The ‘Ponape Rebellion’ and the Phantomisation of History - article ; n°1 ; vol.104, pg 23-38

Peter Sack

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Journal de la Société des océanistes - Année 1997 - Volume 104 - Numéro 1 - Pages 23-38
16 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: JOURNAL_DE_LA_SOCIETE_DES_OCEANISTES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1997
• Nombre de lectures: 153
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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Peter Sack
The ‘Ponape Rebellion’ and the Phantomisation of History
In: Journal de la Société des océanistes. 104, 1997-1. pp. 23-38.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Sack Peter. The ‘Ponape Rebellion’ and the Phantomisation of History. In: Journal de la Société des océanistes. 104, 1997-1.
pp. 23-38.
doi : 10.3406/jso.1997.2011
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jso_0300-953X_1997_num_104_1_2011'Ponape Rebellion5 The
and the Phantomisation of History
by
Peter SACK *
I the mysteries of the past, so that I could again
relax and enjoy their entertaining offerings ins
The 'Ponape Rebellion' was one of the key tead of feeling both cheated and threatened by
events during the brief history of German colo them?
nial rule in the Pacific. It is therefore not surpri It hardly needs saying that the examination
sing that the most recent academic discussion of did not put my mind at rest. Instead it demonst
this episode states that so much had already been rated that the realm of academic historiography
written about it that it was superfluous to go into was even more weird and wonderful than I had
details and sufficient to point out some of its feared, as the following pages shall illustrate. I
special features (Hiery, 1995 : 283). Not so long have streamlined my account by focussing pri
ago I would have read this statement to mean marily on three layers of the cake : Hempenstall,
that the facts of the matter had by now been so 1978, Christmann, Hempenstall and Ballen-
fully and firmly established that historians could dorf, 1991 and Hiery 1995 — and on two small
afford to concentrate on developing more slices, namely the corporal punishment which is
said to have triggered the 'rebellion' and the trial sophisticated interpretations, and I would not
have felt the slightest urge to look behind Hiery's which followed the surrender of the 'rebels'. But
account at the apparently voluminous literature, I shall use the overall, official version of the
'Ponape Rebellion' presented in the annual let alone the sources on which it was based. But
then I made the mistake of starting to read the report on the development of German New Gui
writings of historians critically and discovered nea during 1910/11 as a starting point and two
behind their attractive narrative facade a weird older accounts : Hambruch, 1932 and Bascom,
world of phantom history, where a distinction 1950, as stepping stones.
between fact and fiction did not exist.
Was Hiery's statement the icing on a layer-
cake of phantom histories of the 'Ponape Rebell II
ion' or would an examination of its historiogra-
phical treatment show that I had been According to the annual report the peaceful
development of the Eastern Carolines district of unnecessarily scared by encountering some rare
instances of phantom history (see, for example, German New Guinea was suddenly interrupted
by an uprising of the "Jokoj" tribe on Ponape l. Sack, 1990), and that historians were, generally,
Its deeper reasons are identified as a general doing a sterling job of meticulously unravelling
* Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra.
1. The spelling of Micronesian proper names did and still does vary widely in the literature. However, the phonetic
similarities (for example, Sokehs, Sokas, Jokoj, Tsokes, Jokasch, Dschokadsc etc.) are strong enough to avoid confusion. 24 SOCIÉTÉ DES OCEANISTES
discontent among the native population of the pened is, of course, impossible to establish with
island with the tax and road work required from certainty. But this has nothing to do with a uni
que mysteriousness of history. It would also it and dissatisfaction among its chiefs with the
recent abolishment of the traditional feudal sys apply if this execution was planned for tomor
tem. Whereas the other four tribes on the island row and if we had arranged to have it recorded
had accepted these measures, the Jokoj had been by several, independently operating camera
unwilling to do so. The ferment had exploded men : how could we prove that the films had not
been subsequently tampered with or that addiwhen a refractory native had been punished by
the district office. On 18 October 1910 district tional executions had not been carried out in
commissioner Boeder, the secretary of the dis another location ?
