Don't miss out! Get the best events & activities in your inbox weekly...
Home > Events > Arts & Culture > “The Polynesian Problem”: Western Studies of Pacific Islander Origins
Submit Event View Newsletter



“The Polynesian Problem”: Western Studies of Pacific Islander Origins

Report Error
Email It
Write a Review
You are Viewing a Past Event

If this is a recurring event that will be happening again this year, please let us know.
Dates:Wednesday, March 17, 2021 - Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Hours:6pm-7pm
Ages:Teens, Adults
In/Outdoor:Indoor, Outdoor
Cost:Free see below
Category:Arts & Culture

“What is a Polynesian?” This is a question with a long and troubling history embedded in settler colonialism.

From Europeans’ earliest encounters with the Pacific, White Europeans expressed a fascination and partial identification with the racial origins of Polynesians.

Polynesians seemed to represent “natural man” in the purest state.

In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century social-scientific studies, Polynesian origins became the subject of intense scrutiny and debate.

Physical anthropologists such as Louis R.

Sullivan declared Polynesians to be conditionally Caucasian.

Maile Arvin will discuss this history from a Native Hawaiian feminist perspective, attentive to the ways Polynesians have challenged and appropriated such ideas.

Maile Arvin, Assistant Professor of History and Gender Studies, University of Utah.

Advanced registration required.

Click here to register for this free virtual event.

Registration closes 30 minutes before start time.

Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.

COST↑ top

FREE Register Here

WEBSITE↑ top

hmsc.harvard.edu/Polynesian-Problem

LOCATION↑ top

1 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA, 02138 map
Phone: 617-496-1638

RELATED LINKS↑ top

Info changes frequently. We cannot warrant it. Verify with “The Polynesian Problem”: Western Studies of Pacific Islander Origins before making the trek. If you find an error, please report it...
Report Error
Popular Resources
Boston with Kids
Free Things to Do
Family & Kids Events
Mass RMV - DMV
Boston Birthday Parties
Boston Museums
Rose Kennedy Greenway
Boston Aquarium
Boston Massachusetts
Boston Bowling
Boston Haymarket
Boston Whale Watching