Islanders Can Only Accomplish "Small" Things
“Our Sea of Islands” by Epeli Hau’ofa: Veiwing the Pacific Differently: https://savageminds.org/wp-content/image-upload/our-sea-of-islands-epeli-hauofa.pdf Hau’ofa distinguishes the differences between viewing the Pacific as the “Pacific Islands” and “Oceania.” She refers to these differing views as, “islands in the far sea” or as “a sea of islands.” She argues that the first example, denotes a belief of “smallness”, tiny islands with tiny people in a large and remote sea. Historical evidence of relationships of dominance and subordination, and because the early Europeans believed to hold a dominant position over the natives; helped to further perpetuate the idea that there is a “bigger” man and a “smaller” one. The belittling of the indigenous people, the subordination to their masters, the imaginary lines and boundaries that were drawn by the Americans and Europeans which were used to “confine ocean peoples to tiny spaces for the first time,” all helped to perpetuate this ...