Vol. 17 No. 3 Pacific Studies

PACIFIC STUDIES A multidisciplinary journal devoted to the study of the peoples of the Pacific Islands SEPTEMBER 1994 Anthropology Archaeology Art History Economics Ethnomusicology Folklore Geography History Sociolinguistics Political Science Sociology PUBLISHED BY T HE INSTITUTE FOR POLYNESIAN STUDIES BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY--HAWAII IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTER EDITORIAL BOARD Paul Alan Cox Brigham Young University Roger Green University of Auckland Renée Heyum University of Hawaii Francis X. Hezel, S.J. Micronesian Seminar Rubellite Johnson University of Hawaii Adrienne Kaeppler Smithsonian Institution Robert Kiste University of Hawaii Robert Langdon Australian National University Stephen Levine Victoria University Barrie Macdonald Massey University Cluny Macpherson University of Auckland Leonard Mason University of Hawaii Malama Meleisea University of Auckland Norman Meller University of Hawaii Richard M. Moyle University of Auckland Colin Newbury Oxford University Douglas Oliver University of Hawaii Margaret Orbell Canterbury University Nancy Pollock Victoria University Karl Rensch Australian National University Bradd Shore Emory University Yosihiko Sinoto Bishop Museum William Tagupa Honolulu, Hawaii Francisco Orrego Vicuña Universidad de Chile Edward Wolfers University of Wollongong Articles and reviews in Pacific Studies are abstracted or indexed in Sociolog- ical Abstracts, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, America: His- tory and Life, Historical Abstracts, Abstracts in Anthropology, Anthropo- logical Literature, PAIS Bulletin, International Political Science Abstracts, International Bibliography of Periodical Literature, International Bibliogra- phy of Book Reviews, and International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. PACIFIC STUDIES Editor DALE B. ROBERTSON Associate Editor Book Review Editor GLORIA L. CRONIN GALE L. WARD Book Review Forum Editor Books Noted Editor R OBERT BOROFSKY RILEY M. MOFFAT Technical Editor S HARLENE ROHTER Editorial Policy: Pacific Studies is published quarterly by The Institute for Polynesian Studies, Brigham Young University-Hawaii, Laie, Hawaii 96762-1294, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is U.S. $30.00, payable to The Institute for Polynesian Studies. Articles submitted to the editor must not be submitted else- where while under review by Pacific Studies and should be the original typewritten copy, completely double-spaced (including quotations, ref- erences, and notes). Authors may write to the editor for a style sheet and information on computer-disk submissions. Books for review should also be sent to the editor. The Institute for Polynesian Studies is an organization funded by Brigham Young University-Hawaii. The Institute assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and publication. The Institute cooperates with other scholarly and research institutions in achieving their objectives. It publishes monographs, produces films, underwrites research, and spon- sors conferences on the Pacific Islands. Further information on the activities of the Institute may be obtained by writing to the editor. © 1994 Brigham Young University-Hawaii. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is printed on acid-free paper and meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. ISSN 0275-3596 Volume 17 September 1994 Number 3 CONTENTS Articles The Truth and Other Irrelevant Aspects of Nukulaelae Gossip N IKOB ESNIER . 1 Home Alone: The Effects of Out-Migration on Niuean Elders’ Living Arrangements and Social Supports JUDITH C. BARKER . 41 Changing Patterns of Commitment to Island Homelands: A Case Study of Western Samoa C LUNY MACPHERSON. 83 From Sea and Garden to School and Town: Changing Gender and Household Patterns among Pollap Atoll Migrants J ULIANAF LINN . 117 The Track of the Triangle: Form and Meaning in the Sepik, Papua New Guinea B RIGITTA H AUSER-SCHÄUBLIN . 133 Reviews Alfred Cell, Wrapping in Images: Tattooing in Polynesia (PETER GATHERCOLE) . 171 Greg Dening, Mr Bligh’s Bad Language: Passion, Power, and Theatre on the “Bounty” (KAREN STEVENSON) . 177 vi Pacific Studies, Vol. 17, No. 3--September 1994 Brij V. Lal, Doug Munro, and Edward D. Beechert, eds., Plantation Workers: Resistance and Accommodation (COLIN NEWBURY) . 180 Books Noted Recent Pacific Islands Publications: Selected Acquisitions, February-May 1994 R ILEYM.M OFFAT. 185 Contributors . 194 PACIFIC STUDIES Vol. 17, No. 3 September 1994 THE TRUTH AND OTHER IRRELEVANT ASPECTS OF NUKULAELAE GOSSIP Niko Besnier Yale University THE QUESTION of whether all societies share the same understanding of the nature of truth has played an important, if often unrecognized, role in anthropological thought since the inception of the field. What constitutes the truth for members of different societies, the extent to which it is a uni- versal or relative notion, and how it is animated, constructed. and negotiated in daily life are fundamental concerns in discussions of the nature of belief systems, rationality, and social action. For example, as Lewis points out (1994:565), underlying the age-old contrast between beliefs in magic and scientific knowledge is the underexamined judgment that mere belief is untrue, unreliable, and irrational, while knowledge is the opposite. Never- theless, until recently, these epistemological assumptions and others like it had been confined to backgrounded positions in the study of social forma- tions and cultural systems, thus escaping systematic scrutiny. In recent years, issues relating to ethnophilosophical understandings of the nature of truth have become more visible, along with closely related concepts such as disclosure and concealment (George 1993; Petersen 1993), secrecy (Bledsoe and Robey 1986; McNaughton 1982; Piot 1993), and lying and deceit (Anderson 1986; Bailey 1991; Basso 1987; Biebuyck-Goetz 1977; Gilsenan 1976; Goldman 1995; Lewis and Saarni 1993; Nachman 1984). Petersen’s analysis of kanengamah (reserve, restraint), a personal quality held in high regard in Pohnpei in Micronesia (1993), is a pertinent example of the way in which issues of truth are typically treated in this burgeoning ethnographic literature. Pohnpeians view kanengamah as a prerequisite for individuals’ success in social and political endeavors. The quality manifests itself, inter alia, when 1 2 Pacific Studies, Vol. 17, No. 3--September 1994 an individual carefully avoids revealing the truth all at once, and knows the art of “managing the release of information” (Petersen 1993:343). Yet, for Pohnpeians, kanengamah is not the opposite of being truthful but rather goes hand-in-hand with it, because a socially mature person both displays kanengamah and has access to the truth. As a result, Pohnpeians view cer- tainty as a rare and ephemeral commodity, and indeed a suspicious one, which leads them to be wary of any authoritative claim to truthfulness, that is, any assertion of raw authority. Petersen’s analysis typifies contemporary anthropological approaches, which demonstrate that the truth is a sociologi- cal, and hence inherently relative, category, rather than a phenomenological or “objective” one. Thus different societies give different values to the truth, contrast it with different categories, and evaluate it in terms of moral stan- dards and norms of social relations (cf. Just 1986). Pohnpeians simply do not appear to adhere to Grice’s maxims of quantity (“provide as much information as is necessary, and no more than is necessary”) and quality (“state only what you believe to be true”) in the same way that the average Westerner does, or perhaps they attach different meanings to notions like “necessary” and “believe to be true” (Grice 1975; cf. Duranti 1993). To date, most ethnographic works on local conceptions of the truth have tended to characterize it as a sort of Durkheimian concept that informs all aspects of the lives of communities. For example, Petersen’s analysis depicts Pohnpeians as being subject to a more or less invariable set of norms regard- ing concealment of information across all contexts of social life. The assump- tion underlying such works is that members of a social group articulate a specific theory of truth through their actions and reflections, and that an ethnographer can characterize the general philosophical “climate” of a society However, notions of what counts as true may differ across contexts of social life, sometimes substantially so. For example, in Western legal set- tings such as courtrooms, a great deal of time and effort is spent arguing over whether specific pieces of evidence can be used to support the truth of a particular account. The legal criteria for establishing the truth can also be considerably more subtle and covert: Conley and O’Barr (1990) demonstrate how American judges and attorneys favor certain narrative structures over others in courtroom depositions, and how these biases lead them to accept the accounts of certain litigants and witnesses as legitimate testimo- nies and to reject those that do not conform to their unstated normative expectations. Such works demonstrate that an investigation of philosophies of truth in particular societies must take on an aggressively context-sensitive approach. Furthermore, recognizing the inherent relativity of ways of conceptualiz- ing the truth across and within societies

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