Tahiti Intertwined: Ancestral Land, Tourist Postcard, and Nuclear Test Site Author(s): Miriam Kahn Reviewed work(s): Source: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 102, No. 1 (Mar., 2000), pp. 7-26 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/683535 . Accessed: 23/03/2012 00:39

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http://www.jstor.org MIRIAM KAHN Departmentof Anthropology University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195

Tahiti Intertwined: Ancestral Land, Tourist Postcard, and Nuclear Test Site

In this article,I apply ideas from Foucault,Lefebvre, and Soja aboutthirdspace, or space beyond dualisms,to an under- standingof "Tahiti"as a complex,intertwined place. For most Tahitians,a sense of placeis rootedin land, which individu- als describeas a nurturingmother. Genealogical ties to land define personalidentities and social relationships.For the world at large,however, the perceptionof Tahitiis basedon seductive,mass-mediated, touristic images. The perpetuation of these images, whose originsgo backtwo-hundred years, has become increasinglyenmeshed in the economicand politi- cal agendasof the Frenchcolonial government.The resumptionof nucleartesting in FrenchPolynesia in 1995-96 andthe subsequentrioting by Tahitians,which disseminatednegative images throughoutthe world,provide a settingfor an analy- sis of Tahitithat moves beyonddualisms. Tahiti is understoodinstead as an intertwinedthirdspace, equally real andimag- ined, immediateand mediated. [place, colonialism, imagery, tourism, nuclear testing]

The space in which we live, which drawsus out of ourselves, ([1974] 1991:6). He argues for a science that moves beyond in which the erosionof our our time and our lives, historyoc- mere descriptions of what exists in space or discourses on the thatclaws and at is in a curs, space gnaws us, also, itself, space to one that gives rise to a knowledge of space and its ... we live inside a set of relations. heterogeneousspace production ([1974]1991:7). Space, he says, embraces a [MichelFoucault 1986:23] multitude of intersections. Desiring to create a theoretical Thereis no "reality"without a concentrationof energy,with- unity between fields that are apprehended separately (the out a focus or the core-nor, therefore, without dialectic. physical and the mental), but interact with and influence [HenriLefebvre (1974)1991:399] one another, Lefebvre labels his project the development of a "unitarytheory" ([1974]1991:14). He outlines a dyad, In to understand social life, late-twentieth- grappling from which a triad, or "thirdspace"(il y a toujours l'autre), scholars have to the same kind of in- century begun give emerges. tense analytical attention to space that nineteenth- and FIRSTSPACE SECOND early twentieth-century scholars gave to history. In the SPACE THIRDSPACE mental social past, as Michel Foucault ([1976]1980:70) points out, physicalspace space space perceivedspace conceivedspace livedspace "space was treated as the dead, the fixed, the undialectical, (l'espace (l'espacecongu) (l'espace the immobile. Time, on the contrary, was richness, fecun- pergu) vdcu) dity, life, dialectic." As the relative positioning of space It is the thirdspace that he desires to understand. Simul- and time has become realigned, space has emerged as more taneously physical and mental, concrete and abstract, it central than before and, around it, a new body of literature emerges from the dialectic of the two. Mental space, for- has developed. This may be in part because, as Foucault mulated in the head, is projected onto physical reality, (1986:23) states, "the anxiety of our era has to do funda- which in turn feeds the imaginary. Edward Soja (1989:18) mentally with space, no doubt a great deal more than with refers to thirdspace as the habitus of social practices, a con- time." Scholars like Foucault have not only recognized the stantly shifting and changing milieu of ideas, events, ap- importance of space in understanding social action, but pearances, and meanings (Soja 1996:2). have illuminated new ways of thinking about space, an ap- This idea of thirdspace, formulated by Foucault and Le- proach Foucault calls "heterotopology." febvre in France in the 1970s, and applied by Soja in the Henri Lefebvre, likewise, in his powerful treatise on the 1980s and '90s,' has had surprisingly little impact on disci- production of space, calls for a "science of space" that plines like anthropology that aim to understand people and overcomes the "abyss between the mental sphere on one environments. Indeed, for much of anthropology's history, side and the physical and social spheres on the other" place has been neglected. For decades, it was relegated to a

AmericanAnthropologist 102(1):7-26. Copyright0 2000, AmericanAnthropological Association 8 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH 2000

static physical backdrop,a kind of stage-settingremoved more than most places, Tahiti has a life of its own that from human action and interaction-the mandatoryfirst dwells in outsiders'imaginations.6 While conductingmy chapterin every earlyethnography. Only in the pastdecade research,I lived in two differentvillages, both in the Lee- or so have anthropologistscome to gripswith its complexi- wardgroup of the Society Islands(one of the five archipel- ties, even pleadingfor a theory of place (Rodman1992). agos in FrenchPolynesia). Yet, theirrenewed interest in the topic has often only per- One village, Fetuna,on the island of Raiatea,is located petuatedthe abyss in one of anthropology'sown set of du- 25 kilometersfrom Uturoa, the island'smain town andthe alisms, namely between outsider/insiderperspectives. local Frenchadministrative center. Raiatea is heavilyinflu- Some anthropologistshave deconstructedthe powerful enced by its administrativerole, which producesa strong concepts of place that outsiders entertain and impose French bureaucraticpresence. I chose Fetunabecause it throughan assemblageof representations.Tourism indus- was as faraway as one couldget fromUturoa on the island. tries, for example, produce countless texts and images Although some Fetuna residents worked in town, most throughwhich spacesget transformedinto, and reproduced spenttheir days in the village. There,houses lined an un- as, sites and destinations.2Museum exhibits and theme paved, poorly maintained,coastal road made of dirt that parksalso rely on fabricatedsettings to providecontext and hadbeen packedwith crushedcoral and shell dredged from convey messages.3Likewise, the mass marketingof goods the sea. One day, the mara'amutrade winds blew fiercely dependson the manipulationof images of places to influ- and the sea thrashedover the road,leaving behind piles of ence the consumingpublic. Capitalistmarkets, while eco- trash that otherwise resided unobtrusivelyon the ocean nomically needing other peoples and environments,may floor. Rusty tin cans, plastic bottles, disposablediapers, politically seek to eliminate them through consciously plasticbags, torn clothes, and broken thong sandals littered craftedmisrepresentations (Williamson 1986). the road. Severaldays afterthe winds had calmed down, Othershave triedto understandplaces from the perspec- governmentemployees responsiblefor road maintenance tive of their inhabitants,noting that places are developed arrived.They sat on top of their yellow road gradersand interactivelyas individualsrelate to them, shapethem, and lethargicallybut methodicallyplowed the garbageback createthem.4 They have connectedplaces to social imagi- into the sea. Thatsame roadcircled the islandand, eventu- nation and practice, to dwelling and movement, and to ally, widerand paved, led into Uturoawhere it was flanked memoryand desire, and have found worldsthat are sung, by numerousshops selling food, clothing, pharmaceuti- narrated,and mapped(Feld and Basso 1996:8, 11). Focus- cals, stationerygoods, fishing gear, and other sundries. ing on the internallyconstructed and negotiatednature of Upon enteringthese stores,shoppers were usuallygreeted place, anthropologistshave produceda varietyof new de- by posters and calendarswith pictures of sandy white scriptivephrases to debunkthe old notion of location as beaches under stunningblue skies, racks of postcardsof staticbackdrop. These newly perceivedspaces are said to coquettish, bare-breastedwomen, or magazines with be "discursivelyconstructed" (Appadurai 1988), "multilo- glossy photos of multicoloredfish dartingthrough spar- cal" and "multivocal"(Rodman 1992), unconfined"eth- kling turquoiselagoons. noscapes"(Gupta and Ferguson 1992), and "dynamic mul- The other village I lived in was Faie, locatedon Hua- tisensualprocesses" (Hirsch and O'Hanlon1995). Yet, the hine, an island whose inhabitantsare known for being hoped-fortheory of place has not materialized.Anthropol- proud and independent.The center of Faie was densely ogy's recentconcern with conceptsof place and processes packed with colorful houses nestled among trees. At the of place makingmay benefitfrom ideas aboutthirdspace.5 southernend of the village,the roadcrossed a smallbridge Here I apply ideas aboutthirdspace to explore and un- before it climbeda steep hill to a lookoutwith a magnifi- derstand"Tahiti." In doing so, I move beyond the seem- cent view over the bay and surroundingpeaks. Every Sun- ingly contradictoryperspectives of Tahiti as either fanta- day, like clockwork,an air-conditionedvan full of tourists sized postcardor inhabitedlocale, and instead embrace passedthrough the village. They came fromthe Windsong, Tahitias a "habitatof social practices."Tahiti emerges as a a cruise ship that sailed the watersof the Society Islands, complexlived space thatis generatedwithin historical and stoppingeach day in a differentport duringa week-long spatialdimensions, both real andimagined, immediate and trip.In Faie, theirdestination was a groupof "sacredeels" mediated.Various notions of place, often at battle with that, accordingto guidebooks, were the biggest in the each other,nonetheless involve, underpin,presuppose, re- world. The eels lived under the bridge, slitheringin a spondto, andgenerate one another. streamoften litteredwith debris.The van parkedand the tourists, usually wearing designer clothes and clutching Places of Tahiti cameras,piled out. Tahitianchildren stopped their playing, shyly clusterednearby, and watched.The guide encour- When I began researchon the productionof place in aged the touriststo go into the small store next to the 1994 (a secondfield site andresearch topic for me), I chose bridge,buy cannedmackerel (where, cleverly, the priceof French Polynesia as a field location precisely because, mackerelwas exceptionallyhigh), andhand-feed the eels. KAHN / TAHITI INTERTWINED 9

