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Full-Text Articles in Polynesian Studies

Development, Sustainability, And The Deforestation Of Samoa, Paul Shankman Dec 1999

Development, Sustainability, And The Deforestation Of Samoa, Paul Shankman

Pacific Studies

The forests of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa) are rapidly disappearing. This article reviews the history of Samoan deforestation, particularly during the last four decades, in the context of ideas about development and sustainability. It also examines the role of village agriculturalists in the process of deforestation. Recent economic, technological, and organizational changes have increased village agricultural expansion and, consequently, deforestation.


Taking Over What Belongs To God: The Historical Ecology Of Tonga Since European Contact, Charles J. Stevens Dec 1999

Taking Over What Belongs To God: The Historical Ecology Of Tonga Since European Contact, Charles J. Stevens

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


Is Tonga's Mirab Economy Sustainable? A View From The Village And A View Without It, Mike Evans Dec 1999

Is Tonga's Mirab Economy Sustainable? A View From The Village And A View Without It, Mike Evans

Pacific Studies

The development implications of the now-classic MIRAB economic pattern for South Pacific microstates (with economies dominated by overseas remittances and foreign aid) have attracted considerable attention. Some scholars argue the MIRAB pattern is well entrenched and can be sustained with a minimum of undesirable social and economic outcomes. Others decry the acceptance of the dependency of South Pacific nations and argue for renewed effort toward the development of self-sustaining economies. I argue that the debate must directly address the underlying social relations that facilitate and shape migration and remittances. In Tonga, the movement of people from rural areas has wide-ranging …


Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard's Review Of John Kneubuhl's Think Of A Garden And Other Plays, Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard Jun 1999

Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard's Review Of John Kneubuhl's Think Of A Garden And Other Plays, Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


Marta Rohatynskyj's Review Of Advertising Missionaries And Pacific Passages, Marta Rohatynskyj Jun 1999

Marta Rohatynskyj's Review Of Advertising Missionaries And Pacific Passages, Marta Rohatynskyj

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


Contributors: Vol 22 No. 2, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Jun 1999

Contributors: Vol 22 No. 2, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Contributors list of Vol. 22 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue 2


Nicholas J. Goetzfridt's Review Of Richard Feinberg's Seafaring In The Contemporary Pacific Islands: Studies In Continuity And Change, Nicholas J. Goetzfridt Jun 1999

Nicholas J. Goetzfridt's Review Of Richard Feinberg's Seafaring In The Contemporary Pacific Islands: Studies In Continuity And Change, Nicholas J. Goetzfridt

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


Books Received And Book Notices, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Jun 1999

Books Received And Book Notices, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Book Listing for the Vol 22, No 2 Edition of the Pacific Studies Journal


Changing Contours Of Kinship: The Impacts Of Social And Economic Development On Kinship Organization In The South Pacific, Cluny Macpherson Jun 1999

Changing Contours Of Kinship: The Impacts Of Social And Economic Development On Kinship Organization In The South Pacific, Cluny Macpherson

Pacific Studies

The incorporation of microstates into the capitalist world-system sets the stage for profound transformations of kinship organization. This article argues that, while ideologies of kinship may remain largely intact, the actual organization of kinship is changing. It explores the roles of social, demographic, political, and economic factors in the transformation of the structure of kinship and family in the South Pacific in the period since continuous contact with the West commenced some 170 years ago. The case of Western Samoa is offered as an example of the process of change that is occurring at varying rates throughout Pacific Island societies.


Globalization, Stateless Capitalism, And The International Political Economy Of Tonga’S Satellite Venture, Anthony Van Fossen Jun 1999

Globalization, Stateless Capitalism, And The International Political Economy Of Tonga’S Satellite Venture, Anthony Van Fossen

Pacific Studies

Globalization has led some Pacific Islands countries into ventures that use their sovereignty to advance private interests against regulation by metropolitan states. Tongasat, Tonga’s innovative satellite enterprise, is one such recent initiative in “stateless” capitalism that has deep structural similarities with flags of convenience and offshore tax havens. The microstate has claimed a disproportionate percentage of geostationary slots and succeeded in filling a number of them. Tongasat’s emergence is analyzed in terms of the contemporary world-system, declining U.S. hegemony over the global satellite regime (creating opportunities for independent entrepreneurs), and the end of the cold war (making inexpensive Russian satellites …


