'Running Away with Itself': Missionaries, Islanders and the Reimagining of Cricket in Samoa, 1830–1939. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- 'Running Away with Itself': Missionaries, Islanders and the Reimagining of Cricket in Samoa, 1830–1939. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)
- Main Title:
- 'Running Away with Itself': Missionaries, Islanders and the Reimagining of Cricket in Samoa, 1830–1939
- Authors:
- Sacks, Benjamin
- Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: Missionaries were among the first and most influential bearers of European social practices in Oceania. While they sought to reshape the lives of Indigenous peoples, missionaries frequently found that Islanders reconfigured introduced practices in distinctive and sometimes disruptive ways. This essay explores this process using the example of sport and games, and particularly cricket, in Samoa. Despite initial reservations, by the late-19th century most missionaries considered European sports to be inoffensive and even useful in furthering their objectives. Samoan pastimes, however, were irremediably bound to 'un-Christian' practices such as lewd dancing, revelry and excess. This neat dichotomy was disrupted by the manner in which Samoans adapted papalagi (foreign) sports – principally cricket – in ways that obliterated their European character and instead catered to Samoan expectations of what recreation should be. After initial efforts to control and proscribe cricket, missionaries grew resigned to its place within increasingly 'Samoanised' churches.
- Is Part Of:
- Journal of Pacific history. Volume 52:Issue 1(2017)
- Journal:
- Journal of Pacific history
- Issue:
- Volume 52:Issue 1(2017)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 52, Issue 1 (2017)
- Year:
- 2017
- Volume:
- 52
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2017-0052-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 34
- Page End:
- 51
- Publication Date:
- 2017-01-02
- Subjects:
- Samoa -- cricket -- recreation -- sport -- missionaries -- Christianity -- empire -- colonialism
Oceania -- Civilization -- Periodicals
Oceania -- History -- Periodicals
Pacific Area -- History -- Periodicals
Islands of the Pacific -- History -- Periodicals
995.005 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjph20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/00223344.2017.1317920 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0022-3344
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 5027.750000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 2170.xml