Cricket, Kirikiti and Imperialism in Samoa, 1879–1939 by Benjamin Sacks (review)

Cricket espouses Englishness. In many ways, the game is synonymous with all that is English. What is also widely accepted is how cricket, as the "imperial game," was once used by antipodean elites as a colonizing tool to cultivate that sense of Englishness overseas. Yet, within the last decade, several scholars have advanced this body of knowledge through a postcolonial lens whereby cricket, the "global game," is an activity and space subject to the processes of cultural adaptation, rather than mere adoption. Still, little is known about the adoption and adaptation of cricket outside the major "test-playing nations" such as Australia, India, and the West Indies. What Benjamin Sacks has done with Cricket, Kirikiti and Imperialism in Samoa, 1879–1939 is deep dive into a time-bound and complex case of transcultural adoption and adaptation of cricket in the "peripheral parts of empire" (5) in the South Pacific.

Cricket enthusiasts will undoubtedly be drawn to Chapter 3 where Sacks presents the "Samoanisation of cricket's method and meaning" (72). Importantly, the author discusses how these modifications are driven by "fa'a Samoa" (54)—the Samoan way—as a central force, which underpins many of kirikiti's divergences, such as mandatory participation and games of "40 a side" (61) or more; deliveries from either end; a softer, lighter ball called a "polo" (64); and distinctively shaped bats called "pate" (64). Sacks also discusses how the broader social framework in Samoa determines contestation on the kirikiti field, whereby intergroup competitive behavior is determined by symmetrical social relations and contests are "embedded in the traditional exchange and malaga (ritual journeys)" that maintain "connections between Samoan villages and kinships" (57), all of which takes place in a carnival-like atmosphere alongside the attendant elements of singing, dancing, and feasting. Yet the author also establishes Tongan influence, as well as the influences of American and European dance in kirikiti's transculturality. Thus, kirikiti's genesis moves beyond a "simple mixing" to a "stew with more than just two ingredients" (73), which the author establishes by applying Mary Louise Pratt's concepts of "contact zones" and "transculturation" to challenge the unilateral nature of the diffusionist perspective, a major accomplishment of this book.

To suggest Cricket, Kirikiti and Imperialism in Samoa, 1879–1939 is simply an anthology of cricket-related events on the Samoan Islands would be a disservice of catastrophic proportions to the scope and contribution of this book. Sacks masterfully applies a variety of theoretical approaches to move beyond simply the adoption and adaptation of cricket in Samoa, but toward understanding the response to kirikiti among foreigners called "papalagi" (1), and the use of cricket and kirikiti by Samoans in navigating the various colonialisms they faced. Yet it is the "fractured socio-political context" (42) of Samoa that facilitates a truly fascinating exploration of the interplay between Samoans and the disparate papalagi governance structures that came with British, American, German, and New Zealand occupation and influence over a short sixty-year period. The reader finds how, on one hand, these foreign interests served as a restrictive force on kirikiti, which was often perceived as a nuisance and obstacle to Westernized notions of societal and economic development. Yet, on the other hand, the reader appreciates how these transient foreign interests afforded opportunities for both the colonized and those in between the colonized and the colonizers—called the "'afkasi" (13)—to jockey for position in the social hierarchy.

Sacks presents an account rich in archival research, which for those readers with scant familiarity of the South Pacific is often a little intimidating. Readers must realize and appreciate that such an intricate, precise, and exhaustive approach is central to how Cricket, Kirikiti and Imperialism in Samoa, 1879–1939 advances an emerging body of literature that focuses on Oceania's sporting past. Nevertheless, to mitigate the risk of losing the papalagi audience in the abundant detail, Sacks often follows up such specificity...