The Journal of Pacific History

McGavin, K. (2026). The Rise of Pacific Literature: Decolonization, Radical Campuses, and Modernism: By Maebh Long and Matthew Hayward. New York, Columbia University Press, 2024. 312 pp., notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9780231217446 (hbk), 9780231217453 (pbk), 9780231561730 (eBook). US$140.00 (hbk), US$35.00 (pbk), US$ 34.99 (eBook). The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 199–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2572449

The major goal of this book is to recount and critique the written literature of the Pacific Islands region. It is an ambitious undertaking but one that comes at the right time, with so many emerging and established Pasifika authors enjoying national and international success...The Rise of Pacific Literature assumes the important task of reminding us of the literary foundation upon which these successes were built and, in this way, becomes a type of genealogy or whakapapa, not only accounting for the politics surrounding and embedded within written literature from the region, but also providing an analysis of the literature itself.

The Journal of Pacific History welcomes scholars interested in contributing reviews. Help keep the field informed on the latest and most important works in Pacific history scholarship, exhibitions and films. Reach out to our editorial assistant at [email protected] to express your interest.

BOOK REVIEW

Buschmann, R. F. (2026). Piracy and the Making of the Spanish Pacific World: By Kristie Patricia Flannery. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024. 288 pp., illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9781512825749 (hbk), 9781512825756 (eBook). US$55.00 (hbk/eBook). The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 197–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2509808

Piracy and the Making of the Spanish Pacific World succeeds on many levels. The work’s clearly delineated agenda pushes the colonial history of the Philippines under Spanish rule into new directions...The book’s complex but masterfully narrated argument investigates ‘how maritime violence shapes the colonial politics belonging in the Philippines’ (p. 6). A particular apt narrative strategy is Flannery’s introduction of each chapter with a specific type of ship or flotilla arriving in the Philippines to highlight the maritime dimension of the work.

The Journal of Pacific History welcomes scholars interested in contributing reviews. Help keep the field informed on the latest and most important works in Pacific history scholarship, exhibitions and films. Reach out to our editorial assistant at [email protected] to express your interest.

BOOK REVIEW
Faleolo, R. (Lute). (2026). Mandates and Missteps: Australian Government Scholarships to the Pacific – 1948 to 2018: By Anna Kent. Canberra, ANU Press, 2024. xviii+255 pages, notes, bibliography, index, AU$39.95, ISBN 978176046615 (print), 9781760466169 (ebook). The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 194–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2503545

This extensive work by Anna Kent skilfully weaves together threads of Pacific mobilities and Australian policies that develop and intersect alongside the migration narratives of Pacific peoples seeking higher education opportunities in Australia. A strength of this book is the insightful critique and learnings presented by Kent about past events, mandates and missteps in the array of Australian Government scholarship schemes offered to the Pacific between 1948 and 2018...
The Journal of Pacific History welcomes scholars interested in contributing reviews. Help keep the field informed on the latest and most important works in Pacific history scholarship, exhibitions and films. Reach out to our editorial assistant at [email protected] to express your interest.

BOOK REVIEW

Keating, J. (2026). The Feminist Pacific: International Women’s Networks in Hawai‘i, 1820–1940: By Rumi Yasutake. New York, Columbia University Press, 2024. 320 pages, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9780231208529 (hbk), 9780231208536 (pbk), 9780231557474 (ebook). US$140.00 (hbk), US$35.00 (pbk), US$34.99 (ebook). The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 195–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2509831

In The Feminist Pacific, the product of a lifetime’s ‘obsession’ with the contradictions on which United States’ (US) Protestant missionary women and Indigenous and Asian settler women in Hawai‘i built durable networks (p. 209), Rumi Yasutake conceptualizes the rise of pan-Pacific feminism during the 19th century...The result is both a fresh history of Hawai‘i and a compelling account of an emerging North Pacific feminist consciousness, realized as Indigenous and diasporic women leaders confronted the challenges of late modern globalization.

The Journal of Pacific History welcomes scholars interested in contributing reviews. Help keep the field informed on the latest and most important works in Pacific history scholarship, exhibitions and films. Reach out to our editorial assistant at [email protected] to express your interest.

Quanchi, M. (2026). APT11; Eleventh Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Gallery of Modern Art/Queensland Art Gallery, Southbank Precinct, Brisbane, 30 November 2024–5 May 2025, Free. The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 189–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2523634

Max reviewed the Eleventh Asia Pacific Triennial (APT11), as presented in 2025 across the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) buildings. The eleventh exhibition of APT included 70 artists from 30 countries, supported by a cinema program, video works, public discussions, guided tours, and a community partners program...

The Journal of Pacific History welcomes scholars interested in contributing reviews. Help keep the field informed on the latest and most important works in Pacific history scholarship, exhibitions and films. Reach out to our editorial assistant at [email protected] to express your interest.

REVIEW ARTICLE

Reynolds, P. (2026). Gauguin and Polynesia. The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 184–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2572447

This piece is a comprehensive essay review of the following texts: Gauguin and Polynesia, by Nicholas Thomas and Gauguin’s World: Tōna Iho, Tōna Ao, by Henri Loyrette.
The Journal of Pacific History welcomes scholars interested in contributing reviews. Help keep the field informed on the latest and most important works in Pacific history scholarship, exhibitions and films. Reach out to our editorial assistant at [email protected] to express your interest.

