Cacique Agüeybana of Borikén (Puerto Rico) greeting Juan Ponce de León of Spain. Wikipedia in its short description of this painting signals that it is a greeting ceremony. Is it? This is a classic depiction -- the archetype -- of "first encounter" which has almost identical counterparts throughout the colonized world. What did these men say to each other? They did not speak the same language, they did not know each other's ways, and yet they are shown as equals here communicating. About what? In what language? What happened next?
This morning at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference, Professor Alison Jones of the University of Auckland spoke about her work with Professor Kuni Jenkins and raised these questions and others in relation to the painting of the "First Sermon." This is what Samuel Marsden's "first encounter" with the Maori is called and how it is depicted in a painting. Professor Jones showed this painting as she asked us to consider a different historical narrative of "first encounter." These two paintings show that "first encounters" were depicted in similar ways even though they show "encounters" that occured in completely different parts of the world. What does it say about who wrote history that these visual accounts, which are literally from opposite ends of the world (Borikén and Aotearoa) are so alike? What if Agüeybana wrote the book? What if the history of the "First Sermon" were written by Maori? A new world history which revisions the "new world"? What then?
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