Papers by Nicholas Thomas
Art in Oceania: A New History
The arts of Oceania are astonishing: great statues, daunting tattoos, dynamic carving, dazzling w... more The arts of Oceania are astonishing: great statues, daunting tattoos, dynamic carving, dazzling woven and painted fabrics, intricately carved weapons, and a bewildering variety of ornaments, ritual objects, and utilitarian but beautiful things. This landmark book breaks new ground by setting the art of Oceania in its full historical context and capturing an up-to-date understanding of the field. From archaeological findings of prehistoric art to the impact of pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial historical processes, it explores influences such as migration, trade, missionaries, pacification, tourism, nationalism and contemporary market factors, offering abundant new interpretations and addressing significant gaps in other publications. Factors that have been largely neglected until now, including the role of museums, the significance of colonial photography, indigenous modernisms and contemporary Pacific art, are covered alongside the familiar canon. This beautifully illustrate...
Most discussions of the Fiji military coups of I987 and the subsequent political instability have... more Most discussions of the Fiji military coups of I987 and the subsequent political instability have focused on the question of ethnicity, particularly on the argument that indigenous Fijians have always been committed to retaining political control of their country and could not be expected to permit a government dominated or even partly controlled by Fiji Indians to remain in power. From this followed not only the first coup, but the process of constitutional review-whereby a new parliamentary and electoral structure will probably be implemented that will preclude any group similar to the ousted Labour-National Federation Party Coalition from gaining control again. The underlying concerns relate only partly to political power; it is also widely claimed that Fijians fear that an "Indian" government would permit Fijian land (83 % of the country is under traditional clan ownership) to be alienated, inevitably creating much poverty and displacement among those who are now primarily subsistence farmers. Whether many Indians would have regarded a political challenge on this extremely sensitive matter as feasible or desirable is another matter, and the question reflects the interpenetration of mystification and actuality that always seems to have been a prominent feature of Fijian colonial and neocolonial politics: a fear that may have been substantially ungrounded becomes a "political fact" and subsequently an actuality and a cause.! Some of the commentators interested in the Fiji situation looked for a broader range of causes for the discontent that led to the new Fiji Labour Party (FLP) being elected in coalition with the established, almost wholly Indian, National FederationParty (NFP), as well as for a wider field of causes for the coup itself. Corruption among the traditional chiefly elite was raised, and it was suggested that had the new government not been
Take the sea away in a bottle and it remains the sea with all its imperceptible currents and iden... more Take the sea away in a bottle and it remains the sea with all its imperceptible currents and identical tides. "Bottled Ocean" is held as water within four clear walls. A small part of the vast whole; it is an installation by a pool of artists exploring "Pacific Islandness" in New Zealand. They are Polynesians with dual concerns; their New Zealand homes and their cultural ties to the Pacific Islands: Samoa, Tonga, Niue, and the Cooks. With exhibitions of this sort one wonders how Pacific cultural origins and traditions can be made a source of creative possibilities rather than constraints. Some works refer to the past, or express themes of transition and current entrapments. The artists are exploring their uneasiness with their blurred identity. Conflict exists between their assumed heritage and their urban experience. These artists have a commonality. They feel the same tidal pull from the Pacific which is their provenance. They also have a need to position themselves against and within the modern tribal art market. What they have in common is heightened by the pure sound of the pacific ocean. jim vivieaere, Bottled Ocean
Note on Copy-text s General Introductio n Introduction xvii John Balleny, 'Discoveries in the Ant... more Note on Copy-text s General Introductio n Introduction xvii John Balleny, 'Discoveries in the Antarctic Ocean, in February 1839'.
Antiquity, 2017
The techniques of archaeological science have been fundamental to advances in understanding the p... more The techniques of archaeological science have been fundamental to advances in understanding the prehistoric past, but are also of great importance for the interpretation of world art, and especially of artefacts in ethnographic collections, too often provenanced and dated impressionistically. The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge holds a collection of some hundred artefacts collected during the first voyage of James Cook to the Pacific. The objects are of exceptional historic significance for two reasons. Far fewer artefacts were obtained during the first voyage than in the course of either the second or third; indeed, the growth of interest in indigenous material culture was itself an important strand in the history of the expeditions. This group, moreover, was brought together by Cook personally, given by him to his Admiralty patron, Lord Sandwich, and presented by Sandwich to Trinity College in October, 1771, only three months after the Endeavour's return to England. A delivery note in the form of a list, and an early inventory, are extant in the College's archives, and constitute the core of the documentary evidence for the collection's provenance (Gathercole 1998; Salmond in press; Thomas et. al. in press). The collection was placed on deposit at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in two stages, in 1914 and 1924, and has been held there since.
