ARTH 214

ART IN THE PACIFIC

Graham Fletcher, Stigma, 1999, enamel on aluminium (Private Collection)

ART HISTORY
School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies
Victoria University of Wellington

Trimester 2 2007
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ARTH 214
ART IN THE PACIFIC

Course co-ordinator: Dr Peter Brunt, OK (Old Kirk) 310

Tel. 463 5805
Email: Peter.Brunt@vuw.ac.nz
Office hours: Wednesday 3 – 4pm and
Thursday 12 – 1pm (or by appointment)

Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday 4.10 – 5.00pm in

Murphy 101 (MY LT 101)

Tutor: Graeme Whimp, OK (Old Kirk) 307

Tel. 463 5801 (ext 5801)
Email: Graeme.Whimp@vuw.ac.nz
Office hours: Friday 11am – 12 pm OK 307

Tutorials: Tutorials are in Old Kirk, Room 319 (OK

319).
Tutorial times will be allocated in the first
week of the course.

Blackboard: All course information and lecture

materials are posted on Blackboard
(http://blackboard.vuw.ac.nz).

For more information: See Blackboard (http://blackboard.vuw.ac.nz)

Art History is located on the 3rd (ground) floor
of the Old Kirk building. The Art History
Office is in OK 306. The Art History
administrator is Pippa Wisheart (tel. 463 5800).
Notices regarding the course will be posted on
the board adjacent to her office. For general
information about Art History see:
www.vuw.ac.nz/Art-History
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Course outline

ARTH 214 is a selective survey of the art and visual culture of the Pacific
focusing mainly on Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia and indigenous
Australia. The course will introduce students to a range of visual practices
from a variety of locations and historical periods. It will look at those
practices through various critical frameworks, including: the relationship
between art and power within different political and social formations; the
role of art in ritual; the relationship between art and gender; the response of
Pacific arts to colonisation and modernity; Pacific art in the ‘postcolonial’ era;
and the emergence of Contemporary Pacific art in the late twentieth century.
In general the course will approach Pacific art not as a series of discrete styles
and traditions but as a dynamic phenomenon that is conditioned by and
responsive to local and global processes of social interaction and historical
change.

In line with the Art History teaching objectives, this course will:

• introduce you to the chronology and range of artistic practises in the

Pacific region;
• develop your skills in visual analysis and awareness of the materials
and techniques used in the art of the Pacific;
• develop your ability to analyse and interpret art within relevant social,
political and theoretical contexts;
• introduce you to some of the major themes and currents in the literature
of art history in the Pacific;
• develop your ability to gather and organise relevant information and
evidence from published material and further your ability to use this
material to construct an argument;
• develop your ability to present material which is coherent and well-
written and which demonstrates an understanding and application of
the conventions of academic writing;
• encourage you to participate in group discussions in tutorials;
• encourage you to view relevant art exhibitions and collections

Lecture and tutorial programmes, information about assessment and

assignments and a reading list follow.
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Lecture programme
All lecture handouts (slide lists, etc) will be available from the Art History
administrator’s office (OK 306) after each lecture. All readings are in the course
textbook (Nicholas Thomas, Oceanic Art). Images shown in lectures, slide lists and
course announcements can also be viewed on Blackboard.
_____________________________________________________________________

Week 1
10 July 1 Introduction: Maps
12 July 2 ‘The observer observed’: Pacific art in Art History
and Anthropology

Week 2
17 July 3 Is Art a European idea? Aesthetics in context
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 9-36
19 July 4 Kula: Ring of Power (film screening).

Week 3
24 July 5 The aesthetics of power I: Ritual centres
in early Micronesia and Polynesia
26 July 6 The aesthetics of power II: Rapa Nui and Hawaii
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 151-164

Week 4
31 July 7 The art of the body I: Polynesian tattooing
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 99-114
2 August 8 The art of the body II: Jewellery, adornment and
display
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 99-114

Week 5
7 August 9 Exchange, sanctity and history: Barkcloth and
matwork
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic art, pp 131-150
9 August 10 Art and ritual I: Spirit houses and male initiation
ceremonies in Papua New Guinea
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 37-57

Week 6
14 August 11 Art and ritual II: Life, death and the art of the
mask in New Ireland and New Britain

16 August TEST (lectures 1-11)

Mid-trimester break
Lectures resume Tuesday 4 September 2007

Week 7
4 September 12 Negotiating colonialism I: Appropriation,
narrative and the painted Maori meeting house
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic art, pp 59-78
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6 September 13 Negotiating colonialism II: Syncretic traditions and

quiltmaking in Hawaii, the Cook Islands and
French Polynesia
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 148-150

Week 8
11 September 14 The Pacific in the colonial gaze
13 September 15 Cannibal tours, dir. Dennis O’Rourke (1987)
(Film screening)

Week 9
18 September 16 Tourist art
20 September 17 Imagining the nation: Decolonisation and
Contemporary art in Papua New Guinea
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 184-197

21 September ESSAY DUE

Week 10
25 September 18 Settler nations and the art of indigenous minorities I:
Maori modernism in Aotearoa-New Zealand
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 199-204
27 September 19 Settler nations and the art of indigenous minorities II:
Aboriginal Australian desert painting

Week 11
2 October 20 Themes and issues in Contemporary Pacific art I:
Migrants and new ethnicities GW
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 204-8
4 October 21 Themes and issues in Contemporary Pacific art II:
Migrants and new ethnicities (cont’d) GW
Reading: Thomas, Oceanic Art, pp 204-8

Week 12
9 October 22 Themes and issues in contemporary Pacific art III:
Pacific art in the global artworld

11 October TEST (lectures 12-22)

__________________________________________________________________

End of course
__________________________________________________________________

Tutorial programme
Tutorials are compulsory. You must attend a minimum of 8 out of 10 tutorials to
meet mandatory course requirements. Tutorials are important as they supplement
lectures and provide an opportunity to deal in more depth with some of the ideas and
issues raised and they are the best context for you to ask questions about the course.

To benefit from the tutorial programme it is essential that you undertake the set
readings and prepare to discuss the questions for each session given below in the
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tutorial programme. Readings for tutorials are in your Course Handbook, available
from Student Notes in the Student Union Building.
____________________________________________________________________

Please note: The tutorial programme for ARTH 214 begins in the second
week of the course.

