Natives, Tourists, and Spirits: Contemporary Existences in Rapa Nui
2013; Volume: 26; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5070/b3263024774
ISSN1099-5331
Autores Tópico(s)Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
ResumoEddie suddenly turned around."It is past midnight.Tell them to get out of here!You are not from here, Pablo.When you are not from here the 'varua' take heed of you and follow you into your dreams. 1 My research takes place on Easter Island, located in the South Pacific Ocean.However, it is more precise to say that my research takes place at the intersection of "Easter Island" and "Rapa Nui."I argue that these two names constitute two different spatial imaginaries that have historically developed around the island I study.On the one hand, "Easter Island" is the place that 80,000 or so tourists choose to visit each year. 2 Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who discovered the island for Europe on Easter Day in 1722, coined the name "Easter Island." 3 It is close to the District of Columbia in size and, in high season, at any one time, the odds are that there are more tourists than natives. 4, 5"Easter Island" has a capital, called Hanga Roa, an airport, and eight thousand "archaeological sites." 6 "Rapa Nui, " on the other hand, is the place the Rapa Nui know.The indigenous inhabitants coined the name "Rapa Nui" in 1862 to refer to themselves and their island."Rapa Nui" speaks to a place that is a boundless cosmos: according to the oral tradition, it is Te Pito O Te Henua, "The Navel of the World." 7 Rapa Nui is host to 3,000 or so natives (according to the last census) and innumerable mythical beings. 8 The map (Figure 1) shows that each place on "Rapa Nui" has a name; every stone is an archaeological feature. 91862 is also the year that slave raiders on Easter
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