ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the retention of culture and Native-owned information through the embodied archives. The embodied archives sit just outside the realm of imperial records. The language of disappearance applied to Native knowledge systems is designed to prioritize the value of the written record. The written is a complement to embodied knowledge, but it cannot replace it. Embodied knowledge is not static or fixed, it grows and adapts with its owner. The chapter explores the continuing need for the Indigenous peoples of Oceania to assert their agency and develop guidelines around Native knowledge within existing archives. It is easy to see the continuum of the oral elements used in traditional chants throughout Oceania applied to spoken word composed by contemporary Pacific Islanders. The true archives of Oceania live within the knowledge and traditions of its people.