Migratory Habits of Accounting Technology to Kiribati
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Draft 12 November 2017 Circumstances of a Pacific atoll people in diaspora: A retrospective analysis of I-Nikunau Keith Dixon University of Canterbury Contact details: Keith Dixon Department of Accounting and Information Systems Te Kura Umanga o Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (UCBS) University of Canterbury (Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha) Private Bag 4800 Christchurch 8040 New Zealand Tel: +64 (0)3 3693844 Email: [email protected] Acknowledgements The assistance is much appreciated of many I-Nikunau and other I-Kiribati, including Tiarum O’Connor, and officials of the Nikunau Island Council, Te Kabowi n Aomata (the Nikunau Island Magistrates Court), Te Kabowi n Aba (the Nikunau Island Lands Court), Te Bobotin Nikunau (the Nikunau Cooperative Society) and Kiribati National Archives. Some participant-observer empirical materials derive from 1997–99 when the researcher was working for the Governments of Kiribati and the United Kingdom: the views expressed in the paper are those of the researcher and do not necessarily represent those of either government. A grant from the University of Canterbury to allow the researcher to visit Nikunau and Tarawa in 2009 is acknowledged. Comments on earlier versions of this paper from Hegnes Dixon, Dick Overy and two anonymous reviewers associated with the 8th Australasian Conference on Social and Environmental Accounting Research in Christchurch are appreciated, as are comments from participants at that conference and the 11th Conference of the European Society for Oceanists in Munich. I also thank the late Michael Gaffikin for providing some direction to the study of which this paper is part. 1 Abstract Life for people on many atolls is undoubtedly hard, frequently affected by droughts, rough seas and other adverse climatic conditions to name a few. It is little wonder then that kinship is the foundation of many atoll societies, traditional and even modern. This study is a retrospective analysis of a Pacific people living in several countries but held together as a diaspora through notions of kinship. The people concerned have indigenous, ancestral, cultural, social and continuing residential connections with Nikunau Atoll (coordinates 1.3475°S 176.4512°E). The analysis incorporates the present diasporic circumstances of this people, including how these circumstances arose historically. The core idea of the paper is that such an analysis provides a basis for surfacing and explaining the circumstances of the people in question, and so a basis for improving their circumstances from a critical, better- informed standpoint. The method of conducting the analysis relies heavily on the partisan stance of me, the author, whose kinship ties with I-Nikunau (= people who identify with Nikunau) are affinal. I identify, grapple with, articulate and interpret situations and events, including those I observed or experienced, or was told about, and those at least referred to or, in many cases, delved into by other researchers. The circumstances are analysed under 14 themes, including geographical, demographical, economic, environmental, cultural and societal circumstances. As well as appealing to I-Nikunau, the analysis may be relevant to the growing number of studies about Nikunau and Kiribati, most of them concerned with prospects of climate change making Nikunau, Tarawa and other atolls where I-Nikunau reside uninhabitable. That the authors of many of these studies published recently make so many references to the matters covered in this analysis would seem to indicate how relevant and important the matters in question are to the future of I-Nikunau and I-Kiribati. Furthermore, this relevance and importance may apply to the future of other peoples still inhabiting the world’s atolls and facing whatever challenges this future may bring, climate- related and otherwise. Keywords History matters!, Nikunau Atoll, I-Nikunau (= people who identify with Nikunau), Gilbert Islands, Kiribati, Diaspora, Circular labour migration, Colonialism, Imperialism, Climate change 2 1 Introduction The broad scholarly value of this study lies in illuminating and stimulating interest in the demographical, economic, social and political dynamics of peoples associated with atolls, particularly in the Pacific. The study is about I-Nikunau, a people so-called because of their indigenous, ancestral, and continuing connections with Nikunau, a closed-lagoon atoll almost at the centre of the Pacific Ocean (coordinates 1.3475°S, 176.4512°E) (Goldberg, 2016). The study comprises a retrospective analysis of I-Nikunau: I have surveyed their present circumstances and analysed how and why they have arisen. The analysis was performed using a series of 14 