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Whales offer investigative bridgeheads into the cultural histories of nonhuman species, the hidden histories of energy economies, and the complicated histories of cross-cultural contact. This volume brings together contributions from all corners of the Pacific Ocean, offering perspectives from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Fiji, Hawai‘i, Siberia, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest. Particular emphasis is placed on the experiences of Indigenous peoples and women as active agents in the whaling trade. Utilizing new forms of evidence and new tools of interpretation, this collection of essays delves into the depths of Pacific history in order to investigate and test the Pacific world concept and probe the limits of human abilities to know other species. This revised edition contains a supplimentary essay on captivity, culture, and eastern Pacific gray whales.

Kate Stevens and Angela Wanhalla explore the role of Māori women in Southern New Zealand’s nineteenth-century shore-whaling world. Rarely noted in accounts of the industry, Māori women were adept at sea travel and maintained knowledge and beliefs that informed practices of the whaling communities located on Kāi Tahu tribal territory. Highlighting their role as intermediaries between humans and the marine world, Wanhalla and Stevens bring forth several historical accounts of Māori women involved in the shore-whaling industry.

Whales offer investigative bridgeheads into the cultural histories of nonhuman species, the hidden histories of energy economies, and the complicated histories of cross-cultural contact. This volume brings together contributions from all corners of the Pacific Ocean, offering perspectives from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Fiji, Hawai‘i, Siberia, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest. Particular emphasis is placed on the experiences of Indigenous peoples and women as active agents in the whaling trade. Utilizing new forms of evidence and new tools of interpretation, this collection of essays delves into the depths of Pacific history in order to investigate and test the Pacific world concept and probe the limits of human abilities to know other species