The Contemporary Pacific, 1996
And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. And he ... more And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? Genesis 37, 4-11
Observations Made during a Voyage round the World
ANTARCTICA 150 Bougainville I755 - 1769 Cook in the Endeavour I768 - l77l Cook in ihe Resolution ... more ANTARCTICA 150 Bougainville I755 - 1769 Cook in the Endeavour I768 - l77l Cook in ihe Resolution I772 - I775 Fumeaux in the Adventure 1772 -I774 1 AU ... Observations Made during a Voyage round the World This One AT4R-NDK-JK7E ... Frontispiece. Portrait medallion of Johann ...
The Politics of Tradition in the Pacific
Oceania, 1992
Partial texts: Representation, colonialism and agency in pacific history ∗
The Journal of Pacific History, 1990
Page 1. Partial Texts Representation, Colonialism and Agency in Pacific History* NICHOLAS THOMAS ... more Page 1. Partial Texts Representation, Colonialism and Agency in Pacific History* NICHOLAS THOMAS . . . historians often follow closely on the heels of events... But, at a deeper level, they tend to be intellectual laggards, influenced ...
‘Le Roi de Tahuata’:Iotete and the transformation of South Marguesan politics, 1826–1842∗
The Journal of Pacific History, 1986
Islanders
The Journal of Pacific History, 2012
The history of general histories of the Pacific Islands is a history in itself. First there was f... more The history of general histories of the Pacific Islands is a history in itself. First there was famine and now a feast. There is no sharp date of demarcation when scarcity turned to abundance. The publication of Kerry Howe’s Where the Waves Fall (1984) might constitute a turning point, which was reinforced by Deryck Scarr’s Kingdoms of the Reefs and Ian Campbell’s A History of the Pacific Islands (both in 1990). These, in turn, were followed by other sweeping treatments, the most recent being Islanders. It would be fair to say that Nicholas Thomas’s Islanders has received more notice and acclaim than any of its predecessors, having shared the prestigious Wolfson History Prize in 2010. It has also been widely and enthusiastically reviewed, and in outlets not normally concerned with the Pacific Islands. On behalf of The Journal of Pacific History I therefore welcome this forum and thank the reviewers for contributing their reflections. I am equally grateful to Nicholas Thomas for his considered and gracious response in the face of some tough questions.
A Cultural Appropriation Of History
Canberra Anthropology, 1982
Historical metaphors and mythical realities.- structure in the early history of the Sandwich Isla... more Historical metaphors and mythical realities.- structure in the early history of the Sandwich Islands kingdom, by M. Sahlins. Pp. viii + 84. Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania, Special Publication 1. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 1981.
The Museum as Method
Museum Anthropology, 2010
This speculative comment considers the potential worth of raising questions that appear simple bu... more This speculative comment considers the potential worth of raising questions that appear simple but may be rewardingly complex. It asks whether routine aspects of curatorial work, such as captioning objects and juxtaposing them in displays, may not have more suggestive dimensions than has been recognized previously. It asks what the implications of a conception of “the museum as method” might have for current approaches to public exhibition.
Anthropological epistemologies
International Social Science Journal, 2010
Dialectical Anthropology, 1982
Humanities Research, 2009
La sculpture maorie et l'histoire coloniale: Supplément aux voyages de Tene Waitere | [Maori carving and colonial history: A supplement to tene Waitere's travels]
ResumeCet article traite de la circulation de l’art indigene a la fin du XIXe et au debut du XXe ... more ResumeCet article traite de la circulation de l’art indigene a la fin du XIXe et au debut du XXe siecles, et les effets de ces voyages dans les mondes indigenes et europeens d’aujourd’hui. Tene Waitere (vers 1854-1931) est tres generalement considere comme le plus important sculpteur maori de la periode coloniale. En plus de sculptures importantes faites pour ses proches parents et pour d’autres Maoris, il a produit des œuvres pour les touristes, les ethnologues et les musees coloniaux, notamment la grande maison sculptee « Rauru », qui se trouve au Museum fur Volkerkunde de Hambourg. S’appuyant sur les ecrits de Marc Auge, Pierre Nora et W. G. Sebald, et aussi sur le travail du photographe neo-zelandais Mark Adams, cet essai se penche sur les significations passees et presentes des œuvres de Waitere dans leurs cadres europeens.
Apollo, 2019
An opinion piece related to the debate about ICOM's proposed new museum definition
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Papers by Nicholas Thomas