OBITUARY

Hempenstall, P., Firth, S., & Munro, D. (2026). Colin Newbury (1929–2025). The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 179–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2592203
Colin Walter Newbury was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 4 March 1929.Footnote1 His father, Walter, had survived the Western Front as an under-age army volunteer as well as the Spanish flu pandemic and married Colin’s mother, Annie Adelina née Raven, in 1923. Colin went to the traditionalist King’s High School in Dunedin and enjoyed the mythical New Zealand childhood, camping with friends, shooting rabbits for the pot, and working on local farms to earn money. There were plays and prizes in French, and poetry competitions. Too young to enlist in World War Two, Colin learned navigation and carpentry, both of which stood him in good stead in later life. Brought up in the working-class suburb of Caversham, he was the first in his family to attend university and as a scholarship student studied history under W. P. Morrell, who had written his DPhil thesis in Oxford on British colonial policy and in 1960 published Britain in the Pacific Islands. Colin was elected to the Student Council at the University of Otago, acted in plays, and his poetry was published in prominent New Zealand literary outlets....

NARRATIVES & DOCUMENTS / OPEN ACCESS

Tatiree, W., & Douglas, B. (2026). MANUSCRIPT XLVIII: Protestant Islander Missionaries in the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati). The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 147–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2523834

Abstract: This article explores the significance and contributions of Protestant Islander missionaries in the early Christianization of the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati). Traditionally, mission histories of the Pacific Islands focused heavily on the work of white male missionaries, underrating or even ignoring that of Islander men and women who (like equally undervalued white women) were often critical to mission success or failure. The key contributions of Hawaiians, Samoans, and Gilbertese to the establishment of the Church, now known as the Kiribati Uniting Church (KUC), is evaluated. A particular concern is Islanders’ partnerships with white male and female missionaries and their lasting impact on ways in which Christianity is understood and practised in Kiribati. The names (where known in the case of wives) and work sites of nearly 100 Islander missionaries are listed in four tables.



The Journal of Pacific History Narratives & Documents section focuses on primary sources, featuring archival materials, photographs, and oral histories. It includes the "From the Archives" series, which highlights specific records, and the "Manuscript" series, which reproduces primary documents, often with translations. Visit our journal page to find out more: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cjph20/about-this-journal or start a conversation with our editorial team today [email protected] to discuss content options.

NARRATIVES AND DOCUMENTS

Stech, Z. (2026). A Taste of Canada in Vanuatu: The ViVa Project on Tanna (1991–2018). The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 130–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2500370

This article recounts the history of the Victoria–Vanuatu Physician Project (known as ViVa), which, from 1991 to 2015, supplied a Canadian medical doctor to the remote island of Tanna in southern Vanuatu. The article begins by retracing Canada’s interests vis-a-vis the South Pacific from the standpoint of development assistance projects in order to understand the circumstances surrounding the inception of ViVa. The argument is made that Canadian doctors filled a critical void on Tanna by providing quality medical services amid challenging conditions. They also contributed to modernizing healthcare by advocating for better medical equipment and facilities. Their work with Ni-Vanuatu colleagues paved the way for close personal connections and a deeper appreciation of both cultures. Although the last Canadian physician left Tanna in 2015, the project continued until 2018, primarily as a relief effort following Cyclone Pam.



The Journal of Pacific History Narratives & Documents section focuses on primary sources, featuring archival materials, photographs, and oral histories. It includes the "From the Archives" series, which highlights specific records, and the "Manuscript" series, which reproduces primary documents, often with translations. Visit our journal page to find out more: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cjph20/about-this-journal or start a conversation with our editorial team today [email protected] to discuss content options.

ARTICLE

Marie, G. (2026). Re-visiting Transgressive Actions: The Little-known Pacific Life of Sarah Henry Bland, 1797–1822. The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 105–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2542578

Abstract: Sarah Henry was born in 1797 at the London Missionary Society’s mission at Matavai Bay Tahiti. On several occasions Sarah rejected the path expected of a ‘respectable’ young woman and a missionary daughter. She was the subject of scandal. This article covers four incidents in Sarah Henry Bland’s life: sexual intimacy with a tāne at Mo‘orea at the age of 16 in 1814; exile to New South Wales (NSW), where she eloped, married, and was then estranged from William Bland in 1817 as the result of her adultery, the subsequent court case publicly shaming her; life with Commandant James Morisset at the secondary penal colony at Newcastle in 1820–2; and her return in 1822 to the Society Islands for a three-month period in which her behaviour again caused censure before she left for London. While most historians of this period have focused on the impact on Mā‘ohi of foreigners, this article turns this narrative on its head by exploring Sarah’s responses to different lifeways in the Society Islands. Telling Sarah’s extraordinary life underscores the significance of children and the mission domestic sphere. It sketches contemporary morality, both at the Society Islands and the penal colony of NSW, through the lenses of gender and race, sexuality, masculinity and femininity, and exposes the complexity and ‘entanglement’ of intercultural relationships.



The Journal of Pacific History invites article submissions. This is a valuable opportunity to contribute original research to a respected scholarly journal. Visit our journal page to find out more: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cjph20/about-this-journal

OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE

Wood, M. (2026). ‘They Will Terminate at District Headquarters’: Towards a History of Patrol Reports and Their Circulation in Papua New Guinea c. 1958–73. The Journal of Pacific History, 61(1), 78–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2511331

Abstract: The patrol report is an important source of data concerning the history of colonialism in PNG. However, the patrol report as a specific set of documents with their own history has not itself been subject to analysis. The textual analysis outlined in this article is one approach to developing such a history. The article highlights the importance of official instructions on how a patrol report should be written and circulated within the bureaucracy. There were persistent attempts to regulate and reduce the flow of political and social issues into the centre of the state. These attempts were difficult to stabilize as they involved both the devaluation and revaluation of different types of knowledge found in patrol reports from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. What emerges from this analysis is a history that explores bureaucratic attempts to define and organize the way knowledge is reported and circulated rather than a history based on the content of those reports.



The Journal of Pacific History invites article submissions. This is a valuable opportunity to contribute original research to a respected scholarly journal. Visit our journal page to find out more: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cjph20/about-this-journal