On Femininity in European Perceptions of ‘Other’ Peoples
The Forster’ Concepts of ‘Woman’ in their Accounts of Pacific Peoples
Marja van Tilburg
University of Groningen
Introduction
The research-project “Race, Gender, Culture” aims to engage critically with the
representation of cross-cultural encounters in scholarly analyses, so far. The project
supposes the (western) concepts of ‘race’ and ‘gender’ to have led scholars to interpret
findings in a present-ist fashion.
This paper aims to engage critically with the concept of ‘gender’ in analyses of cross-cultural
encounters. Have issues pertaining to gender led scholars to represent cross-cultural
encounters in a present-ist way? Have they applied modern perceptions rather than
contemporary ones?
This question may well be answered affirmatively because European culture has been
gone through important changes regarding women. It has been confronted with critique of
women’s place in European societies from the late-medieval times onwards.
In response to the debate it has changed its approach to gender: initially the difference
between the sexes was interpreted in hierarchal terms. From the mid-eighteenth century this
approach gave way to one which interpreted the sexes as polar opposites.1
Besides, European culture developed a different approach to cultural diversity:
initially Europeans focused on patterns of migration and ensuing adaptation to new
environments. They assumed adaption to lead to degeneration.2 In the late-eighteenth
century this approach gave way to one which focused on cultures. In due time, this approach
engendered the creation of essentialist constructs.3
Scholars are very much aware of these two developments. But they have hardly
insight in the transformations: most is known of the last stage of the developments – the
Enlightenment phase. Some is known of the initial situation – the early-modern phase. But
insight into the phase(s) in-between, the actual transformation is lacking.4
This above assumption has another basis in historical sources use in the above scholarly
analyses. Early-modern reports on ‘other’ peoples are not offering much information: the
authors touch upon many topics. They offer short descriptions of their observations. At times
they seem to fill slots rather than presenting concise reports: the often returning oppositions,
the many stereotypes suggest as much.
Compare Marja van Tilburg, “Tracing Sexual Identities in ‘Old Age’: Gender and Seniority in Advice Literature of
the Early-Modern and Modern Periods,” Journal of Family History 34 (4): 368-386.
2 Margaret T. Hodgen, Early Anthropology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press, 1964); compare James A. Boon, Affinities and Extremes: Crisscrossing the Bittersweet
Ethnology of East Indies History, Hindu-Balinese Culture and Indo-European Allure (Chicago and London: The
University of Chicago Press, 1990) 3-27.
3 Compare Boon, Affinities and Extremes, 3-27. Harry Liebersohn, “Anthropology before Anthropology,” in: A
New History of Anthropology, ed. Henrika Kuklick (Malden Ma: Blackwell, 2008) 18-31.
4 Compare George W. Stocking jr., Victorian Anthropology (New York and London: The Free Press, 1987); Boon,
Affinities and Extremes; Rod Edmond, Representing the South Pacific: Colonial Discourse from Cook to
Gauguin (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997).
1
Furthermore, these early-modern reports convey even less on gender and the few
relevant remarks seem stereotypical indeed. An example is the recurring ‘observation’ on
indigenous males guarding their womenfolk. Explorers interpret this behaviour as a sign of
the men’s jealous disposition. The male’s jealousy is a topos.5
It is easy to ‘get’ such short and stereotypical remarks ‘wrong’. Examples can be found in
account on the Orient. Many stereotypical remarks convey indulgence – people idling their
time away while seeking sensuous pleasure provided by food, liquor and sex. This concept of
the Orient is based on a typical early-modern notion of pleasure which encompasses food,
drink and sex.6 Scholarly analyses of such reports ought to draw this concept of pleasure into
the analysis.
Rather many of these topoi pertain to women. These are represented as alluring and
seductive. Of course such images are to indicate the larger whole.7 Analyses of these images
often focus on the feminine rather than on the seductive power of the senses. Perhaps these
interpretations have highlighted femininity and sexuality above indolence and luxury. They
may have sought to stress the importance of gender in European thought. If so, than this
type of interpretation offers an example of present-ist thinking in research on cross-cultural
encounters.8
This paper engages with the perception of femininity which comes to the fore in the Forster’
travel accounts. The paper will show these two explorers held different views of ‘woman’. It
will argue that Forster Sr. adheres to early-Enlightenment notions of gender and Forster Jr.
follows Enlightenment theories on gender. En passant, it will be made apparent that the
perception of femininity impacts the reporting: it influences the selection of topics and on
the discussion of these topics. But first, the paper will outline of the above development from
the early-modern, hierarchal approach of gender to the modern, differentiating one.
Both father and son Forster published an account of their voyage around the world as
botanist of Captain Cook’s second expedition (1772-1775). Even though they report on the
same journey, their reports differ. There are many reasons for this, and one has to do with
the format.
Forster senior aims for a scientific treatise. His Observations Made during a Voyage
round the World (1778) engages with cultural diversity.9 He offers the observations as
evidence. His writing adheres to modern guidelines of coherence and consistency. This text
can be said to follow the modern episteme – presenting causal explanations. 10
Forster junior’s A Voyage round the World (1777) conforms to the genre of the travelogue.
The format prescribes a chronological account of the events, followed by a synthetic
description of the culture and a guide to the language. It allows for a variety of styles of
writing – alternating between the classic and the modern episteme – as pointed out by
Michel Foucault.
Boon stress the importance of topoi in the process of interpreting non-western peoples: Boon, Affinities and
Extremes, 3-27 ; an example can be found in an early-modern Dutch account “ ... maar jonge vrouwen en dogters
quaamen niet te voorschijn, soo dat men te gelooven heeft dat de jaloesy de mannen bewoogen sal hebben om
deselve op een affgelegen plaats op ‘t Eyland te verbergen.” De reis van Mr. Jacob Roggeven ter ontdekking van
het zuidland (1721-1722). Ed. by F.E. Mulert (’s Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff 1911) 123. [Translated: “… but
young women and daughters did not show themselves, so that it is to be believed that jealousy will have induced
the men to hide them at a separate part of the island.” Andrew Sharp, The journal of Jacob Roggeveen (Oxford;
Clarendon, 1970) 100.] The remark can be found in the report on Easter Island.
6 Until well into the nineteenth century sexuality was a part of this large entity of pleasures. Compare Marja van
Tilburg, Seksualiteit en partnerkeuze in de Nederlandse adviesliteratuur 1780-1890 (Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis,
1998), 97-132. This concept is applied by Forster Sr. in his discussion of sexual mores on Tahiti.
7 Harriet Guest, Empire, Barbarism, and Civilisation: Captain Cook, William Hodges, and the return to the
Pacific (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007).
