Anthropology Commons^™

From Moral Community To Moral Communities: The Foundations Of Migrant Social Solidarity Among Samoans In Urban Aotearoa/New Zealand, Cluny Macpherson

Pacific Studies

There is clear evidence of moral community within early expatriate migrant Samoan communities in New Zealand. This moral community was partly the consequence of many migrants’ common life experiences and their resultant commitment to, and belief in, the integrity of their worldview and lifestyle. While commitment was a necessary condition, it was not a sufficient condition for moral community. This article argues that critical to the emergence of moral community were demographic, political, and economic factors—often underrated in anthropological explanations—that influenced the choice of migrants by their families, the processes of migration, and the concentration of migrants in residential and …

Maintaining Marshallese Fundamentals With Christian Fundamentalism, Linda Allen

Pacific Studies

From 1902–1903 Emile Durkheim offered a series of lectures at the Sorbonne in which he suggested that participation in a “moral community” compels us to recognize ourselves in the collectivity and to commit ourselves to moral goals of the group. This essay discusses the formation of a Durkheimian community by migrants from the Republic of the Marshall Islands to the midwestern city of Enid, Oklahoma, and attempts to identify the political and economic factors that made the community’s formation possible. More important, however, this essay explains why this particular moral community became essential for the social and psychological survival of …

Marae And Tribal Identity In Urban Aotearoa/New Zealand, Paul Tapsell

Pacific Studies

This article examines the ceremonial courtyard called a marae, the quintessential focus of tribal Maori society, which not only represents customary authority over surrounding land but also provides the forum on which taonga (ancestral treasures) are ritually performed. Historically rooted in the Pacific, the tribal marae has stayed intact for countless generations serving generations of kin communities in their ever-changing social, political, and economic contexts. After World War II the marae underwent new transformations as descendants began migrating in their thousands from relative rural isolation to newly developing metropolitan areas. Competition and accessing new opportunities based upon ethnicity gave rise …

Abuse And Discipline: The Creation Of Moral Community In Domestic Violence Groups On The Wai‘Anae Coast (Hawai‘I), Judith S. Modell

Pacific Studies

This article discusses the creation of moral community in two self-help groups on the Wai‘anae Coast of O‘ahu in the state of Hawai‘i. One is a women’s domestic violence group and the other a men’s anger management group. Both groups use freely constructed narratives from the participants as the foundation for establishing rules of conduct and standards of the “good person.” In each case, facilitators bring the lessons and the doctrine of a state agency to informal proceedings. The article argues that out of the intersection of participant interpretations of experiences and state-sanctioned forms of discipline come the lineaments of …

Comparative Criminalization: Cultural Meanings Of Adultery And Gender Violence In Hawai‘I In 1850 And 1990, Sally Engle Merry

Pacific Studies

This essay analyzes the impact of court cases concerning sexuality and adultery on customary understandings of kinship and gender in Hilo, Hawai‘i. During the periods covered the nature of the cases, the content of the law, and the implementation of punishment changed radically. Nevertheless, there are similarities in modes of criminalization during the 1840s and 1850s, on the one hand, and during the 1990s, on the other. Both used the authority and sanctioning power of the law to redefine marriage and gender relations. Both were implemented through local practices of police, courts, and corrections/treatment officials, which provided incentives for compliance …

Anutans In Honiara: A Polynesian People’S Struggle To Maintain Community In The Solomon Islands, Richard Feinberg

Pacific Studies

As formerly isolated peoples are brought under the umbrella of a new international political system and the world market economy, the moral order that underpins their old communities is inevitably challenged. In an attempt to meet this challenge, they may look to common origin, distinctive genealogical characteristics, shared connections to a special place, or their unique beliefs and customs. This essay examines people of Anuta, a remote Polynesian outpost in the Solomon Islands—the pressures and enticements encouraging Anutans to emigrate to Honiara, the national capital, and the way in which resettlement has created opportunities and problems for both the home …

Vol. 25 Nos. 1/2 (2002): 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 $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, …

“Titirangi Is The Mountain”: Representing Maori Community In Auckland, Daniel Rosenblatt

Pacific Studies

Although “culture movements” of the sort that have become increasingly common in the Pacific and elsewhere are reactions and responses to colonialism and globalization, and are often at least partly inspired by imported models, they nevertheless have locally (culturally) specific content and effects. This is because the things that are “revived” are always grounded in particular local institutions, genres of practice, traditions of interpretation, and modes of expression. Form in these cases carries content, and the content is for that reason rooted in local socially inherited traditions. Contemporary New Zealand Maori liken urban communities to those based on kinship, and …