Most touristsstood at the bridgeand askedthe guide a few Geo-Politics and Local Habitat questions about the eels or took pictures,while the more Lefebvreand Foucaultare both mindfulof the adventuresomeamong them gingerly stepped into the political of the of Lefebvre'sscience of waterbelow, of fish from theirfin- aspects production space. murky danglingpieces stems from his commitmentto an Soon thereafter climbedback into theirair- space understandingof gers. everyone His theoriesaim to uncoverthe conditionedvan andleft. politicalpractices. political use of knowledgeand imply an ideology designedto con- Fetunaand Faie are very differentfrom one another,as ceal that use. As he states, "thedominant tendency is to- are the two islandsof Raiateaand Huahineon which they wardshomogeneity, towards the establishmentof a domi- are located.Yet, as I lived in each, I was struckless the by nated (Lefebvre [1974]1991:411). Foucault, in differencebetween them than a more space" by greater, powerful particular,emphasizes a politicalunderstanding of space. contrast.As in tourist the was many destinations, disparity He remindsus that"the military and the administrationac- between life as lived the local inhabitants daily by (Tahi- tually come to inscribethemselves both on a materialsoil tians workingin their gardens,fishing in the sea, visiting and withinforms of discourse"(Foucault [1976]1980:69). with friends,looking at tourists,repairing broken vehicles, Indeed, he sees the history of spaces as the history of or staying in theirhouses to clean, cook, or watch televi- power. "A whole history remains to be written of sion) and the seductive images offered on calendarsand spaces-which would at the same time be the history of postcards,and in magazinesand guide books, that lured powers ... from the greatstrategies of geo-politicsto the touriststo an exotic destination(perhaps only to be disap- little tacticsof the habitat"(Foucault [1977]1980:149). pointedby such a lacklusterexperience as tossing greasy For Soja,too, thirdspaceis eminentlypolitical. It is mackerelto eels in a dirtystream). a knowableand unknowable, real and imagined lifeworld of I As time passed, continuallywondered about these two experiences,emotions, events, and political choices that is ex- different places-to use Lefebvre's terminology-the istentiallyshaped by thegenerative and problematic interplay physical and perceived,on the one hand, and the mental betweencenters and peripheries, the abstract and concrete, the and conceived, on the other.At first I had thoughtof daily impassionedspaces of the conceptualand the lived,marked perceivedlife as existingin a separaterealm from the con- outmaterially and metaphorically in spatial praxis, the trans- formationof into actionin a field ceived tourist representations.I assumed that Tahitians, (spatial)knowledge (spatial) of unevenlydeveloped (spatial) power. [Soja 1996:3 1] otherthan those few who workedin the touristindustry, re- mainedunaffected by the seductiveimages. But suddenly, In FrenchPolynesia, locally inhabited space is definitely in September1995, my thoughtschanged. On September interlacedby dominant,global politics.In today's largely 5, the Frenchgovernment resumed nuclear testing by ex- postcolonial world, French Polynesia, more popularly ploding a bomb on the atoll of Moruroa,1,200 kilometers known as Tahiti,8remains one of the few colonies still in from Tahiti. The next day, riots swept the capitalcity of existence. Lying half-wayaround the world from France, Papeete on the island of Tahiti and images of protesters, FrenchPolynesia is administeredunder France's Ministry fires, and looting flooded world television sets and news- of OverseasDepartments and Territories.Under the terms of France's 1946 papers.The Frenchgovernment's response to the dissemi- constitution,the colonies in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans French nationof these images was tinged with obvious anxiety.I (Martinique,Guadeloupe, and became d'outre-mer immediatelygained new insight. I awoke to the destruc- Guiana, R6union) dipartements tiveness that was not in the bomb (DOMs) with a legal structureand administrationthat is only lodged exploding identicalto the The colonies in but in the postcardimages themselves.I began to realize, metropolitandepartments. the Pacific Ocean (New Caledonia,French the both throughethnographic research and by studyingmedia Polynesia, formerFranco-British condominium of the New Hebrides, how motivated, representations, economically politically now called Vanuatu,and-after 1961-Wallis and Fu- manipulated, and consciously constructed the images tuna)were renamedterritoires d'outre-mer (TOMs). Ter- were. Above all, I understoodhow deliberatelyintertwined ritories,unlike departments,are administeredby a gover- were with the French the they colonialenterprise. Indeed, nor or governor-general.The constitution defined the and distributionof of Tahitias production images paradise FrenchUnion, the new incarnationof the Empire,in such a seem to serve colonialinterests by allowingthose in power way that "the word 'colony,' like 'Empire,'was thereby (primarilythe Frenchand demi, who are people of mixed banished from French constitutional usage" (Aldrich ancestrywhose backgroundis bothTahitian and French, or 1993:67).The result,however, was thatFrance established Chinese, German,English, American, etc.) to convince a politicalpresence in all the world'smajor oceans, with a those without power (primarilyTahitians) that the status similar colonial configurationin all DOM-TOMs (see quo serves Tahitianinterests.' The thirdspacethat gradu- Bensa 1995; Giradet1972; Price 1998). Indeed,many ad- ally emergedfrom my researchand growing understanding ministrativepersonnel rotate between DOM-TOMs during was a vastly morecomplex and, above all, politicalspace. theircareers. A decadeafter the 1946 constitution,the need 10 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH2000 to maintaina nucleartesting base in FrenchPolynesia, and feeds andprovides for them.In precontacttimes, everyone the desireto link the DOM-TOMs,so they formeda chain had access to land, which was jointly owned by extended of Frenchbases encirclingthe globe, providedthe theoreti- families (fenua feti'i). The populationwas composed of cal pillarsof France'sinternational policy in the SouthPa- threemain classes: the king, or ari'i, and high chiefs who cific (Aldrich1993:336). possessed godly powers and owned land thatincluded re- In FrenchPolynesia, the Constitutionof the Republicof ligious sites; the royal servants,or ra'atira, who owned Franceremains the supremelaw of the land. The French large estates obtainedby conquestor grantedby the king; parliamentlegislates laws. The Frenchpresident appoints and the lower class, or manahune,who lived on and culti- the chief administratorand most local officials. Paris re- vated land allocatedto them and for which they paid with tainscontrol of defense,law andorder, foreign policy, cur- harvested food (Tetiarahi 1987:47-48). Although this rency,education, immigration, health care, social services, stratifiedsocial system no longer exists, land is still the television,radio broadcasting, and newspapers. The degree most valuableTahitian substance. It providespeople with of autonomyexercised by the FrenchPolynesian govern- the meansto surviveand care for theiroffspring, as well as ment depends on the goodwill of the mitropole. When it with a moral and spiritualfeeling of identityand connec- deems such actionnecessary, the Frenchstate can assume tion. directand near total control (Aldrich 1993:159). The thou- The importanceof land can be seen in numerousways sandsof Frenchsoldiers and civil servantsin FrenchPoly- today. For example,as pointedout by Raapoto(1994), the nesia can vote in local electionsthe day they arrivein the centralTahitian concept of 'utuafare,or household,hinges territory. on a notionof sharedfamily land,including various houses This colonial grip manifests itself daily in numerous for sleeping, cooking, and eating, as well as trees and ways. Tahitianchildren devote the majorityof theirschool plants.He explainsthat land is both the motherwho nour- day to learningFrench language, history, and geography. ishes herchildren and the sourceand marker of identity.As Postsecondaryeducation, other than at the CentreUniver- a nurturingmother, land provides food such as taro,yams, and breadfruit.As the which sitaire de Polyn6sie Franqaiseon the island of Tahiti, is place upon ancestralmove- usually limited to universities in France since Frenchis ments and settlementsare imprinted,land connects indi- the only languageofficially taughtto Tahitians.Most tele- vidualsto theirfamily history through their genealogies. vision broadcasts are through Radio France Outremer These beliefs come togethermost poignantlyin the Ta- (RFO), which represents"the voice of France,"and all hitian custom of a motherburying her child's placentain theiremployees are paid directly from France. the ground(Raapoto 1994). The placentais called the pu This position of domination is not without cost to fenua (call to the earth).The umbilicalcord, which is bur- France,which, in 1995, pumped625 millionFrench francs ied next to the placenta,is calledpito o tefenua (centerof (U.S. $1.25 billion) into the economy to maintain it the earth).Marama, a middle-agedwoman on Huahine, (Benchley 1997:9).9Unlike other colonial relationships who had given birthat home to 24 children,explained this rootedin economic exploitation,this one, instead,is moti- practiceto me. vated by economic investmentand nationalpride."' The is also The French Theplacenta is alwaysput back in theearth. When the child is system self-perpetuating. payments, in thewomb the mother takes care of it, butwhen it is bornthe upon which the economy depends,are filteredthrough a mothercalls the land to takecare of herchild. The land will thatis controlled a few most of whom system by families, give life to theperson by providingfood. Now thereare lots are French or demi." This well-entrenched,privileged of pu fenuahere because I hadmany children, plus my chil- class providesbuilt-in assurance that the economicand po- drenbring their children's placentas. You can bury it andthen litical system will endure. moveaway. It doesn'tmatter because you arestill connected to yourfamily's land. [Marama Teiho, personal communica- A Reciprocal Relationship with Land tion,1995] For Tahitians, as for most Pacific Islanders, a sense of The placenta can also be placed in the ground on land that place is deeply rooted in land.12 Both ancient history and one does not own. As a Tahitian woman living in urbanPa- contemporary life are grounded in the relationship between peete told me, "When I asked the doctor for the placenta he people and land, and all that this relationship encompasses, had no trouble giving it to me because everyone does that. I bestows, and justifies. Islands are believed to be born of had to stay in the hospital five days, so the placenta was put deities, and an island's topographical features may repre- in a plasticbag andrefrigerated. Later I put it in the ground sent physical attributes of the gods. From the human off- next to the house I rent in Papeete" (Manolita Ly, personal spring of the gods come all living things. Genealogies in- communication, 1994). struct individuals about their spiritual and familial Some of the general differences I noticed between life relationship with the land. Above all, it is a reciprocal rela- on the island of Raiatea (where people are more cash- tionship. People must care for the land because it, in turn, dependent and reserved) and Huahine (where people are KAHN / TAHITI INTERTWINED 11 more self-sufficientand outgoing) were in partthe resultof history.In additionto theselarge historical marae, there are differentrelations between people and land. When origi- smaller,family maraelocated next to people's houses that nally lookingfor a field site, I was advisedagainst working still serve as burialsites for familymembers. on Raiateaprecisely because its designationas the admin- As can be seen, land is pivotal in providinga Tahitian istrativecenter of the LeewardIslands meant that many of sense of place and identity.Yet, most Tahitiansalso be- its inhabitantscame fromelsewhere and lived on landthey lieve in the spiritualand complementaryassociation be- did not own (PierreSham Koua,personal communication, tween land and sea. "We need both.From the land we get 1994). On the other hand, I was told that certainislands, taro, yams, and breadfruit.From the sea we get fish and such as Huahineor Maupiti,would be morerepresentative seafood" (MarerevaTetuanui, personal communication, of Tahitianvalues because Tahitiansstill owned most of 1994). Indeed, in ancienttimes, each island was divided the land. People on Huahine,in particular,are known for into several wedge-shapeddistricts, each of which spread theircombative spirit when their land is at stake,as evident from the inlandmountains down to the coast. Royal fami- in the followingparipari, a style of ancientchant." lies exercised rights to land for cultivationas well as to coastalareas for It is this belief on whose northshore is marae Manunu(the homeof fishing(Tetiarahi 1987:48). Huahine, in of land and sea that accountsfor thegod Tane) the complementarity Huahine,which was divided into ten districts by brothers the Tahitianpractice of bringingcoral inland to add to the Thepeople of Huahinewill fight for their land, their life, their stones at a maraeand explainswhy coral can be found at country almostevery marae,no matterhow far inlandit is located Theywon't stand there and take what they don't like.14 (Eric Komori,personal communication, 1995). Yet, Tahi- tianssee the fascinationwith the sea andthe beach,as such, A recentexample illustratesthis. When a Japanesegroup as a traitthat is uniqueto tourists."5"Tahitians don't careto proposed buying the land aroundHuahine's Fauna Nui live next to the sea or to have a view of water.They see the Lake, with intentionsof developing a Sea World-typeof waterall the time.It's nothingspecial. Tourists are the only amusementpark, six thousandsignatures were quicklycol- ones who cravethe water"(Haapa Hautia Dituru, personal lected to halt the project(Chantal Spitz, personalcommu- communication,1994). Where,then, does the tourist'sde- nication,1995). sire for a turquoiseTahiti originate? Nowhere is the importanceof the connectionbetween and moreevi- people, land,history, genealogy, spirituality Images on Europe's Confining Walls dentthan in the manymarae that rise majesticallyfrom the earth.These are sacredsites of ancienttemples dedicated For more thantwo-hundred years, Europeans, and later to individualdeities thatserved as portalsfor the deitiesto Americans,have createda long, continuousline of rela- descendto earth.Today, usually all thatremains of a marae tively consistentimages in which an idyllic Tahitiis con- is a rectangulararea that is covered with paving stones, structedand maintainedas its own referent.Like many often surroundedby low walls, and a large stone altarat such narrativesthat representstereotypes about the past one end. Largeupright stones in frontof the altar,or else- ratherthan the past itself, "culturalproduction has been wherewithin the walledarea, symbolize the genealogiesof drivenback inside the mind ... it can no longer look di- the marae'screators. Although marae are no longer used rectly out of its eyes at the real world for the referentbut for religious ritualas they once were, they are deeply re- must ... traceits mentalimages of the worldon its confin- spected as living memorials.They mark the presenceof ing walls"(Jameson 1983:118). deities in the landscape.They signify the history of the The earliestimages of Tahitiwere shapedby European movementof ancestorswho establishedmarae as they set- imperialistphilosophies and, later, by French colonialist tled in new locations. Salmon (1904:3) relates how politics.When the Frenchexplorer, Louis-Antoine de Bou- Ta'aroa,the Tahitiangod of creation,is permanentlyim- gainville, first arrived in Tahiti in 1768, Jean-Jacques printedin the landscape,visible in variousmarae on differ- Rousseau had just made the "noble savage" popularin ent islands."Ta'aroa's marae was Vaiotaha;his upperjaw Europe.Upon seeing Tahiti,Bougainville named it "New restedat Ahutaiterai,on MaraeFaretai (on Bora Bora);his Cytheria"after the legendarybirthplace of Aphrodite,the lower jaw rested on Tahuea i te Turatura,at Marae Goddess of Love, aestheticizingTahitians through classi- Mata'ire'a(on Huahine);his throatand belly, Tetumuand cal reminiscences(Despoix 1996:5).When he returnedto Harura,at MaraeVaearai (on Raiatea)."On Huahine,for Europewith reportsof beautifulwomen with uninhibited instance,the names of the first four sons of the village of manners,visions of sexual abandonswept like wildfire Maeva are also the names of four of its marae.Maeva, throughParis and London. His Frenchpublication of Voy- which has a greaterconcentration of maraethan any other ages in 1771, followed by the Englishtranslation in 1772, location in Polynesia,is said to be tu'iro'ohei (renowned providedEuropean men with a vision of earthlyparadise for its deep culturalroots) because it exists on landthat has and an endless source of dreams.It containedpassages always providedfor its inhabitantsand is rich in ancestral suchas the following: 12 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH2000

