Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the ways in which the destruction of material culture that coincided with the introduction of Christianity into Eastern Polynesia participated in a reorganisation of society.

Paper long abstract:

The key question addressed in this paper is: how are we to understand the massive destruction of religious images that preceded the introduction of Christianity into eastern Polynesia? This Polynesian Iconoclasm began in Tahiti in 1815 where the Chief, Pomare, initiated the public destruction of all marae and 'idols', replacing these with 67 churches within a year. The majority of the islands of what is now French Polynesia (but with the notable exception of the Marquesas) followed suit soon after. When Hawaiian leaders learned of these events they were encouraged to initiate the destruction, in 1819, of their images and heiau (temples) - this before any missionary had set foot in Hawai'i. Iconoclasms followed in the Cook Islands (1821-1827) and Mangareva (1835). Taken together these destructive episodes during the twenty-year period between 1815 and 1835 radically transformed eastern Polynesia. This paper will explore, in a preliminary way, the nature of this transformation.