8 As for instance Roy Porter, “The Exotic as Erotic: Captain Cook in Tahiti,” in: Exoticism in the Enlightenment,
ed. G.S. Rousseau and R. Porter (Manchester: Manchester UP, 1990) 117-144.
9 Johann Reinhold Forster, Observations made during a voyage round the world, eds. Nicholas Thomas, Harriet
Guest and Michael Dettelbach (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1996).
10 Michel Foucault, Les Mots et les Choses: Une Archéologie des Sciences Humaines (Paris: Gallimard, 1966).
5
Generally speaking these authors offer descriptions of indigenous peoples visited on
the voyage. But they focus on the Pacific peoples in order to establish factors inducing
cultural advancement. They engage in particular with the ‘civilised’ eastern-Pacific peoples
and ‘barbarous’ western-Pacific ones.11 In due time, these descriptions formed the basis of
the nineteenth-century constructs of ‘Polynesia’ and ‘Melanesia’. Scholarly analyses of these
text focus, therefore, on the eastern-Pacific island of Tahiti and the western-Pacific group of
the New Hebrides. For the sake of comparison, this paper follows suit.
This paper argues for drawing the historical development of gender into the analysis of
European reports on ‘other’ peoples. This will further knowledge and insight into European
interpretations of these peoples. En passant, the analysis may convey more of the actual
encounter – to shed light on the “tangled interplay” of Europeans’ perceptions and
indigenous actions.12
Genders
In the early-modern period European culture developed a different approach to the
difference between the sexes.13 At the turn of 1500 European culture perceived the difference
between the sexes in hierarchal terms: the man represented the standard, while the woman
was falling short. The male’s superior quality stems from his ‘strength of mind’ –
engendering intelligence as well as control over emotions. From the mid-eighteenth century
European culture started to interpret the difference between the sexes in polar opposites.
Man and woman were ascribed different but complementary ‘natures’. In this approach the
term ‘nature’ pertains to physiological differences as well as to psychological and social
distinctions.14
This development was brought about in response to a prolonged debate on sexual
equality, which started in the late Middle Ages. In the course of the early-modern period, this
debate targeted different aspects of women’s lives. As a consequence, it incited changes in
some realms of society but not in others. The changes which were brought about, however,
indicate a development in three distinct phases: an early-modern, an early-Enlightenment
and an Enlightenment stage – the last two coinciding with the Radical Enlightenment and
the Enlightenment.15
The debate started with the late-medieval French author Christine de Pizan’s critique of the
general disparagement of women in her allegorical La Cité des Dames (ca. 1405). She argued
this condescending attitude was the real reason for women’s far from satisfactory education
– and hence for women’s seemingly inadequacy. Even though her argument touched on
several issues – men’s demeanour, women’s education and women’s talents –, she targeted
first and foremost the prevalent notion of women’s inferiority.
De Pizan’s treatise was followed by a string of publications – which are known by the
name of the Querelle des Femmes. These argued for women’s capabilities by presenting
The adjective is Forster Sr.’s; Forster, Observations, 200-201.
Bronwen Douglas, “Art as Ethno-historical Text. Science, Representation and Indigenous Presence in
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Oceanic Voyage Literature,” in: Double Vision: Art Histories and Colonial
Histories in the Pacific, eds. Nicholas Thomas and Diane Losche (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999), 65-99,
citation at 73.
13 The approach denoted the way in which difference between the sexes is created. The approach is distinguished
from the contents, i.e. the actual sexual identities. By creating this distinction the general trend is brought to the
fore.
14 For the physiological aspects of this development: Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the
Greeks to Freud (Cambridge Mass.: Cambridge UP 1989).
15 Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans (London: George
Allen & Unwin, 1981); Jonathan I. Israel, Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity
1650-1750 (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001).
11
12
examples of extraordinary women – from the mythological Amazons to the famous learned
lady. Often, these authors stressed these exemplary women could outdo men in every aspect
of life – from studying to waging war. In doing so, they also targeted the idea of women’s
inferiority.
Some scholars argue the above writings fall short of presenting a consistent argument
for sexual equality. And that as a result of this, not much was achieved in the way of women’s
emancipation.16 Other scholars point out how these publications testify to the impact of the
hierarchal approach to gender. They stress the extent to which these texts are impacted by
questions of inferiority and superiority.17
Thus, the first phase of the debate on sexual equality shows the imprint of the
hierarchal approach to the difference between the sexes...
The debate took a decisive turn in the mid-seventeenth century: advocates of women’s
emancipation came to focus the attention on women’s capacity for learning and writing.
Furthermore, they developed new practices which ventured beyond the established
patriarchal settings. These two traits characterise the second, early-Enlightenment phase.
The Dutch theologian Anna Maria Schurman seems to have been the first to argue
that gifted women should be allowed to study because God-given talent should not go to
waste. Her motivation was religious rather than emancipatory. Her argument was original in
that she argued some women being capable of learning as some men. She was the first, in my
view, to stay away from the prevalent rhetorical ‘trap’ of arguing for women’s superiority.
The French Humanist author Marie de Gournay took this line of reasoning one step further:
she explained actual differences between the sexes as stemming from customs and varying
between nations or between social classes. By creating a distinction between actuality and
possibility, she suggested the possibility of sexual equality. The French philosophe Poulain
de la Barre took the most radical stand. Following Descartes’ method of questioning
generally accepted assumptions, he reasoned that prevailing differences between the sexes
stem from historical circumstances rather than physiological differences. Arguing the
reproductive organs constitute the only difference between the sexes, he stated that “the
mind has no sex”.18 Although the above authors held different views regarding the difference
between the sexes, their pleas implied a breach from the hierarchal perception of the sexes.
More importantly, the above breach from the hierarchal approach had an equivalent
in the social world. A novel style of socializing between the sexes was developed within the
emerging public sphere – a variety of public societies and commercial venues open for men
and women from different ranks of society. This new cultural space was intended to be
different from the established institutions, especially the court. To this end, it furthered an
egalitarian style of socializing as opposed to the hierarchal etiquette en vogue in the
establishment. This should show in particular in men’s behaviour towards women – because
here hierarchy showed most blatantly.19 So, the public sphere came to set a new standard for
the rapport between the sexes. The men were to treat women with égards: they were to show
appreciation of woman’s contributions and consideration with her flaws – all in good
measure.20 Thus, the new style of socializing implied another breach from the hierarchal
perception of the sexes.
In historiography these two developments tend to be discussed separately –
suggesting distinct developments. To the contemporary public of ‘polite society’ these
currents seem to have been entwined. Several types of evidence suggest so much: treatises
Siep Stuurman, François Poulain de la Barre and the Invention of Modern Equality (Cambridge Mass. and
London: Harvard UP 2004) 52-86.
