Who was Polynesian? Who was Melanesian? Hybridity and ethnogenesis in the South Vanuatu Outliers

Bibliographic Data

ID21157453
AuthorsJ L Flexner (0000-0002-2577-5991, Department of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, corresponding author), Bedford (0000-0001-6476-5617, Department of Archaeology and Natural History, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany), F Valentin (0000-0002-0575-7681, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France; Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie à Nanterre, Nanterre, France)
Year2019
Volume19
Issue3
Pages403-426
Publication date2019-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1469-6053 • E-ISSN: 1741-2951
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1469605319846719
OpenAlexW2944412481
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited49

Archaeological constructions of past identities often rely more or less explicitly on contemporary notions of culture and community in ways that can sometimes oversimplify the past and present. The archaeology of European colonialism has shown the proliferation of ‘hybrid’ identities that emerged from relatively recent cross-cultural encounters (though this concept is not without its critics). We argue that this perspective can also inform interpretations of the deeper past, with specific reference to ongoing research in the Polynesian Outliers of Futuna and Aniwa, south Vanuatu. Polynesian Outliers represent precisely the kinds of cross-cultural spaces where hybrid identities likely emerged during the pre-European era. A theoretical approach drawing on archaeological approaches to hybridity and ethnogenetic theories applied to the south Vanuatu Outliers allows for a clearer understanding of the roles difference and familiarity played in identity formation in the past

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Colonialism · Cultural identity · Ethnic group · Ethnogenesis · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Hybridity · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies