St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2011. 326 pp. (Figures, maps.) A$34.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-7022-3900-7.
This is an edited volume containing contributions from anthropologists on various aspects of modernity in Pacific Island countries, mostly focusing on capitalism. All but one of the nine chapters are based on ethnographic material. The subjects covered include: the influence of libertarian ideas on the Nagriamel movement in Vanuatu; Papua New Guinean women’s negotiation of the cash economy over recent decades; a comparison of the role of community in Solomon Islander villagers’ ways of relating to the Church versus relating to logging companies; individualism and Christianity in Fiji; fast money schemes in Papua New Guinea; gambling in the Cook Islands; development and the Personal Viability movement in Papua New Guinea; and international financial services in Vanuatu. Chapter 1, by Richard Sutcliffe, is a reflective piece on the roles of secularism, rationalism and magic in Western modernity.
The central theme of the book is a two-sided question about presumptions of irrationality and religious/cultic/magical approaches in Pacific Islander modernities, and flipside presumptions about the rationality and secularism of Western modernities. There is a long history through colonialism, modernization theory and developmentalism of preconceiving Pacific Islanders as unsophisticated in their dealings with the modern world, and capitalism in particular, with Westerners as the significant Other in this image. This theme is addressed by some authors, such as Sutcliffe, by showing that Western modernity is not as secular and rational as it is usually assumed to be, but should be understood as being normatively secularist and rationalist, and concomitantly derisive of approaches perceived to be non-secular or irrational. Western modernity has in fact always been shot through with magico-religious elements and remains so. The Comaroff’s discussion of millennial capitalism and the role of enchantment in it is one of the theoretical threads drawn upon at several points in the book. This part of the preconception, questioning the extent to which Western modernity is actually like the image presented vis-à-vis Pacific Islanders, is also discussed in the editor’s introduction and mentioned by several other authors.
The bulk of the book then deals with the other side of the preconception, about Pacific Islanders’ ways of managing modernity. The close inspection enabled by the ethnographic method shows that Pacific Islanders’ approaches to modernity are as sophisticated as anyone else’s, including in terms of magico-religious aspects. Many of the chapters point out that phenomena often portrayed as irrational may indeed be rational in people’s specific circumstances.
Kalissa Alexeyeff’s chapter shows that in the context of large-scale redundancies in the public service as a result of neoliberal policy changes in the Cook Islands, spending large proportions of time and income in “housie” gambling may be seen as a reasonable thing to do. Opportunities for formal work or other forms of more conventional “productive” activity are so limited as to not offer much of a solution, and housie games also offer unemployed people a way to continue their sociality, including through public gifting. Alexeyeff refers to Susan Strange’s prescient work on casino capitalism, as do several other of the authors, to show that contemporary global capitalism is in any case a form of gambling, and to challenge dominant perceptions of engaging in world markets as an easily accessible way to improve people’s quality of life. For many Pacific Islanders, participating fruitfully in world markets is not an achievable option. The casino nature of contemporary financial capitalism, moreover, means no one has the power to control or even always accurately predict the movements of those markets. Even if Pacific Island governments were to comply with all donor recommendations for “good governance,” it is far from clear that their opportunities to gain more of what they want from modernity would improve. The authors argue that some of what may appear to be irrational economic behaviour arises from this situation in which more conventionally rational choices (gain employment, run a business) are not feasible. Gregory Rawlings’ ethnography of the financial services sector in Vanuatu underlines the precariousness of attempts to gain benefits from these global flows.
The idea of Melanesian cultures as distinguished by dividual, relational senses of personhood versus possessive individualism is another theoretical thread running through several of the chapters, including the introduction, Debra McDougall’s chapter, Martha Macintyre’s chapter and Nick Bainton’s chapter. Problems are pointed out in assumptions underlying some arguments of utter incommensurability between these two senses of personhood. One is that modern capitalism need not be predicated on possessive individualism; plenty of varieties of capitalism around the world in societies not noted for their individualism attest to that. Another is that in contemporary Melanesia dividuality and individuality frequently coexist in people’s senses of self. Martha Macintyre points out that for increasing numbers of people in Papua New Guinea, who live most of their lives in urban settings, the cash economy looms much larger than the rural non-capitalist economy, and this is changing social relations in all sorts of ways, although not necessarily making them possessive individuals.
In sum, the book is a useful read for anyone working on the anthropology of modernity and capitalism, of Pacific Island peoples, or on development in this region. It is well priced to be readily accessible.
Kate Barclay
University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
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