Week beginning:

16 July Tutorial 1: From artificial curiosities to works of art

1. Robert Goldwater, ‘Primitive art in Europe: The
accessibility of the material; The development of
ethnological museums’
2. James Clifford, ‘Histories of the tribal and the modern’

23 July Tutorial 2: Welcome to the Art cult

1. Alfred Gell, ‘The technology of enchantment and the
enchantment of technology’
2. Ross Bowden, ‘Is ‘Art’ a universal category? Some
implications for museums’

30 July Tutorial 3: Pacific divinities and the art of power

1. Greg Dening, ‘Possessing Tahiti’
2. Steven Hooper, ‘Encountering Polynesia’

6 August Tutorial 4: Tatau/tattoo

1. Nicholas Thomas, Skin deep: A history of tattooing
2. Sean Mallon, ‘Samoan Tatau as global practice’

13 August Tutorial 5: Thinking about art and ritual

1. Anthony Forge, ‘The Abelam artist’
2. Eric Schwimmer, ‘The Anthropology of the Ritual Arts’

3 September Tutorial 6: Te Papa visit/Syncretic traditions

(This tutorial will take place in the Pacific collection
rooms of Te Papa Tongarewa/Museum of New Zealand.
Time and meeting point to be announced).

10 September Tutorial 7: Class, gender and tapa cloth in Tonga

1. Jehanne H. Teilhet-Fisk, ‘To beat or not to beat, that is
the question: a study on acculturation and change in an
art-making process and its relation to gender structures’
2. Adrienne Kaeppler, ‘The structure of Tongan
barkcloth design: imagery, metaphor and illusion’

17 September Tutorial 8: Tourists and tourist art

1. Eric Kline Silverman, ‘Tourist art as the crafting of
identity in the Sepik River (Papua New Guinea)’
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2. Dean MacCannell, ‘Cannibal tours’ (excerpt)

24 September Tutorial 9: Art and decolonisation

1. Albert Wendt, ‘Towards a new Oceania’
2. Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Alain Plagne, ‘From art to
politics’

1 October Tutorial 10: New ethnicities/migrant identities

1. Nicholas Thomas, ‘From exhibit to exhibitionism:
Recent Polynesian presentations of ‘otherness’
2. Sean Mallon and Pandora Fulimalo Pereira, ‘Jim
Vivieaere’
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Assessment

ARTH 214 is internally assessed by means of one essay and two slide-based
in-class tests. The two tests will relate to that part of the course immediately
preceding them. The essay will allow you to look in depth at a topic selected
from the broad range of course content.

1 Test 1 (30%), held in Murphy LT 101, Thursday 16 August at the

usual lecture hour (4.10pm – 5.00pm), covering lecture material from
the first half of the course (lectures 1 – 11). You will be required to
answer two essay questions based on one slide each and one essay
question based on the comparison of two slides.
2 Essay (40%), length 1,800-2,000 words, due Friday 21 September 5pm.
Essays may be handed in to your tutor, course coordinator, the Art
History administrator Pippa Wisheart, or left in the Art History
assignment box in the ground floor foyer of Old Kirk outside the Art
History offices by 5pm on the due date. (Penalties will apply to essays
handed in after the due date of 21 September. Without arrangements
having been agreed to, late assignments and essays will be penalised
by the deduction of two percentage points for each day beyond the
due date).
3 Test 2 (30%), held in Murphy LT 101, Thursday 11 October at the usual
lecture hour (4.10pm – 5.00pm), covering lecture material from the
second half of the course (lectures 12 – 22). You will be required to
answer two essay questions based on one slide each and one essay
question based on the comparison of two slides.

A short-list of slides from lectures for test preparation will be posted in

Blackboard on Monday of the week of the test.

Attendance at lectures and tutorials

Lectures cover the basic course content and include material not covered
elsewhere. It is strongly recommended you attend all lectures. You are
required to attend 8 of 10 possible tutorials, and it is recommended you
attend them all. Attending lectures and tutorials will prepare you to pass the
course tests and a good contribution to tutorials will make a positive
difference to borderline grades.

Mandatory course requirements

Mandatory course requirements are defined in the University Calendar.
These will be fulfilled:

• On the sitting of two in-class tests.

• On the completion and handing in of one essay
• With satisfactory tutorial attendance; that is, at least 8 out of 10
tutorials.

No assigments will be accepted after Friday 12 October 2007. All

requirements are strictly enforced.

Art History has a policy that no extensions will be granted. If you have
medical or other problems preventing you from meeting a deadline, you must
contact your course coordinator at the earliest opportunity. Without
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arrangements having been agreed to, essays will be penalised by the

deduction of two percentage points for each day beyond the due date. The
reasons exceptions are not made are that we cannot privilege some students
over others; we must adhere to a defined programme of marking; and results
must be furnished to the central Registry on time. It is also important that we
ensure students keep up with the course.

Workload
The University recommends that 15 hours/week, inclusive of lectures and
tutorials, be given to a 200-level course in order to maintain satisfactory
progress. Please make sure you can set aside at least this amount of time
throughout the course – it is not worth taking on a greater workload than you
can manage.

Presentation of essays
You must pay attention to setting out, correct spelling and grammar. Essays
should be typed in double space on one side of the page only. A wide
margin should be left on the left side of the page. Essays should be fully
and accurately documented and spelling, punctuation and grammar checked
before handing in. Always proofread your essay carefully, or get a friend to
do so. All titles of works of art should be underlined or italicised (whichever
you choose, be consistent). For guidance on presenting your essays correctly,
please read Researching and Writing Art History Essays, available from the
Student Notes Bookshop for $3.01 and via Blackboard under Course
Documents.

Essays are marked by your course tutor. A second opinion may be requested
in the final assessment of any piece of written work.

Criteria for assessment of essays: Assessment of essays will be based on the

following criteria:

• understanding and definition of question

• formulation and development of argument
• use of visual and written resources
• originality and independence of thought
• mechanics (legibility, fluency, presentation, grammar, spelling,
documentation)
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Essay topics

Word length 1,800 – 2,000 words (MAXIMUM)

Due 5pm Friday 21 September 2007

Choose ONE essay topic

1. The context of displaying Pacific art is extremely varied. Typically in the

modern West it is displayed in art galleries, museums, and glossy picture
books, and of course much Contemporary Pacific art is produced for such
contexts. But there are other contexts of display in the Pacific: a village
ground, a combat arena, a men’s house, an initiation rite, a political or
religious ceremony, and so on. With reference to ONE example (a single
work or a single art form), discuss the importance of context to an
understanding of its aesthetic significance and meaning.

2. What is the importance of museums, art galleries and cultural centres to

the process of decolonisation in the Pacific? Discuss with reference to ONE
OR TWO examples.

3. In the Pacific certain objects are thought to have a special sacredness or

power. With reference to ONE of the following, examine the relationship
between its material nature and its power or sacredness.

• An Hawaiian feather cloak (ahu ula).

• An Abelam wood sculpture
• A Tahitian mourner’s costume
• A Malangan mask

4. Tourist art is often dismissed by connoisseurs and traditional scholars of

Pacific art as divorced from its authentic context and made solely for
commercial profit. Assess the validity and limitations of this view.

5. Referring to ONE of the following works of art (viewable on Blackboard

unless indicated otherwise), discuss how it comments on urban and/or
migrant experience in the contemporary Pacific.

1. John Pule, Take these with you when you leave, 1998, oil on canvas
(Auckland: Auckland Art Gallery)
2. Tom Deko, Dynamite Rocker, 1994, welded steel, scrap metal (New
Caledonia: Tjibaou Cultural Centre)
3. Sim Urale, O Tamaiti, 1996 (15 minute film, viewable in the AV Suite of
the library DVD 3436 or video VIS 4300)
4. Mark Adams, 20 February 1982, Farringdon Crescent, Glenn Innes,
Auckland. Tufuga tatatau: Su ‘a Sulu‘ape Petelo. Soga ‘imiti: Faiga Mamea,
1982, RA colour print (Private Collection). For convenience, this
photograph may be referred to in your essay as Farringdon Crescent.
4. Andy Leleisi‘uao, Language, 1996, oil on canvas (Private Collection)
5. Niki Hastings-McFall, Automotive Breastplate series: Stuck in Traffic,
1999/2000, gold-lipped pearl shell, copperbrake lines and fitting
(Collection of the Artist)
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6. Kelcy Taratoa, Episode 0015, 2006, acrylic on canvas (Private Collection).

(This painting is on view at Pataka Cultural Centre in Porirua in the
exhibition New Paintings: Digital Age until 12 August).

6. Many contemporary Pacific artists produce works that draw on earlier

traditions, motifs, images or stories. Referring to the work of ONE artist,
discuss the use they make of such sources and its significance.

7. The role of the artist in Pacific cultures is often determined by what

Jehanne Teilhet has called the ‘gendered division of labour’ (see Teilhet,
‘The role of women artists in Polynesia and Melanesia’, in Mead and
Kernot (eds), Art and Artists of Oceania, Dunmore Press, 1983, pp 45-56).
Discuss ONE example of the ‘gendered division of labour’ in Pacific art
and its implications for gender relationships.

8. You may propose a topic of your own but you must discuss it with your
Course coordinator (Peter Brunt) and obtain his approval first.
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Reading

Required texts:

1. Thomas, Nicholas, Oceanic art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1995

2. Course Handbook ARTH 214 Art in the Pacific (available from Student
Notes in the Student Union building)

Most other texts on the following list are available in the University Library
(either in the Rankine Brown building on the Kelburn campus or in the School
of Architecture and Design in Vivian Street). Many have been placed on 3-day
loan and if more than four requests are made will automatically be placed on
Closed Reserve.

The attached reading list is by no means exhaustive. You will want to extend
your reading, particularly on the topics that you choose to investigate in
essays. Additional references may also appear at the bottom of slide lists
distributed at lectures.

Become familiar with the Library. A wealth of art-historical material that

will expand your knowledge of the field is stored there and more is being
published all the time in all areas of interest. The library is set up to meet
your needs and a variety of courses are offered to assist you if you are still
unfamiliar with aspects of this facility. Do not forget other libraries such as
the Wellington Public Library, the National Library, and the library at the
Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.
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Selective bibliography

General books on Pacific art

Berlo, Janet Catherine & Wilson, Lee Anne (eds), Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the
Americas: selected readings. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993.
Corbin, George A., Native arts of North America, Africa, and the South Pacific: an
introduction. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1988.
Craig, Barry; Kernot, Bernie & Christopher Anderson (eds), Art and
performance in Oceania, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999.
D’Alleva, Anne, Art of the Pacific. The Everyman Art Library, 1998.
Dark, Philip J. C. & Rose, Roger G. (eds), Artistic heritage in a changing Pacific.
Honolulu, HA: University of Hawai’i Press, 1993.
Gathercole, Peter; Kaeppler, Adrienne; & Newton, Douglas, The art of the
Pacific Islands. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1979.
Greub, S, Expressions of belief: masterpieces of African, Oceanic, and Indonesian art
from the Museum voor Volkenkunde. Rotterdam: Museum voor
Volkenkunde, New York: Rizzoli, 1988.
Hanson, Allan & Hanson, Louise (eds), Art and identity in Oceania. Honolulu
HA: University of Honolulu Press, 1990.
Herle, Anita; Stanley, Nick; Stevenson, Karen and Robert L. Welsch (eds),
Pacific art: Persistence, change and meaning, Adelaide: Crawford House
Publishing/University of Hawaii Press, 2002.
Hooper, Steven, Pacific encounters: Art and divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860,
Wellington: Te Papa Press and UEA: Sainsbury Centre for the Visual
Arts, 2006
Kaeppler, Adrienne; Kaufmann, Christian; Newton, Douglas, Oceanic art,
New York: Abrams, 1997.
Mead, Sidney & Kernot, Bernie (eds), Art and artists of Oceania. Dunmore
Press/Ethnographic Arts Publications, 1983.
Mead, Sidney Moko, (ed), Exploring the visual art of Oceania: Australia,
Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Honolulu: The University of
Hawai’i Press, 1979.
Meyer, Anthony J. P., Oceanic Art. Koln: Konemann, 1995.
Schmitz, Carl August, Oceanic art; myth, man, and image in the South Seas. NY:
Abrams, 1971.
Thomas, Nicholas, Oceanic art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1995.
Pacific studies: Special issue, The arts and politics, vol.15, no. 4 (December 1992).

Art and anthropology

(Consult table of contents for articles on specific Oceanic art topics)
Anderson, Richard L., Art in small scale societies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1979.
Banks, Marcus & Morphy, Howard (eds), Rethinking visual anthropology. New
Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997.
Clifford, James, The Predicament of Culture: twentieth-century ethnography,
literature, and art. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988.
____________, Routes: Travel and translation in the late twentieth century,
Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Coote, Jeremy and Shelton, Anthony, Anthropology, art, and aesthetics. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1992.
Forge, Anthony (ed), Primitive Art and Society. London: Oxford University
Press, 1973.
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Fraser, Douglas, The many faces of primitive art: a critical anthology. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966.
Freedman, Maurice (ed), Social organization. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.,
1967.
Gell, Alfred, Art and agency: an anthropological theory. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1998.
Hooper, Antony & Judith Huntsman, Transformations of Polynesian culture.
Auckland: The Polynesian Society, 1985.
Jopling, Carol F. (ed), Art and aesthetics in primitive societies: a critical
anthology. NY: E. P. Dutton and Co. inc., 1971.
Layton, Robert, The anthropology of art, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1991.
Marcus, George & Myers, Fred. The traffic in culture: refiguring art and
anthropology. Berkeley and L.A.: University of California Press, 1995
Morphy, Howard & Morgan Perkins, The anthropology of art: A reader.
Blackwell Publishing, 2006
Pinney, Christopher and Nicholas Thomas (eds), Beyond aesthetics: Art and the
technologies of enchantment, Oxford and New York: Berg, 2001
Strathern, Marilyn, The gender of the gift, The University of California Press,
1988

