The concept of taboo crossed many boundaries to find its way into the Western lexicon. Its linguistic origins are Tongan; it was one of the few genuinely productive cultural exchanges initiated by Captain James Cook. During a ceremonial engagement with local people, Cook invited some aboard his boat for dinner and noted:
Not one of them would sit down, or eat a bit of anything that was served up. On expressing my surprize at this, they were all taboo, as they said; which word has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden. Why they were laid under such restraints at present was not explained.
The word may originate from corners of the globe remote from the West, but its meaning feels instinctively close, familiar. Yet although the concept is universal, its object – as Cook’s interaction suggests - is culturally specific. There is nothing innate or natural about what we conceive of as un-doable. It is a politicised question about identity and negotiating the boundaries of which identities are acceptable.