Theypressed us to choosea woman,and to comeon shore with her; and theirgestures ... denoted in what mannerwe shouldform an acquaintancewith her. It wasdifficult... to keep at theirwork four hundred young French sailors, who hadseen no womenfor six months.In spiteof all ourprecau- tions,a younggirl came on board,and placed herself upon the quarter-deck,near one of thehatch-ways, which was open, in orderto giveair to thosewho wereheaving at the capstan be- low it. Thegirl carelessly dropped a cloth,which covered her, and appearedto the eyes of all beholders,such as Venus showedherself to thePhrygian Shepherd, having, indeed, the celestialform of that goddess. [Bougainville(1771)1772: 218-219] A comparisonof Voyageswith Bougainville'soriginal journal(Taillemite 1977), however,indicates the extentto whichnegative first encounters were rewrittenin a positive way for laterpublication, thus providingus with a classic ::-;::: foreshadowingof the politics of representation.In contrast to the journalnotes, which include ample descriptionsof Europeanfrustrations with the Tahitiancustom of "steal- ing,"the publishednarrative was carefullyrewritten in or- der to appealto Europeans.16Bougainville made changes and additions,such as "referencesto goddesses,nymphs, noble savages,and the beautyof the landscape"(Claessen 1994:23). When JamesCook visited Tahitibetween 1769-77, he took along artistslike JohnWebber, who createdintoxicat- ing images thatfurther reinforced European romantic no- tions (Figure 1). Europeanincorporation and recastingof the romanticwas furtheredwhen Cook transportedOmai, a Tahitianfrom the island of Raiatea,back to England, makinghim the firstPolynesian to residein for Europe any 1. Poedooa Oree, Ulietea of time Clark McCormick Figure (Poetua), Daughter of Chief of length (Baston 1790; 1941; (Raiatea), one the Islands, JohnWebber, canvas 57 x 37 became the of of Society by 1977).•7 Omai darling English society. in., c. 1780.By permissionof theNational Library of Australia. "Friendlyand charming, he was dressedby his benefactors in velvet jacketsand other Overthe next two finery. years By the turnof the century,a backlasharose to the noble he dinedin London'sbest met the to homes, king, learned BritishProtestant and French Catholic mis- shoot and skate and was a favoritewith the ladies" savageimages. (Kay sionariesarrived to subduea way of life that they inter- 1997:281).After Omai's in andthe ex- celebrity England, pretedas licentious.They also were opposedto joint own- hibition of Cook's collection in a ethnographic London, ership of land and tried to convert Tahitiansto a land blossomedin "Travelliterature Polynesianvogue Europe. tenuresystem morein tunewith the idea of a Christiannu- was ... 'Tahitian' verandas were popular designed for clear family (Ward and Kingdon 1995). Missionaries was countryhouses, 'Polynesian'wallpaper fashionable, slowly becamepart of a growingcolonial presence as Eng- and artificial 'South Seas' lakes were built into landscaped lish andFrench vied for possessionof new colonies.When vistas" (Daws 1980:11). two FrenchCatholic priests arrived in Tahitiin 1836, the In 1789, the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, the most noto- Tahitianruler, Queen PomareIV, immediatelyexpelled rious in British naval history, further fixed images of leg- them.In responseto this perceivedinsult, a Frenchship ar- endary Tahiti in the minds of Europeans. During the mu- rived in Papeetein 1838, demandingmonetary compensa- tiny, Fletcher Christian set Captain Bligh out to sea in a tion and a salute to the Frenchflag. At the same time, a small skiff and returned to Tahiti with the HMS Bounty. Frenchconsul, Moerenhout,was appointedto QueenPo- Forever after, the name of the Bounty has been associated mare. In 1842, while she and the English consul were with male adventureand freedom, with shirking the shack- away, Moerenhoutorganized local chiefs into signing a les of oppressive government on the high seas, and with petitionasking to be broughtunder French protection. A finding sexual pleasures under the palms. year later, the Queen's flag was lowered and Tahiti was KAHN / TAHITI INTERTWINED 13

