Digital Commons Network^™

Issues Of Concern To Rotumans Abroad: A View From The Rotuma Website, Alan Howard, Jan Rensel

Pacific Studies

This article examines the Rotuman diaspora and its impact on cultural identity, focusing on expatriates’ perceptions of Rotuma as an ancestral home. Despite Rotuma's political affiliation with Fiji for over a century, its people maintain distinct linguistic and cultural ties to Polynesian islands like Tonga, Samoa, and Futuna. Today, most Rotumans live abroad, primarily in Fiji and across various global locations. Drawing on decades of research and online postings from the Rotuma Website, the authors explore how expatriates engage with their heritage, sustain community connections, and navigate identity in the diaspora. Through interviews and long-term fieldwork, the study highlights the …

Vol. 35 No. 1/2 (2012): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Brigham Young University–HawaiʻI

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$26.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Carolinians In Saipan: Shared Sensations And Subtle Voices, Susanne Kuehling

Pacific Studies

This article examines the Carolinian diaspora in Saipan, emphasizing the role of sensory experiences and "invisible belongings" in preserving cultural identity. Despite colonial disempowerment, Carolinians have maintained a sense of unity and resisted assimilation through shared memories, kinship practices, and symbolic traditions. The study explores how spatial organization, gender roles, and everyday interactions—particularly within female spaces—support cultural continuity in displacement. By analyzing the significance of flower garlands and household routines, the article highlights how migrants sustain a familiar sense of place across generations. Ultimately, it contributes to discussions on diasporic identity, mobility, and the enduring influence of sensory memory in …

Teaching Culture With A Modern Valuable: Lessons About Money For And From Tongan Youth In New Zealand, Ping-Ann Addo

Pacific Studies

This article explores how diaspora, monetary wealth, and kinship intersect in transnational Tongan families, framing diaspora as both a cultural phenomenon and a means of engaging with modernity. While remittances are often emphasized, the study examines nonremittance money practices among Tongans in New Zealand, showing how shifting uses of money redefine kinship and obligation. Traditional forms of wealth, like koloa and ngāue, remain significant, but money now plays a vital role in expressing family values and sustaining social bonds. The article highlights tensions between tradition and modernity, obligation and autonomy, and material and relational value, offering insights into how …

Kapingamarangi People In The United States, Michael D. Lieber, Willys Peters, Rosita Peters, Mike Borong

Pacific Studies

This article explores the Kapingamarangi diaspora, focusing on the formation and transformation of their communities outside their ancestral homeland. Since their initial migration to Pohnpei in 1919, Kapinga people have established enclaves across Micronesia and the United States, driven by educational opportunities and labor recruitment. The study examines how Kapinga migrants sustain cultural identity through face-to-face interactions and digital communication, redefining the concept of community in a transnational context. By analyzing their lived experiences—including challenges related to healthcare, employment, and social integration—the article highlights the interplay between traditional Kapinga cultural models and adaptation in the diaspora. Ultimately, this work contributes …

Pohnpeians In Hawai‘I: Refashioning Identity In Diaspora, Suzanne Falgout

Pacific Studies

This article explores the enduring significance of voyaging in Micronesian life, tracing its evolution from ancient exploration to modern migration. Historically, Oceanic peoples navigated vast distances, guided by sophisticated techniques such as etak, and maintained strong kinship and trade connections. Pohnpeians, once skilled voyagers, transitioned to a land-centered lifestyle due to their island’s abundant resources, yet travel remained a culturally marked practice associated with prestige and danger. In recent centuries, migration patterns have shifted, driven by colonial influences and economic necessity. Pohnpeian migrants in Hawai‘i navigate identity transformation while preserving traditional values, adapting through social networks and cultural practices. This …

Discourses On Chuukese Customary Adoption, Migration, And The Laws Of State(S), Manuel Rauchholz

Pacific Studies

This article concerns Chuukese adoption, child exchange, and fosterage practices and how they are continued or discontinued when Chuukese migrate to Guam, Hawai‘i, or the continental United States.1 By focusing on one cultural practice and the system of values attached to it, I hope to pinpoint some of the major changes that take place when key identity- shaping factors diversify and are no longer shared by an ethnic group, let alone families within that ethnic group. We will see how, for Chuukese today, “cultural citizenship” is a “dual process of self-making and being made within the webs of power linked …

Return Migration To American Samoa, Fepulea‘I Micah Van Der Ryn

Pacific Studies

This article examines the rising phenomenon of return migration to American Samoa, driven by economic, social, and familial factors. With a growing percentage of residents consisting of "returnees" from the U.S.-based Samoan diaspora, this migration reflects deep connections to land, kinship, and cultural identity. Using case studies and interviews, the study analyzes how returnees reintegrate into traditional Samoan structures, navigating values such as tautua (service), alofa (compassion), and fa‘aāloalo (respect). Differences in governance between American Samoa and independent Samoa shape migration patterns, influencing land tenure and chiefly authority. Socioeconomic and environmental factors also impact migration decisions, revealing a complex interplay …