Imagining The South Seas: Thoughts On The Sexual Politics Of Paradise In Samoa, Sharon W. Tiffany

Pacific Studies

Controversy generated by criticism of research Margaret Mead conducted nearly three-quarters of a century ago reminds us that modern ethnography came of age with fieldwork conducted on the sexual lives of Pacific Islanders. The Samoa debate suggests that an exotic eroticism continues to inform representations of women in anthropological writings and popular culture, and that Samoa is a candidate for sexual paradise on earth. This article explores the image-making of paradise by examining book covers and photographs associated with Margaret Mead’s and Derek Freeman’s narratives of Samoa. As cultural artifacts, book covers and photographs offer an intriguing way of investigating …

Book Review Forum Response: John Lynch, John Lynch

Pacific Studies

Response of John Lynch to Book Review of "John Lynch, Pacific Languages: An Introduction"

Visual Media Reviews: Taking Pictures, Nancy Lutkehaus

Pacific Studies

Taking Pictures. 1996. Video, 56 min., color. Written, produced, and directed by Les McLaren and Annie Stivan. Distributed by First Run/Icarus Films (32 Court St., Brooklyn, NY 11201; fax: 718 – 488 – 8642; ; http://www.frif.com).

Reviewed by Nancy Lutkehaus, University of Southern California

Books Noted: Recent Pacific Islands Publications: Selected Acquisitions, January-June 2001, Riley M. Moffat

Pacific Studies

This list of significant publications relating to the Pacific Islands was selected from new acquisitions lists received from Brigham Young University– Hawai‘i, University of Hawai‘i at Mânoa, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, University of Auckland, East-West Center, University of the South Pacific, National Library of Australia, Melanesian Studies Resource Center of the University of California–San Diego, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community Library. Other libraries are invited to send contributions to the Books Noted Editor for future issues. Listings reflect the extent of information provided by each institution.

Vol. 24 No. 3/4 (2001): 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, …

Book Review Forum: John Lynch, Pacific Languages: An Introduction, Susan U. Philips

Pacific Studies

Book review of "John Lynch, Pacific Languages: An Introduction" by Susan U. Philips

Germs Or Rations? Beriberi And The Japanese Labor Experiment In Colonial Fiji And Queensland, Judith A. Bennett

Pacific Studies

In the early 1890s, the Colonial Sugar Refinery Company (CSR) introduced Japanese men to their sugar plantations in Fiji and Queensland because man- agement believed they would prove to be superior workers to other “coloured” labor. In Fiji, an outbreak of beriberi killed many of the Japanese. The medical establishment attributed this to an infective agent, instead of diet, so there was fear the disease could spread. CSR quickly abandoned the costly “experiment” in Fiji. In Queensland, however, the company successfully controlled a beriberi outbreak by altering the rations, though for fear of contaminated food rather than for balanced diet. …

Legal Discretion In A Territorial Justice System: The Case Of The Territory Of Guam, Daniel A. Lennon

Pacific Studies

A sociologist examines the place of customs and tradition in the definition of “legal discretion” in the Territory of Guam, a dependency of the United States, utilizing the concept of double-institutionalism as the basis for such definition in the resolution of the dialectic between custom and law. The contemporary resolutions between customary practices and constitutional law in Guam are de- scribed and evaluated using both written and interview material. The findings suggest the internal politics of a state is the synthesis of this dialectic between custom and law. The absence of constitutional bases in law in any political state necessarily …

Book Review Forum: John Lynch, Pacific Languages: An Introduction, Richard Mcginn

Pacific Studies

Book review forum of "John Lynch, Pacific Language: An Introduction" by Richard McGinn

Book Review: Robert L. Welsch, Editor And Annotator, An American Anthropologist In Melanesia: A. B. Lewis And The Joseph N. Field South Pacific Expedition, 1909–1913. Volume 1, Field Diaries, Nick Stanley

Pacific Studies

Robert L. Welsch, editor and annotator, An American Anthropologist in Melanesia: A. B. Lewis and the Joseph N. Field South Pacific Expedition, 1909–1913. Volume 1, Field Diaries, pp. xxi, 632, maps, photographs, references, index; volume 2, Appendices, pp. 287, bibliography. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998. US$125 cloth.

