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Pacific Diaspora: Island Peoples in on Hawaiian and Mäori minorities in the United States and Across the their own countries and localities. Pacific, edited by Paul Spickard, Despite similarities with the situations Joanne L Rondilla, and Debbie of migrants, there are enough differ- Hippolite Wright. Honolulu: ences that they may have been better University of Hawai‘i Press, 2002. in a separate volume. isbn cloth, 0-8248-2562-4; paper, Although the titles imply that both 0-8248-2619-1; viii + 384 pages, books are about the Pacific Islands tables, photographs, figures, maps, generally, 27 of the total 34 chapters notes, bibliography, index. Cloth, are about of Hawai‘i, us$60.00; paper, us$24.95. , Sämoa, Tonga, and two Polynesian outliers. None are about Constructing Moral Communities: , Easter Island, Niue, Pacific Islander Strategies for Settling Pitcairn, Tokelau, or Wallis and in New Places, edited by Judith S Futuna, from all of which most Modell. Special issue of Pacific Studies people have migrated (86 percent 25:1–2, March/June 2002. issn from the Cook Islands, and 96 per- 0275-3596, isbn 0-939154-68-4, cent from Niue), nor about Tuvalu viii + 221 pages, tables, glossary, or French , or possibly the notes, bibliography. us$15.00. largest category of migrants from the Pacific Islands—the Fiji Indians. Brigham Young University–Hawai‘i There are 2 chapters on Microne- (byuh) was involved in the publica- sians, 1 on Filipinos, and 4 general tion of both these books. That insti- chapters, but none about Melane- tution has provided more university sians, who constitute the great major- education for Pacific Islanders than ity of Pacific Islanders. Equal repre- any other in North America. Pacific sentation is never possible, and the Diaspora is the third book to emerge imbalance does not detract from the from a byuh initiative (Pacific value of the studies presented. How- Islander Americans Research Project) ever, one hopes that Melanesian led by Paul Spickard. Moral Commu- migration (which has been extensive nities was published by the byuh within and between nations for over journal, Pacific Studies, after develop- a hundred years) will be as well stud- ing from a series of Association for ied before long. Social Anthropology in Oceania Paul Spickard’s excellent introduc- sessions. Pacific Diaspora presents tion to Pacific Diaspora outlines six mainly “insider views” (by members clusters of chapters—on identity, of the communities concerned), and motives for migration and linkages Moral Communities is mainly by with home, cultural transformations, external observers. Both approaches gender and sexuality, social problems yield valuable insights, but Pacific of migrants, and Hawaiian national- Diaspora is particularly welcome ism. He traces the history of Pacific because insider views are seldom migration to the United States, and published. the colonial, economic, educational, The books are not only about religious, and strategic linkages that migrants. Almost half the chapters are facilitated it. book and media reviews 179

The book uses several models for sian minority of Pacific Islanders possible interpretation of the data. (mainly Polynesian and Micronesian) First is the “immigrant assimilation have most access to industrialized model” in which the main trend is countries. The more numerous non- for the immigrant to be absorbed into Austronesians are mainly on the island the host society; second, the “trans- of New Guinea, where internal migra- national or diasporic model,” which tion is extensive, but international emphasizes continuing links with one’s migration constrained. people at home or elsewhere abroad Part 2, on motives for migration, (which is easier for the wealthy, and begins with a 1987 reprint, which is for all as communications improve); based on earlier data. A great deal has and the “panethnicity model” (com- changed since then. Asesela Ravuvu mon interest groups forged between emphasizes the importance of kin and immigrants from a common region, community in the decision to migrate, such as “Pasefika people” in New in finding accommodations, work and Zealand or Latinos in the United other needs. Wendy Cowling discusses States). Tongan migrants’ ambivalence The panethnicity model is more between wanting to “preserve” tradi- pronounced among second and third tion and modify or avoid it (especially generation Pacific Islander migrants. to avoid domination and exploitation They interact and intermarry more, by the elite). She outlines the networks as discussed in chapter 2 on multi- of interaction between emigrants and ethnicity, which highlights the selec- those back home, and the importance tivity with which people of multiple of “cultural brokers” who mediate ancestry emphasize various aspects of between cultures for first-generation genetic and cultural heritage, includ- migrants in particular. Craig Janes ing language, expressive arts, values, describes the selective use of elements and cultural practices. While accepting of culture by American Samoans who elements of all these and other ideal go to the United States for work, edu- models, Spickard considers the trans- cation, the prestige of migration, and national or diasporic model particu- in some cases welfare payments. larly relevant to Pacific Islanders in the In part 3, Helen Morton illumi- United States. Partly that is because nates degrees of retention, adaptation, most of them are recent migrants dur- and abandonment of Tongan culture ing a period of rising incomes and by migrants to Australia, including improving communications—most “born-again Tongans” who use recently and cheaply via Internet. aspects of “Tonganness” to assert Tupou Hopoate Pau‘u outlines their difference from other Austral- in moving detail her experiences in ians. ‘Inoke and Lupe Funaki explain Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, and what aspects of Tongan culture and the United States; they reflect the lives of mainstream American culture con- of many Pacific migrants. Joanne stitute an effective “compromise iden- Rondilla considers Filipinos to have tity” for Tongans in the United States. “stronger ties to the Pacific than to Melani Anae presents an in-depth Asia.” Their languages and cultures understanding of the construction are Austronesian, and the Austrone- of identity by New Zealand–born 180 the contemporary pacific • spring 2004

Samoans who attend an English- Hawaiian mahu (persons of mixed speaking Pacific Islander church in gender), Hawaiian health problems Auckland. Vince Diaz illustrates the and methods of treatment, the Hawai- evolution of “island identity” among ian practice of ho‘oponopono (for Guamanian boys under Hawaiian resolving family conflict), an analysis leaders in a football club in a military of aloha, and three (at times overlap- environment. ping) chapters on the Hawaiian sover- Chapters on social problems and eignty movement. Moral Communi- responses to them include one on ties includes two chapters on Mäori migrant Pacific Islanders’ ways of marae-based urban communities dealing with sexual abuse, and family (one on the real and fictive kinship dynamics among Pacific Islander that forms the basis for a marae for Americans. Value is accorded to male- migrants of diverse tribal origins, the dominated families (especially large other a comparison of tribal and non- families), and to love, obedience, tribal marae), and two on Hawai‘i respect, and firm discipline. (on handling domestic violence and Constructing Moral Communities adultery). begins with an editorial overview that The two volumes illustrate in rich highlights how migrant communities detail the ways in which personal create and maintain bonds of solidar- identity and place in society evolve, ity—particularly sentimental bonds. both consciously and unconsciously, William Donner and Richard Feinberg for each category of Pacific migrant, present penetrating studies of two and each individual within each cate- Polynesian atoll peoples at home and gory. The main identifiers, apart from in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Cluny physical appearance, include varying Macpherson elegantly demonstrates uses of language, religion, dress, the divergence between the life experi- adornment including tattoo, expres- ences and thus the moral communities sive arts, personal and cultural his- of the first generation and those of tory, marriage and funerary arrange- later generations of Samoans in New ments, customary practice, social Zealand. Linda Allen poignantly grouping, and values of their multiple explains the dynamics of a “closed” reference cultures—of origin, of resi- Marshallese community in the United dence, and of orientation (the last States, bound by an amalgam of Mar- including film, sport, and other dis- shallese custom and Christian funda- tant global models). mentalism. Inevitably one wonders how case The chapters on Mäori and Hawai- study “x” would have read if done by ian minorities in Hawai‘i and New author “y.” And one sometimes wishes Zealand in the two volumes are of a the mass of descriptive adjectives were different order from the rest of the more effectively comparable. How do material. In Pacific Diaspora they Pacific Islander migrant identities include chapters on conflicting west- differ from others? Immigrants are ern perceptions of Hawaiian women, commonly minorities, and in varying on the differing interests of Hawaiian degrees look, speak, believe, and women and white feminists, the behave differently from members of book and media reviews 181 the host society. But how different? from that of other migrants. But And what is the rate of change? Of all migrants from all over the world do the “moral communities” described, this these days. Many Fiji Indians how does one know whether one is (those who can afford to) visit India, more cohesive than another? Is the which their ancestors left generations difference due to the authors’ agility ago. Many Pacific Chinese maintain with adjectives? links with China and with Chinese Terry Loomis once did a valuable relatives around the world. Air New study with Cook Islanders in Auck- Zealand flights from Auckland to land. He asked them to record each London are packed every day with day the ethnicities and statuses of each descendants of emigrants who left person they spoke to, worked with, Britain generations ago. More choose socialized with, and so on. The tabu- to visit the “homeland,” one of the lated results were illuminating. Asesela most expensive places to get to and Ravuvu’s book, The Fijian Ethos stay in, than any of the other 190 (Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, countries they could visit (except University of the South Pacific, Australia). 