Arvin explains how dispossessing Polynesians was predicated on a logic of settler colonialism inflected by white supremacy. Casting Polynesians as white—specifically, as “almost white”—as opposed to distancing Polynesians from Caucasians, simultaneously provided white settlers the justification they needed to occupy large swaths of Oceania and precluded Polynesians from enjoying the full set of rights available to non-almost whites. By establishing a clear racial continuity between settlers and Polynesians, possession through whiteness made whiteness indigenous to the islands; doing so “suited [settlers’] own claims of belonging to Polynesia while [also soothing] colonizers’ racial anxieties about those they dispossessed.” Throughout the book, Arvin argues that anti-Blackness was as pronounced and as integral in possessing Polynesians as whiteness and calls for future research that more centrally examines the specific and nuanced functions of whiteness, Blackness, and Indigeneity in Melanesian and Micronesian contexts.
Articles by Christine Rosenfeld
Christine Rosenfeld is an Assistant Professor of Geography at George Mason University (GMU). She received her doctorate in Cultural Studies from GMU, her M.S. degree in Geography from the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), and her B.A. degrees in Geography and Spanish from PSU. She is under contract with University of Nebraska Press for her first book which is based around her dissertation research regarding socio-cultural struggle in and about the Saddle region of the Big Island. Her other research pertains to the changing Arctic landscape and conflict early warning systems; she is part of an NSF-funded research team regarding this work. Previously, she has published articles related to research completed with the Smithsonian regarding digital volunteers and has presented at various national conferences about historical tourism landscapes in Cuba and contemporary struggle in Hawaii’s Saddle. She currently teaches political geography, human geography, and major world regions.