The island of Sonsorol, one of the Soutwhest Islands of the Palauan archipelago, is located about 340 kilometers south of the main Palauan islands in western Micronesia. Its unique culture and language, which the islanders have developed far away from the rest of Palau, set them apart from the main Palauan population, since they are linguistically and culturally related to the...
Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), represents a space altered by transnational migration, reshaping the social lives of both those who enact their mobility and those who stay. While transnationalism has been explored in-depth from the perspective of those abroad, little work has juxtaposed them with how migration reshapes life back “home.” Considering the presence of...
Based on field research and published sources, this paper examines Micronesian migration in regards to principles of order and values on their home atolls. For Carolinians, place names and personal names are part of the web of intangible knowledge that can serve to assure certain positions and rights. They unfold the untold facts of gender and hierarchy and can be used as a...
This article introduces a collection of essays on Micronesian mobility with a particular focus on family- and home-making discourses and practices. The special issue starts from the assumption that Oceania remains by and large invisible in the broader context of Mobility and Migration Studies despite observations that rural-urban, interisland and transborder mobility feature...
This paper discusses adoption, commonly referred to as moumou, in the Mortlock Islands, Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Moumou remains a common practice by the Mortlock Islands community in the 21st century even within the setting of the Compact of Free Association with the US, which allows Mortlockese to set up permanent homes in the US. This paper introduces moumou...
The third and final referendum in the French overseas territory New Caledonia on December 12, 2021, was wasted. Although the vote was legal and the result was clear (96.5% voting against independence), we argue – along with various international observers – that the schedule did not respect Kanak cultural traditions and the vote should be considered as undemocratic. As engaged...
Street vendors make up an important part of the Vietnamese informal economy and carry a trait of the country’s urban DNA. However, they have long been the target of many regulations to create a modern and civilized city of Hanoi. By revisiting the discourse about formality and informality, private and public space, this paper discusses how street vendors negotiate their existence...
This article introduces two case studies of underage transporters from Indonesia, who brought asylum seekers to Australia by boat and thus were convicted and jailed for the crime of people smuggling. In light of the hyper-politicised issue of people smuggling and the need to find punishable perpetrators, transporters have become the main target of anti-people-smuggling law...
This commentary addresses some of the cross-cultural issues of teaching abroad in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Germans can apply directly to teach at ‘German schools abroad’, which are private schools around the world, or can sign up with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA). The ZfA provides assistance and professional quality management. The German schools abroad...
In China, where one is born can have a huge impact on opportunities for social mobility. The so called hukou-system defines a person’s status either as rural or urban inhabitant. The system was originally intended to monitor and control the mechanisms of population migration but now it practically impedes equal opportunity. However, recent decades saw an ever-growing number of...
Pacific regionalism is in a severe crisis after the Micronesian states Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia have announced their withdrawal from the most important regional organization, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). This article discusses the reasons for the split that go beyond the mere selection of a new Secretary General of...
Ghostnet art is an art movement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that has been gaining enthusiastic followers worldwide in recent years, not only because of its impressive artistic design, but equally because of the artists’ message behind the artworks. The ghostnet sculptures, made mainly by members of two Australian Indigenous communities in Erub and Pormpuraaw...
This article is concerned with Fiji Islanders in Japan. Its objective is to introduce a to date little explored case of Pacific Islander trans-border mobility within the Pacific region. After providing a general overview of the topic, it discusses two of the main reasons why Fiji Islanders spend shorter durations or migrate for (in)definite periods to Japan in more detail...
Can and should one even write a review of a book that has already been extensively reviewed in all major journals and magazines and that continues to excite people? You can - and must! The political scientist, historian and journalist Götz Aly, who comes from Heidelberg, has succeeded in putting his finger in a wound with his latest book and, due to its popularity, has given a...
Rapa Nui, Easter Island, has had a great fascination for archaeological research since its discovery in 1722. The focus of interest was on the massive stone monuments, the moai, sculptures with a human face, which raise many questions. This stone evidence of Polynesian culture’s uniqueness led to its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. Central elements of the...
The ocean is a shared space for all Pacific Island States and the common element that renders Pacific identities unique. Today, low-lying atolls are potentially exposed to rising sea levels threatening their very existence. Instead of precise borders, the ocean that washes Pacific shores could be considered as a blurry and inclusive space. Pacific identities are shaped by a...
This paper sheds light on the debate the Disney movie Moana sparked on Pacific Islands by reviewing literature from indigenous Pacific anthropologists such as Vicente Diaz, Vilsoni Hereniko, Mārata Tamaira, and Dionne Fonoti. The author analyses the plot of Moana and the general representation of the Pacific Islands in Western movies. Various points of critique on the movie from...
The German colonial period in Papua New Guinea (1884-1919) involved profound changes in culture and identity – for Indigenous peoples as well as for missionaries and administrators. In 1886, the first Lutheran missionaries from the Neuendettelsau Missionary Society arrived at Finschhafen in Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, initiating many first contacts between Indigenous communities and...
This book review discusses Harriet Evans’s book „Beijing from Below - Stories of Marginal Lives in the Capital‘s Center“ in which the author traces the social, economic, and architectural transformation of Beijing’s Dashalar district. Dashalar street, which gave name to the district, lies just South of Tian’anmen Square, China’s center of power and often seen as the quintessence...
This paper discusses how Oceania is depicted in an example of Victorian children’s literature, in Ballantyne’s The Coral Island. The island is described as a garden of Eden, in which the protagonists of the novel can build a model colonial civilisation. The idea of civilisation is also central to Ballantyne’s representation of Pacific Islanders, who are described with typical...
The photo of Sir Bob Jones responding to an anti-tour demonstration in Auckland 1981 captures a pivotal moment in New Zealand’s history. By analysing the imagery and its connection to the broader historical context at the beginning of the 1980s, we can see a multilayered picture going beyond this brief snapshot. In this article, I carry out a semiotic analysis of the photo, which...
The year 2020 is a particularly important one for Vanuatu. On 30 July, this SID (Small Island developing state) celebrated the 40th anniversary of its independence. And in December 2020 is should be leaving the list of the least developed countries in the world. We could say that at 40 years old, Vanuatu has reached adulthood, but its first ten years of life were critical for its...