“In their individual journeys into the Void, these artists, through their work, are explaining us to ourselves and creating a new Oceania.”
– Albert Wendt
Samoan novelist Albert Wendt, in his description of what artists can do, beautifully locates this power of within the stories and storytellers of Oceania. In this course, we will explore and engage the power of storytelling in Oceania through the forms of short stories and novels. What do we mean by Oceania? How is Oceania shaped through short stories and novels? How do we understanding the current issues and possibilities of Oceania through these storytelling forms? Over the course of the semester, we will be exploring the ways in which Pacific Islander identities, self-representations, struggles, movements, and connections to ocean and island homes speak to these questions. By engaging elements of novels and short stories, we will also be examining broader issues that include (but are not limited to) navigations of gender, race, myth/legend, genealogy, colonialism, decolonization, and identity in the region. By the end of the semester, students will have a grasp of the ways in which short stories and novels shape complex and interconnected reflections of Oceania, ultimately speaking to the power of storytelling across and between islands and ocean.
Texts:
Novels (available through Revolution Books)
Albert Wendt, Sons for the Return Home
Epeli Hau‘ofa, Tales of the Tikongs
Patricia Grace, Potiki
Sia Figiel, where we once belonged
Robert Barclay, Melal
Course packet will contain short stories and some essays from across Oceania, including (but not limited to) works from Hawai‘i, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Guam, Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia.