Pacific Research Monograph No. 24 and development in the South Pacific John Connell editor Series editor Maree Tait National Centre for Development Studies Research School of Pacific Studies The Australian National University Canberra 1990 © John Connell 1990 This work is copyright. Apart from those uses which may be permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 as amended, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. All or part of this work may be copied by members of education institutions and libraries for the purpose of research, study of teaching provided the source is acknowledged National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-publication entry Connell, John , 1946 — Migration and Development in the South Pacific Bibliography Includes index ISBNO 7315 0668 5 1 . Migration, Internal — Oceania. 2. Emigration and immigration — Oceania. 3. Oceania — Economic conditions. 4. Oceania — Social conditions. I. Connell, John, 1946 — II. Australian National University. National Centre for Development Studies. (Series : Pacific research monograph; no. 24). 304.80995 Printed in Australia by the Australian National University National Centre for Development Studies The Australian National University CPOBox4 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia Abstract For the past quarter of a century migration has been the most important demographic variable in large parts of the South Pacific region. Within the region there is extensive rural-urban migration and beyond the region international migration to the metropolitan states of USA, Australia and New Zealand. The scale of this movement has changed perceptions of development, posed problems for national development (and especially for agricultural development) and con tributed to rapid social and economic change, as island states and islanders have increasingly focused their social and economic aspirations outwards. Pressures for migration continue to increase at the same time as the opportunities for satisfying such pressures are declining, and as international migration becomes an increasingly overt political issue. This collection of recent papers examines the changing context and impact of migration in eight different states in the region, reviewing such issues as the brain or skill drain, remittances and investment, employment strategies of migrants, the impact of migration on inequality and uneven development and the overall relationship between migration and development. Migration is more closely linked to social issues, including education and suicide, than in many earlier discussions and there is also a strong emphasis on the historical evolution of structures of migration. The various papers demonstrate the great variety in the structure and impact of migration and recognize the tasks involved in incorporat ing such diversity into appropriate policy formation. Dr John Connell is Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University of Sydney. He was previously in the Economics Department, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, where he carried out research in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. From 1981 until the end of 1983 he worked at the South Pacific Commission in Noumea, New Caledonia, on an international project on Migration, Employment and Development issues, mainly in the South Pacific region, and is currently working on such issues as development in island microstates and decolonization in the South Pacific region. Contributors John Connell Department of Geography, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Doug Munro School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland 4217, Australia Francis X. Hezel Micronesian Seminar, P.O. Box 250, Truk, Federated States of Micronesia 96942. Michael J. Levin Population Division, United States Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C, USA. Terry Loomis Social Sciences Research Fund Committee, P.O. Box 1092, Wellington, New Zealand. Laura Zimmer Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Papua New Guinea, University P.O. Box 320, NCD, Papua New Guinea. David J. Boyd Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA. Cluny Macpherson Department of Sociology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. Jill White 1 Brick Row Cottages, Swalcliffe, near Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 5ER England (formerly Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Centre, University of Reading). Jenny Bryant School of Social and Economic Development, University of the South Pacific, P.O. Box 1168, Suva, Fiji. Gerald Haberkorn National Planning and Statistics Office, Port Vila, Vanuatu. Robert W. Franco Social Science Research Center, Kapiolani Community College, 4303 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96816, USA. Contents Contributors vi Preface xi Chapters 1. Modernity and its discontents Migration and change in the South Pacific JOHNCONNEIL 1 2. Migration and the shift to dependence in Tuvalu A historical perspective DOUG MUNRO 29 3. Micronesian