Early Oceania: Discovery and first settlements

Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James; and Darrell Tryon (eds), The Austronesians:
Historical and comparative perspectives. Canberra: Australian National
University Press, 1995
Howe, K. R. The quest for origins: Who first discovered and settled New Zealand
and the Pacific Islands? Penguin, 2003
Howe, K. R. (ed). Vaka Moana: Voyages of the ancestors: The discovery and
settlement of the Pacific, Auckland: David Bateman and Auckland
Museum, 2006
Kirch, Patrick Vinton. The Lapita peoples: ancestors of the Oceanic world.
Cambridge and Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.
__________________, On the road of the winds: An archaeological history of the
Pacific Islands before European contact, University of California Press, 2000
Kirch, Patrick Vinton and Roger C. Green, Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An
essay in historical anthropology, Cambridge: New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2001
Lewis, David, We, the navigators: the ancient art of landfinding in the Pacific.
Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1994 (1972).
Pawley, Andrew et al (eds), Papuan Pasts: Cultural, linguistic and biological
histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Research School of Pacific
and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2005
Spriggs, Matthew. Lapita design, form and composition. Proceedings of the Lapita
design workshop, Canberra, Australia, December 1988

The arts of Polynesia: prehistoric, ethno-historical and colonial

(See also listings under General books on Pacific art)

General
Borofsky, Robert (ed), Remembrance of Pacific Pasts: An invitation to remake
history. Honolulu HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2000
Barrow, Terence, Illustrated guide to Maori art. Auckland, 1984.
______________, The art of Tahiti. London, 1979.
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Buck, Peter H., Arts and crafts of Hawai’i. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press,
1957.
Hooper, Steven, Pacific encounters: Art and divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860,
Wellington: Te Papa Press and UEA: Sainsbury Centre for the Visual
Arts, 2006
Hooper, Anthony & Huntsman, Judith (eds), Transformations in Polynesian
Culture. Auckland NZ: Polynesian Society, 1985.
Firth, Raymond, ‘Tikopia art and society’, in Morphy, Howard & Morgan
Perkins, The anthropology of art: A reader. Blackwell Publishing, 2006, 91-
108
Jennings, The prehistory of Polynesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1979
Kaeppler, Adrienne, Artificial Curiosities. Honolulu, 1978.
_________________, ‘Art and aesthetics’, in Alan Howard and Robert
Borofsky (eds), Developments in Polynesian ethnology. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 1989, 211-240
________________, ‘Hawaiian art and society: traditions and transformations’,
in Hooper, Antony & Judith Huntsman, Transformations of Polynesian
culture. Auckland: The Polynesian Society, 1985, 105-131
Kjellgren, Eric et al., Splendid Isolation: Art of Easter Island. New York: The
Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 2001
Kirch, P., Feathered gods and fishhooks: an introduction to Hawaiian archaeology
and prehistory. Honolulu, 1989.
Little, Stephen and Peter Ruthenberg (eds), Life in the Pacific of the 1700s: The
Cook/Forster collection of the Georg August University of Göttingen,
Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2006
Mallon, Sean, Samoan art, Te Papa Press, 2003 (forthcoming)
Metraux, Alfred, Ethnology of Easter Island, Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1971
(1940)
Mead, Hirini Moko, Te toi whakairo: The art of Maori carving, Auckland: Reed
Books, 1986
Oliver, Douglas, Ancient Tahitian Society. Canberra: Australian National
University Press, 1974.
Shore, Bradd, ‘Mana and Tapu’, in Alan Howard and Robert Borofsky (eds),
Developments in Polynesian ethnology. Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 1989, 137-173
Thomas, Nicholas, ‘Kiss the Baby Goodbye: Kowhaiwhai and Aesthetics in
Aotearoa New Zealand’, in Critical Inquiry 22 (Autumn 1995), pp 90-121
Valeri, Valerio, Kingship and sacrifice: Ritual and society in ancient Hawaii,
Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1985

Wood carving and architectural arts

Barrow, Terence, A guide to the Maori meeting house: Te Hau ki Turanga [1965].
Wellington: National Museum, 1976.
Brown, Deidre, Tai tokerau whakairo rakau: Northland Maori woodcarving,
Auckland: Reed Publishing, 2003
Cox, J. Halley & Davenport, William H. (eds), Hawaiian sculpture. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 1988.
Fox, James J., Inside Austronesian houses: Perspectives on domestic designs for
living. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1993
Neich, Roger, Carved Histories: Rotorua Ngati Tarawhai carving, Auckland:
Auckland University Press, 2001
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____________, Painted Histories: early Maori figurative painting. Auckland:

Auckland University Press, 1994.
Tapsell, Paul, Pukaki: A comet returns. Auckland: Reed, 2000

Marae complexes, land modification and rock art

Cox., J. Halley and Edward Stasack, Hawaiian petroglyphs, Honolulu: Bishop
Museum Press, 1970
Dunn, Michael, Maori rock art. Wellington: Reed, 1972
Kirch, Patrick and Thérèse Babineau, Legacy of the landscape: An illustrated
guide to Hawaiian archaeology, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996
Van Tilburg, JoAnne, 1994. Easter Island: archaeology, ecology, and culture.
Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Tattooing and body arts

Gell, Alfred, Wrapping in images: tattooing in Polynesia. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1993.
Gröning, Karl, Decorated skin: a world survey of body art. Thames and Hudson,
1997.
Marquardt, Carl, The tattooing of both sexes in Samoa, Papakura: Southern
Reprints, 1996 (originally Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1899)
Neich, Roger and Fuli Pereira, Pacific jewellery and adornment, Auckland:
David Bateman and Auckland Museum, 2004
Rubin, Arnold (ed), Marks of civilization: artistic transformation of the human
body. Los Angeles: UCLA Press, 1988.
Sparks, R. W., Polynesian tattooing: techniques, iconography, patronage, profession
and aesthetics. (Thesis for the University of Hawaii in VUW library),
1965.
Thomas, Nicholas, ‘The case of tattooing’ in New Zealand journal of
photography, no. 51 (Winter 2003), pp 5-10
_______________, ‘Marked men’, Art Asia/Pacific, no. 13 (1997), pp 67-73
Tatau: Pe‘a: Photographs by Mark Adams [and] Measina Samoa: Stories of the Malu
by Lisa Taouma, Wellington: Adam Art Gallery Victoria University of
Wellington, 2003, pp 9-24
Te Riria, Ko & David Simmons, Maori tattoo. Auckland, NZ: Bush Press, 1989.
Thomas, Nicholas; Anna Cole and Bronwen Douglas, Tattoo: Bodies, art and
exchange in the Pacific and the West, London: Reaktion Books, 2004