Vol. 22 No. 2 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Jun 1999

Vol. 22 No. 2 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

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$40.00 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 …


Toward Historizing Gender In Polynesia: On Vilsoni Hereniko’S Woven Gods And Regional Patterns, Jeannette Marie Mageo Mar 1999

Toward Historizing Gender In Polynesia: On Vilsoni Hereniko’S Woven Gods And Regional Patterns, Jeannette Marie Mageo

Pacific Studies

This article considers possible parallels between Rotuman and Samoan gender history through Vilsoni Hereniko’s book Woven Gods. Hereniko draws upon the work of Victor Turner to analyze his Rotuman data, arguing that wedding clowns reverse normative social structures. Wedding clowns are expert female practitioners of Rotuman joking discourse. This discourse is not only ritualized on special occasions but is also an everyday informal discourse and, I argue, is in this sense normative; it counterbalances respect discourse, which is likewise practiced in ritual (ceremonial) contexts but also in everyday polite contexts. In the Samoan precolonial sex-gender system, males and females had …


Vol. 22 No. 1 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Mar 1999

Vol. 22 No. 1 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

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$40.00 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 …


Environmental Change, Economic Development, And Emigration In Tuvalu, John Connell Mar 1999

Environmental Change, Economic Development, And Emigration In Tuvalu, John Connell

Pacific Studies

Growing consensus on the accelerated greenhouse effect indicates that potential increases in both sea levels and tropical storms will pose problems for atoll states, especially Tuvalu. Land areas and water supplies may be threatened by coastal erosion, depleting agricultural and fisheries potential. Tuvalu’s economy is limited and partly reliant on aid and remittances whose sustainability is uncertain. More than a third of the population now lives in overcrowded conditions in the urban center of Funafuti. Population growth has accelerated since independence, despite attempts to implement a population policy, while opportunities for temporary or permanent emigration have not increased. If environmental …


Interracial Marriage And Status Exchange: A Study Of Pacific Islanders In Hawai‘I From 1983 To 1994, Xuanning Fu Mar 1999

Interracial Marriage And Status Exchange: A Study Of Pacific Islanders In Hawai‘I From 1983 To 1994, Xuanning Fu

Pacific Studies

Intermarriage is one of the most salient demographic features of Hawai‘i. Between 1983 and 1994, 46 percent of all marriages contracted in Hawai‘i were racially exogamous. This article examines socioeconomic status exchange in outgroup marriage and explores the impact this status change has had on the social well-being of four ethnic groups of Pacific Islanders (Hawaiians, part-Hawaiians, Samoans, and other Pacific Islanders). Status homogamy emerges as the most important pattern of mate selection. In a broad sense, people choose their mates on the basis of equal socioeconomic status, either within or across boundaries of race and ethnicity. Gender differences are …


Contributors: Vol 22 No. 1, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Mar 1999

Contributors: Vol 22 No. 1, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Contributors list of Vol. 22 (1999): Pacific Studies Full Issue 1


Books Received And Book Notices, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Mar 1999

Books Received And Book Notices, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Book Listing for the Vol 22, No 1 Edition of the Pacific Studies Journal


The Emergence Of An Ethnic Millenarian Thinking And The Development Of Nationalism In Tahiti, Bruno Saura Dec 1998

The Emergence Of An Ethnic Millenarian Thinking And The Development Of Nationalism In Tahiti, Bruno Saura

Pacific Studies

This article analyzes the emergence in Tahiti of a body of theological and philosophical works written in Tahitian by Duro Raapoto, the leading intellectual of the Protestant Church and one of the best poets of French Polynesia. They constitute a new syncretic and millennialistic rewriting of Tahitian history as well as a rereading of anthropological ideas relative to pre-European society through a reinterpretation of some essential concepts of Polynesian culture. Their author’s objective is to restore the golden age of innocence presented as “the authentic Tahitian religion” and to establish the Kingdom of God within the Tahitian people, “God’s chosen.” …