17 Lieselotte Steinbrügge, The Moral Sex: Women’s Nature in the French Enlightenment (New York: Oxford UP,
1995).
18 Stuurman, François Poulain de la Barre, 52-85.
19 Dena Goodman, The Republic of Letters: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment (Ithaca: Cornell UP,
1994) 2-11.
20 The ‘rapport’ denotes the model of men’s and women’s demeanor. The ‘rapport’ is different from the
‘relationship’ because it pertains to a consistent pattern of attitudes and behaviours. It does not encompass
anything individual or personal. Compare Tilburg, Hoe hoorde het?, 19-37.
16
arguing for women’s intellectual capabilities, for instance, take on the issue of women’s
manners.21 For their authors women’s pursuit of learning and women’s participation in
‘polite society’ must, therefore, have been related topics. Furthermore, educated women
preferred to pursue their ambitions by organizing gatherings in the public sphere. As femmes
savantes, précieuses and salonnières they had a prominent role – as Dena Goodman has
demonstrated.22 And last but not least, both developments come to the fore in a novel
appraisal of women’s qualities. Communicate skills required in public gatherings came to be
associated with the female sex. Striking conversations and steering debates were considered
specifically feminine capabilities. And as a consequence, sensibility and empathy were
considered quintessential feminine characteristics. Evaluating contributions to public
debates and passing judgment were also considered particularly feminine qualities. Good
taste and moral sense were considered women’s talents. These traits refer to women’s
intellectual capacities as well as to women’s participation in polite society.
The above developments implied a breach of the traditional patriarchal order: the
public sphere insisted on a new rapport between the sexes. It considered women’s
participation crucial to the public enterprise: establishing a communal space among people
in order to contemplate society. Over time, the accompanying discourse came to identify
women’s specific talents. It even ascribed women the ability to incite the male sex to rein in
the impulses and behave at their very best. Thus, the specific rapport between the sexes came
to be associated with ‘civilisation’.23
The question is to what extent these changes also implied a breach from the
hierarchal approach to the difference between the sexes. The above changes are brought
about in the public sphere. It is uncertain if, and to what extent these developments have
influenced family life. Furthermore, the above discourse shows traces of hierarchy: the
notion of women civilising men, for instance, can be read as a sign of the traditional
hierarchal relationship turned upside down – following the example of any Querelle des
Femmes-treatise.24 Also, the list of women’s specific capabilities can be interpreted as a
positive take inversion of the traditional view of ‘woman’ as having an emotional
disposition.25 This idea is part of the traditional view of ‘woman’ as having lesser control
because of her physical frailty.26 And last but not least, the above discourse did not present
men’s and women’s as equivalent, let alone as equal. It did not go beyond arguing women’s
contributions to be necessary.27 Taken together, these tendencies suggest the influence of the
hierarchal approach still lingering…
The debate regarding sexual equality took another decisive turn in the second half of the
eighteenth century. The question what constituted the difference between the sexes was
rephrased in completely novel terms: what are men’s and women’s natures. This change was
incited by recent developments in the sciences, especially physiology. This ‘naturalist’
approach distinguishes the last phase of the early-modern debate on sexual equality.28
Most authors brought arguments to the fore pertaining to physiological differences,
in particular to reproductive functions. This line-of-reasoning carried weight because
Enlightenment scientists argued the societal order should be built upon nature’s order. A
clear distinction between men’s and women’s roles seems ‘in sync’ with nature’s order. The
Compare Stuurman, François Poulain de la Barre, 60-71.
Stuurman, François Poulain de la Barre , 52, 71-73; Goodman, The Republic of Letters, 90-135; booth authors
cite Carolyn Ch. Lougee, Le Paradis des Femmes: Women, Salons. and Social Stratification in SeventeenthCentury France (Princeton: Princeton UP 1976).
23 Goodman, The Republic of Letters, 8-11.
24 Compare Steinbrügge, The Moral Sex.
25 Compare Steinbrügge, The Moral Sex.
26 Compare Antonia Fraser, The Weaker Vessel: Woman’s Lot in Seventeenth-Century England (London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984) 1-6.
27 Compare Goodman, The Republic of Letters, 8-9.
28 Sarah Knott and Barbara Taylor, “Introduction,” in: Women, Gender Enlightenment, eds. Sarah Knott and
Barbara Taylor (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
21
22
discipline of natural history suggested nature being ordered upon two sexes – as Linneaus’
taxonomy of plants.
At first glance these arguments merely buffer the traditional division of tasks and
responsibilities between the sexes. At closer inspection the engagement with nature led
rather many philosophes to create novel connections between the division of work between
the sexes and sexual identities. For instance, authors of conduct books started to present
men’s and women’s occupations as being of a very different type. Enlightenment conduct
books presented men’s tasks as ‘work’ and women’s as ‘care’. Furthermore, these portrayed
men as motivated by honour, and women as performing their duties out of love.29 Men
appear as individuals, while women are part of a chain of mothers and daughters.30 And last
but not least, they create difference between the sexes by presenting marriage as a choice for
men but a ‘must’ for women: they presented marriage and motherhood as women’s destiny –
anchoring women’s responsibility squarely to women’s identity.31
On the whole the above advice books presented these new identities as different but
complementary. The authors integrated the discourse of the public sphere into their
guidelines. They presented the correct rapport between spouses as crucial to the marriage’s
success – for the partners as well as the “common good”.32 However, they insisted men’s and
women’s ‘natures’ being distinct from men’s and women’s roles in the public sphere. They
stressed how ‘polite society’ estranged women from their nature. Also, they argued women’s
participation to be dysfunctional to the public enterprise – very much as Rousseau in his
critique of salonnières.33
Thus, Enlightenment authors established the idea of complementarity within the
realm of the family. In due time this notion led to the establishment of public and private
spheres.
Thus, new sexual identities were brought about: men and women were assumed to
have different but complementary natures…
Forster Sr.: The Rapport between the Sexes
Although Johann Reinhold Forster’s specific perception of gender shows throughout
Observations made during a voyage round the world, the best examples appear in the
discussion of marriage and family. In these passages the explorer focuses the attention in the
rapport between the sexes. He takes clues from the man’s demeanour towards his wife. He
prioritizes the man’s attitude above other topics – such as women’s sphere of action or
women’s labour. Furthermore, he uses the man’s habitus as a standard of civilisation. At
these instances the explorer’s engagement with early-Enlightenment views comes to the
fore.34
Forster sr. discusses marriage and family in the extensive comparison of peoples
visited on the voyage. He creates a drawn-out contrast between married life among the
eastern-Pacific peoples – most times the Tahitians – on the one hand and among unspecified
“more degenerated nations” on the other.35 This feature has been analysed in recent research
Tilburg, Hoe hoorde het?, 61-95.
