Tiara R. Na’puti

ABSTRACT

Communication scholars have examined how colonialism is rhetorically maintained, and how discourse excludes Indigenous perspectives. Yet, seldom has the field addressed rhetorical phenomena from Oceanic places experiencing colonization and militarization. This essay calls for prioritizing orientations from the Pacific—an expansive site from which to understand structures and cultures of contemporary colonial power. This Oceanic orientation navigates Oceanic rhetoric, which insists upon the centrality of Indigenous subjects to the ocean and communication phenomena that belong to these places. Applying field methods in the Mariana Islands, I triangulate indigeneity, colonization, and rhetorical phenomena as they operate simultaneously outside and inside an “American” imperial center.

KEYWORDS

Indigenous, colonialism, militarism, rhetoric, Oceania

From: Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 2020 17 (1)

Editor: Wang Yi