Poly, Polyamory, and Polynesia
Oct. 23rd, 2018 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nemorathwaldPolyamory-related blogs and online discussion groups are reposting the following paragraph:
The post is from a Tumblr blog, "actuallypoly", which is now replaced with advertisements for sneakers. But the Wayback Machine has an archive of the page as it existed in 2015.
Farther down the page, one of the rebloggers immediately points out "Polynesian" is colonialist. A word invented by white people.
Almost all discussions in online polyamory spaces seem to have taken the following two approaches:
#1) White people getting defensive, or shaking their fists in defiance, toward other white people who are reblogging a claim about what non-white people want.
#2) White people capitulating to the approval of other white people, about what they claim non-white people want.
You can tell a lot about what someone's goal was, by paying attention to when they stop. For example, if your goal was to please your local polyamory community, but you don't care what Polynesians want, you are now done.
Then there is approach #3. So far, I only saw it happen once.
#3) White people expressing curiosity to other white people.
As it so happens, I have a surplus of spoons to spend on a few Google searches. I would like to reward curiosity as an alternative to defensiveness and one-upmanship. The problem arose from being out of touch with Polynesians, right? So I tried to find where these online safe spaces are, which the Tumblr post referred to.
All but two of the first page of search results for "poly polynesian" are debates between polyamorists. We have already colonized the searchability of this word. Apparently, the indigenous conversation which we were trying not to talk over is quieter than our conversation about quieting our own voices.
A search for the full term "polynesian", followed by the term "online communities" in quotes, reveals page after page of results that are not online communities for Polynesians, but included several other relevant items.
Here is a paper, "I define my own identity, Pacific articulations of ‘race’ and ‘culture’ on the internet", by Marianne I. Franklin of University of Amsterdam,The Netherlands, 2003.
The paper quotes comments from participants in Pacific Island-related forums in 2003. Quotes on pages 21, 27, 30, 31, 34, 40, 67 of the PDF use the abbreviation "poly". Some arguments are among self-described "Polynesians" defending the term as one they have reclaimed, and others arguing the term is a colonialist category, lumping together two recognizably different culture groups of the east and west islands.
The paper points to two online communities that existed when it was written in 2003. I visited them.
The latest 50 posts to the Facebook group "Kava Bowl Forum" were posted in 2018, not 2003. They contain no mention of "poly", the word "Polynesian", or identity concerns. What they talk about is an economic system rigged to exploit and disadvantage them.
Another thing revealed in the search was this Tumblr post. Someone from Hawaii chimed in to say the following. I will give them the last word.
Hey, can any polyamory blogs with a follower count please inform the palagi portion of the community that “poly” is a Polynesian community identifier, and is important to our safe spaces.
Using “polyamory” is cool just like using “polygender” and “Polyromantic” and or Polysexual” is cool. But the abbreviation “poly” is already in use.
Using “polyamory” is cool just like using “polygender” and “Polyromantic” and or Polysexual” is cool. But the abbreviation “poly” is already in use.
"Palagi" means "foreigner". It is a word specific to Tonga/Samoa, not all of the Pacific Islands.
The post is from a Tumblr blog, "actuallypoly", which is now replaced with advertisements for sneakers. But the Wayback Machine has an archive of the page as it existed in 2015.
Farther down the page, one of the rebloggers immediately points out "Polynesian" is colonialist. A word invented by white people.
Almost all discussions in online polyamory spaces seem to have taken the following two approaches:
#1) White people getting defensive, or shaking their fists in defiance, toward other white people who are reblogging a claim about what non-white people want.
#2) White people capitulating to the approval of other white people, about what they claim non-white people want.
You can tell a lot about what someone's goal was, by paying attention to when they stop. For example, if your goal was to please your local polyamory community, but you don't care what Polynesians want, you are now done.
Then there is approach #3. So far, I only saw it happen once.
#3) White people expressing curiosity to other white people.
As it so happens, I have a surplus of spoons to spend on a few Google searches. I would like to reward curiosity as an alternative to defensiveness and one-upmanship. The problem arose from being out of touch with Polynesians, right? So I tried to find where these online safe spaces are, which the Tumblr post referred to.
All but two of the first page of search results for "poly polynesian" are debates between polyamorists. We have already colonized the searchability of this word. Apparently, the indigenous conversation which we were trying not to talk over is quieter than our conversation about quieting our own voices.
A search for the full term "polynesian", followed by the term "online communities" in quotes, reveals page after page of results that are not online communities for Polynesians, but included several other relevant items.
Here is a paper, "I define my own identity, Pacific articulations of ‘race’ and ‘culture’ on the internet", by Marianne I. Franklin of University of Amsterdam,The Netherlands, 2003.
The paper quotes comments from participants in Pacific Island-related forums in 2003. Quotes on pages 21, 27, 30, 31, 34, 40, 67 of the PDF use the abbreviation "poly". Some arguments are among self-described "Polynesians" defending the term as one they have reclaimed, and others arguing the term is a colonialist category, lumping together two recognizably different culture groups of the east and west islands.
The paper points to two online communities that existed when it was written in 2003. I visited them.
The latest 50 posts to the Facebook group "Kava Bowl Forum" were posted in 2018, not 2003. They contain no mention of "poly", the word "Polynesian", or identity concerns. What they talk about is an economic system rigged to exploit and disadvantage them.
Another thing revealed in the search was this Tumblr post. Someone from Hawaii chimed in to say the following. I will give them the last word.
"All right, so my family has never used the word Poly. We refer to ourselves by our cultures (Hawaiian, Samoan, etc…) however, this is just us personally. There are Polynesians who refer to themselves as Poly.
http://actuallypoly.tumblr.com/post/120001313953/the-abbreviation-poly-is-already-in-use
Here is a post from ActuallyPoly. It seems that the main issue is online use. They cannot tell who is Polynesian and who is not based on blog descriptions. The bigger issue is tagging, where those who are uncomfortable with polyamorous posts end up seeing them while searching things regarding their culture. Though they are mainly pointing out issues with online use, it does seem that they want a new term formed for conversational use as well. Unfortunately, at this point, I don’t think it will happen as polyamorous people have used the term poly for decades and now poly as referring to polyamory is more popular and understood by people than Poly is.
I think in conversation where there is a context, it’s fine. At this point, we realistically have to get used to sharing the term. The Greek word Poly does mean “many” and if it’s contextual we will know what you mean. If people make crude jokes about Poly people being poly, first off, stop that shit in its tracks cause there is nothing crude about polyamory, and second they are being little shits for willfully conflating a racial identifier with something they view as crude instead of asking for clarification, so cut them from your life."
http://actuallypoly.tumblr.com/post/120001313953/the-abbreviation-poly-is-already-in-use
Here is a post from ActuallyPoly. It seems that the main issue is online use. They cannot tell who is Polynesian and who is not based on blog descriptions. The bigger issue is tagging, where those who are uncomfortable with polyamorous posts end up seeing them while searching things regarding their culture. Though they are mainly pointing out issues with online use, it does seem that they want a new term formed for conversational use as well. Unfortunately, at this point, I don’t think it will happen as polyamorous people have used the term poly for decades and now poly as referring to polyamory is more popular and understood by people than Poly is.
I think in conversation where there is a context, it’s fine. At this point, we realistically have to get used to sharing the term. The Greek word Poly does mean “many” and if it’s contextual we will know what you mean. If people make crude jokes about Poly people being poly, first off, stop that shit in its tracks cause there is nothing crude about polyamory, and second they are being little shits for willfully conflating a racial identifier with something they view as crude instead of asking for clarification, so cut them from your life."