emigration Beyond the brain drain FRANCIS X. HEZEL & MICHAEL J. LEVIN 42 4. Cook Island remittances Volumes, determinants and uses TERRY LOOM1S 61 5. When tomorrow comes Future opportunities and current investment patterns in an area of high out-migration LAURA J. ZlMMER 82 6. New wealth and old power Circulation, remittances, and the control of inequality in an Eastern Highlands community, Papua New Guinea DAVID J. BOYD 97 7. Stolen dreams Some consequences of dependency for Western Samoan youth CLUNY MACPHERSON 107 Contents (amo 8. Education, inequality and social change in the Rai Coast district of Papua New Guinea JILL WHITE 120 9. Rotuman migration and Fiji A response to uneven development 1.1. BRYANT 136 10. Paamese in Port Vila Peasants on leave or a wage-dependent proletariat? GERALD HABERKORN 151 11. Samoans in Hawaii Enclaves without entrepreneurship ROBERT W. FRANCO 170 References 183 Index 197 ix List of Tables 3.1 Palauan population, 1955-72, with births, deaths, and net growth 44 3.2 Palauan population, 1972-84, with births, deaths, and net growth 46 3.3 Graduating Micronesian high school students, 1970-82 47 3.4 Micronesia ns studying in college, 1962-85 48 3.5 US assistance to the Trust Territory, 1955-84 50 3.6 Urbanization in Micronesia/1 955-80 51 3.7 Destinations of Micronesian students in college, 1974 and 1985 57 3.8 Micronesians residing in the United States in 1980 58 4.1 Total value remitted by Cook Islanders in New Zealand, 1966-84 64 4.2 Remittances by length of residence in New Zealand 67 4.3 Remittances by individual income levels, 1985 69 4.4 Amount of remittances by household income, 1985 70 4.5 Population trends on three islands, 1966-81 72 4.6 Comparison of dependency ratios 73 4.7 Comparison of New Zealand money orders pa id during 1985 74 4.8 Distribution of total cash remittances, 1985 74 4.9 Use made of cash remittances on three islands 76 4.10 Comparisons of per capita remittance use 77 4.11 Trends in company registrations in the Cook Islands, 1971-85 77 4.12 Ownership of new housing on Rarotonga and Aitutaki, 1985-86 78 4.13 Ownership and source of funds on Mauke,8 1985-86 79 5.1 Distribution of Cende population 1982 87 5.2 Annual household incomes in Yandera village, 1982 88 5.3 Marriage and residence patterns among Yandera males, 1982 90 5.4 Sex ratios according to age and location, 1982 91 5.2 Annual household incomes in Yandera village, 1982 91 6.1 Contract and casual labour migration of Irakian men, 1963-81 102 6.2 Irakian contract labour remittances allocation, 1963-72 105 7.1 Dependency ratios by region, Western Samoa, 1976 111 8.1 School leavers in Galeg and Sibog, 1963-83 128 9.1 Population of Rotuma, 1881-1976 139 9.2 Distribution of Rotuman population in Fiji, 1921-76 140 9.3 Economically active population of Rotuma, 1976 142 9.4 Rotuman and Fijian males engaged in selected occupations, Rotuma, 1976 143 9.5 Occupations of Rotumans in Raiwaqa, 1973, 1983 143 X List of Tables (cont.) 9.6 Rotuman families in Raiwaqa: movement of house-heads,! 973-83 147 9.7 Movement of Rotuman householders in Fiji, 1973-83 148 9.8 Rotuman housing status after moving 148 9.9 Education on Fiji population 15 years and over, 1976 149 10.1 Years of residence in Port Vila 161 10.2 The incidence of urban-to-rural remittances 167 11.1 The Samoan population of the United States, selected states, American Samoa, 1980, and Western Samoa, 1981 173 11 .2 Percentage of Hawaii civilian labour force unemployed,l 989 1 75 11.3 Percentage in the Hawaii labour force, 1980 175 11 .4 Percentage of workers employed in retail trade in Hawaii and California, 1 980 176 List of Figures Figure 1 .1 South Pacific region 2 Figure 2.1 Tuvalu 30 Figure 2.2 The trading relationship 32 Figure 4.1 Trends in remittances to the Cook Islands by major components 66 Figure 4.2 The Cook Islands 71 Figure 5.1 The island of New Guinea 83 Figure 5.2 The Cende homeland 85 Figure 6.1 The Okapa district 99 Figure 8.1 School leavers in Rai Coast, 1973-82 127 Figure 10.1 Vanuatu 152 Figure 10.2 Developments in Paamese life-time mobility, 1953-82 164 Figure 10.3 Changes in migration destinations, 1953-82 165 Preface In the present decade there has been surprisingly little work on contemporary migration, and the relationship between population movement and development in the South Pacific (including Micronesia), despite the significance of internal and international migration in the region. The last volume which put together some relevant pieces was based on a conference held at the Australian National University in the late 1970s (Jones and Richter 1981) and recent work (Connell 1987a; Walsh 1982) has reviewed a series of dated migration studies, but included no new data or theoretical considerations, being solely concerned with a limited range of practical issues. Two book-length studies have appeared more recently (Chapman and Prothero 1985; Chapman 1985b), the first of which collected 1978 conference papers on mobility in Melanesia while the second examined issues of mobility and identity with development implications.