“The Polynesian Problem”: Western Studies of Pacific Islander Origins
By
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
Free
“What is a Polynesian?” This is a question with a long and troubling history embedded in settler colonialism.
Sign-up Information
- Ages: Adults.
Registration required
- Sign-up is ongoing
Cost
This Event is free!
Location
- Only virtual (online or over the phone).
Dates and Times
Wed, March 17 2021 6PM – 7PM
Additional information
“What is a Polynesian?” This is a question with a long and troubling history embedded in settler colonialism. From Europeans’ earliest encounters with the Pacific, White Europeans expressed a fascination and partial identification with the racial origins of Polynesians. Polynesians seemed to represent “natural man” in the purest state. In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century social-scientific studies, Polynesian origins became the subject of intense scrutiny and debate. Physical anthropologists such as Louis R. Sullivan declared Polynesians to be conditionally Caucasian. Maile Arvin will discuss this history from a Native Hawaiian feminist perspective, attentive to the ways Polynesians have challenged and appropriated such ideas.
Maile Arvin, Assistant Professor of History and Gender Studies, University of Utah.
Advanced registration required. Click here to register for this free virtual event. Registration closes 30 minutes before start time.
Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.
Free
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Last updated March 18, 2021.
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