UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Reclaiming Mana. Repatriation in Rapa Nui Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4xt2r0rf Author Arthur, Jacinta Publication Date 2015 Supplemental Material https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4xt2r0rf#supplemental Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Reclaiming Mana Repatriation in Rapa Nui A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Culture and Performance by Jacinta Arthur 2015 © Copyright by Jacinta Arthur 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Reclaiming Mana Repatriation in Rapa Nui by Jacinta Arthur Doctor of Philosophy in Culture and Performance University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor David Delgado Shorter, Chair This dissertation presents an intersubjective ethnography of repatriation in Rapa Nui. The central problem addressed in this study arises by recognizing that the debates around repatriation and the “reburial issue” are grounded in an epistemological friction. Throughout this dissertation I contend that Rapanui understandings of ivi tupuna or ancestral remains conflict dramatically with the widespread understanding held by non-indigenous, both scientists and beyond. As this study demonstrates, the Rapanui people have their own ontology, according to which they perceive being and beings in the world very differently than those of us influenced by Western worldviews. They understand the ancestors and other beings they co-exist with as persons. For the Rapanui, ivi tupuna have thus an ontological status: they are the ancestors, with whom they relate by haka ara, genealogy. As persons, they are capable of sharing their distinctive ! ""! knowledges and mana with other beings, humans included. This genealogical and epistemological relation connects the living and the dead with their history, land, and knowledges. Scholars have very often ignored this distinctive ontology promoting a scholarly tradition that objectifies Rapanui systems of knowing and relating. In doing so, they dehumanize relations between a people and their heritage. The repatriation debate eloquently demonstrates the dramatic consequences of this epistemological conflict. First, repatriation activists have been particularly eloquent in asserting the destructive consequences of Western misinterpretation and appropriation of indigenous ancestors and knowledges. Second, the repatriation of the ancestors and ceremonial materials have helped indigenous communities around the globe maintain and revitalize their traditional systems of knowing and relating, re-connecting peoples with their histories and self-knowledges. Third, the repatriation movement has urged a new paradigm for the careful dealing of indigenous ancestors and living materials, rethinking the scientific endeavor and opening a space for a new generation of collaboration based on greater understanding and respect. This conflict between ontological and objectifying views expands to the broader field of indigenous studies, the repatriation lens working here as a microcosm revealing its grave consequences to indigenous peoples and their cultures. ! """! The dissertation of Jacinta Arthur is approved. Russell Thornton Mary Nooter Roberts Aparna Sharma David Delgado Shorter, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 ! "#! TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 PROLOGUE. ON ENCOUNTERS: EARLY CONTACTS AND PRESENT STUDY METHODOLOGIES 13 0.1. Te Pito O Te Kai!a, Rapa Nui 15 0.1.1. Polynesian discovery and colonization of Te Pito O Te Kai!a 0.1.2. Early encounters and Western discovery 0.1.3. Slave raids and the missionaries 0.1.4. Chilean occupation and neo-colonialism 0.2. Decolonizing research: notes on methodologies 27 0.3. On the fieldwork experience: observational cinema 34 0.3.1. The five video essays HERE!"A RO"O. HE MANA O TE TUPUNA 53 CHAPTER 1. MANA TAPU ’AO 55 1.1. Caring for the dead: mana and tapu after death 56 HERE!"A RO"O. KO KAVA ‘ARO KO KAVA TU’A 65 CHAPTER 2. REVISITING THE “SPIRITUAL”: RETHINKING “SPIRITS,” “MAGIC,” AND “TABOO” 72 2.1. He Tupuna. Beyond human and other-than-human persons 77 2.2. He Mana. From mysterious magic to relational epistemology 92 2.3. He Tapu. Between the “death taboo” and the tapu of the dead 104 HERE!"A RO"O. HE PUOKO O TE ARIKI KO HOTU MATU’A 115 CHAPTER 3. BETWEEN MANA AND POWER: A HISTORY OF COLLECTING IN RAPA NUI. PART I. THE RACE PARADIGM 119 3.1. “The Thief Native,” another convenient stereotype 120 3.2. Early voyagers: the eighteenth-century voyages of discovery 123 3.3. Collecting and the empire-building mission 131 3.4. The missionaries: collecting and the propagation of faith in the nineteenth century 134 3.5. First scientific expeditions at the birth of national museums 140 3.5.1. The Topaze and Lipton Palmer. United Kingdom, 1868 3.5.2. The Corbeta O’Higgins and Ignacio Gana. Chile, 1870 ! #! 3.5.3. La Flore and Pierre Loti. France, 1872 3.5.4. The Seignelay and Alphonse Pinart. France, 1877 3.5.5. The Hyäne and Commander Geiseler. Germany, 1882 3.5.6. The Mohican and William Thomson. United States, 1886 3.6. Collecting, museums, and colonization 164 HERE!"A RO"O. ’ANA TAO’A 168 CHAPTER 4. BETWEEN MANA AND POWER: A HISTORY OF COLLECTING IN RAPA NUI. PART II. A WORLD’S HERITAGE 171 4.1. Ethnographic archaeology on Rapa Nui: Collecting in the twentieth century 172 4.1.1. Katherine Routledge and the Mana Expedition, 1914-15 4.1.2. The Franco-Belgian expedition: Henri Lavachery and Alfred Métraux, 1934-35 4.1.3. Father Sebastian Englert and the re-establishment of the mission, 1935-68 4.1.4. Thor Heyerdahl and the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition, 1955-56 4.2. Protecting the world’s heritage: archaeological research and restoration in Rapa Nui 200 HERE!"A RO"O. TOKE#"A HE PUOKO ARIKI 209 CHAPTER 5. THE REPATRIATION DEBATE AND THE LAW OF THE FUNNEL 213 With †Sorobabel Fati Teao, Pelayo Tuki Make, Joaquín Tuki Tepano, Petero Huke Atan, Carlos Edmunds Paoa, Zoilo Huke, Piru Huke Atan, Pablo Hereveri Teao, Javier Tuki Pakomio, Te Pou Huke, and Tarita Alarcón Rapu HERE!"A RO"O. MANA ’API 249 CHAPTER 6. REPATRIATION IN POLICY: ON INDIGENOUS VALUES AND SOVEREIGNTY, A COMPARATIVE REVISION OF U.S. AND AOTEAROA REPATRIATION POLICIES 256 6.1. Indigenous activism and the birth of the repatriation movement 259 6.2. Sovereignty in policy: Scientific and Indigenous worldviews in repatriation statutes 263 HERE!"A RO"O. KO UHO TE UKA 279 CHAPTER 7. KA HAKA HOKI MAI TE MANA TUPUNA: THE RAPA NUI REPATRIATION PROGRAM IN THEORY, POLICY ! #"! AND PRACTICE 283 7.1. Ka Haka Hoki Mai Te Mana Tupuna and Haka Tere Tupuna 286 7.2. Five principles governing the Rapa Nui Repatriation Program 290 7.2.1. The principle of Haka Ara 7.2.2. The Principle of Te Re’o 7.2.3. The Principle of Tik$%a 7.2.4. The principle of Hua’ai 7.2.5. The principle of Te Mau Hatu 7.3. Repatriation, Haka Tere Tupuna and decolonization 316 HERE!"A RO"O. KA HAKA RO"O MAI 319 CHAPTER EIGHT. THE LONG JOURNEY HOME: AN IN-PROGRESS CASE STUDY 322 CONCLUSION. DECOLONIZING RESEARCH 332 BIBLIOGRAPHY 341 ! #""! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Maharo te ava, maharo te uka, maharo te ko’ura tere henua. He aroha atu i te ra’a nei mo te ra’a ta’a to’a hatu mai era e korua i te maramarama tupuna mo te a%a nei he kimi i te ’ono tupuna mo haka hoki ki te kai%a mana nui ena ko Te Pito O Te Henua. My way to voice my admiration, respect, and love for Rapa Nui and her people, with this dissertation I express my Rapanui friends and colleagues my sincere commitment to continue to work tireless in this dream that brought our paths together years ago: to bring the ancestors back home. I hope this dissertation will help to open the ways for their journey. I hope, too, it can make a small but honest contribution to the long and committed Rapanui struggle toward self- determination and cultural sovereignty. Many people are in these pages. To them I say that I thought every single word through, trying hard to be faithful to their many voices. I hope I did not fail. To them, for their teachings, trust, love, and support I want to thank with all my heart. I especially thank Janet Hey, a wonderful woman and the reason for which I first came to Rapa Nui. I thank you for adopting me on the Island, giving me a home, and showing me the way. I keep every single hug, every conversation, every trip to the campo, every smile. I dedicate this work to your loving memory. I also want to thank Iovani, Janet’s son, and koro Juan, Janet’s father; Sandra, Janet’s sister, her partner Petero, their son A Tera!i, and daughter Pua A Tiveka, my dear goddaughter. I thank you all for being a family to me, for making every day in the island a beautiful day. This dissertation could only be possible thanks to the generosity and commitment of my collaborators, whom I admire and respect greatly. A talented artist, ethnographer, and storyteller, ! #"""! Te Pou Huke has been fundamental in my learning of Rapanui oral traditions and worldviews. With my full admiration I sincerely thank Te Pou for sharing his knowledge, art, and wisdom. I thank you for being always there and for feeling this dissertation as your own. For every a’amu told and every concept patiently explained; for inspiring me with every conversation; for opening his world and relations to me; for showing me every corner of the Island and sharing your love to your land, your culture, and your people; for teaching me so much about so many things, I thank you from the deepest of my heart.