Tilburg, “Tracing Sexual Identities,” 379-382.
31 Marja van Tilburg, “Domesticating Holliness: Holiness, Gender and Education in Conduct Literature, 17801890,” in: Transforming Holiness: Representations of Holiness in English and American Literary Texts.
Groningen Studies in Cultural Change Series XX, eds. Irene Visser and Helen Wilcox (Leuven: Peeters, 2006) 111126.
32 Tilburg, Hoe hoorde het?, 19-36.
33 Goodman, The Republic of Letters, 53-89.
34 Johann Reinhold Forster, Observations made during a voyage round the world, eds. Nicholas Thomas,
Harriet Guest and Michael Dettelbach (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1996).
35 Forster, Observations, 223; the term “more degenerated nations” denotes the peoples living on the westernPacific islands (such as the New-Hebrides; nowadays the Solomon Islands) and in New Zealand.
29
30
on western interpretations of Pacific peoples.36 But to point out the explorer’s perception of
gender the analysis has to be taken further. Firstly, this contrast has many different
references to European culture. Thus, Tahitian marriage is described in a series of analogies
to European culture. And “degenerated nations”’ marriage is sketched in a similar series, this
time of cleverly crafted inversions of European ideals. Next, to create these analogies and
inversions he refers to diverging aspects of European culture. Sometimes he makes similes to
deeply entrenched, early-modern notions. And sometimes he takes on contemporary
Enlightenment debates. In other words, the explorer describes indigenous marriage drawing
almost exclusively on the European symbolic order. All the while he draws on many different
sources. So, a detailed analysis of the writing is necessary in order to demonstrate Forster’s
perception of femininity.
Marriage
Forster engages with marriage and family in the section on “general principles of society”.37
He does not need many words to characterise marriage among the Tahitians:
The husband and the wife of his bosom, whom love unites by the silken ties of
matrimony, form the first society. The union is, in these happy regions, first
founded on the call of nature, in mutual assistance, and the sweet hopes of
seeing themselves reproduced in a numerous offspring.38
This passage shows the established European perception of marriage. It focuses on
matrimony as a societal institution and highlights its social objects: the ordering of sexual
relations, providing for off-spring and offering mutual assistance. In European culture, these
aims have been the raison d’être of marriage since the advent of Christianity. The above
citation presents exactly these three aspects: the phrase ‘the first society’ presents the
spousal relationship as a basic unit of society. The term ‘mutual assistance’ echoes one of the
requirements of traditional European marriage. And the last clause refers to reproduction. In
this passage the author presents the objects of marriage following European tradition. In
doing so he presents Tahitian marriage as analogous to the European institution. In this
indirect way he puts Tahitian marriage on a par with traditional European marriage.
But the above citation offers more: the writing shows references to the Enlightenment
discourse on marriage. This discourse engages with “the common good” as much as with the
family: for society to function properly, each individual family has to meet specific
requirements. The first of these is that every married couple work hard. Or rather, the couple
is to function as partners in a joint enterprise. Marriage manuals prescribe spouses how to
behave accordingly. Also, this discourse stresses the choice of partner: the decision to marry
should be left to the future spouses. They should marry for love – so that they are motivated
to do the utmost.39 This concern with the quality of family life shows in the references to the
marital bond: the text stresses the affective bond between the spouses with the phrases ‘love
unites’ and ‘union’. This affective bond is echoed in the mutuality of the spouses’
responsibilities. Furthermore, this bond is connected to the responsibilities of offering
assistance and generating offspring. And last but not least, the free choice of partner is
As for instance in Margaret Jolly, “‘Ill-Natured Comparisons’: Racism and Relativism in European
Representations of ni-Vanuata from Cook’s Second Voyage,” History and Anthropology 5 (1992): 331-364;
Nicholas Thomas, Colonialism’s Culture: Anthropology, Travel and Government (London: Polity Press, 1994),
101-102; Nicholas Thomas, In Oceania: Visions, Artifacts, Histories (Durham and London: Duke UP, 1997), 133152.
37 In Chapter VI (“Remarks on the Human Species”), in Section VI on “General Principles of National Happiness”,
217-238.
38 Forster, Observations, 223.
39 In the historiography of the European family this process is interpreted as the change from a patriarchal
household to a partnership-based family; this interpretation overlooks the politics of the discourse on marriage
and the demand for partnership: the disciplining of families; compare Tilburg, Hoe hoorde het?, 19-36.
36
implied in the phrase: “the husband and the wife of his bosom”. These references suggest
Tahitian marriage to meet contemporary European standards.
Besides, the above description shows traces of the Enlightenment engagement with
sexual morals. Philosophes developed an alternative to the Christian perception of sexual
desire as ‘sin’: they premised their theory on the assumption each marital relationship starts
with mutual sexual attraction. They present this attraction as ‘natural’: all living beings share
this feature. The majority argues this drive to be accordance with God’s Law: all creatures
have received the sexual drive at Creation. This last group insists, in order to qualify as
human, this attraction has to bring the loving couple to marry. In this way, marriage is
situated at the intersection of nature and culture. In the above passage the author presents
Tahitian marriage as such: it points to the marriage’s foundation in nature – in the phrase
“the call of nature” – and at the same time to the marital bond.40 This description suggests
Tahitian marriage to fit current views.
More importantly, the above text shows Forster’s concern with the rapport between
the spouses: he stresses the mutual affection in the phrasing. The phrase “of his bosom”
suggests the husband making his choice of partner from the heart. The words “silken ties”
suggest a sweet bond rather than a hard-to-endure contract. This engagement with the
marital relationship rapport shows even more clearly somewhat later in the text, in the
description of married life on Tahiti:
This refinement of mutual love and matrimonial complacency, produces
those tender regards with which this happy passion inspires its votaries for
the beloved object; and it creates that mutual happiness, which is the result of
all the more refined manners, and of their more polished behaviour towards
one another.41
This passage stresses the Tahitian couples’ affection for one another. These remarks fit the
above Enlightenment discourse on the spousal relationship. Husband and wife are to love
one another in order to make the family function. Speaking from a textual point of view
Forster’s description presents Tahitian and European love as one.42
As already mentioned Forster discusses marriage to create difference among indigenous
peoples visited on the voyage. Thus he continues the above description of Tahitian marriage
with a depiction of married life among the “more degenerated” peoples. This passage is as
short as the sketch of Tahitian married life. Moreover, the phrasing is as ‘thick’ as the above
one: in one sentence the author touches upon the objects of marriage. In this very sentence
he presents inversions of these objects:
In more degenerated nations, matrimonial union takes place from brutal
appetite, is grounded upon the satisfaction of sensuality, the expectation of
assistance from persons, whom oppression and custom has condemned to
become drudges, and lastly the idea of gaining more strength and power from
a numerous family of children.43
This passage presents marital relationship as brought about by “brutal appetite” – a far cry
from the Enlightenment’s perception of marriage and its sublimated sexual desire. Next, the
wife is forced to offer “assistance” – very different from the Enlightenment’s voluntary,
harmonious partnership between spouses. And last but not least: progeny is described with
reference to assets – appearing as pawns in the competition for wealth and power rather
than objects of parental love. This sentence stresses marriage among “more degenerated
nations” to fall short against the traditional European standards as well as the
Enlightenment standards.