declared a French Protectorate.Tahitian resistance was twentieth century. At the outbreak of World War I, strong, resulting in three years of guerrilla warfare Europe's flourishingeconomy caused an increasein the (1844-47). Duringthis period,legislators attempted to fur- ties between Franceand Tahiti. The EFO exportedlocal therdismantle the ancientland system by establishingvari- products,such as dried coconut and vanilla,in exchange ous laws in the 1840s and '50s thatguaranteed the security for Europeanmanufactured goods. This rapid economic of real estatetransfers. From then on, Tahitianscould sell expansion requiredan increasingly larger work force. theirland with all the risksinvolved (Tetiarahi 1987:50). In Lured by images created in the literaryand art world, 1880, the queen's son and successor,Pomare V, gave his French colonists flocked to Tahiti in great numbers.By land to France.The Protectoratewas given the name of 1911, therewere 3,500 Frenchresidents (Wheeler and Car- Etablissementsfrangais d'Oc6anie (EFO) and becamethe illet 1997:23) among a Tahitian population of 31,400 Frenchcolony it is today. (Newbury1980:272). As colonistsstreamed in, imagesra- The arrivalof Frenchrule, after a centuryof romantic diated out. In 1913, the EFO governmentproduced their images, encouragedEuropean and Americanwriters and first postage stampof Polynesianinspiration-a Tahitian artiststo make theirway to Tahitito live out, write about, womanwith a crownof flowerson herhead anda hibiscus and painttheir dreams.Places in literatureand art,as Le- blossom behindher ear. With this one stamp,the idea of febvre([1974]1991:15) has said, are "enclosed,described, Tahiti as beautiful,seductive, and feminine, but securely projected,dreamt of, [and] speculatedabout." Tahiti was underFrench control, was circulatedto the worldat large. no exception. The list of literati who enclosed Tahiti in WorldWar II brought4,500 Americansoldiers to Bora Bora in the their minds and projectedtheir images to the world is Society Islands,which was selected to be the firstin a chainof stationsacross the Pacific. great-Herman Melville, RobertLouis Stevenson,Pierre refueling Bora which had no vehicles Loti, W. Somerset Maugham, Jack London, Victor Bora, previously or paved roads, was transformed Segalen, Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall, and by bulldozers,trucks, seaplanes, bombs, and JamesMichener, to namethe most prominent. ammunition,tents, prefabbuildings (Kay 1997:219). When soldiers returnedhome after the their stories But none playedas powerfula role in creatingan endur- war, about romance kindled across the ing vision of Tahition the world's imaginationas did the tropical imaginations UnitedStates. Ever Bora Bora has been as Frenchpainter, Paul Gauguin.Gauguin's interest in Tahiti since, regarded one of the ultimateAmerican tourist fantasies. was first piquedwhen he viewed exhibitsof colonial out- of desire for from Francerum- posts at the 1889 Exposition Universellein Paris, and it Stirrings emancipation bled Tahitiafter the war. Pouvanaaa from was laterreinforced when he readPierre Loti's Le Mariage through Oopa, the islandof Huahine,became the leaderof the Tahitianin- de Loti.In lettershe wroteto friends,he reportedhis affairs with women from the colonies 1949: dependencemovement, serving in the TerritorialAssem- brought (Gauguin and the Frenchfor their and describedhis desireto a hut of the kind bly denouncing treatmentof Tahi- 118) "buy you tians as second-classcitizens. At the of saw at the UniversalExhibition... this would cost almost peak his power, his voice was silenced.He was convictedof con- Influenced both and ro- however, nothing"(1949:142). by colonial in a to down andwas mantic he embarkedon a that al- spiracy plot burn Papeete imprisoned, representations, voyage first in and laterin France lowed him to re-createthese for others. Papeete(1958-60) (1960-61), representations and bannedfrom to Tahitifor Penniless he sailed to Tahitito while returning eight years. in Paris, live cheaply In the name of the was to his careerand his can- 1957, colony changed advancing fulfilling dreams,setting Plans were for still vasses ablazewith his of Tahitiand Polyn6sieFrangaise. underway greater colorfully impressions changes. Tahitianwomen. It is importantto note thatGauguin's re- locationto Tahitiin 1891 was because possible primarily Mushroom and Technicolor he was a Frenchcitizen and Tahiti was a Frenchcolony. Clouds, Tourism, Although Gauguin's artistic accomplishmentsin Tahiti Visions were complex expressions of the convergence of European A major turning point in Tahitian colonial history oc- decadence and French colonialism (Perloff 1995), he con- curred in the 1960s. Events took place that both deepened tinues to be regarded as a symbol of the simple rejection of France's political entanglement with its colony and broad- European civilization and the embracing of South Seas ened the worldwide demand for exotic images of French primitivism. Ever since Gauguin, European painters have Polynesia. It was the era in which nuclear testing and tour- flocked to Tahiti to re-create Gauguin-like images on can- ism came of age side-by-side. As seductive imagery be- vases of their own (Jacques Boullaire, Pierre Heyman, Jean came increasingly integral to the political economy of Masson, and Yves de Saint-Font, to name only a few). French Polynesia, France was able to reap the bounty of These nineteenth-century colonial foundations, depicted two centuries of these representations and use this to its romantically in late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-cen- economic advantage. Prior to 1960, anticipating that Alge- tury literature and art, solidified and intensified in the ria might soon gain independence, France was preparingto 14 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH 2000 transferits nucleartest site fromAlgeria to FrenchPolyne- Whilethe worldcomfortably embraced this alluringim- sia. In 1963, a year after Algeria became independent, age of Tahitiin the mid-1960s, Frenchmilitary were occu- PresidentCharles de Gaulle establishedthe Centred'ex- pied differently.They quietly,but collusively,changed the p6rimentationsdu Pacifique (CEP) and officially an- name of Moruroa,which in Tahitianmeans "big lies," to nounced that Moruroaand Fangataufa,two uninhabited Mururoa,a word with no special meaning.20France began atolls in the TuamotuIslands (one of the five archipelagos atmosphericexplosions on the atoll in 1966,refusing to ac- in FrenchPolynesia), would be the new test sites. In addi- quiesce to the 1963 agreement(by the United States, the tion, headquartersand supportfacilities were established in formerSoviet Union,and Britain)to halt atmospherictests Papeete,on the islandof Tahiti,where a largearea of coral and to shift insteadto undergroundtesting. It was not until reef was reclaimedfor the constructionof new docks to 1974 thatFrance moved its tests below ground.21Moruroa, shelterand service the numerousships requiredto support as its Tahitianname indicates, and like the touristicimages and monitor the nuclear tests. While preparationswere of nearbyislands that distractattention from it, trulyem- firmly underwayfor developing the nucleartesting pro- bodies deep deception. It appearsneither in the French gram,another major change was takingplace, namelythe Polynesianphone book noron airlineschedules, and is im- constructionof an internationalairport at Faa'a,a few kilo- possible for nongovernmentpeople to visit. On the one meters down the road from Papeete, which opened in hand, the governmentclaims that the testing poses abso- 1960. The presenceof the airportpermitted easier access to lutely no environmentalor health dangers.Yet, Tahitians Tahitiboth for the government,which had begunto trans- who have workedon Moruroaall recountsimilar stories of fer equipmentand personnelin preparationfor the nuclear local banson the consumptionof fish fromthe lagoonand testing program,and for tourists,who were in search of coconutsfrom the land,and of the deathof people follow- Gauguin'sparadise. ing their illegal ingestion of these foods (Peto Firuu, The simultaneousarrival of nucleartesting and tourism personal communication, 1995; Etienne Piha, personal served to obscurethe intensityof the testing preparations communication, 1995).22 It has also been mandatoryfor in- from most residents.As nuclear supplies and personnel dividualsto carryGeiger counters and wear special anti-ra- were channeledthrough the airportand harboren routeto diationsuits while there (ConstanceCody, personalcom- the outerislands of Moruroaand Fangataufa, tourists were munication,1995). In spite of the government'spolicy of also arrivingon internationalflights in record numbers. putting a secrecy stamp on all local health statistics Whereasonly 1,620 touristshad come to Tahitiin 1960, a (Danielssonand Danielsson 1986:307),it was discovered year later, when the airportwas open, 8,700 arrived.'8 that,within a decadeafter testing began, such typicallyra- Tourism,which is by far the most influentialindustry in diation-induceddiseases as leukemia, thyroid cancers, French Polynesia, provides the main avenue through braintumors, and eye cataractsbegan to appearin alarming whichnon-French money is introducedinto the territory.19 numbers(Danielsson 1986:165). In 1962, a year afterthe airportwas operational,Ameri- In 1992, FrenchPresident Frangois Mitterand declared a can film crews descendedupon Tahitias well. Hollywood moratoriumon all testing, which was lifted by President glamorizedthe events of the mutinyon the HMSBounty in Jacques Chirac in 1995. By the time tests were finally a three-hourcolor film starringMarlon Brando and Tarita, stoppedin January1996, Francehad conducteda total of a Tahitianwoman. In contrastto an earlier, 1935, black- 45 atmosphericand 134 undergroundtests in FrenchPoly- and-white version of the story that had been filmed in nesia, with bombs up to two hundredkilotons, more than Hawai'i (implyingthat "exotic" locations are interchange- ten times the size of the bomb that destroyedHiroshima. able), the 1962 film was shot on location on Tahiti and Each test cost an averageof two billion CFP23(U.S. $20 Bora Bora, bringingTahiti-in Technicolor-into movie million)(Sancton 1995:23). theatersaround the world.The film emphasizedthe natural The nucleartesting program and all its ramificationsto- beautyof the islandsand the physicalsplendor of Tahitians tally transformedTahiti economically and socially. In ad- and therebycontinued to feed people's dreamsabout an dition to pumping money into the territory for the testing earthly paradise and sexual abandon. Technicolor fantasies program, France injected extra funds and goods to encour- seemed to slip even closer within reach when, in real life, age local acquiescence, generating a colonial dependency Marlon Brando married Tarita and purchased Tetiaroa, a relationship and artificial prosperity.24For example, in picture-perfect atoll forty kilometers north of Tahiti. With 1960, military spending in the territorywas 4% of the gross the new airportawaiting the arrival of tourists, an Office of domestic product, but by 1966 it rose sharply to almost Tourism Development luring them in, hotels springing up 80%. In the 1950s, returnson exports were 90% of the cost to accommodate them, and Hollywood's spectacle encour- of imports, but by the early 1970s had slumped to only aging iridescent dreams, many forces were set in motion. 10% (Henningham 1992:127-128). Government welfare Travelers' fantasies could now be turned into realities with allocations also began in the 1960s, with the amounts given the simple purchase of an airline ticket. and the categories of who qualifies steadily increasing over KAHN / TAHITI INTERTWINED 15 the years.Television, too, arrivedin 1966, the same yearas artof image-making.Illusion resides in the artist'seye and the firstatmospheric explosion. gaze,in the photographer'slens, on the writer'sblank page. Tahiti's importanceas the administrativeand economic Thevisual world plays an integral and integrative, active and in it. It fetishizesabstraction and it center of FrenchPolynesia caused many people from the passive,part imposes as thenorm. The kills.[(1974)1991:97] outerislands to migrateto Tahiti,attracted by jobs such as image buildingthe new harbor,airport, and hotels, and working In FrenchPolynesia, the Office of Tourismis the prime in the buddingtourism industry. Like many towns in the producerof these images that "fragment"and "kill."Their South Pacific, Papeetewas transformedfrom a sleepy co- images emphasize scenery-sandy beaches, blue skies, lonialport town to a cosmopolitancity, almostdoubling its colorfulfish, fancy hotels-rather thanpeople.26 In a 1994 populationbetween 1960 and 1970. Priorto CEP, most of move to gain morecontrol, Gaston Flosse, the Presidentof the populationhad fed itself by subsistenceagriculture and FrenchPolynesia, wrote a letterto all governmentagencies fishing. Within a decade the territorywas importingmost forbiddingthem to use any images of FrenchPolynesia of its food.25In the space of a single generation,many Ta- thatwere not producedby the governmentagency Institut hitians were transformedinto a working-classpopulation de la Communication Audio-Visuelle (ICA) (Paul that had become almost completely dependent on the Auz6py, personal communication,1995). The Office of money and goods broughtinto the territoryby France. Tourismand ICA, however, are not the only agencies to Land, too, slipped increasinglyout of Tahitians'control. produceand distributeimages. It is relativelyeasy for oth- Some people, particularlythose who had been educatedin ers to enter the business,as long as they do not sell their France,took advantageof opportunitiesto sell titles to their imagesto governmentagencies. land.The purchasers,often realestate agents, then sold the The individual who monopolizes the nongovernment land to French,Chinese, and othernon-indigenous buyers productionof photographicimages is Teva Sylvain, a (Tetiarahi1987:54). One woman describedthis spiraling blond,blue-eyed demi, who is the directorof Pacific Pro- descentinto dependencyand the relatedloss of land. motionTahiti. His seductiveimages of women, as well as scenery, adorn postcards,calendars, posters, place mats, BeforeCEP, Tahitians lived well. Theyworked in theirgar- coasters, address book covers, rulers, dens.They went fishing.They built their houses. After the cigarette lighters, and Severalof his are firsttest in 1966Tahitians became dependent on money.Now books, stationery, envelopes. images theyneed money in orderto live. Theybuy their food. They reproductionsof Gauguin'spaintings. He creditshis father buy cementand metalto buildtheir houses. Tahitians buy withhaving inspired his own outlook. moreand more things and how can they pay for everything? can't. to thebank and a loan.Then how can De Gaullesent my father,Adolphe Sylvain, to Indochinato They Theygo get butwith a cameranot a His wasto educatethe theypay the bankback? They can't. After a whilethe bank fight, gun. job comesand takes their land and sells it. Who the land? Frenchpeople about Indochina. From there, he was alsosent buys to theSouth Pacific. he wentas a Soon Foreigners.Later, where do the Tahitianslive? They have no Again, photographer. land. No house. end in a shack.Tahitians afterhe arrivedin Tahitiin 1946he met a Tahitianwoman They up living tiny whomhe latermarried. He his as a warcorre- havegotten lazy. They don't grow their own food anymore. kept position it in the store.If wantTahitian food it spondentbut stayed in Tahiti,documenting his new surround- They buy they they buy in black-and-white. fatherbecame the first in the market.I go to the marketevery Sundayto sell my food. ings My journalist Do know who it? Tahitians. week I sad to reallypublicize the islandof Tahiti.He photographedfor you buys Every get theKon Tiki andfor when I see that. Tai Piha, expedition Lifemagazine. By andby he [Kim personalcommunication, hadfour andme. He 1995] daughters neededto supporthis family anddid so withhis photographs.He wantedto showthe para- The verbalpicture Kim Tai paintedof her personalex- dise aspectof Tahitianlife. He wasconscious of thecontrast periencewith increasingdestabilization is in starkcontrast betweenthe Tahitian images of a peacefullife andthe West- to the visual of thatare mass- ernatrocities he stillcarried with him from the war. He photo- images permanentsplendor those that producedto enticethe worldat large. graphedonly aspects portrayedparadise-the childlike,simple, carefree side of life. [TevaSylvain, personal communication,1995] The Power of a Camera In 1970, Teva, then sixteen years old, followed his fa- With the growinginterdependence of France'spolitical ther's footsteps, creating images of his own fetishized view agenda,French Polynesia's political economy, and the rep- of Tahitian life. Postcard production, which he started in resentationof Tahitias paradise,it is not thatthe surprising 1974, the of his business.27 productionof alluringimages has become a majorindus- represents largest part Every one million of his are in French try.Lefebvre has commentedon the destructiveabilities of year, postcards purchased Polynesia, to begin their all over the Al- illusive imagery.His wordsapply to the situationin Tahiti. journey globe. though he decides on the images, he is guided by sales sta- Images fragment, they are themselves fragments, cutting tistics. As Teva explained to me, "I create images that I things up and rearrangingthem, d6coupageand montage,the think people want to buy. I come up with an idea and then 16 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST a VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH 2000 test it on the market.If an imagesells well, I producemore. If something doesn't sell, I take it off the market."His computer programtracks sales of every postcardimage and arrangesthem accordingto theirmarket popularity.28 Teva elaboratedon the marketingstrategies specifically for the postcardimages of women.29"Most of the women are not fully Tahitianbecause the men who visit Tahiti want a woman that they have in their head or in their li- bido,"he confidedto me. "Theywant one who looks like women they areused to. They don'twant her skinto be too dark,her nose too broad,or herthighs too strong."As a re- sult, the women on the postcardshave an assortmentof ge- netic backgrounds.As Teva pulleda few postcardsoff the top of a stack on his desk, he told me, "Forexample, #911 r is French, #976 is Tahitian,#977 is demi," and so on. "Lookat #911. She is one hundredpercent French. But I putthe crownof leaves on herhead and a coconutleaf bas- ket in her hands to give her a Tahitianlook. That's all it takes. Other than those props, there is nothing Tahitian about her" (Figure 2). He explained,"I simply produce what people want because, like my father,I have to feed my family."Although rationalizing that he was only ma- nipulatingthe market,he seemedvery awarethat, in doing :.- :.___._ - -~1.:---- so, he was also reconfiguringthe very image of Tahitiand Tahitianwomen. He admits that "the women of one's dreamsthat one admiresin my lascivious poses are not i:- foundon streetcorner" every (Sylvain 1994:64). I__: AlthoughTeva dominatesthe market,there are others like a role in of who, him, play major producingimages Figure 2. #911, Collection "Filles des mers du sud"/"Girls of the Tahiti. Oc6ane Production,which has been in existence South Seas" collection, by Teva Sylvain, photo, 1994, Pacific Pro- since the 1970s, producesand distributesboth visual im- motion, Tahiti.Photo courtesy of Pacific Promotion. ages and music videos of FrenchPolynesia. Eric Laroche, a Frenchman,is the directorof Oc6aneProduction. general which they discuss their motivationis remarkable.Teva, to him, his business of According produces"every type like his father,wants to help other men find a Tahitian Polynesianimage available." woman, even if she only exists on a postcardor on the Wehave stock images in threecategories: aerial, land, and un- pages of a calendar.In perpetuatinghis father'sdream, he derwater.The underwaterimages are the mostimportant at encouragesothers to hold onto theirdreams as well. Sev- themoment. We sell themeverywhere and anywhere. We are eral times he emphasizedhow importantit is to "keepthe the oneswho sell chan- only internationally.We sell to cable mythalive." nelsin andAmerica. We sell in all ho- Europe thevideos the Forthe two centuries,and until the d6cou- tels and storesin French We sell our videosin past recently, Polynesia. and of of Tahitifor the worldat The arethe same,but the page montage images large manylanguages. images language has been the and demi. Al- of the narrationchanges: English, French, German, Italian, mainly by French,Americans, andJapanese. Anyone can buy them. We arethe most impor- thoughthe motives for producingseductive Tahitian im- tantproducers of theseimages on themarket. Our images are ageryhave increasedin economicand political complexity notjournalistic, but touristic. We produce what tourists want. (for example,from Bougainville'swish to provethe exist- Mr.Navarro, my cameraman,and I togetherdecide what we ence of Rousseau's noble savage, to Gauguin'sdesire to wantto show.We showonly what is beautiful.We showthe vivify the women andhuts he saw at the colonialexhibits, sea, the mountains,songs, dances,and traditionalthings. to the Office of Tourism'seconomic need to lure in tour- Touristswant of haveseen. images thingsthey [EricLaroche, ists), the have remainedunimaginatively similar. personalcommunication, 1995] images Whathappens, though, when the productionof images is The Office of Tourism,as well as entrepreneurslike removedfrom this economicallyand politicallymotivated Teva Sylvain and Eric Laroche,have enormouscapacity sphereand put, instead,into the handsof Tahitians,them- and capabilityto createand disseminateimages of Tahiti. selves partof the largerentangled dialogue about Tahiti? The consistencyof theirintent and the forthrightnesswith Whathappens when the turquoiseveil of paradiseis lifted KAHN / TAHITI INTERTWINED 17

