European Society for Oceanists 2022 Conference

Back to Conference session list

Session Detail (parallel)

Mobility, Institutional Dynamics and Social Remittances: Perspectives from Oceania

Coordinator(s)

Sa'iliemanu Lilomaiava-Doktor, Dominik Schieder

Session presentation

Although movements within Oceania are historically intrinsic to Pacific Islander life worlds more generally, the ways Pacific Islander sociality materializes in the twenty-first century is increasingly shaped by the transborder and transnational mobility of people and what they carry along in an im/material sense while traversing social, cultural and national boundaries (e.g. Lee 2009; Taylor & Lee 2017). Drawing on these insights, this panel seeks to explore the nexus of mobility and institutional dynamics. By focusing on how various types of mobility (e.g. education, labour, forced migration) and social institutions (e.g. family, kinship, chieftaincy) are intertwined, we wish to interrogate if and how transborder and/or transnational mobility influence institutional change or endurance and in which ways institutions concurrently set into motion, shape, control, hamper or even impede mobility. To ponder these questions, we place a focus on ‘social remittances’ which are broadly defined as ‘the ideas, behaviours, identities and social capital that flow from receiving- to sending-country communities [and vice versa]’ (1998: 927; cf. Levitt & Lamba-Nieves 2011). To date, such socio-cultural transmissions have remained underexplored in the context of Oceania (but see Lilomaiava-Doktor 2009). Yet, we contend that much can be learnt about contemporary Pacific Islander life worlds by exploring the multidirectional movements of ideas, norms, values etc., their potentially conversion into social remittances and the challenges they pose to existing institutional frameworks and regimes of mobility (cf. Glick Schiller & Salazar 2013). Consequently, we invite papers that address the interplay of mobility and institutional dynamics as outlined above. Moreover, we are particularly interested in contributions by scholars from Oceania to spark a dialogue on ‘indigenous’ and ‘Western’ epistemological perspectives on ‘mobility’, ‘(social) remittances’ and ‘institutions’ and how they potentially go beyond, complement or challenge each other.

Paper submissions are closed

Accepted papers

Pacific Islanders, mobility, and institutional dynamics: an introduction

Dominik Schieder (University of Siegen)

Sa'iliemanu Lilomaiava-Doktor (University of Hawai’i – West O’ahu)

Taking this year’s ESFO conference’s main topic on ‘movement’ as a point of departure, this paper serves as an introduction to the three main themes on which Session 18 builds: (transborder and transnational) mobility, (social) institutions and social remittances. We aim to outline how contemporary Pacific Islander sociality could potentially be better understood by applying a focus on the nexus of mobility and institutions and by paying particular analytical attention to ‘social remittances’. In addition, we wish to open the floor for a dialogue between ‘indigenous’ and ‘Western’ epistemological perspectives on the session’s main themes and how different viewpoints potentially go beyond, complement or challenge each other.

Contemporary Mā'ohi Mobilities

Terava Ka'anapu CASEY (University of Hawai'i-Manoa)

Mā'ohi, the indigenuos peoples of French Polynesia, have long standing histories of migration and mobilities evidenced through shared mythology and genealogies that connect them to the wider Pacific Islands region. Yet, the diverse migrations of Mā'ohi remain relatively understudied, as widely accepted discourse of migration flows connect Tahiti with France due to citizenship rights and educational and economic opportunities. My research reveals that this generally accepted migration flow has changed shape over the years, allowing for more complex migrations routes in the 20th and 21st centuries. Through this contemporary era, thousands of Mā'ohi mediate mobilities through religious affiliations and the social remittances of cultural performance, dance, and Heiva festivals in diaspora. Considering the proliferation of multidirectional flows of Mā'ohi ideas and cultural representations beyond France creates new contexts to explore the value of social remittances in worlds beyond current expectations.

