Title: Cook & Omai : the cult of the South Seas /
Authors: Hetherington, Michelle.; National Library of Australia.; Australian National University.
Publisher: National Library of Australia,
Year: 2001
Subjects: Omai Travel England Exhibitions.; National Library of Australia Exhibitions.; Pacific Islanders First contact with Europeans Exhibitions.; Pacific Islanders Cultural assimilation Exhibitions.; Pacific Islanders in art Exhibitions.; England Description and travel Exhibitions.; Oceania Social life and customs Exhibitions.
Abstract: In 1774, the first Polynesian to visit London travelled to England with the crew of Captain Cook's second Pacific voyage and became an overnight sensation. Seen as a living example of the 'Noble Savage', Omai as he was known, was discussed by scientists and philosophers, celebrated in all the best circles and written about in everything from poetry to pornography. He proved a lightning rod for European anxieties regarding imperialism, civilisation and the true nature of mankind. The artistic and literary legacy of Omai's encounter with Europe provides a fascinating insight into European culture in a moment of transition, when old certainties were collapsing and new ones were yet to form. Cook & Omai: The Cult of the South Seas has been developed by the National Library of Australia in association with the Humanities Research Centre of the Australian National University.
Contents: The cult of the south seas / Michelle Hetherington -- Spectacles of knowledge: OMAI as ethnographic travelogue / Iain McCalman -- Comedy in the OMAI pantomime / Christa Knellwolf -- Images of Mai / Caroline Turner -- Omai's things / Harriet Guest -- The art of ventriloquism: European imagination and the Pacific / Alexander Cook -- Mai, the other beyond the exotic stranger / Paul Turnbull -- O Mai! This is Mai: a masque of a sort / Greg Dening.