and,instead, unexpected, more realistic, and even negative, demonstratedin Chile, and held an anti-nuclearrock con- images are revealedand disseminatedaround the world? cert in Belgium (Gluckman1995). Even in France,former Examiningsuch a situationsheds furtherlight on just how PresidentMitterand publicly condemnedPresident Chi- integral to the colonial agenda these images and image rac's decision to resumetesting. Yet, in spite of local and fragmentsare. Examiningthe dialectic between space as global protesting,the governmentsof both France and perceivedby Tahitiansand space as conceivedby outsiders FrenchPolynesia remained unresponsive. also enlightensour understandingof how a Tahitianthird- Instead, PresidentFlosse invited political leaders, in- space emerges. cludingOscar Temaru (who refusedto go), to a "picnic"on MoruroaJuly 16-18. A few days later,La Dpe^chede Ta- The "Events" of September 6, 1995 hiti, the main newspaperin FrenchPolynesia, printeda two-page spreadabout Moruroa and Fangataufawith the On June 13, 1995, French President Jacques Chirac headline"Fish from the Lagoonare Delicious." The article ended formerPresident Frangois Mitterand's moratorium includedphotos of governmentofficials on nucleartesting by declaringthat he would resumetest- drinkingcoconuts, tuna, and in frontof barbecuedlob- ing beforethe end of the year. The rationalewas thataddi- catching posing fifty tional tests would allow for the of simulation sters.Most prominentwas a photoof PresidentFlosse tak- perfection a in Moruroa's and computermodeling techniques. Within days of Presi- ing relaxingdip lagoon. In severalmore, but somewhatsmaller, dent Chirac'sannouncement, anti-nuclear protesting began August, peace- ful marchestook in The was on a scale thatwas unprecedentedin the historyof French protest place Papeete. largest the de Polynesia,spreading to all majorislands. International me- organized by Eglise Evang6lique Polyn6sie whose dia respondedswiftly. Writers,television crews, and radio Franqaise,30 president,Jacques Ihorai, prayed for an end to the As the month reportersfrom all over the world descendedupon Tahiti. testing. Septemberapproached, in which the nuclear tests were scheduled to Greenpeace'santi-nuclear ship, the Rainbow WarriorHII begin, again hundredsof from all over the world arrived (the original Rainbow Warriorhad been blown up by journalists in French Frenchagents in Aucklandin July 1985, killing one crew Polynesia. member),left New Zealandfor Tahitiwith an international At 11:30 on the morningof September5, 1995, without crew representingten differentcountries. priorpublic warning,"operation thetis" was carriedout at Moruroa. A recordnumber of protesters(15,000-20,000 by some The explosionwas only slightlysmaller than that accounts) took to the streets in Papeete on June 29, de- at Hiroshima.It generatedtemperatures of severalhundred mandinga referendumon the resumptionof nucleartest- million degrees and pressuresof several million atmos- ing. These particularprotests were initiatedby OscarTe- pheres.The instrumentsrecording the explosion transmit- maru, the mayor of Faa'a and the leader of Tavini ted data for only a billionthof a second before they were Huira'atira,the pro-independenceparty. Carrying ukule- destroyedby the blast(Sancton 1995:27). les, people sat down in the streets.Traffic came to a halt. Thatnight, on the televisionnews, a crowd of reporters Papeetewas paralyzed(Gluckman 1995). Protestersset up fired questions at the director of CEP, Admiral Jean a blockadealong the main access roadsto the city, which Lichere,who appearedin his crispwhite navaluniform be- lasteduntil July 2, the 29th anniversaryof the first nuclear decked with medals.He explainedmatter-of-factly that at test at Moruroa.In the wordsof one crew memberon board 11:30 they had receivedorders from Paris to push the but- the RainbowWarrior II, "Thecommitment of the peopleis ton. He said thatthere had been no noise,just a minorshak- amazing-sitting all day through35 degree [centigrade] ing of the groundfor threeseconds, some slightagitation in heat, and then sleeping on hard asphaltall night"(Leney the sea with waves and geysers, and then everythingwas 1995). Protestsagain erupted on July 14, which coincided calm and "backto normal."He explainedthat the test was with the Frenchholiday of Bastille Day and the height of "forthe stabilityof the world,to insuresecurity for every- Tahiti's annualHeiva (a month-longfestival that features one," and declaredthat "it will have no significantimpact dancing, singing, and sporting competitions, arts and on the environment." When asked by the angry reporters crafts, beauty contests, feasting, and partying). The protests why he did not test the bomb in France, he responded with were so disruptive that they caused the festivities to be the standardphrase, "But this is France!" He then deflected postponed by a week. further inquiries by claiming, "One can't even call this a Because of near universal moral opposition to nuclear bomb. It's nuclear physics." testing in the 1990s, as well as the media's aggressive cov- Although the Moruroa lagoon gradually quieted down, erage of the situation, the entire world was suddenly listen- the explosion sent lasting waves of rage and indignation ing and responding. People burned croissants and stomped throughout French Polynesia and the world at large. The on French bread in the United States, picketed French res- following day, 36 hours of uninterruptedrioting, burning, taurants in Hong Kong, bombed one French consulate and and looting erupted in Papeete and nearby Faa'a.3i' It delivered a truck load of manure to another in Australia, started when some thirty Tahitian women began an anti- 18 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH 2000 nuclearsit-in on the airportrunway and gatheredmomen- and arrestthe demonstrators,many of whom were thrown tum when several hundred Tahitian men joined in in jail. Additionalmilitary were broughtin from France (Strokirch1997:228). When police fired tear gas into the andNew Caledonia.Miraculously, only 40 peoplewere in- crowd,the confrontationescalated. Protesters drove a bull- jured, althoughdamage was estimatedaround four billion dozer throughthe airport,demolishing internal walls and CFP (U.S. $40 million). shatteringwindows, before setting fire to the terminal A phrasethat was oftenused in the mediaduring this ex- building,making it unsafefor commercialplanes to landor plosive periodwas thatthe images of the riots had "gone take off for several days. After wreckingthe airport,the on world tour."And, indeed, they had. For example,the demonstratorsmoved into downtown Papeete, torching words "Falloutin Paradise"graced the cover of the inter- buildings,smashing store windows, and lootingthe stores. nationaledition of Timemagazine (September 18, 1995). More than 120 cars were overturnedand set afire.Stones, The cover story featuredphotographs of Tahitiandemon- steel barricades,garbage bins, and bottles were thrownat stratorskicking and clubbinga Frenchpoliceman who lay the High Commissioner'soffice. Police tried to surround writhingon the ground(Figure 3). The governmentblamed