1987) was enriched by measuring the The editors of both volumes refer amounts of time and resources that to Linnekin and Poyer’s claim that Fijian men and women (separately) Pacific Islander cultural identities are spent on various activities associated primarily invented and “Lamarkian” with hosting kin who had migrated (based on behavior), whereas among to town and returned for special occa- white people they are given or “Men- sions. Many other such techniques delian” (genetically based). Modell can be used to make comparison seems to accept this (Moral Communi- easier and understanding deeper. ties, 13), but Spickard notes that it is Numbers don’t tell the whole story, not so for Pacific Islanders in Hawai‘i but words don’t either, and while the and the mainland United States (Dias- two books reviewed present a wealth pora, 52)—nor it is so in my experi- of enlightening word descriptions, ence in the South Pacific. I believe they could benefit from a little more Linnekin and Poyer’s terms are inac- measurement. curate and reflect western academic Many words are used to emphasize fashion more than Pacific Islanders’ negatives in the urban environment lives. Spickard notes, “What is impor- people choose to live in, and positives tant for Pacific Islander Americans is in the environment they choose to not boundaries but centers: ancestry, remain away from. Why do some family, practice, place” (53). authors stress the negatives when In presentation, Pacific Diaspora the migrants, by being there, seem to has an attractive if misleading cover stress the positives? At times there is (the launching of a modern recon- a tendency for a little too much of a struction of a Polynesian voyaging “victim” perspective. canoe in Hawai‘i—none of the Some authors imply that Pacific migrants came that way!). Moral Islanders’ tendency to maintain con- Communities may not draw as many tact with home is somehow different readers simply because it is not attrac- 182 the contemporary pacific • spring 2004 tively packaged. There is truth in the Materializing the Nation: Commodi- adage “You can’t tell a book by its ties, Consumption, and Media in cover, but you can sell a book by its Papua New Guinea, by Robert J cover.” While the cover deficiency is Foster. Bloomington: Indiana Univer- trivial, the lack of an index for Moral sity Press, 2002. isbn 0-253-21549-8; Communities is serious. Being pub- x + 202 pages, figures, photographs, lished as a special issue of a journal notes, bibliography, index. Paper, does not reduce the need for an index. us$22.95. A minor problem in Pacific Dias- pora lies in the tables of Pacific Materializing the Nation is a theory- Islander populations abroad (19–20), challenging perspective on “everyday which are based on census figures ten nation making” in Papua New to twenty years out of date when the Guinea. Foster focuses on how Papua book was published. Moreover, census New Guineans, from state officials to figures for Pacific migrants are very office workers, use commodities and unreliable. The table shows 30,000 mass media to define, promote, and Pacific Islanders in Australia, when often contradict particular visions of in fact Cook Islanders alone total “the nation” and its “national citi- many more than that, not to mention zens.” He argues against observations Samoans, Tongans, Fijians, Tuvalu- that “PNG” is little more than a rhe- ans, Papua New Guineans, Solomon torical figure of speech and that its Islanders, and many others. However, diverse peoples are more consumers this is not a criticism of the author, as than “citizens.” He reminds us that few of the estimated 40,000 or more despite troubling political and law- Cook Islanders in Australia show up and-order crises, procedural democ- as Cook Islanders in the census. racy continues to exist more than Already, except for Mäori, more twenty-five years after independence, Polynesians live abroad than in their and that a national consciousness is home countries. That is likely to be clearly present, with “the nation” so also for Micronesians before long. used as a frame of reference for stag- A growing number of Melanesians ing collective and personal identities. is migrating too. Both books make All seven chapters in this book began major positive contributions to the as conference or seminar papers. The growing understanding of the adjust- first five were published elsewhere. ments they find best suit their needs Bringing them together, Foster makes in the new locations. his work accessible and proves that ron crocombe banal, everyday nation making can constitute a base for more dramatic , Cook Islands forms of nationalism and citizenship. *** Part I of the book looks at two state-sponsored projects of nation making and how these efforts at moral education were received. Chapter 1 describes the first National Law Week in 1984. As part of a campaign to