Pacific Islands Diaspora Studies, Michael A. Rynkiewich

Pacific Studies

This article highlights the underrepresentation of Pacific Islands in diaspora studies, arguing that their migration history is deeply significant and worthy of greater academic attention. While diaspora research has expanded in recent decades, traditional frameworks such as diffusion and acculturation struggle to capture contemporary mobility patterns shaped by new technologies and global networks. The study explores how migration has evolved from ancient voyaging traditions to modern transnational connectivity, emphasizing hybridity and sustained cultural ties rather than assimilation. By examining shifting theoretical perspectives, the article calls for an updated approach to diaspora studies that better reflects Pacific Islanders' ongoing exchanges between …

You’Ll Always Be Family: Formulating Marshallese Identities In Kona, Hawai‘I, Laurence Marshall Carucci

Pacific Studies

This article examines the challenges faced by Enewetak Marshall Islanders living on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, highlighting their struggle for acceptance in a community where they often feel unwelcome. Despite U.S. President Ronald Reagan's 1985 remarks about their inclusion as "family," Marshall Islanders have encountered ethnic stereotyping and social exclusion. The study traces their displacement history, from World War II upheaval to nuclear testing, and their eventual return to a diminished homeland. Faced with limited resources and deteriorating health, many relocated to Hawai‘i, forming a growing community. The article explores how their identities have evolved in response to negative …

A Survey Of Non-Classical Polyandry, Kathrine E. Starkweather, Raymond Hames

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

We have identified a sample of 53 societies outside of the classical Himalayan and Marquesean area that permit polyandrous unions. Our goal is to broadly describe the demographic, social, marital, and economic characteristics of these societies and to evaluate some hypotheses of the causes of polyandry. We demonstrate that although polyandry is rare it is not as rare as commonly believed, is found worldwide, and is most common in egalitarian societies. We also argue that polyandry likely existed during early human history and should be examined from an evolutionary perspective. Our analysis reveals that it may be a predictable response …

Winds Of Change: The Historical Contingency Of State Crime, Kelly L. Faust

Dissertations

Destruction of the built environment during a natural disaster is by no means a new phenomenon. What has changed over time is how we as a society react to such destruction, as well as what we expect from the state in terms of protection from, and responses to, said destruction. This dissertation explores these changes through a political economic lens with the goal of gaining increased knowledge of the phenomena that constitute state crime. Social structure of accumulation (SSA) theory provides the basis for a view of the state as a social institution which acts according to the goals of …

A Tale Of Three Families: Historical Households, Earned Belonging, And Natural Connections, Allison Anna Tait

UC Law Journal

Cases targeting family regulation in the 1970s turned, for the first time, on three contrasting and sometimes competing theories of the family: historical households, earned belonging, and natural connections. This Article introduces and defines these three theories and offers a descriptive account of how the theories were used by litigants and the Supreme Court alike to measure discrimination, evaluate the rights of individual family members, and, often, increase household equality. The theory of historical households, developed with great success by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, invoked a Blackstonian family defined by gender hierarchy and the law of coverture, and posited that this …

Complexity Theory And Political Change: Talcott Parsons Occupies Wall Street, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Complexity theory can assist our understanding of social systems and social phenomena. This paper illustrates this assertion by linking Talcott Parsons' model of societal structure to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Parsons' model is used to organize ideas about the underlying causes of the recession that currently afflicts the US. While being too abstract to depict the immediate factors that precipitated this crisis, the model is employed to articulate the argument that vulnerability to this type of event results from flaws in societal structure. This implies that such crises can be avoided only if, in Parsons' terms, structural change occurs …

Sustainable Agriculture, Charlene Mills

Social Sciences

This paper is about sustainable agriculture and how we can strive to achieve it. It discusses what is wrong with our food system today and how we can go about changing that. It incorporates Geography and Anthropology while discussing different issues around the world.

The Invasion Of California Grasslands: Past, Present, And Future Implications, Danielle Simone Caziarc

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Elements Of Hinduism In Chandra’S Red Earth And Pouring Rain, Corinne M. Ehrfurth

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Elements of Hinduism in Chandra's Red Earth and Pouring Rain" Corinne M. Ehrfurth explores how Hindu tenets in the Bhagavad-gītā continue to provide a didactic framework that inspires contemporary Indian literature. Ehrfurth highlights the similarities between characters, consumed with doubt and seeking understanding, in the ancient Indian text and Vikram Chandra's novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain where protagonists represent the diversity and complexity of Hinduism to a global audience. In examining how the novel's protagonists handle dilemmas, Ehrfurth presents Chandra's novel as illuminating how healthy and destructive actions affect one's ability of achieving the peaceful …

Ancient Hindu Society And Eliot's Ideal Christian Society, Anita Bhela

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Ancient Hindu Society and Eliot's Ideal Christian Society" Anita Bhela examines the influence of Hindu thought and Hindu philosophy on T.S. Eliot's critical writings. In The Idea of a Christian Society Eliot gives a hypothetical account of an ideal society that would contribute towards the well-being of all its members, while in Notes towards the Definition of Culture he enumerates the essential conditions needed for the growth and survival of culture. Bhela argues that religion and culture were inseparably interrelated in Eliot's mind. She then traces similarities in the concepts of family, culture, and religion as expressed …