* COVER STORY

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foreignreporters for the worldwidedissemination of these "ugly"images. Not only was theirdistribution out of gov- A Tia I Mua et les in ddpendantistesr ernmentcontrol, but the images themselveswere in com- la plete contrastto what the Frenchgovernment wanted the worldto see. News reporters'photos that traveled out into DEPE CHE the world--pictures of men throwing rocks, torching NOIRD TAHIT buildings,and clubbingpolicemen-were a far cry from the picturesof paradisethat for so long had been purpose- apr o fully createdand circulated.And what was strikingabout them, in contrastto the beautiful,peaceful, feminineim- i: ages, was thatthey had greater universal appeal. They were of angry,and completely ordinary,people. Althoughthe governmentfound no need to respond to the relatively peacefulprotests and blockadesof June and July, they re- W Va~oportoii nuven ce mati sponded with great agitation now. As this of profusion 0 e ietsorssrr utu negativeimages spun out of theircontrol, government offi- desreponabes es6mote cials were visibly anxious and attemptedto suppresstheir production.The seniorreporter for RFO (thetelevision sta- tion)described the government'sdeliberate political tac- tics. I was at the airportwhen it was burning.I andothers were evacuatedfrom the scene and taken back to Papeete.When I La gotthere I wantedto takemy cameraand go intotown to film :hiF ~ (: aioritO theburning of Papeetefor television. Instead, RFO forbid me fromgoing. They decided to shutdown the officeat 8 PM. Thiswas unprecedented.That decision was 100%political. [ErickMonod, personal communication, 1995]

Missiles of Death in their Mother's Womb Figure4. Le Mercredinoir de TahitilBlackWednesday in Tahiti,La Duringthe following weeks and months,a battleesca- Dip&chede Tahiti, September13, 1995, p. 29. Photo courtesyof La latedover the controlof image manipulation.Exactly one Dipeche de Tahiti. week after the "events"of September6, La DDp&chede Tahitimade direct reference to an imageproblem when, on after page featuredimages of charredbuildings, shattered the frontpage, it featureda pictureof a postcard,jaggedly glass, dismemberedstore mannequinslying in the streets, rippedin two, with the main headline"The Postcard has Tahitianshurling rocks, Tahitians lighting fires, and police been Tom." Below the picturewas a captionthat juxta- with weapons.Alongside the photoswere captionssuch as of French posed symbols wealth againstvisions of Third "Airline companies, travel and hotels are World agencies, all poverty. powerless as touristsshun our destination!"(1995a) The Good-byecows, calves, and broods[a Frenchidiom for same images thathad been "manipulated"by foreignme- wealth] ... after the world-wide reportingabout the riots, dia to show the worldthe ugly side of paradisewere now televisionstations created an of a image shantytown.These used by mediato threaten makeTahiti look worse than Rio or Haiti. government-controlled Tahitians images Visitorsob- into submission. viouslycanceled their vacations en masse.The foreignme- Yet, there seemed to be a of dia's orchestrationof the problems and certainjournalists' feeling empowermenton manipulationof the events are complete.[La Dipiche de Ta- the partof many Tahitianswhen projectingtheir own im- hiti 1995] ages out to the world.Unlike previous images produced by outsidersof a romanticizedTahiti, these imageswere truly Ironically, a cleverly crafted counter manipulation of the situation by French-controlled media, such as RFO and of Tahitiansas they lived in their world.They allowed a voice thatwas otherwisesilenced to be heard. La Dipiche de Tahiti, was just heating up. Whereas the As one man nuclear test on September 5 had received minimal media said, "Theriots may not be the best way for us to express coverage, the demonstrators' reaction on September 6 ourselves,but when we triedpeaceful marches, no one lis- launched a media explosion. A special 20-page supple- tened. The French express themselves powerfullywith ment in La Dipdche de Tahiti appeared with the ominous their bomb. Now we are speakingand being heard"(Hiti headline "Black Wednesday in Tahiti" (Figure 4). Page Gooding,personal communication, 1995). 20 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH 2000

The riotswere not the only formof communication.An- church's peaceful but powerful anti-nuclearstance. This other,less visual,Tahitian way of expressingthe denuncia- time the televisioncoverage was quickand efficient, surgi- tion of nucleartesting, and of Frenchpolitics in general, cally andcynically wedged between two itemsof minorin- was in the compositions(solely in Tahitianlanguage) of terest.There were no riots.34 Tahitian songwriters and singers.32Angelo Neuffer As time went on, and more tests occurred,the numbers Ari'itai,one of the leadingsingers for the youngergenera- of touristskept dropping,especially among Japaneseand tion, releaseda cassetteat this time.The wordsto one song, Americans. By November, hotels that usually had "AtomicPoison," juxtapose images of a destructivebomb 80-100% occupancyhad 10-20%. The large Nara Hotel with those of an otherwisenourishing land. on Bora Bora, which dependedon Japanesetourism, was almost Whereas there had been two Theland is poisoned,the peopleare poisoned, the sea is poi- empty.35 previously soned, weekly flightsfrom Tokyo, now therewas one with only a As is the languageof ourleaders, who claim that the bombis handfulof passengers.Tahiti had slipped from turquoise notharmful. Technicolorto blackand gray. Theair is poisoned,the fruits of theland are poisoned, the chil- drenare poisoned, "Everything Is All Right Again" Asis theconscience of thosewho lie, claiming that the bomb is notharmful. As nuclear tests continued on the average of one a Atomicbomb, we don'twant you. month for five months, the anxiety intensifiedfor those Youare unwelcome here, on this island, in this land. people who were well entrenchedin an economic system Atomic we don'twant our land to be bomb, polluted. thatdepended on tourism-generatedincome. Tourism sud- Atomicbomb, we don'twant death here, on thisisland, in this becamea and lever. In an inter- land. denly rallyingcry political view aboutthe declineof PatrickRobson from the Atomicbomb, go awayfrom here, from this island, from this tourism, land. Office of Tourismsaid, "Thecancellations are surelydue to the riots [notthe nucleartests]. .... Stepby step, we will After the first therewas another bomb, peacefulmarch, launcha campaignto replaceour image that was shattered" once more the de organized by Eglise Evang6lique (La Dp&echede Tahiti 1995a:24).The campaignto ma- and led its Polyn6sie Franqaise by president, Jacques nipulatethe imageswas calculatedand unabashed. Ihorai. as the one and silence Songs (such above),prayers, Gilles Tefaatau,the supervisorof airportoperations and were used to and the The churchbe- try sway government. the presidentof GIEAnimation, the branchof the Office of came a powerfuland unifyingvoice of protestagainst nu- Tourism that oversees tourist activities within French clear In late Ihoraiand testing.33 September,Jacques Ralph thatafter the tests were over in Janu- the of the flew to Polynesia,explained Teinaore, secretary general church, therewould be a massive to Franceto to convincePresident Chirac to cease the test- ary 1996, campaign recapture try the market.He said, "The reason tourismis down is be- Ihoraideclared that Francedid not have the to ing. right cause saw bombsin the womb of the motherland. people picturesof riotingand burning.In order explode nourishing to rid them of these we need to these with Using an image he evoked often, even when speakingto images, replace new, We need to do the same thatthe for- Tahitianaudiences, he explainedthat Tahitiansconsider positiveimages. the landto be theirmother who nourishesthem and that the eign reportersdid recentlyduring the protesting,but using the bomb is like a missile of deathin theirmother's womb (La oppositeimages" (Gilles Tefaatau,personal communi- Dp&echede Tahiti 1995b:21).Even thoughTahitians had cation, 1995). Suzanne generallyshown little concernabout the mythical,touristic Lau-Chonfont,who supervisesstatistics at the images of Tahiti, they reactedpassionately when others' Office of Tourism,discussed the overseas(Europe, Asia, behaviorviolated their own notion of place. When bombs andthe UnitedStates) marketing strategies. were and within their their lodged exploded deep land, Now, becauseof the riotsand nuclear tests, there is a con- sense of was disturbed. because place profoundly Precisely sciouschange in marketing.There will be counter-marketing land is seen as nourishing-a place to burythe placentaof in anattempt to capturethose people who canceled their reser- one's child-the buryingof a bomb in the land seemed a vations.This new marketingwill showpositive images and particularlyoffensive assault.When Ihoraicompared the will try to communicatethe messagethat everything is all nucleartesting to the lodgingof a missile in theirmother's rightagain. People think,for example,that the airportburned womb, he spoke abouta Tahitianexperience of place in a to the ground,but that isn't the case. The images will show way thatpostcards and guidebooks never do. that the airporthas been rebuilt.They will illustratethat the Soon thereafter,on Sunday,October 1, at 1:30 in the af- outerislands weren't touchedby the problemsand thatnoth- ternoon,the second bomb was exploded. The detonation ing happened.One of the thingsthat will be highlightedmore had been carefullytimed to coincide with the hour when now is the sea, the sun, and over-waterbungalows. [Suzanne most Tahitianswould be in church,a subtle attackon the Lau-Chonfont,personal communication, 1995] KAHN / TAHITI INTERTWINED 21

