Decolonizing Cultures in the Pacific

<p>In <em>Decolonizing Cultures in the Pacific</em> Susan Y. Najita proposes that the traumatic history of contact and colonization has become a crucial means by which indigenous peoples of Oceania are reclaiming their cultures languages ways of knowing and political independence. In particular she examines how contemporary writers from Hawai‘i Samoa and Aotearoa/New Zealand remember re-tell and deploy this violent history in their work. As Pacific peoples negotiate their paths towards sovereignty and chart their postcolonial futures these writers play an invaluable role in invoking and commenting upon the various uses of the histories of colonial resistance allowing themselves and their readers to imagine new futures by exorcising the past.</p><p><em>Decolonizing Cultures in the Pacific</em> is a valuable addition to the fields of Pacific and Postcolonial Studies and also contributes to struggles for cultural decolonization in Oceania: contemporary writers’ critical engagement with colonialism and indigenous culture Najita argues provides a powerful tool for navigating a decolonized future.</p>