Routledge Pacific Rim Geographies. London; New York: Routledge, 2018. vi, 206 pp. (Illustrations.) US$155.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-138-73169-1.
Bringing scholars together from diverse disciplines, Change and Continuity in the Pacific: Revisiting the Region comes at an opportune time for scholars, those doing applied work, and developers associated with the Pacific. This volume comprises eleven accounts of longitudinal studies in Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, and Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). These scholars share their fieldwork, conducted at various times over the past 40 years, representing research from disciplines of geography, anthropology, development, religion, economics, globalization, and Asia-Pacific studies. The editors add to the longitudinal research for the Pacific Region by assembling these eminent authors to reflect upon their long-term, comparative, or longitudinal research at their respective sites in the region (chapter 1).
The chapters in this book variously identify the roles of time, place, and space in observing, experiencing, and identifying change and continuity. This review touches on three themes which emerge in several of the chapters: (1) the dynamics of change, (2) shifts in priorities and paradigms, and (3) continuity in the face of emergent changes.
First, the dynamics of change are illustrated with thorough discussions of mobility, exchange, and continuity of culture as people seek more flexible livelihoods and notions of kinship as adaptive mechanisms for change sought and experienced. For example, identities have become transnational for Micronesians (Flinn, chapter 6) as well as for Samoans (Shankman, chapter 10). For Marshallese, however, their trust in the United States to take care of residents after nuclear testing wanes, as they also deal with the influx of imported, high-calorie, low-nutrition foods (and some produce) in the face of climate change (Carucci, chapter 12). In the case of Anuta, Solomon Islands, the people have created traditional offices and attribute these to long-standing custom (Feinberg, chapter 9). However, for people in Siwai, PNG, greater flexibility has promoted diversity in opportunities, and outcomes. The people experience that flexibility in some instances as conflict and tensions (Connell, chapter 3). Similarly, entrepreneurs on Vanuatu have built tourist bungalows and offer a “cannibal trail” as spectacle for visitors, but do not promote respect or cross-cultural understanding (Lindstrom, chapter 4).
Second, shifting paradigms are illustrated by the case of Atiu, Cook Islands (chapter 5), where Lewis noticed contestation toward models of development, pointing out that knowledge production occurred for development projects, but did not occur elsewhere. Similarly, Tuvaluan youth utilized ethnographic data for their own cultural research to revive social connections (Chambers and Chambers, chapter 2) and Pollapese in FSM read introduced modes of transit as continuous with previous mobilities. These same changes can be seen to produce continuity, as seen in Dreikikir, PNG where the people experienced the arrival of new agricultural crops like vanilla; however, this shift in systems of cultivation assisted in the production of a new kind of continuity: economic stagnation (Allen, chapter 7).
Finally, continuity can be seen in the face of the emergent changes in the Marshall Islands; specifically, Enewetak and Ujelang yield continuity in routinized disappointment with the US after the US nuclear testing on their islands led to relocation and the subsequent importation of unhealthy foods (Carucci, chapter 12). Many chapters in this book highlight the importance of social connection as continuity in the face of change: Tuvaluan cosmopolitan youth utilize ethnographic data on social media platforms to reinforce connections among isolated atoll residents or diasporic Tuvaluans (chapter 2), inhabitants on Kadavu Island in Fiji identify acceptable reasons for movement (Sofer, chapter 11), and Pollapese in FSM emphasize social connection rather than geolocation. For Lee (chapter 8), this was particularly the case in the context of child socialization practices and change in Tonga’s movement towards democracy.
Change and Continuity in the Pacific: Revisiting the Region reflects and reminds the reader of the diversity in human response to researchers, data, information, and development. The editors unify these chapters by asking authors to focus on what surprised them most when returning to their field sites. The contributors are reflexive and honest in their expressions of how change and continuity continue to highlight the region; that is, they were taken aback in some instances upon realizing some of the cultural shifts that had appeared. The editors are successful in bringing together a valuable compendium of scholarly works that highlight both the tension and co-constitution of continuity and change in the region, hence making this text a worthy addition for those who seek to study in the region, and reflect and re-situate past fieldwork. It is an excellent comparative piece that situates the diversity of the region in a contemporary and historical context, thus providing valuable insights for students, policymakers, and professionals across an array of disciplines.
Ashley Meredith
Kosrae State Historic Preservation Office, Federated States of Micronesia