culture, place, and nature studies in anthropology and environment K. Sivaramakrishnan, Series Editor culture, place, and nature Centered in anthropology, the Culture, Place, and Nature series encompasses new interdisciplinary social science research on environmental issues, focusing on the intersection of culture, ecology, and politics in global, national, and local contexts. Contributors to the series view environmental knowledge and issues from the multiple and often conflicting perspectives of various cultural systems. The Kuhls of Kangra: Community-Managed Irrigation in the Western Himalaya by Mark Baker The Earth’s Blanket: Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living by Nancy Turner Property and Politics in Sabah, Malaysia: Native Struggles over Land Rights by Amity A. Doolittle Border Landscapes: The Politics of Akha Land Use in China and Thailand by Janet C. Sturgeon From Enslavement to Environmentalism: Politics on a Southern African Frontier by David McDermott Hughes Ecological Nationalisms: Nature, Livelihood, and Identities in South Asia edited by Gunnel Cederlöf and K. Sivaramakrishnan Tropics and the Traveling Gaze: India, Landscape, and Science, 1800–1856 by David Arnold Being and Place among the Tlingit by Thomas F. Thornton Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand by Tim Forsyth and Andrew Walker Nature Protests: The End of Ecology in Slovakia by Edward Snajdr Wild Sardinia: Indigeneity and the Global Dreamtimes of Environmentalism by Tracey Heatherington Tahiti Beyond the Postcard: Power, Place, and Everyday Life by Miriam Kahn TAHITI BEYOND THE POSTCARD Power, Place, and Everyday Life Miriam Kahn University of Washington Press seattle & london This publication is supported in part LIBRARY OF CONGRESS by the Donald R. Ellegood International CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Publications Endowment. Kahn, Miriam. Tahiti beyond the postcard : power, place, and COPYRIGHT © 2011 everyday life / Miriam Kahn. BY UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS p. cm. — (Culture, place, and nature) Includes bibliographical references and index. Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-295-99101-6 (hardback : alk. 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 paper) — ISBN 978-0-295-99102-3 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Ethnology—French Polynesia—Tahiti All illustrations courtesy of the author (Island) 2. Human geography—French unless otherwise noted. Polynesia—Tahiti (Island) 3. Culture and tourism—French Polynesia—Tahiti (Island) All rights reserved. No part of this publica- 4. Geographical perception—Tahiti (French tion may be reproduced or transmitted in any Polynesia : Island) 5. Postcolonialism— form or by any means, electronic or mechani- French Polynesia—Tahiti (Island) cal, including photocopy, recording, or any 6. Tahiti (French Polynesia : Island)— information storage or retrieval system, with- Social life and customs. 7. Tahiti (French out permission in writing from the publisher. Polynesia : Island)—Foreign relations— France. 8. France—Foreign relations— University of Washington Press Tahiti (French Polynesia : Island) I. Title. P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145, U.S.A. GN671.S55KK34 2010 www.washington.edu/uwpress 996.2’11—dc22 2010043123 Printed and bound in the United States of America / Designed by Ashley Saleeba Composed in Minion Pro and Meta The paper used in this publication is acid-free and it meets the minimum requirements of COVER: “Preparing Coconut Monoi Oil,” American National Standard for Information painting by Bobby Holcomb; courtesy of Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Dorothy Levy. Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984. To my parents, Tatyana Uffner Kahn and Ludwig Werner Kahn Contents Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Note to the Reader xv Introduction 3 CHAPTER ONE New Geographies in the Wake of Colonialism 30 CHAPTER TWO Placentas in the Land, Bombs in the Bedrock 61 CHAPTER THREE Keeping the Myth Alive 96 CHAPTER FOUR In the Cocoon 127 CHAPTER FIVE From Our Place to Their Place 155 CHAPTER SIX Everyday Spaces of Resistance 181 CHAPTER SEVEN E Aha Atu Ra? What Will Happen? 208 Notes 221 References 237 Index 260 Foreword The imprint that places leave on the societies that inhabit and shape them has always been of great interest to environmental anthropology. In this study Miriam Kahn draws upon fieldwork and archival research conducted in both Tahiti and France to reflect on the basic question of how places and people form and change their identity in interconnected ways. She takes a historical view of the formation of modern Tahiti as an object of intense Euro-Amer- ican interest and desire, and from that vantage point tells the story of how Tahitians and others have narrated their lives in this group of islands and in the island’s necessary and elective relations with the rest of the world. Colonized by France after several voyagers had already begun to represent Tahiti as a place of legendary beauty and comfort, French Polynesia offers a story that at one level resembles European arrivals in other parts of the Pacific and Polynesia. Those comparative lessons do not escape Kahn, but she is more interested in providing a careful account of how—in the experience of colonialism and cold war—residence, travel, interconnection, and the pro- duction of livelihood in Tahiti mark the landscape and thereby shape identity for those who live and travel there. Before the arrival of European explorers, Tahitian lives were already shaped by the travel and trade characteristic of Pacific Islander and Polynesian cultures. By focusing here on arrivals and departures in the era of European expansion and beyond, to the contempo- rary incorporation of Tahitian lives into the world of nuclear deterrence and tourism, Kahn traces the different modes and regimes of travel and, thereby, IX