NAMING THE COOK ISLANDS: ARTICULATION THEORY AND ‘AKAPAPA‘ANGA

Authors

Emma Ngakuraevaru Powell, Victoria University of Wellington

Abstract

The Cook Islands has existed as a formal polity for roughly one hundred years. There is no antecedent Māori name for this nation. Referencing the explorer Captain James Cook, it has been the nation’s primary identifier since the late nineteenth century despite the nation comprising fifteen islands and various and distinct cultural genealogies prior to European arrival. In this article, I ask how might we effectively describe the formation of the Cook Islands’ national identity and understand its name given its underlying genealogical and cultural diversity. In asking this question, I consider the utility of cultural studies’ articulation theory for contextualizing the development of the Cook Islands name and the culture it denotes. I then discuss how the Cook Islands (Māori) concepts of ‘akapapa‘anga (genealogy making) and the Māori practice of naming extend articulation theory’s proposition that culture is a series of articulated parts.

Recommended Citation

Powell, Emma Ngakuraevaru (2020) "NAMING THE COOK ISLANDS: ARTICULATION THEORY AND ‘AKAPAPA‘ANGA," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 43: No. 2, Article 1.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol43/iss2/1