Entangled Encounters: Europe to the Pacific History & Political Science Conference

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Conference Brief & Schedule

The Pacific was the “New World” of the eighteenth century and a center for European led science, exploration, and imperialism in the midst of vibrant indigenous societies. Epitomized by the three voyages of James Cook, RN (1728-1779), the opening of interaction between European voyagers and the peoples of the Pacific produced an ongoing process of cross-social contact. Contact, for both good and ill, was bound up in the process of mutual entanglement. Building on the work of Nicholas Thomas, entanglement is a process of trans-cultural enactment that recognizes the mutable negotiations of the “cultural beach” or zone of encounter shared by both Europeans and Pacific Islanders. Understanding entanglement, then, requires a full historical reckoning with the methods of enactment which produced ongoing socio-cultural contact. This conference takes as its fundamental premise the necessity of research regarding the context of enacted entanglement among the peoples of Europe and the peoples of the Pacific beginning in the eighteenth century. In so doing, through research and study, it seeks to enliven a broader historical understanding of the formation of global systems of contact and control that were born in the world of Pacific encounter.

All Panels and Presentations to take place in the Weber Leadership Conference Room in the Weber Center on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University.

9:00 – 9:10 am: Conference Open and Welcoming Remarks

9:10 – 10 am: Panel I: In the Wake of Cook: Memory, Empire, and Trade

• Alysandra Residori. Contested Commemoration: An Analysis of Captain Cook Statues and Memorials. 
• Jacob Lukowiak. Colonization to Commonwealth: The Political History of Australia.
• Nicholas Stratton. British Hawaii: Violence, Empire, and Gunboat Diplomacy in the 19th Century. 
• Alexander Wolfe. Acapulco to Manila: The Manila Trade Route and Trans-Pacific Trade.

10:00 – 10:15 am: Coffee Break

10:15 – 10:45 am: Pacific Rim Student Association Cultural Presentation

10:45 – 11:35 am: Panel II: Polynesia: Peoples and Places

• Mariah Manke. Dignity in Resilience: the Life of Queen Lili’uokalani and her Pursuit for Hawaiian Sovereignty
• J.T. Price. Rapanui: Life on Easter Island.
• Brian Borden. The Native Hawaiian Response to Captain Captain Cook.
• Olivia Schneider .Wharenui: The role of the meeting house in Māori culture.

11:35 am – 12:25 pm: Panel III: Arts and Sciences of Enlightenment: Making Global Knowledge

• Luke Lo Cascio. Songs of Sea Dogs: The Historical Significance of Sea Shanties in 18th Century Pacific Exploration.
• Grace Beatty. Scurvy and its prevention, modeled by Captain James Cook.
• Bryson Doering. Volcanic Voyages: Humboldt, Hamilton, and Cook through the Pacific’s Dangers. 
• Laurel J.K. Wayland. Notes of the Pacific: European Musical Interpretations of the South Seas

12:25 – 1 pm: Lunch provided by the Pacific Rim Student Association

1:00 – 2:00 pm: Keynote Address: (Consul General Elstoft)

2:00 – 2:50 pm: Panel IV: Potpourri of the Seas: The Mashup Panel

• Hannah Nagle. The Evolution of Pirates and Piracy Throughout the Pacific.
• Adam Luna. Pacific Pathways: Captain Cook and the Pursuit of the Northwest Passage.
• Katrina Anderson. 18th Century Women at Sea: Maiden Voyages.
• Christopher Gonzaga. An American preparation for the Pacific: Captain Cook in the Seven Years War.

2:50 – 3:05 pm: Coffee Break

3:05 – 3:25 pm: ONU Pacific Student Roundtable

3:25 – 3:45 pm: Educating for the Pacific: Developing an American Curriculum

3:45 – 4:45pm: Panel V: Pacific Maritime Technology: Observing the Ocean

• Andrew Cloy. Copper Sheathing of Ships in the British Royal Navy.
• Carter Benton. Naval and Nautical Technologies of the Pacific Voyages.
• Aubrey “Ace” Stork. Seas and Societies: Navigating the Maritime Techniques of Eighteenth-Century Europeans and Pacific Islanders.
• Heidi Greer. Endeavouring Resolutions: The Ships that brought Cook around the Pacific World.
• Bentley Bittinger. Pacific Time and Place: The Chronometer and Longitude. 

4:45pm: Closing Remarks