Tapa cloth, quilting and fibre arts

Evans, Miriama and Ranui Ngarimu, The eternal thread: The art of Maori
weaving. Wellington: Huia, 2005
Hammond, Joyce, Tifaifai and quilts of Polynesia. Honolulu: University of
Hawai’i Press, 1986.
Kooijman, Simon, Tapa in Polynesia. Honolulu, Hawaii: Bishop Museum
Press, 1972.
Küchler, Susanne and Graeme Were, Pacific pattern, London: Thames and
Hudson, 2005
Neich, Roger & Pendergrast, Mick, Pacific Tapa. Auckland Museum/David
Bateman Ltd, 1997.
Pule, John and Nicholas Thomas, Hiapo: Past and present in Niuean barkcloth,
Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 2005
Thomas, Nicholas, ‘Our history is written in our mats’, in Lynne Seear and
Suhanya Raffel (eds), The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art,
Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery, 2006
 17

Dance and other arts

Buck, Elizabeth, Paradise Remade: the politics of culture and history in Hawai’i.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993.

The Arts of Melanesia

(See also listings under General books on Pacific art)

General
Bonnemaison, Joël; Huffman, Kirk; Kaufmann, Christian; Tryon, Darrell, Arts
of Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996.
Little, Stephen and Peter Ruthenberg (eds), Life in the Pacific of the 1700s: The
Cook/Forster collection of the Georg August University of Göttingen,
Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2006

Tribal and ritual arts

(See also listings under General books and Art and Anthropology)
Bateson, Gregory, Naven [on the Iatmul people of New Guinea], Stanford CA:
Stanford University Press, 1958 (1936).
_______________, ‘Style, grace, and information in Primitive art’, in Morphy,
Howard & Morgan Perkins, The anthropology of art: A reader. Blackwell
Publishing, 2006, 78-90
Birnbaum, Phil and Andrew J. Strathern, Faces of Papua New Guinea,
Darlinghurst N.S.W.: Emperor Publishing, 1990
Bowden, Ross, Yena: art and ceremony in a Sepik society. Oxford: Pitt Rivers
Museum, University of Oxford Press, 1983.
Fajans, Jan, They make themselves: Work and play among the Baining of Papua New
Guinea, Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1997.
Forge, Anthony, ‘The Abelam artist’, in Morphy, Howard & Morgan Perkins,
The anthropology of art: A reader. Blackwell Publishing, 2006, 109-121
______________, ‘Art and environment in the Sepik’, in Jopling, Carol F. (ed),
Art and aesthetics in primitive societies: a critical anthology. NY: E. P.
Dutton and Co. inc., 1971, 290-314.
______________, ‘Style and meaning in Sepik art’, in Forge, A. (ed), Primitive
art and society, London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 169-192
Gerbrands, A., Wow-Ipits. The Hague, 1967.
Greub, S., Art of the Sepik River: authority and ornament. Basel, 1985.
________, Art of northwest New Guinea: from Geelvink Bay, Humbolt Bay, and Lake
Sentani. Rizzoli, 1992.
Gunn, Michael (ed), Ritual arts of Oceania: New Ireland in the collections of the
Barbier-Mueller Museum. Milan: Skira/Geneva: Musee Barbier-Mueller,
1997.
Hallinan, J. Peter, Revelation of the Malagans: the ritual art of New Ireland.
Florida Gardens, Queensland: Tribal Arts Gallery, 1990.
Küchler, Susanne, Malanggan: Art, memory and sacrifice. Oxford and New York:
Berg, 2002
Lincoln, L., Assemblage of spirits: idea and image in New Ireland. New York:
Braziller/Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1987.
Lowman, C., Displays of power. New York, 1973.
Lutkehaus, Nancy C., Sepik heritage: tradition and change in Papua New Guinea.
Bathurst, NSW: Crawford House, 1990.
MacKenzie, Maureen, Androgynous objects: string bags and gender in central
New Guinea. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991.
 18

Malnic, Jutta & John Kasaipwalova, Kula: Myth and magic in the Trobriand
Islands, Wahroonga NSW: Cowrie Books, 1998
Mamiya, C. & Sumnik, E. Hevehe: art, economics and status in the Papuan Gulf.
Los Angeles, 1982.
Newton, Douglas, Crocodile and Cassowary: religious art of the upper Sepik River,
New Guinea. New York: Museum of Primitive Art, 1971.
Peltier, Philippe, ‘Men’s houses, Other people’s houses’, in Morphy, Howard
& Morgan Perkins, The anthropology of art: A reader. Blackwell Publishing,
2006, 63-84
Schneebaum, T., Embodied spirits: ritual carvings of the Asmat. Salem: Peabody
Museum of Salem, 1990.
Smidt, Dirk, Asmat art: woodcarvings of the southwest New Guinea, Leiden:
George Braziller/Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, 1993.
Stewart, Gloria (ed.), The Garrick introduction to Sepik art. Melbourne: Garrick,
1972.
Tuzin, Donald F., The voice of the Tambaran: truth and illusion in Ilahita Arapesh
religion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
______________, The cassowary’s revenge: The life and death of masculinity in a
New Guinea society. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago
Press, 1997.
Waite, Deborah, Artefacts from the Solomon Islands in the Julius L. Brenchley
Collection. London: British Museum Publications, 1987.
______________, The art of the Solomons. Geneva: Musee Barbier-Muller, 1983.
The Art of the Sepik River. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1971.

Body arts, jewellery, adornment and display

Gröning, Karl, Decorated skin: a world survey of body art. Thames and Hudson,
1997.
MacKenzie, Maureen, Androgynous objects: string bags and gender in central
New Guinea. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991.
Neich, Roger and Fuli Pereira, Pacific jewellery and adornment, Auckland:
David Bateman and Auckland Museum, 2004
O’Hanlon, M., Reading the skin: adornment, display and society among the Wahgi.
London: British Museum Publications, 1989.
____________, Paradise: portraying the New Guinea Highlands. London: British
Museum Press, 1993.
Strathern, A. and M. Strathern, Self-decoration in Mount Hagen. London:
Gerald Duckworth, 1971.

