Not offered in 1996; expected to be offered in 1997. 16.7 2nd or 3rd year Assoc Prof Monique Burston. 116-115 or 116-202, or equivalent. Two one-hour lectures and a one-hour tutorial a week. Students completing this subject should:

• read in French with confidence literary, travel, political, sociological texts dealing with the Pacific;
• demonstrate a general knowledge of the history of the impact of the French presence in the South Pacific;
• appreciate the influence of the Pacific Islands (Tahiti) on the French collective imagination and on literature and the arts;
• be aware of the present political and social problems in New-Caledonia and French Polynesia.

Voyages of discovery; the Pacific in relation to 18th century philosophical thought; the Tahitian mirage (Loti, Gauguin, etc. ); trade and missions; New Caledonia: history of its colonisation, present political and economic situation; French Polynesia: present situation; the French language in the Pacific. one 2-hour test (40 per cent); one essay (not more than 1,500 words) (35 per cent); oral presentation and class participation equivalent to not more than 1,500 words (25 per cent). Henningham S France and the South Pacific: A Contemporary History Allen and Unwin 1992 Loti P Le Mariage de Loti Flammarion.