Unfreedom, Gender, Redress: Plantation Cultures of the Western Pacific

Using fresh scholarly and creative approaches, this project aims to examine the hidden histories of the Western Pacific’s Anglo and German plantations. We will examine indenture, blackbirding (kidnapping) and forms of unfreedom, with a focus on gender and mixed-race relationships. Linking archives in English and German, and foregrounding Pacific voices, especially of women, we will generate new knowledge of plantation lives, the labour trade and its legacies. Working with museums and Pacific artists we will also meet urgent demands for public redress and commemoration. Benefits include bringing the Pacific into conversation with global debates on unfreedom and slavery and advancing political change across Australia and the Western Pacific.