The art of Micronesia

(See also listings under General books on Pacific art)
Feldman, Jerome & Rubenstein, Donald H., The art of Micronesia. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Art Gallery, 1986.
Hockings, J. Traditional architecture in the Gilbert islands: a cultural perspective.
St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1989.
Kaeppler, Adrienne, ‘Micronesian art’, in Kaeppler, Adrienne; Kaufmann,
Christian; Newton, Douglas, Oceanic art, New York: Abrams, 1997, pp
135-45
Maude, H. E. The Gilbertese Maneaba. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies and the
Kiribati Extension Centre, University of the South Pacific, 1980.
Robinson, David, ‘The decorative motifs of Palauan clubhouses’ in Mead S.
and Bernie Kernot (eds), Art and artists of Oceania, Palmerston North:
The Dunmore Press, 1983, pp 163-178
 19

Aboriginal Australia
(See also listings under General books on Pacific art)
Boulter, Michael, The art of utopia: a new direction in contemporary Aboriginal art.
Tortola, BVI: Craftsman house, 1991.
Caruana, Wally, Aboriginal art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1993.
Johnson, Vivien, Aboriginal artists of the western desert, Craftsman House, 1994
Layton, Robert, Australian rock art: A new synthesis, Cambridge and
Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1992
McLean, Ian, White Aborigines: Identity politics in Australian art, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998
McLean, Ian and Gordon Bennett, The art of Gordon Bennett, Craftsman House,
1996.
Michaels, Eric, Bad Aboriginal art: Tradition, media and technological horizons.
Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1994.
Morphy, Howard, Aboriginal art. London, Phaidon Press, 1998.
Perkins, Hetti and Hannah Fink, Papunya Tula: Genesis and genius, Art Gallery
of New South Wales/Papunya Tula Artists, 2000
Ryan, Judith, Images of power: Aboriginal art of the Kimberley, National Gallery
of Victoria, 1993.
Stanton, J. E., Painting the country: contemporary Aboriginal art from the
Kimberley region, Western Australia. Nedlands WA: University of
Western Australia Press, 1989.
Sutton, Peter (ed), Dreamings: the art of Aboriginal Australia. Ringwood,
Victoria: Viking Press, 1988.
Contemporary Aboriginal art from the Robert Holmes a Court collection. Perth,
WA: Heytesbury Holdings, 1990.

Tourist art
(See also listings under General books on Pacific art)
Graburn, Nelson (ed), Ethnic and tourist arts. Berkeley, 1976.
_______________, ‘Art, ethno-aesthetics and the contemporary scene’, in
Mead, S. and B. Kernot (eds), Art and artists of Oceania, Palmerston Nth:
The Dunmore Press Ethnographic Arts Publications, 1983, pp 70-9
_______________, ‘Arts of the fourth world’ in Morphy, Howard & Morgan
Perkins, The anthropology of art: A reader. Blackwell Publishing, 2006, 412-
430
Kirsten, Sven A., The book of tiki, Taschen, 2003
Phillips, Ruth and Steiner, Christopher (eds), Unpacking culture: art and
commodity in colonial and postcolonial worlds. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1999.
Stephen, Ann (ed.), Pirating the Pacific: images of travel, trade & tourism. NSW,
Australia: Powerhouse Publishing, 1993.

European Vision, colonial culture and ‘primitivism’

Bell, Leonard, Colonial constructs: European images of Maori 1840-1914.
Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1992
___________, The Maori in European art: a survey of the representation fo the Maori
by European artists from the time of Captain Cook to the present day.
Wellington: Reed, 1980.
Blackley, Roger, Goldie. Auckland: David Bateman, 1997
Boas, Franz, Primitive art, Dover Publications, 1955
 20

Errington, Shelly, The death of authentic primitive art and other tales of progress.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
Goldwater, Robert, Primitivism in modern art, Cambridge and London:
Harvard University Press, 1986 (1938)
Losche, Diane & Thomas, Nicholas (eds). Double vision: art histories and
colonial histories of the Pacifc. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Pearson, Sarina, ‘Darkness and Light: Dusky Maidens and Velvet Dreams’
(Camera Obscura 58, 2005), 184
Pound, Francis, The space between: Pakeha use of Maori motifs in modernist New
Zealand art. Auckland: Workshop Press, 1994.
Rhodes, Colin, Primitivism in modern art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1994.
Rubin, William (ed), “Primitivism” in 20th century art: affinity of the tribal and the
modern. NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1984.
Smith, Bernard, European vision and the South Pacific. Melbourne: Oxford
University Press, 1989 (1960).
_____________, Imagining the Pacific: in the wake of Cook’s voyages. Melbourne:
Melbourne University Press, 1992.
Thomas, Nicholas, Colonialism’s culture: travel, government, anthropology.
Cambridge, UK: Polity Press/Blackwell, 1994.
________________, In Oceania: visions, artifacts, histories. Durham and
London: Duke University Press, 1997.
________________, Entangled objects: exchange, material culture and colonialism in
the Pacific. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.
________________, Possessions: Indigenous art/colonial culture. London: Thames
and Hudson, 1999.
Vale, V and Andrea Juno (eds), Modern primtives: an investigation of
contemporary adornment and ritual. San Francisco: V/Search., 1989

Colonial Film and Photography

Blythe, Martin, Naming the Other: Images of the Maori in New Zealand film and
television. Metuchen, NJ and London: The Scarecrow Press, 1994
Stephen, Ann (ed.), Pirating the Pacific: images of travel, trade & tourism. NSW,
Australia: Powerhouse Publishing, 1993.
Photofile: South Pacific, Australian Centre for Photography (Spring 1988).
Picturing paradise: colonial photography of Samoa, 1875-1925. South-east
Museum of Photography, 1995.
Portraits of Oceania, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1997

Modern and Contemporary Pacific art (including Contemporary Maori art)

Artlines, 1, 2006 (Special issue: Contemporary art of the Pacific)
Beier, Uli, Decolonising the mind: The impact of the university on culture and
identity in Papua New Guinea, 1971-74. Canberra: Pandanus Books,
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National
University, 2005
Butler, Roger (ed), Islands in the sun: Prints by indigenous artists of Australia and
the Australasian region, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2001
Cochrane-Simons, S. and H. Stevenson (eds), 1990. Luk luk gen! Look again!
Contemporary art from Papua New Guinea. Townsville: Perc Tucker
Regional Gallery, 1990.
Cochrane, Susan, Contemporary art in Papua New Guinea. Craftsman House,
1997.
_______________, Bérétara: Contemporary Pacific art, Noumea and Sydney:
Halstead Press and Ngan Jila Tjibaou Cultural Centre, 2001
 21

