THE PARADISE PARADIGM: CULTURAL COMMODIFICATION AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE PACIFIC WORLD, 1780-1914 A dissertation presented By Tara M. Dixon to The Department of History In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the field of World History Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts August 2017 THE PARADISE PARADIGM: CULTURAL COMMODIFICATION AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE PACIFIC WORLD, 1780-1914 A dissertation presented By Tara M. Dixon ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in World History in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University August 2017 Abstract Utilizing the framework of trade networks and negotiations in the Pacific during the era of globalization, my dissertation, The Paradise Paradigm: Cultural Commodification and the Evolution of the Pacific World, 1780-1914, explores the fantasy and reality of desires. Over the course of the long nineteenth century, a period commencing with the last phase of British exploration of the Pacific and terminating at the beginning of World War I, the world became known, and within that “knowing” European and American actors constructed a particular framework of beliefs, prejudices, and practices that they carried with them into the region, and cultivated at home. This framework, known as a “transit,” operated in conjunction with other racialized stereotypes—and sometimes in opposition to them—to determine the appearance and conduct of Islanders at world expositions, theatre shows, and other displays that collectively formed a culture of spectacle designed to indoctrinate white Euro-Americans into the developing ideology of white supremacy. The commodification of Islanders’ culture and Island spaces lies at the heart of my work. Fundamentally, commodities is a study of objects, artifacts and the attendant belief-systems embedded within them, collectively known as material culture. Material culture illuminates unspoken processes at work in the Pacific; it helps articulate the actions and motivations of people who seldom left written records behind, or whose official account is belied by attitudes evident in their choices, expressed through the objectification, acquisition, and disposal of items they valued and ones they did not. There were times when both groups, operating in the same region, sought similar goals, though for different reasons. Tangible goods like cloth, china, masted ships, tropical fruits and plants and cultural expressions like dance (in this case Maori haka, Hawaiian hula, and Euro-American blackface minstrelsy), oral chant, and songs helped commodify the land and its inhabitants to enrich the pockets of white colonists. Goods in circulation helped reify Islanders’ traditional hierarchies in a constantly evolving world punctuated by shifting allegiances, new cosmologies, and influxes of Other people, and their “stuff.” Though the politics in play ultimately deprived most Islander polities of their sovereign rights by the beginning of the twentieth century, that consequence was neither inevitable nor determinative. I demonstrate that Pacific Islanders appropriated Western goods and technology to their own ends, for their !2 own reasons; rulers negotiated the tricky waters of Euro-American racism and noblesse oblige to solidify and maintain power for generations after Europeans made contact with them. The Romantic and Victorian sensibilities regarding commerce, morality, mobility, and nature shaped the Pacific just as surely as the region’s artistic expression, cosmology, and demographic decline shaped Western political and religious thought, leisure and bodily practice. !3 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my friends colleagues and family, for their unwavering support; and in particular, my daughters Amara and Eirene, for their assistance in collating and formatting thousands of digital photos taken at historic sites and museums visited over the past five years of my research. Thanks also to Chabeli Wells, my research assistant, who digitized an array of promotional materials, brochures, maps and other documents for me, and shared her own impressions (and memorabilia) as a tourist in New Zealand and Australia. I would like to thank Nathaniel Townsden for his help and insight into Australia and how history is articulated for white colonial descendants, and the current social climate there with respect to Aborigines and reparations. A special thanks to Barbara Townsden, who conducted local research at the Library of New South Wales when I could not, and collected the papers for the Flinders Island settlement on my behalf. Without her help I could not have contextualized a significant part of my analysis. I am deeply grateful to Tupouta‘anea ‘Atiola for her suggested readings and insight into Tongan self-perceptions of power; also, Dr. Barbara Travers, who talked me through the transition in my framework from “commodities” to “commodification.” My work is better because of her. My work with archival materials would not have been possible without the cooperation and assistance of the museum staff at the locations I visited. In particular, I wish to thank Paul Diamond at the Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand for taking the time to speak with me about his own work on Maggie Papakura and to clarify some aspects of Maori cultural performances for me; Nigel Borell and Kolokesa U. Mahina-Tuai at Auckland’s War Memorial Museum, both of whom made themselves available to me for questions, comments, and suggestions on methodology and content as I familiarized myself with the museum’s early records. I would also like to thank associate curator Fuli Pereira for answering my many queries on the museum’s collection, focus and future. Thanks also for her input and suggestions for future avenues of exploration. Also, I would like to thank the staff of the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and the University of Auckland for providing space, materials and consultation on their archives. Thanks also to the staff of the Bishop Museum, especially Leah Pualaha‘ole Caldeira for her willingness to accommodate my tight schedule. I want to thank the staff of the Hawaiian Children’s Mission Museum and the Historical Society of Hawaii for going above and beyond to find old, disused records and documents to satisfy my curiosity. I would also like to acknowledge the staff of the Oregon Historical Society and the Crumpacker Library in Portland, Oregon, and the Phillips Library in Salem, Massachusetts—especially Stephanie Buck, who kept me informed of the access issues for the Phillips Library and the Peabody Essex Museum. Finally, Jean-Marie Procious of the Salem Athenaeum and Mary Warnemont and Emilia Poppe-Mountain of the Boston Athenaeum gave me access to special collections and rare books to build my argument regarding travel narratives and the China trade. Words cannot thank you enough. I could never have completed my overseas research without the financial support of the Gillis family, who awarded me a travel grant in 2014, and the American Association for University Women, who funded a year of my writing with a Dissertation Completion grant. Thank you to Theon Ford and Shana Sabbath of the AAUW for their enthusiasm and support throughout what turned out to be a very long writing process. I wish to express my sincere appreciation for my department staff: they answered questions, ferried messages, and kept me current within the program while I was away. I am forever grateful to my committee, Drs. Harvey Green, Christine Skwiot, and Heather Salter for their boundless patience and hard work reading, editing, and commenting on hundreds of pages of text and dozens of images and difficult material. My deepest gratitude is reserved for Dr. Harvey Green, who spent more hours than either of us can count reading many drafts of the following dissertation. I would not be here today without you. !5 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgments 4 Table of Contents 6 Introduction 8 Relevant Literature 15 Pertinent Methodologies 24 Terminology 35 Chapter One - Routes 39 The Lines on the Map 39 Interstitials 43 Connecting the Dots 56 Conclusion: Unnecessary Necessities 73 Chapter Two - Destinations 80 Hina's Body, Maui's Hook: Origins and Order in the South Pacific 80 The Material Culture of Theology 99 “Artificial Curiosities” and the Tensions of Trade 115 Conclusion: Mana and Moku 137 Chapter Three - Consumed 142 Benevolent Empire 143 “White Republicanism” 157 The World at Your Doorstep 169 The World Abroad 181 Conclusion: Commodification of Place 197 Chapter Four - Commodified 203 Commodification of Race 203 Authentic Blackness: Anglo-American Appropriations of “African” Culture 206 !6 Real Blacks: Black Minstrelsy in America 216 Blackness Abroad: The Australasian Circuit 222 Unwritten Hawaii: Hula in Tradition and Transliteration 234 Grass Skirts: Polynesian Appropriations and Cultural Revival 238 “That Hula Hula!”: Appropriations to Suit White Fantasies 247 Conclusion: Looking Back to Move Forward 254 Chapter Five - Evolution 259 Uniformities and Appropriations 259 Simultaneities and Derivation 262 The Paradox of Exchange 267 Coda: Museum Representations of “Islandness” in the Polynesian Diaspora 273 Conclusion 287 Net Gains/Losses 287 References 293 Works Cited 294 Appendices - Maps and Illustrations 303 !7 Introduction Traveling by land to Waitangi is no easy task. The small town lies on the northeast coast of New Zealand’s North Island; on an