Righting Wrongs On Anuta, Richard Feinberg Sep 1998

Righting Wrongs On Anuta, Richard Feinberg

Pacific Studies

Apology and compensation are commonly employed to reestablish social harmony when one person causes injury to others, thereby disrupting social order. Here I explore the way in which these mechanisms are utilized by the people of Anuta, a Polynesian outlier in the Solomon Islands. I suggest that compensation and apology need not be counterposed and, in fact, are often intertwined as aspects of a single process. Historical transition from the widespread Polynesian emphasis on rank, respect, collective responsibility, and mutual assistance to a more individualistic and competitive cultural environment has led to changes in Anutan views of right and wrong. …


Dressing, Undressing, And Early European Contact In Australia And Tahiti, Michael Sturma Sep 1998

Dressing, Undressing, And Early European Contact In Australia And Tahiti, Michael Sturma

Pacific Studies

Dress and presentation of the body serve as important points of reference in cross-cultural transactions but are potentially confusing. Focusing on early encounters between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of Australia and Tahiti, I argue that certain tactics were commonly adopted to facilitate communication across cultures and dress codes. I have categorized these patterns of discourse as exposure, make-overs, and appropriation. While these tactics could assist in developing cross-cultural relationships, they also created their own ambiguities.


The Place Of Persons With Disabilities In Rotuman Society, Jan Rensel, Alan Howard Sep 1997

The Place Of Persons With Disabilities In Rotuman Society, Jan Rensel, Alan Howard

Pacific Studies

In Rotuma, as in many other small, face-to-face societies, persons with disabilities are treated not as members of categories based on their conditions, but as individuals having whole constellations of characteristics and interpersonal histories. Their roles are not scripted on the basis of disabilities, but patterned by a number of key cultural principles that guide all relationships, including notions of immanent justice for wrongdoing, expectations of generosity and reciprocity, personal autonomy, and concern for family honor. Case studies and analyses of exchange interactions are presented to illustrate these points.


Vol. 20 No. 1 (1997): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Mar 1997

Vol. 20 No. 1 (1997): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

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$40.00 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 …


Vol. 20 No. 1 (1997): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Mar 1997

Vol. 20 No. 1 (1997): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

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$40.00 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 …


Contributors: Vol 20 No. 1, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies Mar 1997

Contributors: Vol 20 No. 1, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Contributors list of Vol. 20 (1997): Pacific Studies Full Issue 1


Reading The Leaves: The Role Of Tongan Women’S Traditional Wealth And Other “Contraflows” In The Processes Of Modern Migration And Remittance, Kerry James Mar 1997

Reading The Leaves: The Role Of Tongan Women’S Traditional Wealth And Other “Contraflows” In The Processes Of Modern Migration And Remittance, Kerry James

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


Leaders In Squash Export: Entrepreneurship And The Introduction Of A New Cash Crop In Tonga, Paul Van Der Grijp Mar 1997

Leaders In Squash Export: Entrepreneurship And The Introduction Of A New Cash Crop In Tonga, Paul Van Der Grijp

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


Sandra Bamford's Review Of Dirk Smidt, Pieter Ter Keurs, And Albert Trouwborst's Pacific Material Culture: Essays In Honour Of Dr. Simon Kooijman On The Occasion Of His 80th Birthday, Sandra Bamford Jun 1996

Sandra Bamford's Review Of Dirk Smidt, Pieter Ter Keurs, And Albert Trouwborst's Pacific Material Culture: Essays In Honour Of Dr. Simon Kooijman On The Occasion Of His 80th Birthday, Sandra Bamford

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


C. J. Stevens's Review Of Arne Aleksej Perminow's The Long Way Home: Dilemmas Of Everyday Life In A Tongan Village, C. J. Stevens Jun 1996

C. J. Stevens's Review Of Arne Aleksej Perminow's The Long Way Home: Dilemmas Of Everyday Life In A Tongan Village, C. J. Stevens

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


Lingua Franca And Vernacular: Language Use And Language Change On Sikaiana, William W. Donner Jun 1996

Lingua Franca And Vernacular: Language Use And Language Change On Sikaiana, William W. Donner

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.


The July Festival In The Marquesas Islands: “Youth” And Identity In A Valley Community, Mary Martini Jun 1996

The July Festival In The Marquesas Islands: “Youth” And Identity In A Valley Community, Mary Martini

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.