Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Frontispiece
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Preface to Volume I
- Part I Rethinking the Pacific
- 1 Te Moana Nui a Kiwa
- 2 The Pacific Region in Deep Time
- 3 Leviathan’s Families
- 4 Weaving Women’s Stories
- 5 The Pacific World
- Part II Humans and the Natural World in the Pacific Ocean
- Part III Deep Time: Sources for the Ancient History of the Pacific
- Part IV The Initial Colonization of the Pacific
- Part V The Evolution of Pacific Communities
- Part VI Europe’s Maritime Expansion into the Pacific
- References to Volume I
- Index
4 - Weaving Women’s Stories
Restoring Women and Indigenous Perspectives into Chuukese History
from Part I - Rethinking the Pacific
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2022
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Frontispiece
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Preface to Volume I
- Part I Rethinking the Pacific
- 1 Te Moana Nui a Kiwa
- 2 The Pacific Region in Deep Time
- 3 Leviathan’s Families
- 4 Weaving Women’s Stories
- 5 The Pacific World
- Part II Humans and the Natural World in the Pacific Ocean
- Part III Deep Time: Sources for the Ancient History of the Pacific
- Part IV The Initial Colonization of the Pacific
- Part V The Evolution of Pacific Communities
- Part VI Europe’s Maritime Expansion into the Pacific
- References to Volume I
- Index
Summary
In order to restore gender equality, women’s rights, and meaningful responsibilities of women, it is important to do a women-centred history that draws heavily on local history and perspectives. If Chuukese women fail to recognize and learn traditional history, foreign and masculine perspectives will take precedence over local perspectives. In the end, traditional history will be neglected and forgotten. Chuukese history then becomes colonized and marginalized. As historian of Micronesia David Hanlon pointed out, ‘Colonialism, by its very nature, stands hostile and oblivious to Indigenous versions and visions of local pasts. Histories that revisit precolonial times loom as potentially threatening and ultimately subversive to colonial agendas predicated on possession, control, and exploitation.’1 Therefore, to represent Chuukese women fully, it is critical that we look to traditional history and culture to represent credible stories of Chuukese women. After outlining the many misrepresentations of Chuukese peoples and their histories, this chapter discusses the rising tide of revision within recent scholarship to reinterpret the role of Chuukese women in their societies’ histories. It concludes by noting how a new generation of local historians are illuminating Indigenous history by restoring Chuukese ways of telling and understanding histories.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean , pp. 91 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023