Islands and Family Organization: the making of a Family survey in French Polynesia

Loïc Trabut (INED)

Eva Lelièvre (Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques)

Celio Sierra-Paycha (University Paris I-Pathéon Sorbonne)

Géraldine Vivier (INED)

French Polynesia comprises a large number (118) of widely scattered islands on a territory as vast as Europe with public services (education, health, transport) subject to the requirement of territorial continuity. This implies, transporting those in need of medical treatment to Papeete or mainland France, moving to attend school, find a job, etc. A territorial continuity that extends to the rest of France (mainland, New-Caledonia) and to other countries (New Zealand, Australia, etc.). Families, along the way cope with living apart, function at great distances relying on kin networks and public allowances.
To describe family organization, the only available quantitative information was drawn from the census, mostly based on French national categories, not ideally suited to describe the social specificity of the territory.
In this context, we designed and organized with the local Polynesian Statistical Institute (ISPF), the first Family survey in French Polynesia in 2020: Feti’i e fenua. The objective of this quantitative survey (6 000 families interviewed on 31 islands) is to identify Polynesian family organizations and mobility on the territory and abroad.
We will present the making of this survey: tests conducted since 2018, the organization and the first results of the survey and discuss the specificity of distant kin territorial organization and the broad picture of Polynesian family structures on the islands and population mobility.

Forced displacement and social media: the case of the evacuation and relocation of Ambae Island's inhabitants

Maëlle Calandra (International Research Centre of Disaster Science and Sustainable Development )

This paper presents an analysis of how social media have contributed to influence the humanitarian response during the volcanic eruption of Manaro Voui on Ambae island (2017-2018, Vanuatu). To do so, it is based on data collected online, on the Facebook group "Yumi Toktok Stret" (YTS) when the disaster has occurred, and from a fieldwork conducted in 2018 in Port-Vila among international aid, non-governmental and governmental agencies in charge of the evacuation of the inhabitants. The combination of these data with the eruptive phases of the volcano underlines the whistleblower role played by the YTS's members and the importance of social media in times of disasters which are used as prior emergency information. In this context, social media have also been an interface for the displaced families to voice their views on their situation, in order to shape the Prime Minister's decision about their permanent relocation to Maewo Island.

Iceboxes and suitcases. An ongoing project on betel nut trade and contemporary interisland exchange in Micronesia

Sebastien Galliot (Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, EHESS)

The history of Micronesia, as well as the history of anthropological research in this area, is crossed from all sides by issues of inter-island travels and inter-state travel.
However, while employment, health care, education, climate change, economical trade, ceremonial exchange and cultural performance are a set of travel motivations shared by all Pacific communities, contemporary Micronesian mobility networks have received little attention.
Yap is currently the main producer and exporter of areca nuts in Micronesia. The marketing of this product involves an interweaving of technical processes, material logistics, specific social assemblages not dictated by classic rules of capitalist economics, and generates large amounts of cash money.
This paper will draw on ongoing ethnographic research on the betel nut trade from Yap to Guam and Saipan to address issues of cultural dynamics, status mobility, and Micronesian globalization.

The Dimensions of Culture: the role of the Kiribati Museum in the design and implementation of Public Policies

Marcelo Lages Murta (Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias)

The Kiribati National Museum (Te Umanibong) is a leading actor in the cultural life of local communities in the country, as well as a space for the discussion of public policies. Since 2018, it is, then, the institution responsible for developing the Kiribati National Cultural Policy(NCP). This paper aims to discuss the role of the museum in the implementation of the country´s NCP, presenting the Kiribati policies together with a historical perspective relating the independence process, the actions carried out for the sake of national identity, and the development of the national institutional framework. The relations between religion and politics are approached with an anthropological bias, given the perception of mixtures and overlaps between the exercise of secular power and the intersections with the sacred dimension. The main topics discussed in the NCP, such as its conceptual framework, also relate to the international understanding of sectorial international organizations – i.e. UNESCO for the culture and education sectors, UNDP for development approaches. This paper addresses four specific objectives: to understand the insertion of cultural rights and cultural diversity in the agendas of international and national organizations; to comprehend the sociopolitical role of the Kiribati Museum; to present an investigation into the processes of decolonization of cultural policies in the South Pacific; and to scrutinize the process of elaborating the Kiribati NCP since 2018.