Refocusing Ethnographic Museums through Oceanic Lenses by Philipp Schorch (review)

Molisa. But, as her daughter Viran Molisa Trief insists in her fine foreword, “she was never the only one” (11). Grace encouraged many others to write through literary festivals and local publications. Anna Naupa reflects that “the role of literature—especially in a predominantly illiterate society—is limited” (73). She wonders how many of her contemporaries and younger generations will read this book, as they now prefer using Facebook, the Internet, and popular songs to communicate. She criticizes pervasive narratives of “‘us and them’—traditional versus modern, urban versus rural, blackand-white dichotomies—but this isn’t the reality for many of us who span and cross these divides” (73). She celebrates the writing of Sia Figiel, of Teresia Teaiwa, and of Marcel Melthérorong (Mars Melto), whose novels in French trace his arc of selfdiscovery from Nouméa back home to Vanuatu. “We just need to be creative,” Naupa proclaims, observing how literature “opens us to the nuances of everyday life, shedding light on others’ experiences” (73). This volume is an important step toward this creative opening. It is written for the most part in the colonizer’s language, but here English is appropriated and localized to communicate the diverse experiences of Vanuatu’s women. Poems in Bislama also appear in English translation, but the Bislama versions have a distinctive local resonance. Indeed, Sope prefers her poem “Chusum” in Bislama rather than English: “the meaning is deep down in you” (33). Despite being shunned and satirized by some (56), Bislama is an official language alongside English and French and is the lingua franca for most people in the archipelago. I congratulate all of the authors and especially the editors of this unique, innovative anthology. Despite delays in 2020 caused by the covid-19 pandemic, closed borders, and Super Cyclone Harold, they have, with the support of Creative New Zealand and Victoria University Press, produced a very impressive volume. In addition to the handsome hard copy and e-book, seven of the poets produced recordings of their work for the blog NZ Poetry Shelf. Read, listen, savor.