Forster text’s offers more examples; compare Tilburg, Hoe hoorde het?, 19-36, 97-111.
Forster, Observations, 224.
42 Compare Tilburg, Hoe hoorde het?, 19-36.
43 This citation follows the very first one; Forster, Observations, 223.
40
41
Moreover, all three inversions pertain to the rapport between family members. Or
rather, these stress the lack anything attachment. That the inversions centre upon the
absence of any bond, is no coincidence. The absence of social bonds characterizes savagery in
early-modern European culture. This epitomized the savage in, for instance, Hobbes’
Leviathan (1651).44 The similarities between the above inversions and the established
perception of savagery suggest Forster modeling marriage among “more degenerated
nations” on long-stranding European notions of savagery.
In sum, Forster discusses marriage among Pacific islanders drawing on many European
ideas. Describing marriages among civilised and “more degenerated” peoples, he focuses on
the marital relationship. Forster stresses the rapport between the sexes following earlyEnlightenment engagement with gender.
Rank
Forster sr. focuses on the rapport between the sexes in the discussion of another topic in the
drawn-out comparison of indigenous peoples: “the rank assigned to women in domestic
society”.45 The discussion opens with the statement:
In O-Taheitee, the Society, The Friendly Isles and the Marquesas, the fair sex is
already raised to a greater equality with the men. 46
He explorer offers proof by listing women’s many intellectual qualities: from their “sprightly
turn of mind” to their “lively imagination”. He praises their demeanour at what seems to be
public gatherings. And last but not least he mentions their beauty. All these qualities
… contribute to captivate the hearts if men and to secure them a just and
moderate influence in domestic and even public affairs. We find the women
esteemed at O-Taheitee, and its neighbourhood; they mix in all societies, and
are allowed to converse freely with every body without restriction, which
enables them to cultivate their minds, and acquire that polish which afterwards
contributes to improve the manners of their young men;47
This passage depicts Tahitian social gatherings – as observed by the explorer. At the very
same time this passage recalls the European public sphere – offering observations
characteristic of this novel social space. He pictures Tahitian women pursuing intellectual
ambitions while socialising – as educated women in Europe. This passage offers a series of
analogies to European practices.
Furthermore, the paragraph points out aspects of Tahitian society which are
consistent with the accompanying discourse on the public sphere. It lists women’s qualities,
it mentions women’s contributions, it stresses women’s civilising influence on men. It even
mentions the women’s famed ars armori in this specific context:
… for, as it is one of the chief points of female education, in these happy isles, to
learn the great art to please, they are instructed in all the means of gaining
affection of the males, of studying every winning art, and of habituating
The anthropologist Margaret Hodgen discussed early-modern perceptions of savagery, citing Hobbes’
characterisation of savage life as “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short”. Margaret T. Hodgen, Early
Anthropology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1964),
354-382.
45 The citation has “WOMEN” in capitals; the discussion is in Chapter VI (“Remarks on the Human Species”), in
Section VI on “On the Principles, Moral Ideas, Manners [etc]”, 239-267.
46 Forster, Observations, 260.
47 Forster, Observations, 260.
44
themselves to that sweetness of temper which never fails to merit the return of
attachment, of friendship and love.48
In this passage Forster offers a highly original interpretation of women’s contributions to
Tahitian parties. His interpretation stands out among voyagers of the region.
Forster continues his discussion on “the rank assigned to women” sketching women’s
situation among “more degenerated nations”. Earlier in the report he has already
characterised savage males as treating their womenfolk “like the most abject drudges, or
slaves”.49 And in the same paragraph he has added how men consider women “creatures
intended for the satisfaction of brutish desires only”.50 Clearly, the explorer has the earlymodern notion of savagery on his mind…
Now, Forster builds upon this characterisation. The explorer observes how women
have to provide for their families – sometimes adding how the men seem idling their time
away. He stresses how women perform physically demanding tasks – as in the famed
example of the women carrying loads on Mallicollo. He offers observations of men forcing
women to prostitute themselves – the savage considering their womenfolk as their property.
Clearly, Forster notices typical savage behaviour…
Throughout the discussion Forster highlights the rapport between the sexes:
The barbarian knows hardly any law; the superiority of power decides every
thing; it is therefore no wonder that he should extend his tyrannical sway over
the weaker sex, and being himself a stranger to the more tender feelings of
love, he is of course equally ignorant of the ideas of modesty, bashfulness, or
delicacy; and if he forbids to his wife the connexions with others, and punishes
the transgression of his commands on that head with great severity; it is not
from the above principles, but in order to assert his right of property and
dominion over her;51
This passage offers an implicit contrast between the rapport between the sexes in civilised
societies and in “more degenerated nations”. In the contrast two discourses come to the fore.
The first is the discourse on the public sphere. This discourse appears in the male’s attitude
towards women. The ‘civilised’ male adheres to rules of conduct vis-à-vis women, whereas
“the barbarian […] extends his tyrannically sway over the weaker sex”. Herein, the
opposition is between abiding by rules or not. The second one pertains to virtue. This
discourse assumes virtue to be the mechanism that reins individual persons, in order to fit
society. This appears in the contrast between the civilised male allowing his wife to socialise
with others and the ‘other’ man who knows no virtue and who can, therefore, not
acknowledge virtuousness in others – let alone in women.
In this passage “the barbarian” is described as pressuring women – a reference to the
early-modern idea of the savage being exploitative. Also, this male is a stranger to specific
virtues – a reference to the savage’s lack of sense of the social. The author has italicised the
virtues as if to underline their importance. Of course, the virtues mentioned are considered
specifically feminine qualities – following early-Enlightenment discourse. Of course, these
virtues allow the functioning of the public sphere – women socialising with ‘other’ men. In
this passage, the author elaborates the early-Enlightenment engagement with the rapport
between the sexes to create difference.
And last but not least, Forster’s engagement with early-Enlightenment perception of
women leads him to speculate on the possibility of progress. He suggests the women of these
“nations” have specific capabilities:
Forster, Observations, 260.
In Section V on “Origin of Society”, 203- 216; citation on 209.
