South Pacific voyage of Suzuki Tsunenori in 1889: a voyage of self - promotion?

Nishino, Ryota (2014) South Pacific voyage of Suzuki Tsunenori in 1889: a voyage of self - promotion? UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Amongst several pursuits Suzuki Tsunenori packed in his lifetime (1853-1938), his travelogue, 南洋探検実記 (1892) [True chronicles of South Seas exploration], was a seminal
introduction of the South Seas islands to the Japanese. The chronicle details two voyages he undertook in the 1880s. The first was to the Marshall Islands in Micronesia in 1884. In
1889 he joined a navy training vessel that visited Hawai’i, Samoa, Fiji and Guam. Since the expose on his Marshall Island travelogue by the archaeologist Takayama Jun in 1995,
Suzuki’s reputation as an observer has come under serious doubt. Although evidence warrants Suzuki’s 1889 voyage took place, few scholars have analysed his 1889 voyage.This presentation does not seek to detect errors or embellishments, or to gauge the utility of his ethnographic observations in his 1889 voyage. Rather, this presentation demonstrates how Suzuki presents himself in the travelogue. The travel-writing scholar Eric Thompson suggests that the travelogue offers the stage for the writer’s self-fashioning through numerous explicit and implicit measures. The historian Yano Tôru argues the South Seas explorers of the late 19th century Japan exhibited an anti-establishment and adventurous spirit.
In his voyage of 1889, Suzuki meets a Hawaiian rebel leader and forms a bond. He uses his affinity with Christianity to gain extra knowledge and experience. He walks in wilderness in Fiji to demonstrate his courage. Suzuki presents himself as anti-establishment and unafraid of wilderness. Such characteristics are constant with other South Seas voyagers. Yet, Suzuki’s self-fashioning contains episodes that serve to boost his profile which had been dented prior to his voyage.

Item Type:	Other
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DS Asia D History General and Old World > DU Oceania (South Seas) H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform P Language and Literature > PI Oriental languages and literatures
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) > School of Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Ryota Nishino
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2014 03:05
Last Modified:	12 May 2016 00:36
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/7537

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