Cetaceans and citations: a survey of the English literature on the role of cetaceans in South Pacific island cultures: Tuhinga 19

Tuhinga 19: 169-184

ABSTRACT: Prepared to support the development of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa exhibition ‘Whales –Tohorā ’, this review surveys material published in English on the practices, knowledge and beliefs of South Pacific people in relation to whales, dolphins and porpoises. It does so under the categories of deity and veneration, origins and classification, power, status and adornment, alliance and protection,enmity and threat, and capture and consumption.The cited material covers Kiribati, coastal Papua, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Niue, the Cook Islands, the Society Islands and Rapanui. Itself recording the observations of an outsider, this article identifies the material mostly as reflections of similarly external examination rather than necessarily accurate descriptions. The review concludes with a brief consideration of possibilities for further research.

KEYWORDS: literature review, cetaceans, whales, dolphins, porpoises, South Pacific people, Oceania