Bitter Sweet

Overview

The South Pacific has long represented the possibilities of a pure space, outside the ambivalences of a ‘developed’ world. But the indigenous women of this region often speak of the bitter sweetness of their experiences. Pacific women’s multiple engagements with work and with sovereignty politics, as well as with their portrayal in film, poetry and tourism, are at the heart of this book. The contributors address the interesting, ongoing questions of representation and identity, as well as their place in the shifting politics of the contemporary Pacific.

Author Biography

Phyllis Herda's research and teaching interests include gender, power and colonisation, oral tradition as history and the production and presentation of textiles in the Pacific. Her academic background is in Anthropology and Pacific History. Currently, she is working on a project on women's quilting in Polynesia and is a Senior Lecturer in Women's Studies at the University of Auckland. Phyllis was editor of the Woman's Studies Journal between 1996 and 1999. Alison Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Education, and Director of the Institute for Research on Gender, at the University of Auckland. She has published widely on gender and ethnicity in education, including the ethnography 'At School I've got a Chance' Culture/Privilege: Pacific Islands and Pakeha Girls at School (Dunmore Press, 1991). She was also on the editorial board of the Women's Studies Journal from 1996 to 1999. Tamasailau M. Suaalii is currently undertaking full-time doctoral studies in Sociology at the University of Auckland. She also holds a part-time Assistant Research Fellow position with the Pacific Health Research Centre, Department of Maori and Pacific Health, University of Auckland. She has a wide socio-legal interest in ethnic minority issues, particularly in relation to Samoan communities.