First contacts in Polynesia : the Samoan case (1722-1848) : western misunderstanding about sexuality and divinity / Serge Tcherkezoff

Abstract

For the Pacific region, the sources regarding first contacts are essentially accounts written by European travellers. One can quite easily imagine the extent to which these accounts, especially those published in the form of a book which was intended for a large public, foreground interpretations based on prejudices and preconceptions. Their preconceived views blinded the authors themselves, these first voyagers, and prevented them from understanding the whole range of acts and behaviours of the indigenous population. In particular, several contexts were the occasion of gross misunderstandings. Let me immediately evoke the two principal contexts in which these occurred.