themes, namely, geography, demography, economy, etc., hence “themes of analysis”, and is reported accordingly, that is as a series of “thematic circumstances” under the headings “geographical circumstances”, “demographical circumstances”, “economic circumstances”, etc. Much of the study’s importance stems from perceived inadequacies in these circumstances, individually and collectively, and a consequent desire to improve them. Nikunau (which otherwise has been spelt Nukunau and been charted as Byron’s Island1) is the life world of at least 85% of its 2,000 inhabitants; they self-identify as I-Nikunau, being descended from, or married to, persons of various origins associated with the atoll for up to a millenary or two, as supported by anthropological, archaeological, ecological, ethnographic, sociological and other studies and indigenous accounts (Addison & Matisoo‐Smith, 2010; Alaima et al., 1979; Autio, 2010; Di Piazza, 1999; Dickinson, 2003; Geddes, 1977; Goodenough, 1955; Grimble, 1921, 1933, 1989; Hockings, 1984; Kambati, 1992; King & Sigrah, 2004; Lambert, 1966; Latouche, 1983; Lewis, 1988; Lundsgaarde & Silverman, 1972; Macdonald, 1971, 1972, 1982a; Maude & Maude, 1994; Maude, 1963, 1977, 1991; Sabatier, 1939/1977; Takasaka et al. 2006; Teweiariki, n.d.; Thomas, 2003; Willmott, 2007). Furthermore, the atoll has continuing significance for at least another 4,000 persons who, if not born on Nikunau themselves, are descended from someone in the last three generations or so who was. These 4,000 comprise a diaspora,2 which, over the past few decades, has steadily extended to other Pacific places and further afield (e.g., to Great Britain, because of Nikunau’s colonial links thereto between 1892 and 1979). In the global scheme of things, Nikunau and I-Nikunau are largely anonymous, let alone significant, and so it might be easy to dismiss this study as trivial. However, they do have a present claim to world fame: Nikunau, or their “home island” and other atolls on which many I-Nikunau presently reside, by virtue of being part of the sovereign state of the Republic of Kiribati,3 are enmeshed in the issues, and potentially devastating consequences of, climate 3 change, rising sea levels and the compromise of water resources, sustainability and environmental concerns of that ilk (see Corcoran, 2016; Kuruppu & Liverman, 2011; McIver, Woodward, Davies, Tebikau & Iddings, 2014; Mimura et al., 2007; Oakes, Milan & Campbell, 2016; Storey & Hunter, 2010; White et al., 2007). Remarkably, these issues are not mentioned in national plans compiled in the colonial or immediate post-colonial period (see Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, 1970; Government of Kiribati, 1983) and only sparked international attention as recently as 1985 (see Pernetta & Hughes, 1990). Thus, not least among the aforementioned inadequacies of their present circumstances is living with the prospect having to move to higher ground along with the rest of I-Kiribati,4 abandoning the islands just referred to (see Donner & Webber, 2014; Nei Tabera Ni Kai Video Unit, 2009, 2010; Nunn, 2013; Oakes et al., 2016; Smith, 2013; Tatoa & Hogan, 2008; Thomas, 2001; White et al., 2007; Wyett, 2014). This prospect for them and many other atoll dwellers is prompting global speculation about all manner of things connected with emigration from the atolls, being labelled “refugees”, and immigration to and resettlement in other countries, including where there are already diasporic communities of I-Nikunau, such as New Zealand (or Nutiran) (e.g., see AJ+, 2014; Bedford & Bedford, 2010; Edwards, 2014; Fedor, 2012; Roman, 2013; Thompson, 2016; Williams, 2008). These matters are incorporated into this study, and so should probably broaden its appeal to its subjects and to scholars examining other peoples in similar circumstances. Besides, it is anticipated that other aspects of the study are valuable, including as an illustration of method and bringing out the interconnections among the various themes and the often separate, academic disciplines with which they are associated. For I-Nikunau in particular, the insights arising from this study are relevant in various ways. They can assist in evaluating how adequate their circumstances are, including by recognising and delving into inadequacies of the present. They can prompt discussion about likely future circumstances, and inform actions intended to address inadequacies and otherwise make these future circumstances better than they might be without having these insights. In other words, the insights should be valuable to I-Nikunau in addressing the future, including taking action to meet their needs and aspirations. The rest of this report is separated into five sections (S2, S3, etc.). In S2, I explain, discuss and evaluate the study method, including the approach taken, my own standing in relation