We have been guided in our design of these volumes by a commitment to imagine the region from the inside. This has influenced decisions about the breadth of time covered, the selection of the main categories through which to understand a given era, the careful attention paid to the environment/non-human, and the consideration of continuity/stasis as much as of change/disruption. We are also committed to front-lining the leadership of younger and mid-career Indigenous scholars and creatives as volume editors and contributors. Our series aims to be future-oriented rather than a summary of past work; it hopes to convene the best of emergent, critical, and transformative thinking about the cultural history of all Oceania.
Like all Bloomsbury histories, each volume in our series replicates the chapter titles. Our volumes will roughly follow this innovative format:
Part One of each volume will provide an introductory chapter called “Mapping Oceania.” It will trace how the region we are calling ‘Oceania’ was framed, named or otherwise known in the given era (and/or has been ever since).
Part Two will be called “Belonging in Oceania.” It will explore the variety of ways of belonging to Oceania in the volume’s given era (exploring the concepts and examples of continuities, groundings, and roots). It will include chapters on Relating, Knowing, and Being, as well as a more creative response to the notion of belonging in Oceania, acknowledging that in this region the most profound and eloquent work on the idea often appears in forms that transcend western scholarly norms.
Part Three will be called “Moving Across Oceania.” It will explore the variety of movements across our vast region that disrupted history – sometimes in celebratory ways but at other times in unwelcomed ways. Chapters will track Travelling, Labouring, and Resisting, and, again, will also include a creative response.
[IMAGE: CREATIVE COMMONS]
A New History of Oceania ~ Sixty Thousand Years 