_______________, ‘Art and movement across the Pacific’, in Turner, Caroline

(ed.), Art and social change: Contemporary art in Asia and the Pacific.
Canberra: Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian
Studies, Australian National University, 2005, 446-459

Eastburn, Melanie, Papua New Guinea prints, Canberra: National Gallery of

Australia, 2006
Ihimaera, Witi (ed), Mataora: The living face: contemporary Maori art.
Auckland: David Bateman, 1996.
Mallon, Sean & Pandora Fulimalo Pereira (eds.), Speaking in colour:
conversations with artists of Pacific Island heritage. Wellington: Te Papa
Press, 1997.
Mallon, Sean and Pandora Fulimalo Pereira (eds), Pacific art Niu Sila: The
Pacific dimension of contemporary New Zealand arts, Wellington: Museum
of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2002
Mallon, Sean, Samoan art, Te Papa Press, 2003 (forthcoming)
Mané-Wheoki, Jonathan, ‘The resurgence of Maori art: Conflicts and
continuities in the eighties’, in The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 7 no. 1
(Spring 1995), 1-19
__________________,‘He Kahui Whetu Hou: Contemporary Maori artists: A
new constellation’, in Turner, Caroline (ed.), Art and social change:
Contemporary art in Asia and the Pacific. Canberra: Pandanus Books,
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National
University, 2005
__________________, ‘Korurangi/Toihoukura: Brown art in white spaces’, Art
New Zealand, no. 78 (Autumn 1996), 43-47
Mataira, Katarina, Maori artists of the South Pacific. Raglan: Nga Puna
Waihanga, 1984.
Mead, Sidney Moko, Maori art on the world scene: essays on Maori art.
Wellington: Matau Associates, 1997.
__________________, Te Maori. New York, Metropolitan, 1984
Skinner, Damian, Another modernism: Maoritanga and Maori modernism in the
twentieth century. Auckland: Auckland University Press, (forthcoming in
2007)
Smith, Huhana (ed.), Taiawhio: Conversations with contemporary Maori artists,
Wellington: Te Papa Press, 2002
Stella, Regis, ‘PNG in the New Millennium: Some troubled homecomings’, in
David Kavanamur, Charles Yala & Quinton Clements (eds), Building a
nation in Papua New Guinea: Views of the post-independence generation.
Canberra: Pandanus Books/RSPAS/Australian National University,
2003, 11-22
Thomas, Nicholas, Possessions: Indigenous art/colonial culture. London: Thames
and Hudson, 1999.
________________, ‘A second reflection: Presence and opposition in
Contemporary Maori art’, Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 1
no. 1 (March 1995), 23-46
Tjibaou, Jean-Marie, Kanaky, transl. Helen Fraser and John Trotter. Canberra:
Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,
Australian National University, 2005 (1996)
Turner, Caroline (ed.), Tradition and change: contemporary art of Asia and the
Pacific. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1993.
Turner, Caroline (ed.), Art and social change: Contemporary art in Asia and the
Pacific. Canberra: Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian
Studies, Australian National University, 2005
 22

Exhibition catalogues
Bottled ocean. Wellington: City Gallery, 1994.
The first Asia-Pacific triennial of contemporary art, Brisbane: Queensland Art
Gallery, 1993
The second Asia-Pacific triennial of contemporary art, Brisbane Australia.
Queensland Art Gallery, 1996
APT 2002: Asia-Pacific triennial of contemporary art, Brisbane: Queensland Art
Gallery, 2002
th
The 5 Asia-Pacific triennial of contemporary art, Brisbane: Queensland Art
Gallery, 2006
Art and Asia Pacific (a regional journal with occasional pieces on Pacific art)
(1993- )
Beyond the Future: The Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane:
Queensland Art Gallery, 1999
Biennale de Nouméa: d’art contemporain, Agency for the Development of Kanak
Culture, 2000
Cultural safety: contemporary art from New Zealand. Frankfurt & Wellington:
Frankfurter Kunstverein & City Gallery, 1995.
Dolly mix (w)rapper: Contemporary art by women of Samoan descent, Waikato
Museum of Art and History, 2002
Filipe Tohi: Genealogy of lines Hohoko e tohitohi, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery,
2002
Headlands: Thinking through New Zealand art. Sydney: Museum of
Contemporary Art, 1992.
Hiko! New energies in Maori art, McDougall Contemporary Art Annex, 1999
Inei/konei: the Pacific in photo art from Aotearoa. Sydney: Australian Centre for
Photography, 1997.
Kohia ko taikaka anake: New Zealand’s largest exhibition of contemporary Maori art.
Wellington: National Art Gallery, 1990-91.
Paradise now? Contemporary art from the Pacific, Auckland: David Bateman Ltd,
2004
Te moemoea no Iotefa: The dream of Joseph: a celebration of Pacific art and
taonga, curated by Rangihiroa Panaho, Wanganui: Sarjeant Gallery,
1990-91.
Te Waka Toi: contemporary Maori art from New Zealand. Wellington: Te Waka
Toi, 1992.

Periodicals
Art and Asia Pacific (a regional journal with occasional pieces on Pacific art)
(1993- )
Art + Text (an Australian journal with occasional reviews of NZ art)
Art New Zealand (1976- ) (on closed periodical reserve)
Bulletin of New Zealand Art History (1972- )
Cultural Anthropology (1986 - )
The Contemporary Pacific (1989- )
The contemporary Pacific, University of Hawaii Press (journal, various relevant
articles)
Humanities research (1999 - )
Illusions (on film, TV and theatre) (1986- )
Islands (mainly literary but with some coverage of the visual arts) (1972-1987)
Journal of the Polynesian Society
Oceania
Pacific arts (2006 - ) New journal of the Pacific Arts Association
 23

Pacific Studies (1977 - ) Note: Special issue on art and politics, December
1992.
Pacific Perspective (1972 - )
Te Maori (on Maori culture in general) (1969-81)
 24

Dealer and public galleries in the Wellington region

Check out Wellington’s dealer and public galleries. Many of them show
Pacific art and work by Pacific artists. This is the best way to gain first-hand
experience of works of art and an important means to develop your skills in
visual analysis. Here is a selected list to help you locate them.

