Chapter 12 - Cultural Destruction and the Aborted Formation of National Identity

DANIEL SCHÁVELZON; ANA IGARETA

The Country Where My Heart is: Historical Archaeologies of Nationalism and National Identity

University Press of Florida

Lugar: Gainesville; Año: 2017; p. 312 - 332

The subject of the present study, Easter Island, is?and has longbeen?one of the most geographically and culturally isolated placeson the planet. Today its famous stone sculptures, or moai, nonethelessbring an influx of tourists to the island every day, often outnumberingthe island?s permanent population, despite that isolation?proof, if itwere needed, that the island?s art and culture are considered exceptional.However, the story of the island?s occupation is itself remarkable,involving both a spectacular environmental collapse before thearrival of Europeans and a sustained assault on the island?s traditional Cultural Destruction and the Aborted Formation of National Identity · 313culture after European contact. These two factors are key to any understandingof the island?s socio-historical development, includingexplaining the ?mystery? of why the Rapa Nui (the indigenous population)abandoned the construction of the iconic moai statues. For thepurposes of the present discussion, these factors are also key to understandingthe issue of identity construction on Easter Island.