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Numerous issues face Pacific states trying to find their way in the early 21st century. Countries are striving to secure the benefits of modernisation. Governance, law and order are needed to reach such a goal, but development cannot be at the price of culture or the environment. The question of how to develop and maintain sound legal systems and legal rules whilst maintaining the unique cultural heritages within the Pacific is a challenge with no easy answer. This interdisciplinary collection locates issues of law and governance within the particular socio-political context of the Pacific island region, presenting sociological, anthropological and political insights alongside jurisprudential analysis. Key issues including corruption, the role of customary law in modern legal systems, the place of human rights in the Pacific, environmental issues and the structure of the state are explored from a variety of perspectives.
This collection of original essays critically examines the relationship between ritual, embodiment, and social change in the South Pacific. Over the past few decades, the societies of Melanesia have undergone profound and revolutionary social change. Encounters with colonialism, postcolonialism, and the forces of globalization have put indigenous peoples in touch with processes of state formation, late capitalist culture, and the emergence of a complex network of transnational identities. In addition to shaping the contours of the nation state, these developments are having a profound impact on the nature of embodied experience. In recent years, many Melanesian societies have witnessed the rise of charismatic Christianity, changing gender configurations, and the growing use of consumerism as a means of defining new social and political hierarchies. Embodying Modernity and Post-Modernity provides detailed analyses of those social changes that are becoming part of contemporary Melanesia. Written by experts with first-hand fieldwork experience, this volume furnishes novel insights concerning the social implications of modernity and postmodernity. More specifically, it addresses two interrelated themes: how the rise of new social and economic forms has influenced the ways in which Melanesians think about, experience and act upon their bodies, and the ways in which these new forms of bodily experience contribute to the emergence of new social and cultural identities. This book is part of the Ritual Studies Monograph Series, edited by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. "While this volume will be of particular interest for regional specialists and theorists of the body, it also makes important contributions to historical analysis of colonial and post-colonial interpretations of modernity and ritual studies. The editor also deserves credit for bringing together a cohesive text, one in which the articles usefully speak to and complement one another." -- Anthropological Forum "This book is a must read for scholars of Melanesia and all scholars of the Anthropology of the Body. There is much to be gleaned theoretically from these ethnographically rich essays." -- Oceania
First published in 1992. The Pacific Ocean is the largest geographical feature on the face of the earth, covering about one third of its entire surface. Occupying part of that large expanse are the far-flung islands of the Pacific. As the papers of this volume clearly indicate, the post-world war II era and decolonization have brought unprecedented change, and the Pacific is now experiencing problems that were formerly associated with other Third World nations. Most Pacific countries have rapidly expanding populations, and over half of all Pacific Islanders are now in their teenage years or younger. Education and modern communications have served to increase aspirations and attracted by hopes of employment and the distractions of urban life, islanders are gravitating to urban centers.
The history of the Pacific Islands is noted for great upheavals, from colonization to tribal warfare, natural disasters to nuclear testing. More recently, political change, increasing technology and urbanization, and conflict between traditional and Western cultures have led to considerable social problems in the region. Substance and alcohol abuse, violence, cultural displacement, and suicide bring uncertainty to day-to-day life and stretch already overextended social resources. Social Change and Psychosocial Adaptation in the Pacific Islands sensitively balances situations applicable across this vast geographical area with data and events relevant to individual nations in Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. Chapters are written by native clinicians, cultural anthropologists, cross-cultural psychologists, and other professionals serving the region, specifically focusing on: - Hawaii- Aboriginal Australia - The Solomon Islands - Fiji - Guam - The Marshall Islands - The Federated States of Micronesia Each provides historical background, details the country's ethnic makeup, summarizes major cultural identity/survival issues, and examines its existing health care and mental health care systems. The tasks ahead are large. Practitioners, researchers, and other professionals working with the peoples of the Pacific need culturally attuned resources to better collaborate on interventions, prevention programs, and policy. Social Change and Psychosocial Adaptation in the Pacific Islands rises to this complex challenge.
In recent decades, contemporary art in Asia and the Pacific has acted as a dramatic reflection of the social and political events taking place in the region. The unique perspectives and expertise of the authors contributing to this collection bring unparalleled insights to bear on this relationship between creativity and social transformation. Extensively illustrated with work by some of the most dynamic artists practising today, Art and Social Change is a compelling map of the developments within contemporary art and society in Asia and the Pacific. As the most up-to-date and engaging survey available, Art and Social Change is an indispensable resource for those interested in the engagement of art with society. Book jacket.
