POSTCOLONIAL PRIVILEGE IN THE PACIFIC: INTERROGATING TROPES IN LITERATURE SET IN VANUATU Grace Kirk BB/BCI Principle supervisor: Sarah Holland-Batt Associate supervisor: Rohan Wilson Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts (Research) Creative Writing and Literary Studies Discipline Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2017 Keywords Condominium; Domestic Staff; Expatriate; Literature; Memoir; Neo-colonial; New Hebrides; Ni-Vanuatu; Postcolonial; Practice-led Research; Privilege; Representation; Sensitive; Stereotypes; Travel Writing; Tropes; Vanuatu. Postcolonial Privilege in the Pacific: Interrogating Tropes in Literature set in Vanuatu i Abstract In July 1980 the New Hebrides gained independence from Britain and France, transforming the archipelago of 80 islands into Vanuatu, meaning ‘land eternal’ (Miles 1998, 8), a poetic symbol of the struggle to overcome the impacts of dual colonial rule. Restrictions set by colonial administrators during the condominium still exist today, reflected in the privileged lifestyle of expatriates and their ‘employer’ status over ni-Vanuatu peoples. Despite a sizable body of creative work examining the impact of European imperialism throughout the world, there is a dearth of literature set in Vanuatu that examines the effect and legacy of imperialism in contemporary society. This thesis will investigate how creative practice as research can respond to the postcolonial questions that arise from the representation of ni-Vanuatu people. Through practice-led research, I will examine how expatriate memoir contends with the position of privilege from which it is necessarily written. This entails a memoir set in Port Vila over the year 2005, during a period of my father’s illness of Motor Neuron Disease and his care by ni-Vanuatu nurses. I will approach the research from the perspective of ethnographic and auto- ethnographic theory in order to gain an understanding of attitudes present in Vanuatu. The accompanying exegesis will include a contextual analysis of existing literature set in Vanuatu, which will uncover the tropes common to creative work written from a white perspective. This process will inform the creative practice and its aim of representing ni-Vanuatu characters with due cultural sensitivity. As an Australian who has lived in Vanuatu, I see the act of writing this memoir as an opportunity to contend with the reality of post-colonialism and the inherited, problematic nature of my relationships with ni-Vanuatu people, particularly domestic staff. It is an uncomfortable realisation to know that my daily interactions with people I cared deeply about were dictated by historic events and the colour of our respective skins. It is through contextual research, ethnographic methods and a practice-led approach, which will allow me to write a narrative that demonstrates overt postcolonial awareness. Through this hybrid methodology, I aim to problematise the persisting and damaging tropes present in literature set in Vanuatu, which is dominated by white perspectives and insensitive stereotypes, and to ii Postcolonial Privilege in the Pacific: Interrogating Tropes in Literature set in Vanuatu challenge such stereotypes by addressing them through a creative practice informed by postcolonial theory. The success of my thesis lies in its attempt to consciously adopt a postcolonial awareness, as this is the first step to sensitive representation. Postcolonial Privilege in the Pacific: Interrogating Tropes in Literature set in Vanuatu iii Table of Contents Keywords ................................................................................................................................... i! Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii! Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... iv! List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... vi! List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... vii! Statement of Original Authorship .......................................................................................... viii! Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. ix! Chapter 1:! Introduction ....................................................................................... 1! 1.1! Background ..................................................................................................................... 1! 1.2! Context ............................................................................................................................ 2! 1.3! Purpose ........................................................................................................................... 3! 1.4! Significance, Scope and Definitions ............................................................................... 3! 1.5! History of Vanuatu ......................................................................................................... 4! 1.5.1! Cultural Pluralism and Patriarchal Society ................................................ 5! 1.5.2! The Colonisation of Vanuatu ..................................................................... 6! 1.5.3! Tufala Gavman ........................................................................................... 6! 1.5.4! Independence and Modern Australia-Vanuatu Relations ........................... 7! Chapter 2:! Research Design ............................................................................... 11! 2.1! Methodology ................................................................................................................. 11! 2.1.1! Practice-led Research ............................................................................... 11! 2.1.2! Ethnography ............................................................................................. 12! 2.1.3! Auto-ethnography ..................................................................................... 12! 2.2! Research Design ........................................................................................................... 13! 2.3! Participants ................................................................................................................... 13! Chapter 3:! Textual Analysis .............................................................................. 15! 3.1! Isles of Illusion: Letters from the South Seas, Bohun Lynch (1923) ............................ 17! 3.2! The Happy Isles of Oceania, Paul Theroux (1992) ...................................................... 19! 3.3! The Pacific, Judy Nunn (2004) ..................................................................................... 21! 3.4! Getting Stoned with Savages, J. Maarteen Troost (2006) ............................................. 23! 3.5! Laef Blong Mi: From Village to Nation by Sethy Regenvanu (2004) .......................... 26! 3.6! Tanna: The Film (2015) ............................................................................................... 28! 3.7! Summary of Tropes ...................................................................................................... 30! Chapter 4:! Representing Domestic Staff in Literature ................................... 35! 4.1! The Role of domestic workers ...................................................................................... 36! 4.2! Identifying misconstructions of Domestic workers ...................................................... 38! 4.3! representations of Domestic workers ........................................................................... 39! iv Postcolonial Privilege in the Pacific: Interrogating Tropes in Literature set in Vanuatu Chapter 5:! Reflexive Conclusion ....................................................................... 43! Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 47! Appendices ................................................................................................................. 51! Appendix A: Creative ............................................................................................................. 51! Postcolonial Privilege in the Pacific: Interrogating Tropes in Literature set in Vanuatu v List of Figures Figure 1.1. Population Living in Private Households by Ethnic Origin, Vanuatu: 2009. ...................................................................................... 8! Figure 3.1. Still from Tanna featuring Wawa and Dain. .................................. 20! vi Postcolonial Privilege in the Pacific: Interrogating Tropes in Literature set in Vanuatu List of Tables Table 2.1 ........................................................................................................... 14! Table 2.2 ........................................................................................................... 14! Postcolonial Privilege in the Pacific: Interrogating Tropes in Literature set in Vanuatu vii QUT Verified Signature Acknowledgements Undertaking this Master of Fine Arts has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience. It would not have been such