At aboutthe same time, a promotionalcampaign with a employedby the hotel, fromwalking on the hotel grounds. budget of 545 million CFP (U.S. $5.45 million) was When one womanand her friendwere askedto leave, she launchedin Franceto offertourists "the most beautifulpre- responded,"No, this is our land, not yours. We belong sent in the world--Tahiti."A Frenchsinger, Antoine, was here, not you. You're the one who has to leave" (Turia to "cometo the rescue."He was slottedfor 250 radiospots, Gooding,personal communication, 1995). all day long, seven days a week, for several weeks. Throughseductive song, he would ask people to join him Tahiti Intertwined in Tahiti, emphasizingthe legendaryTahitian hospitality, Foucault,Lefebvre, and have all theorizedabout the charmand beautyof the naturalenvironment, and the Soja spaces/placesand how they combinenumerous contradic- profusionand qualityof touristactivities. Tahiti was to be- tions and that,when understood come "the of the Pacific." ambiguities together,gen- pearl erate a PresidentFlosse in the cam- complex thirdspace.Here, following their lead, I participatedenergetically have Tahitias a that a with explored place embracessuch ambi- paign. Imagining Polynesianlandscape populated I have examined wide French he denouncedthe as "those guities. a range of beliefs, repre- personalities, protesters and as well as in which who want to fade the colors of the sentations, events, ways they inter- Gauguin,extinguish sect and interact.The list includeselements as voice of and obliteratethe of Paul- seemingly JacquesBrel, memory diverse as ancient the of Victor" He "We want our chants;postcards; imprisonment Emile (Didier 1995:21). said, Pouvanaaa videos of what tourists visitorsto know that offersitself to them. We Oopa; crave;colonial Polynesia ... in a land tenure a film about are to have succeededin the naturalattrac- changes system; Hollywood proud uniting the on the HMS tion of the South Seas with the of the mutiny Bounty;peaceful protests; eight- security western eenth- and of the world... the of the is to makethis nineteenth-centuryEuropean imagery object presentcampaign South and media known" Pacific; rioting,burning, looting; photos better (Didier 1995:21).As partof his long-term of PresidentFloss in Moruroa's the he a new cruise relaxing lagoon; lyrics plan purchased luxury,320-passenger ship of an anti-nuclearsong; the Office of Tourism'smarketing to tour the Islands, and named it the MS Paul Society strategies;land claims in court;cruise beliefs about It was launchedin 1998 and advertisedas ships; Gauguin. taking placentasand umbilical cords; a nu- touriststo "worldsso even the word Gauguin;potholes; breathtaking paradise cleartesting program; and muchmore. seems advertisement Radisson inadequate"(magazine by Only when eluding the politics of and examin- Seven Seas polarity Cruises,1998).36 ing variousrealms together do the details shed light on a the Frenchsaw tourismand its "new"market- Although lived, or third,space that is generatedfrom the dialectic, as to the the view of tourismis ing images coming rescue, the set of relationsin which we live. Indeed,they all in- differentfrom the of most Tahitians.As quite perspective volve, underpin,presuppose, generate, reflect, influence, with much their to tourism and else, response is, always and expandupon one another.Exploring the relationship has filtered their of land. been, through understanding and tension between local understandingsof place and Tourism has taken their their land, destroyed fishing dominant,mass-mediated representations allows for the and into water sources without grounds, tapped giving emergenceof a thirdspacethat is both real and imagined, them much in their return.37They express outragethrough immediateand mediated.Whether quietly coexisting, or the in for one-third legal system where, Papeete, example, violently colliding, local Tahitianperspectives and global of all courtcases to land pertain (Tetiarahi1987:46). They politicalagendas are not separate,independently operating also communicatetheir frustrationand in anger symbolic realms.They are in constant,daily, intertwineddialogue. actions that speak about,and through,land. For example, On the one hand,visual representationscreate a meta-lan- Tahitianshave refused to that sell land provides access guage that, while speakingto the world at large, discour- routes to hotels, have blocked hotel water sources, and ages local inhabitantsfrom participatingin the discourse. have even burneddown hotels. One of the fanciesttourist Yet, local voices have theirown powerfulmodes of com- accommodations on Huahine, built on prime land and municating and, with access to the media, may even end up along favored fishing grounds, ignored and rebuffed local as a media centerpiece. residents. When the manager wanted to import staff from Tahitians, on the whole, do not communicate their feel- France, food from Papeete, and souvenir shell necklaces ings and ideas about their place with images of turquoise from the Philippines, Tahitians spoke through land, a pow- lagoons or bare-breasted women on postcards and posters, erful force that cannot easily be ignored. As tourists were or in magazines and guidebooks.38Instead, they communi- driven in the hotel van to their $500 per night over-water cate in nonvisual ways that are rooted in a reciprocal rela- bungalows, they bounced painfully into gaping potholes in tionship with land. They take pride in ancient chants about a dirt road that provided the only land access to the hotel. the historical importance of land. They think about burying The Tahitian owners of the land quietly refused to maintain their babies' placentas in the earth to insure their children's it. The same hotel forbid local Tahitians, other than those well-being. They research their land rights and go to court 22 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH 2000 to file landclaims. And when theirsense of place is threat- portance.The recentforce defrappe of Franceas a declin- ened-not the postcardimage of paradisebut the nurturing ing world power in the mid-1990scontrasts sharply with, abilities of land-they speak eloquently. They respond but at the same time opens a spacefor, a greaterdesire for with petition signatures,protest marches,popular songs, independencein France'sdependent territory. purposefulpotholes and, when all else fails, a fire set to a The Tahitianthirdspace that has emergedin this discus- hotel, an airport,or even the capitalcity. All of these acts sion supportsthe idea thatspace can no longerbe seen as a communicateunmistakably, as one woman said in words, fixed entity, or even as an entity that is explainablefrom "Thisis our land,not yours." one or anotherpoint of view. And, as long as anthropolo- In contrast,the meta-languagethat speaks to the world gists continueto look at placefrom one or anotherperspec- at large speaks with a somewhatforked tongue. Idealized tive--either as representedby outsidersor as generated representationsspeak past Tahitians in a languageof visual from within-place will remainuncomplicated and un- imagerythat means little to the local population.But, at the theorized.Instead, as Lefebvrehas concluded,space might same time, these images speakto, and profoundlyimpact, betterbe seen as a medium,a milieu,an intermediary. Tahitians' lives. Tahitias is not a im- daily paradise benign has nowbecome morethan the the are Space something theatre, age. Indeed,the confiningwalls on which the images disinterested or of action. can no tracedand retraced create a enclosureof an- stage setting, Space longer claustrophobic be lookedupon as an "essence,"as anobject distinct from the other sort for Tahitians.Although these images were first pointof viewof "subjects,"as answeringto a logicof its own. createdby romanticimaginations to transportEuropeans to Is spacea medium?A milieu?An intermediary?It is doubt- anotherworld, they soon became willfully employedas a less all of these,but its roleis less andless neutral,more and politicaland economic tool to servecolonial agendas, to at- moreactive, both as instrumentand as goal,as meansand as tracttourists and theirmoney in orderto supportthe ruling end. The productionof spaceis a generativeprocess, with class, and to distractthe worldfrom noticingnuclear atro- variations,pluralities and multiplicities, disparities, disjunc- conflictsand contradictions. cities. By now they have become an integraland indispen- tions, imbalances, [Lefebvre sable componentof FrenchPolynesia's political economy. (1974)1991:410-411] It is clearly the case in French Polynesia that repre- Tahiti, as we have seen, is all of these. Ancestralland, are enmeshedin and that hu- sentationsof place politics, tourist postcard,and nuclear test site, Tahiti comprises man lives are ensnaredin the of politics representation. overlappingand often contradictoryfields of experience, One is "neveroutside ratheroutside its representation-or representation,and intervention.It is a complex and inter- become politics" (Foster 1983:xv). Images may weapons woven, dynamic and intertwined,historical and spatial, of used to or sorts, beguile, blind, pacify, incite, injure, generativeprocess. control. While superficiallyseeming to reveal one place, images may, in fact, serve to conceal a differentplace. Notes Postcardsof bare breastsdistract attention from nuclear tests. Guidebookphotos of colorfulfish dartingin crystal- Acknowledgments.Research in FrenchPolynesia was con- line water keep one from noticing governmentclean-up ductedover a ten-monthperiod during three trips in 1994, and thankthe the Max and crews who of trash shovelingit into the sea. 1995, 1996.I FulbrightProgram, dispose by Lotte Heine and the AmericanPhilo- such as those in Fetunaor of course,do PhilanthropicFund, Tahitians, Faie, for madethe research not live in that match with touristic sophicalSociety having financiallypos- picturesqueways up sible. In French friendsfacilitated of Tahiti Cizeron and Polynesiamany my work, representations (see Hienly 1983). most the familiesof Edouardand Kim Tai Piha,Hiti a few afterthe events described this notably Today, only years in and TuriaGooding, Peto and MarietteFiruu, and Dorothy article,people in Fetunaand Faie still go abouttheir daily Levy.I am alsograteful to TevaSylvain, Erick Monod, Gilles lives muchas before.Garbage is still plowed into the sea in Tefaatau,Suzanne Lau-Chonfont, and Eric Laroche for their Fetuna. Touristsare still broughtto see the eels in Faie. assistance.My husband,Richard L. Taylor,not only accompa- Yet, the thirdspacethat emerges at the intersectionof niedme to thefield, but helped in thegathering of dataas well worldwidepolitics, mass media,and local beliefs is where as withthe formulation of my ideas.An earlierdraft of thispa- Tahitians,in bothFetuna and Faie, live theirsocial life on a per benefitedgreatly from the commentsof OscarBarrera- Stevan daily basis. For example,the events of September1995 al- Nunez, Harrell,Michael Herzfeld, Jocelyn Linnekin, lowed Tahitiansto be heardmore thanever before. ElizabethNotar, Margaret Rodman, Bruno Saura, Maureen clearly Kathleen and reviewers. Nuclear anti-nuclear im- Schwarz, Stewart, anonymous testinggenerated protesting.Ugly 1. Otherscholars, like bell hooksand Homi Bhabha, also infiltratedthe world. The and ages governmentpanicked use the termthirdspace, but do so in slightlydifferent ways. took measuresthat enragedTahitians even more. Today, Bell hooks (1990) choosesa marginalspace that is the loca- there is an increasing Tahitian involvement in pro- tion of radicalopenness and possibility, a spaceone comesto independencepolitics. As France'sinternational power is throughstruggle. Bhabha (1990, 1994) uses the term for challenged and its "empire"shrinks, the remainingcards spacesof resistanceopened at the marginsand firmly rooted France holds-including Tahiti-assume heightenedim- in theexperience of postcoloniality. KAHN / TAHITI INTERTWINED 23

