Towards a History of Pacific Prehistory: Historiographical approaches to francophone archaeology in Oceania

Following the recent development of Pacific archaeology historiographies,
this volume focuses on the history of francophone archaeology in the
Pacific, whether French, Belgian, Swiss or relative to francophone archipelagos
in Oceania. Following a workshop organised in Marseille, France, in May 2016,
13 contributions offer here the diverse perspectives of archaeologists, historians,
cultural anthropologists, museum curators and writers. The authors consider the
epistemology, actors, practices and institutions that contributed to open this new
field of research and to position it on the French and international scientific scene.
Various themes are considered, from intellectual history and epistemology
to the biographical approach; from the contextualisation and re-evaluation
of ancient collections and texts to reflections on the danger of presentism and
the potential of historiographic analyses in developing innovative research perspectives
in archaeology. The studies that are gathered here demonstrate the
interest in viewing our own disciplinary past through a critically and historically
informed prism. They enable each of us to question the intellectual, socio-political
and even ideological and personal ‘baggage’ more or less consciously hidden in
our research. They also evoke the responsibility that science and scientists can
assume in the diffusion and clarification of specific ideas or information.