Reviewed by Nick Stanley, University of Central England

Book Review Forum: John Lynch, Pacific Languages: An Introduction, Byron W. Bender

Pacific Studies

John Lynch, Pacific Languages: An Introduction. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998. Pp. xix, 359, preface, tables, figures, maps, appendices, notes, references, index. US$35 paperback.

Review: Byron W. Bender University of Hawai‘i

Book Review: Jane Samson, Imperial Benevolence: Making British Authority In The Pacific Islands, Sally Engle Merry

Pacific Studies

Jane Samson, Imperial Benevolence: Making British Authority in the Pacific Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998. Pp. 256. US$35 cloth.

Reviewed by Sally Engle Merry, Wellesley College

Vol. 23 No. 1/2 (2000): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Front Matter for the Vol. 23, No 1/2-Mar./Jun. 2000 edition of the Pacific Studies Journal.

“Quixotic And Utopian”: American Adventurers In The Southwest Pacific, 1897–1898, Hugh Laracy

Pacific Studies

The islands of the Pacific have long attracted escapists and adventurers from abroad. Mostly they have gone to Polynesia, and the bulk of scholarly commen- tary on the topic is concerned with that region. Even so, others have been tempted by Melanesia. Two such expeditions were those of the Percy Edwards and the Sophia Sutherland, which left San Francisco for New Guinea and the Solomons, respectively, in 1897. They involved 116 fortune seekers and were very well publicized at the time but have hitherto escaped the notice of historians. Yet, although they were total failures, they are not without considerable …

Books Noted: Recent Pacific Islands Publications: Selected Acquisitions, September–December 2000, Riley M. Moffat

Pacific Studies

This list of significant new publications relating to the Pacific Islands was selected from new acquisitions lists received from Brigham Young University– Hawai‘i, University of Hawai‘i at Mânoa, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Univer- sity of Auckland, East-West Center, University of the South Pacific, National Library of Australia, Melanesian Studies Resource Center of the University of California–San Diego, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community Library. Other libraries are invited to send contributions to the Books Noted Editor for future issues. Listings reflect the extent of information provided by each institution.

Vol. 24 (2001): Pacific Studies Full Issue 1-2, 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, …

Book Review Forum: The Lost Drum: The Myth Of Sexuality In Papua New Guinea And Beyond, Eric Kline Silverman

Pacific Studies

James F. Weiner, The Lost Drum: The Myth of Sexuality in Papua New Guinea and Beyond. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. Pp. xxi, 199, illus., bib., index. US$49.95 cloth; $19.95 paperback.

Review: Eric Kline Silverman DePauw University

Review: The Lost Drum: The Myth Of Sexuality In Papua New Guinea And Beyond, Phillip Guddemi

Pacific Studies

Book review of "The Lost Drum: The Myth of Sexuality in Papua New Guinea and Beyond" by Phillip Guddemi

Book Review Response: The Lost Drum: The Myth Of Sexuality In Papua New Guinea And Beyond, James F. Weiner

Pacific Studies

Response to the book reviews of "James Weiner, The Lost Drum: The Myth of Sexuality in Papua New Guinea and Beyond" by James Weiner

Patronage And Bureaucracy In The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1840–1893, Colin Newbury

Pacific Studies

The government of the Hawaiian monarchy operated as a patrimonial system until constitutional change in 1887 restricted the power of the king to control executive, legislative, and judicial institutions. Ministers, governors, senior offi- cials, legislators, and judges owed their positions to royal favor and influence, thus continuing for Hawaiian and foreign “service gentry” the practices of the pre-1840 kingdom by valuing loyalty higher than efficiency or selection by com- petition. At a second level, patronage by governors and senior officials expanded the ranks of those executives who ran public finance, land administration, in- ternal trade, education, police, and the judiciary. …

Review: The Lost Drum: The Myth Of Sexuality In Papua New Guinea And Beyond, David Lipset

Pacific Studies

Book review of "James Weiner, The Lost Drum: The Myth of Sexuality in Papua New Guinea and Beyond" by David Lipset

Review: Social Organization And Cultural Aesthetics: Essays In Honor Of William H. Davenport, Stuart Kirsch

Pacific Studies

William W. Donner and James G. Flanagan, eds., Social Organization and Cultural Aesthetics: Essays in Honor of William H. Davenport. New York: University Press of America, 1997. Pp. v, 151, illus., bib. US$56.50 cloth; $30.50 paperback.

Reviewed by Stuart Kirsch, University of Michigan