Converting Pasts and Presents: Reflections on Histories of Missionary Enterprises in the Pacific
Hanlon D. 2001. Converting Pasts and Presents: Reflections on Histories of Missionary Enterprises in the Pacific. Pages 143-154. In Pacific Lives, Pacific Places: Changing Boundaries in Pacific History. Canberra, Australia. June 26-30, 2000. The Journal of Pacific History
From the article: "...History, it seems to me, is also at stake in the conversion process. No missionary effort or undertaking, be it secular or religious, can be complete or successful without an accompanying conversion of the past. Frederic Jameson has written written that the process of development does not allow for history outside the West. Development seeks to complete the colonial project by redefining non-Western areas in terms of experience of colonialism. History as usually practice in and by the West becomes a part of the colonising process in its sacrifice of other people's pasts to the demanding gods of progress and productivity. It strikes me that histories of missionaries that purport to be -or are read as- histories of religious change also contribute to this kind of conversion or erasure." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Pohnpei Historic Preservation Office, Department of Land and Natural Resources, administered by the Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
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- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Hanlon, David
- Units
- HPF
- Keywords
- Historic Context Statements