trict office, Brauckmann, the officials Haefner This gives me the opportunity to clarify what I
" historical phantoms " and " phanand Hollborn and five natives were killed by the mean by
rebels. Since only 50 Melanesian police-soldiers tom history ". For me phantom history is not
history which is 'objectively' counterfactual, were stationed on Ponape it had been impossible
to take immediate action against the rebellious rather, it is history which purports to be factual
tribe. The government doctor, who had taken but which is contradicted rather than supported
by a critical examination of the " historical charge after the murders, had called upon the
four other tribes to assist in the defence of the record ", understood as the sum total of all
" Kolonie ", the seat of the administration. This available, relevant, published and unpublished,
successful measure had also prevented the sprea primary and secondary sources.
ding of the rebellion to other parts of the island. I should also stress that I find phantom history
After seven weeks of nightly fighting, a rei in this sense objectionable only if it occurs in
nforcement of 172 police-soldiers had arrived academic writings, because in my view historio
from Rabaul, so that the Ponapeans could be graphy as a scholarly exercise has to apply the
sent home. By 10 January 1911 a large naval 'normal' standards of critical rationality and has
force, consisting of the station cruiser Cormoran, to develop approaches which minimise the un
the survey vessel Planet and the cruisers Ntirn- avoidable risks of human error and maximise the
berg and Emden from the East-Asian squadron chances of achieving the purported goals. In
had been assembled. A force of this size had other words, while academic historiography does been required to dislodge the rebels — about 200 not have to be committed to factuality, a form of men, armed with rifles — with the help of the academic historiography which purports to be so ships' from their mountain fortificaartillery committed has to be as factual as the circumstions on the offshore island of Dschokadsch. By tances — and that means the historical record — 22 February 1911 the military operations had permit. Since the annual report was not an acabeen successfully completed. On 23 February 17
demic exercise, I find this particular phantom rebels, who had participated in the murders of 1 8
unobjectionable, although I would find it objecOctober 1910, were sentenced to death and exe
tionable if academic historiographers would cuted the following day. The rest of the Jokoj
report this statement as a historical fact, in partribe — 426 persons — was banished to Palau
ticular if their account shows that they had used and its land was confiscated by the government,
sources which indicate that it was a phantom — (see : Die deutschen Schutzgebiete in Afrika und
and I should add that all the accounts discussed der Sùdsee, Amtlicher Jahresbericht 1910I11,
Ost-Karolinen : 170-72). in this paper purport to be factual.
As we shall see, this account is probably more On the other hand I should also emphasise
'factual' than any of the subsequent accounts to that I personaly do not regard the precise numb
be discussed, but it too contains at least one er of Ponapeans executed, or any other precise
'phantom', since other sources strongly suggest details of this kind, to be historically significant,
that only 15 of the 17 Ponapeans sentenced to in contrast to the 'order of magnitude' — in this
death on 23 February 1911 were executed the case : more than ten, rather than one or two or
several hundred 2. Seen in this light, the preoc- following day. Whether this is what actually
2. I also find it historically significant that the text of the annual report states that 1 7 Ponapeans were sentenced to death and
executed whereas the penal statistics attached to it show that only a total of 1 5 natives were sentenced to death in the Eastern
Carolines in 1910/11, because it suggests that the quality of the official reporting of governmental activities in German New
Guinea left a great deal to be desired. (It appears that in this case both the annual report and the penal statistics are incorrect,
because it looks as if as a result of the 'Ponape Rebellion' alone 1 7 persons were sentenced to death which should have been
shown in the penal statistics which were supposed to report death sentences rather than executions — whereas the annual report
should have stated that only 1 5 of the 1 7 death sentences were carried out.) THE PONAPE REBELLION 25
kadsch had been permitted to conduct their own cupation with precise details in the annual report
defence. As courageous as they had shown themselis remarkable. It is also remarkable that their
ves during their defensive war, they now fought selection appears to reflect certain conventions.
before the colonial c