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