2. See Dorst (1989), Trask (1993), and Vickers (1989), as 15. Corbin ([1988]1994) traces the origins of the way only a few of many examples. coastal landscapeswere read as sublime (and no longer repul- 3. See Kahn (1995), Mitchell (1989), Pemberton (1994), sive) to around 1750, which coincides with the time when Ta- and Rodman(1993). hiti was first explored by Europeans."At the time when Cook 4. See, for example, Basso (1996), Feld and Basso (1996), and Bougainville were making their travels, the ocean would Jackson(1995), and Stewart(1996). call forth the image of a 'vast expanse' that was indifferentto 5. Although a body of literatureexists thatdiscusses the se- human time ... a place of sublime vacuity whose imagined mantic differencesbetween space andplace (see Casey 1996), depth was modeled on the very perpendicularsides of the I choose to circumventthis issue. Feeling that place is a so- mountainsthat often borderedit" (Corbin[1988]1994:127). cially createdand defined space, I use the terms somewhatin- 16. See Calderet al. (1999) for discussions of how colonial terchangeably. encounters in the Pacific reveal a more contradictoryhistory 6. See, for example, Claessen (1994), Daws (1980), Day than thatusually describedby homogenizingdominant myths. (1986), Despoix (1996), Margueron (1989), Nicole (1993), 17. On his first expedition, Cook tried to take two Tahi- Rennie (1995), Ritz (1983), and Smith (1960, 1992). tians back to Englandbut both died on board.During his sec- 7. The situationin Tahitiis far from a simplified opposition ond voyage he took two more, one of whom was Omai (the of Frenchvs. Tahitian.As Panoff (1989) states, thereis exten- other went only as far as New Zealand and then returnedto sive genetic and culturalcross-breeding within the population. Tahiti). Omai stayed in England for two years until 1776, at Whetherone refers to oneself as French,demi, Chinese, Tahi- which time Cook took him back to Tahiti. The transportingof tian, Ma'ohi (the Tahitianword for a native person),and so on Tahitiansto Europe was something Bougainville had tried as is only loosely relatedto genetic make-up.Instead, it can be a well. Bougainville took Ahutoruto Paris,but Ahutoruwas un- political statement. The terms French or demi, on the one happy and, after several months, was shipped back to Tahiti, hand, equate roughly with those who are upper class. The dying en route. terms Tahitian or Ma'ohi, on the other hand, usually refer to 18. This numbercontinued to grow. In 1966, some 37,300 people who are lower class. Politics, not only genetics, can de- tourists visited Tahiti and in 1971 there were close to 78,000 termine one's outlook. It is not uncommon, for example, to (Aldrich 1993:88). Each succeeding year, for the next few find someone whose mother or father is 100% French, and years, witnessed dramaticincreases in the numberof tourists, who not only refers to himself as Tahitianbut even refuses to most of whom were Americans.In 1966, L'Office de D6vel- speak Frenchor eat Frenchfood. oppement du Tourisme(the Office of Tourism Development) 8. "Ask what FrenchPolynesia is or what it consists of and was created. many people would have some difficulty in giving you an an- 19. Tourism generates 23 billion CFP a year (U.S. $230 swer. Ask about Tahiti, however, and a vision of a beautiful million). The annualtourism budget in 1996 was 800 million mate- tropical island rising from a deep-blue sea immediately CFP (U.S. $8 million). Of that, 500 million CFP was spent on rializes on the map. The reality is that Tahiti is just one island promotion, advertising, and marketing.The remaining 300 in the five which make French one of island groups up Polyne- million CFP was for personnel.The tourismindustry employs and sia" (Wheeler Carillet 1997:10). 8,000 people, 32 of whom work directly for the Office of 9. but less have been Other, recent, figures considerably Tourism. (Suzanne Lau-Chonfont,personal communication, lower Aldrich Bresson and (see 1993:114; 1993:27; Henning- 1995; Gilles Tefaatau,personal communication, 1995). ham 1992:155 for from the late figures 1980s). 20. Most Tahitians,as well as people opposed to the use of 10. See Chesneaux who sees Franceas a mid-sized (1991), the atoll for Frenchnuclear testing, still referto it as Moruroa. world to createitself as a world To power trying major power. 21. France was not the only nation to test in the Pacific. describe France's as he deployment "colonialism," says, Americans carried out a massive nuclear testing programon misses the point. Bikini and Enewetakatolls in the northernMarshall Islands of 11. to demi are more According Spitz (1991), politically Micronesia from 1946 to 1958 (see Gusterson 1996; Kiste than the French unlike the dangerous because, French, they 1972). are there to stay. 22. Peto Firuu, like most Tahitians who worked on 12. See Feld and Kahn for other Pacific Is- (1996) (1996) Moruroa, was attracted the for land by opportunity employment. examples. He was given excellent pay, free housing, and food. His par- 13. this article, all informationthat I received Throughout ticularjob consisted of drillingthe holes-both on land and in in Tahitianor French,whether individualsor by interviewing the bedrock under the lagoon-into which the bombs were or informationin the media, has been translated seeing hearing put. A cement sea wall had to be rebuiltafter each nucleartest, into English. The translationsare my own. he said, because the atoll sank aftereach explosion. 14. This translationis from the Tahitian.When expressed 23. CFP stands for "courfranc pacifique," a monetaryunit in French,however, the referencesto ancienttimes and the po- created in 1945, the value of which is fixed to the French litical messages for today's younger generation are hidden. franc. 1 FF= 18.1818 CFP. translationof the Frenchversion is as follows: My English 24. See Lockwood (1993) for a discussion of this form of Huahine,where the northwind blows financial benevolence on the island of Tubuaiin FrenchPoly- Huahine,in the sprayof the waves nesia. Broken shells in the moonlight 25. Food imports rose from 37% in 1960 to 80% in 1989 Obstinacyis theirpastime. (Henningham1992:263). 24 AMERICANANTHROPOLOGIST * VOL. 102, No. 1 * MARCH 2000

26. According to French law, previous writtenpermission who supportthemselves throughthe craft industry,create ob- is needed for the commercial productionof a pictureof a per- jects such as wooden carvings, decorated pearl shells, and son. pareu (colorful cloths that are worn aroundthe body in vari- 27. Picture postcards, as a form of cheap communication ous styles), that likewise utilize images touristscrave. for the masses, first appearedin the 1880s and '90s. The most popular story of their origin traces their appearanceto the References Cited 1889 Universal Exhibition in Paris (Geary and Webb 1998; Staff 1966), the same colonial event that fired Gauguin's Aldrich,Robert imagination. 1993 Franceand the South Pacific Since 1940.Honolulu: Uni- 28. He also knows which postcardsare purchasedby tour- versityof Hawai'iPress. ists of different nationalitiesbecause certain hotels cater pre- Appadurai,Arjun dominantlyto clientele from specific countries.For instance, 1988 Introduction:Place andVoice in AnthropologicalThe- postcards that sell at the Nara Hotel on Bora Bora are pur- ory.Cultural Anthropology 3(1): 16-20. chased mainly by Japanese, whereas at the Hotel Bora Bora Basso, Keith they are most likely purchasedby Americans. "Japaneselike 1996 WisdomSits in Places:Landscape and Language among to buy postcardswith lots of blue everywhere-blue lagoons, the WesternApache. Albuquerque: University of New Mex- blue sky, underwaterscenes, fish. Americans prefer sunset ico Press. postcardswith lots of red in them. Europeansbuy images that Baston, GuillaumeA. R. have a more complex composition, such as women dancingor 1790 Narrationsd'Omai, insulaire de la Mer du Sud, ami et village scenes. Just about everyone likes the naked girls, al- compagnonde voyage du CapitaineCook. Rouen:Chez Le though the Japaneseless so" (Teva Sylvain, personalcommu- BoucherLe Jeune. nication, 1995). Benchley, Peter 29. Teva employs models, thus circumventingthe French 1997 Chartinga New Course:French Polynesia. National law that restrictsthe Office of Tourism from using images of Geographic191(6):2-29. people. Bensa, Alban 30. L'Eglise Evang6lique de Polyn6sie Franqaise,which 1995 ChroniquesKanak: L'ethnologie en marche. Paris: has been independentsince 1963, is the most popularchurch Floch. in FrenchPolynesia, with about two-thirdsof Tahitiansbeing Bhabha,Homi K. members. Its name, in English, is glossed as the Protestant 1990 The ThirdSpace. In Identity,Community, Culture, Dif- Church,as distinguishedfrom the CatholicChurch. ference.J. Rutherford,ed. Pp. 207-201. London:Lawrence 31. Riots had also occurredin late 1983 (triggeredby a ho- andWishart. tel workersstrike) and in October 1987 (resultingfrom a dock 1994 TheLocation of Culture.New York:Routledge. workersstrike in reactionto plans to reducethe numberof Ta- Bougainville, Louis-Antoinede hitian dockers). The 1987 riots, in particular,left Papeete [1771]1772 A Voyage Roundthe World.Johann R. Forster, looking like a war zone and resulted in the declarationof a trans.London: J. Nourse. state of emergency."Several dozen shops and businesses were Bresson, Louis damagedor looted, and eight buildings were destroyedby fire, 1993 Tourisme:l'anti-crise. Papeete: Pacific PromotionTa- at an estimated cost of several million Australian dollars" hitiS.A. (Henningham1992:154). Calder,Alex, JonathanLamb, and BridgetOrr, eds. 32. See Saura(1998) for his interpretationof these popular 1999 Voyagesand Beaches: Pacific Encounters, 1769-1840. songs as a uniquelyTahitian discourse that combines political Honolulu:University of Hawai'iPress. activism with a spiritualquest. Casey, EdwardS. 33. The churchtook an active role in the protestto commu- 1996 How to Getfrom Space to Placein a FairlyShort Stretch nicate that, in contrast to Tavini Huira'atira'spolitical posi- of Time:Phenomenological Prolegomena. In Sensesof Place. tion, the churchkept the anti-nuclearmovement separatefrom StevenFeld andKeith Basso, eds. Pp. 13-52. SantaFe, NM: the pro-independencemovement. School of AmericanResearch Press. 34. By this time many of the protesterswere in jail. Tahi- Chesneaux,Jean tians often joked that if touristswanted to see the "realTahiti" 1991 The Functionof the Pacificin the FrenchFifth Repub- they should visit thejail. lic's "GrandDesign." Journal of Pacific History 26(2): 35. The Japanesewere particularlyoutspoken in their op- 256-272. position to the nuclear testing as they markedthe 50th anni- Cizeron,Marc, and Marianne Hienly versaryof the bombingof Hiroshimaand Nagasakiin Septem- 1983 Tahiti:Cot6 Montagne. Papeete: Haere Po No Tahiti. ber 1995. Claessen, HenriJ. M. 36 Ironically,it is so big that it cannot dock close to many 1994 Tahiti and the Early European Visitors. In European Im- of the islands. ageryand Colonial History in thePacific, vol. 19.T. vanMeijl 37. See Kent (1993) and Trask (1993) for a similar inter- andP. vander Grijp, eds. Pp. 14-31. Nijmegen,The Nether- pretationof tourismin Hawai'i-as an extension of colonial- lands:Studies in Developmentand Cultural Change. ism. Clark,Thomas Blake 38. Those who are involved in the tourism industry, of 1941 Omai, First PolynesianAmbassador to England.San course, perpetuatetouristic images on a daily basis. Others, Francisco:Colt. KAHN / TAHITI INTERTWINED 25

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