Africa And India In The Novels Of Dai And Emecheta, Debarshi Prasad Nath, Juri Dutta

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "Africa and India in the Novels of Dai and Emecheta" Debarshi Prasad Nath and Juri Dutta discusses the work of two writers belonging to different continents, India and Nigeria. Interestingly, the novels of the two writers Dutta is analyzing — Lummer Dai and Buchi Emecheta —never heard of each other. Both novels are based on the custom of bride price, both writers speak out against the stifling rigidity of traditional customs, and uphold aspects of modernity in languages other than their native tongues. At the same time, both writers affirm the sanctity of the traditional institutions and …

Stress, Coping And Suicide Ideation In Chinese College Students, Xiaoyun Zhang, Haiping Wang, Yan Ruth Xia, Xiaohong Liu, Eunju Jung

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The study was to examine 1) whether stress and coping styles could significantly predict the probability of suicide ideation; 2) and whether coping styles were mediators or moderators on the association between life stress and suicide ideation. The survey was conducted in a sample of 671 Chinese college students. Approximately twenty percent students reported having suicide ideation. Life stress, active coping styles, and passive coping styles all had independent effect on the probability of suicide ideation. Passive coping styles, especially fantasizing, mediated the relation between life stress and suicide ideation. Moderation hypotheses were not supported. Implications of the findings and …

Lynch And The Lunacy Of Secularized Religion, Frederick Mark Gedicks

Nevada Law Journal

Any “worst opinion ever” essay must start with criteria of badness. I propose three: (i) failure to explain why existing doctrine dictated the result, (ii) failure to articulate a rule that judges can consistently apply in subsequent cases, and (iii) failure to protect the interests of the prevailing party. Few opinions win this trifecta, but Lynch v. Donnelly is one of them.1 Chief Justice Burger and the Lynch majority would have left the world of church and state immeasurably enriched—or at least immeasurably less screwed up—if they had not written an opinion at all.

This is, to be sure, a …

Health Care Exchanges: How The Government Can Use Market Forces To Fix The Health Care System, Bracken H. Longhurst

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Insiders And Outsiders: The Case For Alaska Reclaiming Its Cultural Property, Rebecca Kitchens

Alaska Law Review

Because of the historically troubling treatment of American Indians by the United States government, the nation’s native populations have been largely unable to control their cultural identities. Cultural property laws provide a framework for transferring stolen art and cultural objects to their native owners in an attempt to return cultural sovereignty to native communities. Despite Alaska’s large and thriving native population, Alaska Natives have trailed behind other states’ native populations in asserting their cultural property rights. This Note considers the current cultural property framework and its evolution in an effort to understand why Alaska Natives are not seeking return of …

Real Remedies For Virtual Injuries, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Archaeological Investigations Of Control And Autonomy At The Colony Farm Of The Michigan State Asylum, 1880-1950, Alison Thornton

Masters Theses

This project is designed to look into mechanisms of control and patient autonomy in institutional confinement, using Colony Farm in Kalamazoo, Michigan as a case study. I have chosen to specifically examine landscape, architecture, foodways, and personal goods/dress as avenues in which to parse out information regarding control and autonomy. The main themes throughout this paper are work as a cure, patient labor, and the blurring of roles between patients, staff members, and paid hired workers. These themes are intertwined with landscape, architecture, foodways, and personal goods/dress and highlight the contradictions inherent in institutional confinement, especially in the context of …

Human Dignity And Health Law: Personhood In Recent Bioethical Debates, Zachary R. Calo

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Child And Family Teams Building Social Capital For At-Risk Students: A Research Note, Toby L. Parcel, Joan Pennell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

We argue that sociologists interested in social capital theory and social work scholars interested in child and family teams (CFTs) can productively collaborate in studying at-risk youth. Social capital theory suggests dimensions of CFTs that delineate both family meeting intervention and implementation of the resulting plan. These dimensions reflect both bonding and bridging social capital that strengthen and widen supportive networks for students and their families. We develop a model to apply to both academic and social outcomes, specifically to student grades, students' home environments, and overall family functioning. We argue that our framework may be one of substantial generality, …

Table Of Contents, Depaul College Of Law

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Pedagogy Of Promise: The Eschatological Task Of Christian Education, Jason Lief

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Space And The City: Gender Identities In The Seventeenth-Century Norwich, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Influenced by interdisciplinary studies and the ‘spatial turn’ in social history, this article explores the relationship between space and the construction of gender identity amongst the poor to middling sorts of seventeenth-century Norwich. To this end I have considered gendered interaction in different ‘types' of space: domestic, private space, ‘borderline’ space – such as the alehouse or threshold – and, finally, the public space of streets and markets. Each section explores the relevance of recent spatial historiography in the Norwich context, and evaluates whether men and women inhabited different ‘worlds' in the city, not only in terms of their physical …