Tahiti and French Polynesia have been mythologized as the sensual Earthly Paradise since the 18th century. Within the last thirty years, the people indigenous to these islands, the Maohi, have been publishing their works. Most of the literary energy since 1990 has been generated by women.
Through the works of Flora Devatine, Rai a Mai, Chantal Spitz, Taaria Walker, and Titaua Peu, Bridging Our Sea of Islands situates Maohi literature within Oceanic frameworks outside of tourist and colonial discourses perpetuated by the myth of Tahiti. Maohi writers experience many struggles within an array...