suggestions of resources by Margaret Mead on Samoa and Jared Diamond on Rapa Nui could be accompanied by discussions about why they have been contested, a rich teaching resource in and of itself. Additionally, Matsuda’s book is so brimming with diverse ideas that it brings to mind a Hawaiian pāʻina where there can be an overwhelming array of food choices, but with study and careful selection, you will find just what you need to fill your plate.
The breadth of topics and suggestions on how to engage varied disciplines, within and outside history and the liberal arts, make A Primer for Teaching Pacific Histories applicable to many teaching situations, including survey courses, special topics classes, and incorporating Pacific content into other disciplines. This volume will be of interest to both subject experts in the Pacific and those who normally work outside the region.
Michelle Ladwig Williams
Independent Researcher, Auckland