Articles by Kalissa Alexeyeff
This paper examines how popular jokes about White women and their sexuality are utilised by Cook ... more This paper examines how popular jokes about White women and their sexuality are utilised by Cook Islanders to negotiate relationships with outsiders, particularly Western tourists. These jokes serve to unsettle tourist images of erotic paradise populated with welcoming island women and, further, offer a humorous commentary on the inequities of global capitalism.
From the 1990s, neoliberalism has been vigorously promoted by aid agencies operating in the Cook ... more From the 1990s, neoliberalism has been vigorously promoted by aid agencies operating in the Cook Islands. The solution to the country's economic problems has been sought in the privatisation of government assets and services and the development of free-market principles. Social Impact Assessment reports of these reforms have included information on their effect on women and children under the heading of 'gender'; men, however, are notably absent as a category of analysis. Building on recent work about men, masculinities and development, this paper begins to address this imbalance by examining how Cook Islands men have been effected by, and how they react to, neoliberalism in a series of gender specific ways. In particular, it explores the relationship between masculinity, class, status, and migration.
The Contemporary Pacific, 2007
This article is about a Drag Queen competition I attended on Rarotonga, Cook Islands, in 1998. 1 ... more This article is about a Drag Queen competition I attended on Rarotonga, Cook Islands, in 1998. 1 I am returning to it because it continues to perplex me-much as it did the audience on the night it was held. It was a show that combined elements of "Western" drag shows and beauty pageants, and "local" styles of cross-dressing and performing. This combination in itself is not unusual; drag queen competitions that meld local and nonlocal styles of drag performance have been held on Rarotonga since at least the 1980s. This particular show included performances that resulted in the show being judged by many in the audience as less than entertaining and, at times, highly distasteful. These sentiments were summed up in the aftermath, as the unanimous reaction to the competition was, "It was stink."
Dress of the Cook Islands
Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, 2010
Snapshot: The Mu’umu’u
Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, 2010
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Articles by Kalissa Alexeyeff