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Indigeneity on the Oceanic Stage
Intimations of the Local in a Globalised World
Series: - Cross/Cultures, Volume: 223
This volume examines how Indigenous theatre and performance from Oceania has responded to the intensification of globalisation from the turn of the 20th to the 21st centuries. It foregrounds a relational approach to the study of Indigenous texts, thus echoing what scholars such as Tui Nicola Clery have described as the stance of a “Multi-Perspective Culturally Sensitive Researcher.” To this end, it proposes a fluid vision of Oceania characterized by heterogeneity and cultural diversity calling to mind Epeli Hau‘ofa’s notion of “a sea of islands.”
Taking its cue from the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, the volume offers a rhizomatic, non-hierarchical approach to the study of the various shapes of Indigeneity in Oceania. It covers Indigenous performance from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hawai’i, Samoa, Rapa Nui/Easter Island, Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Each chapter uses vivid case histories to explore a myriad of innovative strategies responding to the interplay between the local and the global in contemporary Indigenous performance. As it places different Indigenous cultures from Oceania in conversation, this critical anthology gestures towards an “imparative” model of comparative poetics, favouring negotiation of cultural difference and urging scholars to engage dialogically with non-European artistic forms of expression.
Taking its cue from the theories of Deleuze and Guattari, the volume offers a rhizomatic, non-hierarchical approach to the study of the various shapes of Indigeneity in Oceania. It covers Indigenous performance from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hawai’i, Samoa, Rapa Nui/Easter Island, Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Each chapter uses vivid case histories to explore a myriad of innovative strategies responding to the interplay between the local and the global in contemporary Indigenous performance. As it places different Indigenous cultures from Oceania in conversation, this critical anthology gestures towards an “imparative” model of comparative poetics, favouring negotiation of cultural difference and urging scholars to engage dialogically with non-European artistic forms of expression.
Marc Maufort, Ph.D. (1986) is Emeritus Professor of Anglophone literatures at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium (ULB). He has written and (co)-edited a number of volumes on Eugene O’Neill, American drama, and Anglophone postcolonial theatre. His most recent book publication is
Forays into Contemporary South African Theatre. Devising New Stage Idioms (co-edited with Jessica Maufort, Brill/Rodopi, 2020).
David O'Donnell was Professor of Theatre at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand until his retirement in late 2023. He is an award-winning director and has published widely on New Zealand theatre, including co-authoring the book Floating Islanders: Pasifika Theatre in Aotearoa (2017) with Lisa Warrington.
David O'Donnell was Professor of Theatre at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand until his retirement in late 2023. He is an award-winning director and has published widely on New Zealand theatre, including co-authoring the book Floating Islanders: Pasifika Theatre in Aotearoa (2017) with Lisa Warrington.
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Statement of Editorial Policy
Introduction: Staging Local Indigenous Cultures in a Globalised Oceania
Marc Maufort and David O’donnell
1 Taenga Mai/The Arrival: Acts of Remembering and Resistance at Aotearoa’s Border
Nicola Hyland
2 “There’s a Gap Here”: Thoughts on Four Plays that Helped Invent Māori Playwriting in Aotearoa
Murray Edmond
3 Creating New Star-Paths to Traverse Disciplinary Territories
Hilary Halba, Rua McCallum and David O’donnell
4 Bridging the Global Live Performance Marketplace: The Modern Māori Quartet
James Wenley
5 F*ck it Up Sis: Representation and Agency in the Work of
fafswag
Sean Coyle
6 “The Trauma of Return” – Māori Battalion Narratives in the Theatre of Aotearoa
David O’donnell
7 Kūkulu o Kahiki: Kanaka Maoli Narratives and Performance Rooted in Oceania
Tammy Haili‘ōpua Baker
8 Preserving Indigenous Identities in a Globalised World: The Magical Realist Vision of Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker and Albert Wendt
Marc Maufort
9 School Theatre Productions in Rapa Nui as Community Responses to Globalisation: Performances of ‘A‘amu Tuai at Aldea Educativa Hoŋa’a o te Mana
Moira Fortin Cornejo
10 (Re)positioning an Indigenous Standpoint in Theatre Making Practices
Liza-Mare Syron
11 Saibai Island Ancestral Performative Knowledge: Centring Body, Experiences and Associated Knowledge in the Twenty-First Century
Margaret Harvey
Index
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Statement of Editorial Policy
Introduction: Staging Local Indigenous Cultures in a Globalised Oceania
Marc Maufort and David O’donnell
1 Taenga Mai/The Arrival: Acts of Remembering and Resistance at Aotearoa’s Border
Nicola Hyland
2 “There’s a Gap Here”: Thoughts on Four Plays that Helped Invent Māori Playwriting in Aotearoa
Murray Edmond
3 Creating New Star-Paths to Traverse Disciplinary Territories
Hilary Halba, Rua McCallum and David O’donnell
4 Bridging the Global Live Performance Marketplace: The Modern Māori Quartet
James Wenley
5 F*ck it Up Sis: Representation and Agency in the Work of
Sean Coyle
6 “The Trauma of Return” – Māori Battalion Narratives in the Theatre of Aotearoa
David O’donnell
7 Kūkulu o Kahiki: Kanaka Maoli Narratives and Performance Rooted in Oceania
Tammy Haili‘ōpua Baker
8 Preserving Indigenous Identities in a Globalised World: The Magical Realist Vision of Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker and Albert Wendt
Marc Maufort
9 School Theatre Productions in Rapa Nui as Community Responses to Globalisation: Performances of ‘A‘amu Tuai at Aldea Educativa Hoŋa’a o te Mana
Moira Fortin Cornejo
10 (Re)positioning an Indigenous Standpoint in Theatre Making Practices
Liza-Mare Syron
11 Saibai Island Ancestral Performative Knowledge: Centring Body, Experiences and Associated Knowledge in the Twenty-First Century
Margaret Harvey
Index
This book will be of interest to scholars, students, and artists concerned with the literature and culture of Oceania, Indigenous performance and theatre, the preservation of local cultural and artistic practices, and comparative culture and literature more broadly.