Our Eyes Advise Us: Marshall Islanders Confronting Disease, Climate, and Colonial Violence in the Nineteenth Century

With Our Eyes Advise Us: Marshall Islanders Confronting Disease, Climate, and Colonial Violence in the Nineteenth Century, Monica C.LaBriola fundamentally reorients our understanding of nineteenth century Marshall Islands history by foregrounding the expertise of Marshallese historians, cultural authorities, and scholars.This groundbreaking book centers bwebwenato (histories, stories) and jabonkonnaan (proverbs) to create a vivid account of Marshall Islanders navigating encounters with European, American, and Native Hawaiian outlanders, as well as the challenges posed by environmental upheaval, an influx of foreign diseases, and colonial violence against women and the wider community. By privileging Marshallese archives, this volume provides a compelling reexamination of four well-documented episodes: the local reception of the Russian Rurik expedition in 1817, the rebellion against the American whaleship Globe mutineers in 1824, the endorsement of Protestant Christianity and the islan