Public galleries

Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington

City Gallery, Civic Square

New Zealand Film Archive, Cnr Ghuznee and Taranaki Streets

National Library Gallery, National Library, Molesworth Street

Dowse Art Museum, 35 Laings Road, Lower Hutt

Pataka Porirua Museum of Arts and Cultures, Cnr Norrie and Parumoana
Sts, Porirua

Te Papa Tongarewa/Museum of New Zealand, Wakefield Street, Wellington

Dealer galleries

Bowen Galleries (and Christopher Moore Gallery), 35 – 37 Ghuznee Street

Hamish McKay Gallery, First floor, 39 Ghuznee Street

Janne Land Gallery, Unit 1, 13 Jessie Street

Mary Newtown Gallery, 150 Vivian Street

Peter McLeavey Gallery, First floor, 147 Cuba Street

Also try visiting the tourist art shop ‘Oceanic Art’ at Wellington (and
Auckland) airport.
 25

General Information

General University policies and statutes

Students should familiarise themselves with the University’s policies and
statutes, particularly the Assessment Statute, the Personal Courses of Study
Statute, the Statute on Student Conduct and any statutes relating to the
particular qualifications being studied; see the Victoria University Calendar
available in hard copy or under ‘About Victoria’ on the VUW home page at
www.vuw.ac.nz.

Student and staff conduct

The Statute on Student Conduct together with the Policy on Staff Conduct
ensure that members of the University community are able to work, learn,
study and participate in the academic and social aspects of the University’s
life in an atmosphere of safety and respect. The Statute on Student Conduct
contains information on what conduct is prohibited and what steps are to be
taken if there is a complaint. For information about complaint procedures
under the Statute on Student Conduct, contact the Facilitator and Disputes
Advisor or refer to the statute on the VUW policy website at:
www.vuw.ac.nz/policy/studentconduct

The Policy on Staff Conduct can be found on the VUW website at:
www.vuw.ac.nz/policy/staffconduct

Taping of Lectures
All students in the School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies are
welcome to use their own audio-tapes to record lectures. If you want to do
this, please see your lecturer, tutor or the relevant programme administrator
and complete a disclaimer form, which advises of copyright and other
relevant issues.

Class Representatives
Class representatives are elected early in the course. They are supported by
the VUW Students' Association, and have a variety of roles, including
assistance with grievances and student feedback to staff and VUWSA.
Contact details for your class rep will be listed on the Art History noticeboard
and on Blackboard.

Academic grievances
If you have any academic problems with your course you should talk to the
tutor or lecturer concerned; class representatives may be able to help you in
this. If you are not satisfied with the result of that meeting, see the Head of
School or the relevant Associate Dean; VUWSA Education Coordinators are
available to assist in this process. If, after trying the above channels, you are
still unsatisfied, formal grievance procedures can be invoked. These are set out
in the Academic Grievance Policy which is published on the VUW website at:
 26

www.vuw.ac.nz/policy/academicgrievances

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic integrity is about honesty – put simply it means no cheating. All
members of the University community are responsible for upholding
academic integrity, which means staff and students are expected to behave
honestly, fairly and with respect for others at all times.

Plagiarism is a form of cheating which undermines academic integrity. The

University defines plagiarism as follows:
The presentation of the work of another person or other persons as if it
were one’s own, whether intended or not. This includes published or
unpublished work, material on the Internet and the work of other students
or staff.
It is still plagiarism even if you re-structure the material or present it in your
own style or words.
Note: It is however, perfectly acceptable to include the work of others as long
as that is acknowledged by appropriate referencing.
Plagiarism is prohibited at Victoria and is not worth the risk. Any enrolled
student found guilty of plagiarism will be subject to disciplinary procedures
under the Statute on Student Conduct and may be penalized severely.
Consequences of being found guilty of plagiarism can include:
• an oral or written warning,
• cancellation of your mark for an assessment or a fail grade for the
course,
• suspension from the course or the University.
Find out more about plagiarism, and how to avoid it, on the University’s
website:
www.vuw.ac.nz/home/studying/plagiarism.html

Students with Impairments (see Appendix 3 of the Assessment Handbook)

The University has a policy of reasonable accommodation of the needs of
students with disabilities. The policy aims to give students with disabilities the
same opportunity as other students to demonstrate their abilities. If you have a
disability, impairment or chronic medical condition (temporary, permanent or
recurring) that may impact on your ability to participate, learn and/or achieve
in lectures and tutorials or in meeting the course requirements, please contact
the course coordinator as early in the course as possible. Alternatively, you
may wish to approach a Student Adviser from Disability Support Services
(DSS) to discuss your individual needs and the available options and support
on a confidential basis. DSS are located on Level 1, Robert Stout Building:
telephone: 463-6070 email: disability@vuw.ac.nz
The Art History Disability Liaison Person is Pippa Wisheart, Art History
Administrator. telephone 463 5800 email: pippa.wisheart@vuw.ac.nz

Student Support
Staff at Victoria want students to have positive learning experiences at the
University. Each faculty has a designated staff member who can either help
you directly if your academic progress is causing you concern, or quickly put
you in contact with someone who can. In the Faculty of Humanities and
 27

Social Sciences the support contacts are Dr Allison Kirkman, Murphy

Building, room 407 and Dr Stuart Brock, Murphy Building, room 312.
Assistance for specific groups is also available from the Kaiwawao Māori,
Manaaki Pihipihinga or Victoria International.

Manaaki Pihipihinga Programme

This programme offers:
• Academic mentoring for all Māori & Pacific students at all levels of
undergraduate study for the faculties of Commerce & Administration
and Humanities & Social Sciences. Contact Manaaki-Pihipihinga-
Progamme@vuw.ac.nz or phone 463 6015 to register for Humanities &
Social Science mentoring and 463 8977 to register for mentoring for
Commerce and Administration courses
• Postgraduate support network for the above faculties, which links
students into all of the post grad activities and workshops on campus
and networking opportunities
• Pacific Support Coordinator who can assist Pacific students with
transitional issues, disseminate useful information and provide any
assistance needed to help students achieve. Contact; Pacific-Support-
Coord@vuw.ac.nz or phone 463 5842.

Manaaki Pihipihinga is located at: 14 Kelburn Parade, back court yard, Room
109 D (for Humanities mentoring & some first year Commerce mentoring) or
Room 210 level 2 west wing railway station Pipitea (commerce mentoring
space). Māori Studies mentoring is done at the marae.

Student Services
In addition, the Student Services Group (email: student-services@vuw.ac.nz) is
available to provide a variety of support and services. Find out more at:
www.vuw.ac.nz/st_services/
VUWSA employs Education Coordinators who deal with academic problems
and provide support, advice and advocacy services, as well as organising
class representatives and faculty delegates. The Education Office (tel. 463-
6983 or 463-6984, email at education@vuwsa.org.nz) is located on the ground
floor, Student Union Building.

GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY THE COURSE!

28