50 Forster, Observations, 209.
51 Forster, Observations, 260.
48
49
…yet this very oppression, and the more delicate frame of their bodies,
together with the finer and more irritable texture of their nerves, have
contributed more towards the improvement and perfection of their
intellectual faculties than those of the males. […]
This facilitates to them the various operations of their toilsome, laborious life,
and often leads them to towards new improvements. […]
cooler reflexion, gentleness, and every method for obtaining the approbation,
and for winning the good-will of others […] must in time naturally contribute
to soften that harshness of manners, which is become habitual in the
barbarous race of men; all this may perhaps in time prepare them for the first
dawning of civilization.52
In this passage Forster ascribes women specific capabilities – allowing women to improve
their societies. Furthermore, they are to soften the men’s harshness – improving the
relationships between the sexes. Thus, the women will set these societies on the path to
progress. Here, Forster projects the early-Enlightenment perception of femininity. And he
does not entwine anything else. This passage makes sense only within the earlyEnlightenment discourse on gender.
In sum, Forster’s discussion of “the rank of women” focuses on the rapport between the
sexes: it points out the men’s demeanor towards women: they have to show respect and
appreciation for the women’s contributions to society. It elaborates women’s specific
contributions to society and connects feminine qualities to influence.
The above analysis shows Forster sr. having the early-Enlightenment perception of gender
on his mind. The attention to the rapport between the sexes points to the earlyEnlightenment discourse on the public sphere. The dominant themes in Forster’s writing are
part and parcel of this discourse.
Forster Jr.: Woman’s Nature
Forster Jr.’s perception of ‘woman’ is influenced by recently developed theories within the
discipline of natural history. He explains the social relations between the sexes with
reference to ‘natural law’. He shares the philosophes’ assumption that human behaviour is to
be explained in the same way as the workings of nature.53
Explaining women’s situation in indigenous societies he refers to women’s ‘natures’.
The Enlightenment uses ‘nature’ to denote social as well as physiological phenomena. This
focus on ‘nature’ affects the reporting: this voyager’s eye is on women’s behaviour rather
than the family.54 Furthermore, he discusses women within the context of larger, more
complicated social settings. He assumes processes affecting human beings without requiring
consciously, explicitly and individually made decisions. As a consequence, Forster Jr. hardly
ever notes human agency.
Reporting on his voyage around the world Forster junior adheres to the rules of the
genre of the travelogue: he offers a chronological account of the events during a visit,
followed by a short overview of the most important cultural characteristics. Moe importantly,
he alternates between the early-modern approach of cultural diversity and the
Forster, Observations, 259.
George Forster, A Voyage Round the World, eds., Nicholas Thomas and Oliver Berghof (Honolulu: University
of Hawai‘i Press, 2000).
54 This does prevent him from projecting traditional western notions such as the patriarchal family: he assumes
‘good’ women to live in patriarchal settings and ‘bad’ women to stray from patriarchal control. The distinction
between good and bad women is made by many voyagers. Marja van Tilburg, “The allure of Tahiti: gender in late
eighteenth-century French texts on the Pacific,” History Australia 3 (June 2006): 13.1-13.16.
52
53
Enlightenment. The former has a comparative approach: it aims to establish patterns of
migration by tracing the diffusion of façions. It is concerned with the peopling of the earth,
the adaptation to new environments following migration, and the subsequent degeneration.
Thus, this approach generates analogies between peoples rather than precise portraits of
cultures. This approach shows throughout the text. The latter approach focuses on cultures:
it aims to present coherent interpretations of peoples. Here, the explorer tries for causal
explanations. In particular in these passages, of course, the above mentioned references to
natural law appear.55 Probably because of this alternating between styles Forster junior’s
views allow for more ambiguity and even ambivalence in his descriptions.56
Tahiti’s decay
The above features – the ambiguity, the alternation of styles, the Enlightenment concern
with women’s nature –, come to the fore in the report on Tahiti. The travelogue conveys a
worm in the bud rather than a civilization in bloom. The author points the finger to the
chiefs’ sensuousness and the common class women‘s ‘nature’.
From the start of the chronological account of events, Forster Jr. singles out the idle
ways of Tahitian chiefs. He draws on early-modern ways of interpreting to make sense their
behaviour:
A middle-aged man, who lay stretched at his ease in the hut, invited us to sit
down by him, […]; he had long nails on his fingers, upon which he valued
himself not a little, and which I found were a mark of distinction, since only
such persons, as had no occasion to work, could suffer them to grow to that
length. The Chinese have the same custom, and pride themselves as much in
it; but whether the Taheitians derive it from them, or whether chance has led
them both to the same idea, without any communication with each other, is
possibly beyond the art of Needham and Des Guignes to determine. 57
Following the early-modern approach the author focuses upon a custom: the habit of
wearing long nails. By presenting these as ‘a mark of distinction’ he singles this aspect of the
old man’s appearance out as a ‘sign’ of Tahitian culture. Next, he uses a typical early-modern
device to interpret this sign: he creates an analogy to the Chinese. By drawing this
comparison he creates meaning: in both cultures long nails are valued. Following the earlymodern train of thought, to draw a comparison between cultures implies diffusion following
migration. He shows to be conscious of this, by asking with so many words whether the
Tahitians have taken this custom from the Chinese or whether they have developed this
autonomously. This question cannot be answered – the reference to the two renowned
scientists is to confirm this. But that does not matter: merely posing the question signals
degeneration.
Later in the account the young explorer returns to the topic of the Tahitian chiefs’
lifestyle:
… a luxurious individual spending his life in the most sluggish inactivity, and
without one benefit to society, like the privileged parasites of more civilized
climates, fattening on the superfluous produce of the soil, of which he robbed
the labouring multitude. His indolence, in some degree, resembled that which
is frequent in India and the adjacent kingdoms of the East, and deserved
This difference fits Foucault’s notion of the classic and modern epistemes; this difference fits early-modern
reporting on ‘other’ peoples; compare Hodgen, Early Anthropology.
56 Several scholars have commented on ambivalence and ambiguity in the Forster junior’s writing. But they have
not connected this phenomenon to the changing ways of interpreting non-western peoples. Compare Jolly, “Illnatured comparisons”, 343-346; Thomas, In Oceania, 139-140, Dening, “The theatricality of observing and being
observed: eighteenth-century Europe ‘discovers’ the ? ‘Pacific’,” in: Implicit understandings, ed. Stuart B.
Schwartz (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994), 482-483.
