The Ocean on Fire

Bombarded with the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb a day for half a century, Pacific people have long been subjected to man-made cataclysm. Well before climate change became a global concern, nuclear testing brought about untimely death, widespread diseases, forced migration, and irreparable destruction to the shores of Oceania. In The Ocean on Fire, Anais Maurer analyzes the Pacific literature that incriminates the environmental racism behind radioactive skies and rising seas. Maurer identifies strategies of resistance uniting the region by analyzing an extensive multilingual archive of decolonial Pacific art in French, Spanish, English, Tahitian, and Uvean, ranging from literature to songs and paintings. She shows how Pacific nuclear survivors' stories reveal an alternative vision of the apocalypse: instead of promoting individualism and survivalism, they advocate mutual assistance, cultural resilience, South-South solidarities, and Indigenous women's leadership. Drawing upon their experience resisting both nuclear colonialism and carbon imperialism, Pacific storytellers offer compelling narratives to nurture the land and each other in times of global environmental collapse.

“In The Ocean on Fire, AnaÏs Maurer brings together an impressive archive of primary and secondary sources to highlight the underexamined field of Pacific literature through two of the most urgent and profound issues: nuclearism and climate change. Maurer’s deep knowledge of Pacific culture, history, politics, and ecologies is especially welcome in her analysis of the creative works she studies.” - Craig Santos Perez, author of (Navigating CHamoru Poetry: Indigeneity, Aesthetics, and Decolonization) “AnaÏs Maurer has got it right. A searingly accurate account of an ocean and peoples blasted in three places by foreign powers’ past nuclear tests and now facing climate change. Her carefully chosen and multilingual translations of works by nuclear survivors and climate activists from several Pacific countries, and particularly the nuclear test countries, give us the real feelings of Pacific peoples on the nuclear tests and climate change. This is powerful Pacific Island literature that all should read.” - Vanessa Griffen, PhD, author and Fiji antinuclear campaigner “This is an important and timely book that assists in the ongoing calls from the Pacific to acknowledge that the region as still inhabited, still politically active, and still resisting-not drowning but fighting. . . . For those interested in climate justice and a liveable world, or a world of life, the Pacific should be leading the way. Maurer’s conclusion is powerful, reminding us that this is not a book about solutions to environmental collapse, but about insisting on life.”
  - Charlotte Kate Weatherill (Antipode) "What scientists predict as the future consequences of climate collapse, Pacific people have already experienced. Over the course of her stunning monograph, AnaÏs Maurer contends that these experiences-with nothing less than apocalypse-offer lessons we desperately need in the face of ongoing environmental ruin."  - Aanchal Saraf (Apocalyptica) "While this book should surely be praised for its extensive analysis across and between nuclearization and climate change in the Pacific, The Ocean on Fire also makes a significant contribution to contemporary Pacific literary history and its highlighting of Indigenous environmental epistemologies of the Pacific." - Rebecca H. Hogue (ISLE) "Maurer’s text contributes to the ongoing effort in Pacific studies to dismantle the academic hierarchies of history-telling and knowledge production, which tend to prioritize written texts. . . . It offers an exciting framework for how to meaningfully integrate visual studies and art history with the literary arts." - Maggie Wander (CAA.Reviews) "The Ocean on Fire by AnaÏs Maurer is a stimulating and passionate work... capturing insights from a diverse range of creative leaders across the Pacific islands. It also throws out a challenge, arguing that we must meld culture, art and agitation to address the global crises that threaten livelihoods, environment and culture across the region." - Maclellan (The Australian Journal of Anthropology)

AnaÏs Maurer is Assistant Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Rutgers University.

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