A New Publication for Karen Peacock
Karen Peacock, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has just published
"Blue-Light Special: The Pacific Collection, Hamilton Library, UH"
in Pacific Places, Pacific Histories: Essays in Honor of Robert C. Kiste.
This collection is edited by Brij V. Lal and was published in Honolulu by UH Press, 2004 (p. 275-289).
Micronesian Histories: An Analytical Bibliography and Guide
to Interpretations
She has also co-authored, with Nicholas Goetzfridt from the University of Guam,
Micronesian Histories: An Analytical Bibliography and Guide
to Interpretations.
Traditionally, the "history" of Micronesia has been dominated by outside European interpretations and
interpretations from the perspectives, values, and actions of Micronesians themselves, thereby rendering
contextually richer and more realistic interpretations of the past. A core title for individuals interested
in Pacific history and historiography, this bibliography provides a critical summary and analysis of the
scholarship on Micronesian history, as it has been constructed through both standardized European approaches
and the more recent integration of indigenous viewpoints.
Beginning with introductions which review the issues of Micronesian historiography and Pacific historiography
in general, this book challenges current thinking and perceptions of bibliography as it relates to the Pacific. As
suggested by the plural "histories" in the title, the approaches to Pacific history are multifaceted. Focusing on
scholarly works that are intentionally historical in nature, the authors provide readers with an opportunity to explore
the specifics of Micronesian histories as they have evolved through four separate European periods of governance.
David Hanlon, Professor of History University of Hawai'i at Manoa states, "Goetzfridt and Peacock, two of the Pacific's
premier bibliographers, have produced an eminently accessible, remarkably thorough, and impressively annotated guide to the
written sources on Micronesia's past. There is no other bibliography quite like it. Anyone interested in Micronesian or Pacific
histories will find this work wonderfully helpful."
In addition Anne Perez Hattori, Assistant Professor of Pacific History at the University of Guam wrote,
"Micronesian Histories establishes Goetzfridt and Peacock as the world's preeminent curators of Micronesian library collections.
Their impressive, erudite volume will quickly become an indispensable research tool across the disciplines for persons studying the
Federal States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau. Indeed, there exists no other bibliographic publication which so
exhaustively unites the major writings by both indigenous and non-indigenous writers of Micronesia. Aside from the sheer exhaustiveness
of this work, their scholarly annotations intelligently and faithfully synthesize each text's key themes, providing users with an invaluable resource."
"Returning History Through the Trust Territory Archives"
Karen Peacock's essay, "Returning History Through the Trust Territory
Archives" has been published in Handle With Care: Ownership and Control of
Ethnographic Materials, edited by Sjoerd R. Jaarsma (University of Pittsburgh
Press, 2002, pp.108-129).
The idea for this collection began
with a session of the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania that
examined repatriation of field material, and built up to an ASAO Symposium
from which this volume arose.
In this essay, Peacock examines the role of
the microfilming of the files of the US trusteeship in Micronesia and
creating of an online index to the records as a
means of making that colonial history available to Islanders. Using the
details of the University of Hawaii Library's involvement in creation of
the microfilm archives and the dissemination of sets of microfilm to each
of the island governments of the former trusteeship, Peacock discusses the
pitfalls and misunderstandings that center on the "ownership" of the
historical record.
Other essays in the volume cover such topics as
repatriating ethnography through a web site, access to a restricted set of
field notes, Kwaio records in the Melanesian archive, and the problems of
resurrecting poetic repertoire for hula, among others.
About Karen Peacock
Karen Peacock is the curator of the Pacific Collection at UH Library. She
was raised in the islands of Micronesia, and did graduate work at UH,
receiving her MLS, MA in Pacific Studies and PhD in History. Karen
travels regularly to the Micronesian nations for acquisitions work,
conferences and library consultation. She is Resources editor for The
Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs, and a faculty member of
the Center for Pacific Islands Studies.
Karen Peacock