57 Forster, A Voyage, 158.
55
every mark of indignation which Sir John Mandeville expressed in his Asiatic
travels.58
Once again the author creates an analogy – this time to ‘India and the adjacent kingdoms of
the East’. Once more he draws the comparison to create meaning – to communicate that
Tahitian chiefs are living lazily and luxuriously. Comprised within the comparison is
reference to an authority, the medieval explorer Mandeville. The reference is to suggest that
Mandeville’s judgement on Asian kings goes for Tahitian chiefs as well. To bring the message
home, Forsters adds a citation from Mandeville’s travelogue in a note. Cited is a description
of an Asian who had to be fed by his servants because of his long nails. He had fifty virgins
attending to his needs during the day, and ‘lye[ing] by him o night’. Thus the travelogue
conveys that Tahitian chiefs indulge in sensual and sexual pleasures – as any Oriental prince.
Towards the end of his report on Tahiti Forster presents an overview of Tahitian
culture. Here returns to the topic of the chiefs’ luxurious lifestyle. He projects a growing a
gap between the elite and the common people. To convey this view, he draws on the above
analogies to Asian kings, or rather to their style of governing. He foresees change ‘as
despotism should begin to gain ground’.59 Besides, he predicts a further exploitation of the
common class. To convey this concern, he offers a sketch of their physical appearance: while
the chiefs ‘will preserve all the advantages of an extraordinary size, of a superior elegance of
form and features, and of a purer colour’, the commoner
…will grow ill-shaped, and their bones become marrowless: their greater
exposure to the action of a vertical sun, will blacken their skins, and they will
dwindle away to dwarfs by the more frequent prostitution of their infant
daughters’.60
This deterioration of the common man’s physique comes as no surprise. By projecting the
above developments in the future, Forster indicates change. Following early-modern
reasoning, change can only be for the worse.
While Forster junior applies early-modern devices to make sense of Tahitian chiefs,
he follows the Enlightenment approach to interpret Tahitian women. His first mentioning of
these women goes:
The decks were likewise crouded with natives, among whom were several
women who yielded without difficulty to the ardent sollicitations of our
sailors. Some of the females who came on board for this purpose, seemed not
to be above nine or ten years old, and had not the least marks of puberty. So
early an acquaintance with the world seems to argue an uncommon degree of
voluptuousness, and cannot fail of affecting the nation in general. The effect,
which was immediately obvious to me, was the low stature of the common
class of people, to which all these prostitutes belonged. Among this whole
order we saw few persons above the middle size, and many below it; an
observation which confirms what M. de Buffon has very judiciously said on
the subject of early connections of the sexes, (see his Histoire Naturelle). 61
In this passage the author offers an eighteenth-century, more scientific approach: discussing
the youthful age of the women he presents empirically established facts. Next, trying to
explain the girls’ evident interest in sexual encounters, he presents a hypothesis. To offer
additional proof he points out more hard facts, this time pertaining to the physiology of the
common class. Having established facts, he connects these to contemporary scientific theory.
The reference to Buffon illustrates the contemporary approach: earlier Foster cited
Mandeville to let this authority speak on his behalf. This time Forster offered his observation
and passed his judgment before making mention of Buffon’s theory.
Forster, A Voyage, 164-165.
The term ‘despotism’ denotes the Asian style of governing; Forster, A Voyage, 199.
60 Forster, A Voyage, 199-200.
61 Forster, A Voyage, 148.
58
59
The above citation offers more: it shows the Enlightenment approach to gender as a
‘natural’ phenomenon. Developing his argument the author points out physiological aspects
of the young women. He argues how the physiological immaturity is at odds with the sexual
behaviour. In the Enlightenment perception of sexual maturation any flaw in sexual conduct
has to stem from ‘unnatural’ sexual development. Of course, this view is known from
pedagogical treatises – such as Rousseau’s Emile. But the same line-of-reasoning is also
developed within natural history – by Buffon among others. Forster finishes his argument
with a reference to this authority in the discipline of natural history. In the above passage
Forster junior indicates the young women’s sexual maturation has ‘gone wrong’.
As already indicated Forster returns to the young women’s conduct in the overview of
Tahitian culture flowing the chronological account of events. Here, he connects the women’s
sexual behaviour to the common class’ appearance. The women’s voluptuousness will affect
the common class males’ bodies deteriorate. This influence is to last because it will be
reproduced from one generation to the next. This line-of-reasoning is consistent with the
theory of Buffon – the one Forster referred to already in the first description of the women.
According to this authority in the field of natural history men’s and women’s roles in society
should mirror nature’s sexual order. Society’s dysfunctions stem from humans strayed from
nature.62
Furthermore, from the start of the report Forster distinguishes between good women
and bad ones. Of course, this distinction mirrors the long-standing European dichotomy
between good women and bad women. Traditionally, this difference is based on sexual
conduct. But Forster adds to the dichotomy: he presents good women as always appearing in
the company of family and he presents bad women as acting on their own. This addition is
important because it makes Forster’s distinction fit closely to Buffon’s theory regarding the
societal and the natural order.63 Moreover, the fact that author makes this distinction from
the beginning of the report suggests the author adheres to Buffon’ theory regarding the need
to comply with both. From these examples may be inferred that Forster junior shares the
Enlightenment concern with women’s nature.
So, Foster Jr. presents a very different picture of Tahiti as his father – and as many other
voyagers. He suggests Tahitian culture is tainted: the exploitive chiefs and the voluptuous
women are instrumental to the island’s decay. He applies different approaches to nonwestern cultures to argue his case: choosing the early-modern approach he presents the case
of the chiefs tentatively. Following a scientific way of reasoning he establishes the
deteriorating influence of the common women as a scientifically established fact. The cause
lies with the common women’s poor physique. This will be passed to future generations.
Thus, Forster Jr. elaborates women’s nature to convey Tahiti’s decay is the women’s fault.
Tanna’s progress
Forster Jr.’s variable style of reporting shows in the account of the visit to the New Hebrides,
especially the island of Tanna. The style of reporting affects the presentation of Tannese
culture.
In the chronological account of events the explorer paints a familiar picture:
It must be observed, however, that all those who carried loads this morning
were women, whilst the men walked on unconcernedly without any
incumbrance, except their arms. It should appear from this circumstance,
that the people of Tanna are not yet arrived at that advanced state, which
distinguishes the natives of the Society and Friendly Islands. All savage
Paul Hofman, La femme dans la pensée des Lumiéres (Paris: Éditions Ophrys, 1975).
Forster makes certain that this distinction is upheld throughout the report: he creates a lengthy report in the
case of a woman who visited the European ship with her brother and who came close to having sexual intercourse
with a sailor in exchange for sheets. Forster writes: “…but when the victim was just led to the altar of Hymen, the
ship struck violently on the reef, and interrupted the solemnity”; compare Forster, A Voyage, 146.