Thousands of studies have been conducted by social scientists in the villages and islands, and increasingly in the towns, of the Pacific. Despite this, there are few longitudinal studies of any great depth and sophistication in the region. The contributors to this book have all conducted long-term research in the islands of the Pacific. During their visits and revisits they have witnessed first-hand the many changes that have occurred in their fieldsites as well as observing elements of continuity. They bring to their accounts a sense of their surprise at some of the unexpected elements of stability and of transformation. The authors take a range of disciplinary approaches, particularly geography and anthropology, and their contributions reflect their deep knowledge of Pacific places, some first visited more than 40 years ago. Many of the chapters focus on aspects of socio-economic change and continuity, while others focus on specific issues such as the impact of both internal and international migration, political and cultural change, technological innovation and the experiences of children and youth. By focusing on both change and continuity this collection of 11 case studies shows the complex relationships between Pacific societies and processes of ‘modernity’ and globalisation. By using a long-term lens on particular places, the authors are able to draw out the subtleties of change and its impacts, while also paying attention to what, in the contemporary Pacific, has been left remarkably unchanged. Filling a gap in the studies of the Pacific region, this book will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience in the fields of anthropology, development, geography, and Asia-Pacific studies.
Offering insight into the major changes that are taking place in the context of increasing globalization in Pacific Island societies, the authors seek to "ground" globalization in concrete real life cases of communities that are dealing with specific processes of globalization and formulating their own responses in their own cultural terms. The case studies presented reflect the many different cultural contexts of island societies as they deal with: global politics, nation states, and ethnic conflict; global economic integration and transnationalism; evolving identities and cultural representations; changes in patterns of social and community relations; and increasing integration into global religions. For anyone interested in the effects of globalization on the peoples and cultures of the Pacific.
Throughout the South Pacific, notions of ‘culture’ and ‘development’ are very much alive—in political debate, the media, sermons, and endless discussions amongst villagers and the urban élites, even in policy reports. Often the terms are counterposed, and development along with ‘economic rationality’, ‘good governance’ and ‘progress’ is set against culture or ‘custom’, ‘tradition’ and ‘identity’. The decay of custom and impoverishment of culture are often seen as wrought by development, while failures of development are haunted by the notion that they are due, somehow, to the darker, irrational influences of culture. The problem is to resolve the contradictions between them so as to achieve the greater good—access to material goods, welfare and amenities, ‘modern life’—without the sacrifice of the ‘traditional’ values and institutions that provide material security and sustain diverse social identities. Resolution is sought in this book by a number of leading writers from the South Pacific including Langi Kavaliku, Epeli Hau’ofa, Marshall Sahlins, Malama Meleisea, Joeli Veitayaki, and Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka. The volume is brought together for UNESCO by Antony Hooper, Professor Emeritus at the University of Auckland. UNESCO experts include Richard Engelhardt, Langi Kavaliku, Russell Marshall, Malama Meleisea, Edna Tait and Mali Voi.
One of the less fortunate legacies that we who practice ethnography in Oceania have given the scholarly world is the stereotype of the Melanesian leader as "Big Man". The designation "Big Man", derived literally from the metaphor commonly used in Austronesian languages or from the Neo-Melanesian Pidgin lexicon, has come to denote a "pure type" or "species" of leadership, authority and government. (Rightly or wrongly, ethnographic sources usually ignore women's role in government, although they may have significant impact). In countless introductory anthropology courses students are asked to accept and perpetuate the cliches that Melanesian leaders typify achieved rather than ascribed status, that Melanesian leaders are archetypal symbols of primitive capitalistic competition, and that Melanesian leadership represents an inferior form.
Small Island Developing States are often depicted as being among the most vulnerable of all places to the effects of climate change, and they are a cause c?l?bre of many involved in climate science, politics and the media. Yet while small island developing states are much talked about, the production of both scientific knowledge and policies to protect the rights of these nations and their people has been remarkably slow.This book is the first to apply a critical approach to climate change science and policy processes in the South Pacific region. It shows how groups within politically and scientifically powerful countries appropriate the issue of island vulnerability in ways that do not do justice to the lives of island people. It argues that the ways in which islands and their inhabitants are represented in climate science and politics seldom leads to meaningful responses to assist them to adapt to climate change. Throughout, the authors focus on the hitherto largely ignored social impacts of climate change, and demonstrate that adaptation and mitigation policies cannot be effective without understanding the social systems and values of island societies.