We invite papers that question the ‘home side’ of mobility, sociality, and gender in Oceania. This session moves beyond the literature that focusses on the patterns of migration, migrant livelihoods, remittances, and connections within and between the Islands States and the industrialized states of the Pacific Rim, towards the exploration of new gendered realities ‘at home’. Our vantage point is the question if and how gendered patterns of migration, e.g. nurses, military or security personnel, create new gendered socialities and experiences ‘at home’ . The panel would like to address the creation and construction of these new realities and environments and how the everyday lives of people in Oceania have changed as a result of these gendered patterns of migration. For example, what social and communal prices are paid for the material gains migration may bring? How is the constant out flow of people managed ‘at home’? And what happens to local systems when professionals in areas of health, security, and education migrate in high numbers?
Paper submissions are closed