62
63
nations have the general character of using the other sex with great
unkindness and indignity, obliging them to perform all sorts of laborious, and
humiliating operations.64
Following the early-modern tradition the author focuses on a custom: within Tannese society
loads are carried by women. To interpret this custom a comparison is made to “the natives of
the Society and Friendly Islands”. The comparison pertains to women’s labour. The topic
indicates the conclusion: the Tannese men are like savages – according to established, earlymodern perception of the savage.
In the overview of Tannese culture he tries for a modern, causal explanation of the
situation. These passages stand out because of their length, their circuitous composition and
their references to natural law:
It appeared to me that the women were not held in any esteem by the men,
but obeyed upon the smallest sign; and according to the accounts of our
waterers […] many were seen in the humiliating guise of drudges and beasts
of burden. […] It is the practice of all uncivilised nations to deny their women
the common privileges of human beings and to treat them as creatures
inferior to themselves. The ideas of finding happiness and comfort in the
bosom of a companion, only arise with a higher degree of culture. Where the
mind is continually occupied with the means of self-preservation, there can
be but little refined sentiment in the commerce of the sexes, and nothing but
brutal enjoyment is known. Infirmity and meekness, instead of finding a
protector in the savage, are commonly insulted and oppressed: the love of
power is so natural to mankind, that they eagerly seize every opportunity to
exercise their superiority over those who are unable to resist. The encrease of
population necessarily brings on a greater degree of polish; the cares of selfpreservation are in great measure removed from the individual to the
community; affluence takes the place of want and indigence, and the mind
more unemployed, takes pleasure in the more refined enjoyment of life; it
gives a loose to a disposition for mirth and play, and learns to set a value on
the amiable qualities of the sex. The savage is not wholly incapable of
tenderness and affection; […] but as soon as he feels the urgent wants of his
existence, every other sentiment or instinct is forced to lie dormant. 65
Following the Enlightenment approach Forster offers facts to ascertain Tannese males’
disregard for women. Then, he transforms the individual observation to a feature of a type of
people, namely “uncivilised nations”. Having made this generalisation, he connects the
Tannese men’s habitus to natural laws governing human societies. Focusing on causes and
effects, he marks population and produce as prerequisites for civilisation. Occupied by the
struggle for life as Tannese men are, they cannot take pleasure in “the commerce of the
sexes”.66 Here, he follows his father’s perception of savagery.
Furthermore, this explorer builds his argument upon his father’s idea that the
rapport between the sexes is a standard of civilisation. But Forster Jr. takes the argument
further: he situates the treatment of women within a larger context. He connects the savagelike attitude to the development of society: while “uncivilised” men are occupied by “selfpreservation”, civilised men do not experience the struggle for life in the same way because
they share “the cares of self-preservation”. Here, the explorer supposes different stages of
societal development. He presents the change as brought about by natural forces which make
human beings behave in a specific way – that is, as a natural law governing human
behaviour.
At first site this explanation does not pertain to gender. But this explanation has a
bearing on gender, anyway. Forster Jr. supposes ‘natural’ forces behind the “uncivilised”
men’s demeanour: he refers to “self-preservation” at the start of the exposé. He comments on
Forster, A Voyage, 522.
Forster, A Voyage, 537-538.
66 Forster, A Voyage, 537.
64
65
“the urgent wants of his existence” in the conclusion. Furthermore, Junior stresses change in
the men’s attitude will be brought about by ‘natural’ processes as population growth and
material affluence. He does not share the assumption that sociability has a civilising effect.
As a consequence he does not ascribe women influence on society. Thus, he parts ways with
Forster Sr. who assumed women’s contributions to society will bring about social change.
The question is, of course, what this means…? The above representation of women is
in accordance with Enlightenment thinking on women’s ‘natural’ role. The above may also
foreshadows nineteenth-century social theory which points out natural or social processes
affecting human beings. Generally speaking, early social theory has implicit notions of
gender. Usually, men figure as historical actors and women are considered marginal to social
change.67
So, George Foster shares his father’s view on the less-civilised, western-Pacific Islanders to
some extent: he takes the rapport between the sexes into account. But he does not assume
women to bring about social change. He bets on ‘natural’ factors as population density and
material affluence to bring about progress.
The above analysis shows an Enlightenment perception of women guiding Forster Jr.’s
interpretation of Pacific Islanders. In the case of Tahiti he conveys concern about the island’s
future. He ascribes the cause of Tahiti’s eventual decline to common class women. These
show sure signs of ‘natural’ deterioration. This process will affect the common class as a
whole. His analysis of Tanna echoes the Enlightenment tendency to focus on natural laws
governing human action. This has an impact on the representation of the island in that it
marginalises women’s contributions to society.
Conclusion
The early-modern Europe’s engagement with gender resulted in a different approach to the
difference between the sexes: the hierarchal perception gave way to one which ascribed the
sexes’ opposite but complementary identities.
The Forster’ travel accounts show traces of the above transformation: while Forster Sr.
adheres to the second, early-Enlightenment perception of femininity, Forster Jr. follows
Enlightenment theories regarding gender. Their views of femininity affect their reporting:
their focus on different aspects of indigenous cultures peoples and offer different
interpretations.
Forster Sr. assumes the patriarchal family to be the basic unit of any society. His eye goes to
the rapport between the sexes. Firstly, he focuses on the marital relationship in the
discussion of marriage – developing a fresh ‘take’ on ‘savagery’ in the process. He even
discusses women’s relative status vis-à-vis men in the drawn-out comparison of indigenous
peoples visited on the voyage.
Forster ascribes women the capacity to learn and to improve their skills. Also, he
connects this capacity to women’s acquire influence in society – with regard to Tahiti. He
even connects this capacity to change society as a whole – in the case of Tanna. The topic of
women’s civilizing society is part of the contemporary discourse of the public sphere.
Moreover: speculating on Tanna’s future progress he stresses women’s specific
talents rather than some abstract natural law. In his view people bring about change rather
than some abstract force.
Compare Christina Crosby, The Ends of History: Victorians and “the Woman Question” (New York: Routledge,
1991.)
67
Forster Jr. may assume the patriarchal family to be the basic unit of any society but he
focuses on men and women rather than families.
Discussing Tahiti he notices some women’s interest in sexual encounters with
European sailors. He distinguishes between ‘good women’ and ‘bad women’ – building on
the established European dichotomy. The bad women act without any paternal or familial
supervision and are of the common class. He connects their behavior to the process of sexual
maturation ‘gone wrong’. Thus, he has his eye on women’s nature.
Discussing Tanna he focuses on the savage-like state of society. To explain this
situation he refers to natural law rather than people. He does not ascribe women a civilising
influence on men or on society at large. As a consequence, he does not make note of women’s
contributions to society.
Thus, the Forster’ reports reflect the changing perceptions of femininity within European
culture. These views impact their reporting on indigenous peoples.