Pacific Literary Studies is no longer an emerging field: scholars, writers, community members and students have participated in vigorous and complex conversations about literature and writing in the region for many years. These conversations have intersected with others: Cultural Studies, Indigenous Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Gender Studies and so on. In this course we will identify, explore and engage with the key strands of scholarship about literary studies and cultural studies in the Pacific. We will consider the field as a field, noting the accumulation of voices and perspectives across time, paying attention to major sites, individuals, themes, preoccupations and concerns of Pacific literary scholarship. Alongside the critical reading required for each week, students will produce their own reading log that records their reading of primary/ creative Pacific texts throughout the semester. A final research project will provide students with an opportunity to follow up on a specific relevant topic of interest to them.
As well as seminar-style class sessions, our time together will also be spent welcoming guest writers and scholars. Required reading not listed below will be available to download and print via Laulima.
Course Requirements
- Attendance and participation
- Two short assignments: one text based, one archive based
- Informal and semi-structured writing assignments
- Research paper
Required Texts
- Penny van Toorn. Writing Never Arrives Naked.
- Epeli Hau’ofa. We are the Ocean.
- Hereniko et al. Inside Out.
- Te Punga Somerville. Once Were Pacific.
- The Contemporary Pacific13.2 (Special issue – Native Pacific Cultural Studies)
- The Contemporary Pacific 22.2 (Special issue – Albert Wendt)
- Rob Wilson Reimagining the American Pacific: From South Pacific to Bamboo Ridge and Beyond