Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2018. 288 pp. (Tables, maps, B&W photos, coloured photos, illustrations.) US$39.00, paper. ISBN 978-0-8248-7865-8.
Pathway of the Birds offers a Pākehā (European) scientist’s perspective on how Pacific ancestors arrived by sea to Aotearoa New Zealand. The contemporary relevance of Crowe’s work and significance of Oceanic voyaging achievements continues to shape New Zealand’s settler-state identity. The Tuia 250 Encounters events recently organized by the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage mark 250 years since the first meeting between the Māori iwi, Ngāti Hei, at Wharekaho and Caption James Cook’s Endeavour crew and offers a space for conversations about exchanges and encounters. Similarly, the book’s scientific approach to understanding the histories of navigation continues to be deeply intertwined in both Pākehā settler and Māori tangata whenua (people of the land) cultures.
The book’s cover includes an image of Hinemoana, a contemporary Polynesian-style waka, with Crowe’s caption describing her as “the heart of the Māori Youth Development waka voyaging project, Hawaiki Rising” (4). Following this recognition, I anticipated the book to begin with a mihi (introduction) and include Māori and Pasifika perspectives. Crowe’s dedication is “to the forgotten explorers of the Pacific…” (4), which raises questions about which Māori iwi and elders were consulted about their (un)forgotten knowledge(s). Further, in his Author’s Note, Crowe explains his “sincere effort to summarise in an accessible way what is currently known about this largely neglected epoch of world history” (10). However, this statement highlights how colonial archives have neglected Pacific seafaring histories, which have remained central to Oceanic ways of being.
Crowe’s “focus [is] primarily on the journey” (10) of the Polynesian ancestors, conducted through investigative interpretations of the past. He begins by questioning “what is actually known” as narratives of doubt and titles the Introduction “Chance or Skill?” (12–15). His skepticism is further demonstrated through the question, “Had all these people managed to locate and colonise many hundreds of Pacific islands merely by chance, or had they acquired some kind of inexplicable navigational skill?” (12). Perhaps the navigation skills are “inexplicable” to Western scientists who continue to approach the possibility from a place of disbelief. This form of inquiry replicates colonial approaches of understanding historical accounts while searching “for evidence in support of deliberate navigation” (13).
Through ten chapters spanning the region of East Polynesia, Crowe seeks to explain “how New Zealand was first settled” (14) through data and evidence offered in the form of text and visuals, over forty (problematic) maps, B&W and coloured photos, as well as detailed illustrations of flora and fauna. Crowe attempts to “try and establish whether or not the voyages of Māori and their ancestors were necessarily skilful” (14), and structures the book to follow three main East Polynesian voyaging routes; west in the summer, south across the prevailing winds, and west-southwest with the trade winds (15).
Chapter 1 begins with “one of the most culturally disenfranchised of all Polynesian long-distance navigators…” (15), and is opened by a quote from Captain James Cook. To begin with a “disenfranchised” narrative of the Polynesian people and include a quote from Cook in the first chapter exposes Crowe’s lack of understanding of contemporary injustices for the Polynesian ancestors who are the central focus of his thesis. Instead, the reverence of Caption Cook tokenizes the ongoing crimes against Indigenous peoples and their territories. Cook’s arrival signified a detrimental impact on Maoridom and this colonization is no mere historical event but has enduring effects.
While the book is understandably about “(East) Polynesia” and the “Polynesian Triangle,” Crowe fails to accurately extend the migrations across Oceania to the colonial created regions of Micronesia and Melanesia. Within the more than forty maps, numerous islands (mentioned in the text) are either invisible and completely omitted, or are incorrectly named and rendered unimportant. This is a stark scientific oversight and undermines his argument, particularly when the subject matter is about navigating from one place in the Pacific to another. Maps are central to the book and are used as reference points to describe animal, human, and plant migrations. The opening reference map (8–9), entitled “Pacific Ocean,” does not include the Republic of Palau, nor Guam and the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands. The orientation map included ten times throughout the book at the beginning of each chapter, excludes Western Micronesia. While one map includes the Republic of Palau (211), it lacks Guam and the Mariana Islands. Another map lists the Mariana Islands and Guam, but not the Republic of Palau (223).
When island names are included, the incorrect identification firstly raises questions about research principles and secondly, links this work to a colonial legacy of investigative writing about Indigenous “achievements” while failing to understand the contemporary colonial situation. The various political frameworks of the region are disregarded, as shown by listing MICRONESIA as opposed to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau being listed in the index as “Palau Archipelago,” and even simply “Mariana” for the Northern Mariana Islands (157).
Finally, to ignore the connections to the Micronesian region, specifically Mau Piailug from Satawal in Yap State, diminishes historical and current Oceanic connections and collaborations between voyagers. In Te Karaka, a publication created by the Māori iwi Ngāti Tahu, Craig Pauling confirms Papa Mau as an expert “in the revitalisation of the very thing the book is promoting” (Te Karaka, vol. 80 [Raumati 2018], 46; https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/our_stories/reviews-books-tk80/). These oversights disclose the book’s limitations and a more fluid understanding of the region would enhance this work.
This book contributes as an introduction to East Polynesian navigation to Aotearoa, highlighting the scientific evidence of flora, fauna, and archeological findings. While the volume lacks Māori and Pacifika perspectives and the inclusion of oral histories, imaginably it will serve as a stimulus for the creation of future voyaging and navigation literature by students to share their own stories. Crowe’s work, along with the Tuia 250 events across Aotearoa, offers a reference for those who wish to (re)learn the histories of ancestors arriving by boats to New Zealand.
Sylvia Frain
Auckland University of Technology, Auckland Sylvia Frain