Acclimatising to Higher Ground : The Realities of Life of a Pacific Atoll People.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dixon, Keith.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Island people--Pacific Area.

Island people.

Island life--Pacific Area.

Island life.

Climatic changes--Pacific Area.

Climatic changes.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (258 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden : Sidestone Press, 2021.

Summary:

Life for people on atolls is hard, affected by droughts, rough seas and other adverse climatic conditions, and now, rise in sea level threatens their very inhabitance. No wonder kinship is the foundation of atoll societies, traditional and modern! This book presents a multidisciplinary, retrospective analysis of a Pacific Atoll People living in several countries but held together as a diaspora through notions of kinship. The People have ancestral, cultural, social and continuing residential connections with Nikunau Atoll, at the centre of the Pacific Ocean and once a Cinderella of the British Empire. The analysis explicates their present diasporic circumstances and the pathways through which these arose historically. The intention is to provide a basis for better prospects for succeeding generations from a critical, better-informed standpoint. The analysis relies on the partisan stance of the author, whose kinship ties with I-Nikunau (= people who identify with Nikunau) are affinal, and his 30-year immersion among the People in question. In addition, a large quantity of literature sources and other secondary data are woven into the analysis, as situations and events are grappled with, articulated, interpreted and written into the book. The circumstances are analysed under 14 themes, namely, geographical, demographical, economic, environmental, cultural, societal, etc. The analysis should stir the waters of recent research about Nikunau and Kiribati, much of it concerned with environmental changes making uninhabitable Nikunau, Tarawa and other atolls where I-Nikunau reside, and imagining their resettlement on higher ground, for example, New Zealand, where several diasporic communities exist already. This recent research refers frequently to the social, cultural and economic matters covered in this book, indicating how relevant and important these

matters 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.

Contents:

Intro

Introduction

Research Approach

1.1 Validity of Chosen Themes

1.3 Empirical Materials

1.2 Validity of I-Nikunau as a Study Identity

1.2.1 Utu

1.4 Intent of Applying My Methods

I-Nikunau in the Present

On Nikunau Atoll

On (South) Tarawa

Beyond Kiribati

4.1 On Great Britain

4.2 On Te Ika-a-Maui and Te Waipounamu (Aotearoa New Zealand)

Retrospective Analysis of I-Nikunau and Interpretation of their Circumstances

Geographical Circumstances (te mauri)

5.2 Diaspora taking Roots

5.2.1 Tarawa: Centralisation and Precedence

5.2.2 Consequences for I-Nikunau of Centralisation

5.2.3 Phoenix, Solomon and Line Islands

5.2.4 Metropolitan Countries

5.1 Comings and Goings, and Seeds of Diaspora

Demographical Circumstances (te mauri)

6.1 Population of I-Nikunau and of Nikunau

6.3 Settlements in the Diaspora

6.2 Settlements on Nikunau

Economic Circumstances (te tabomoa)

7.1 Copra and Money and Non-Traditional Entities on Nikunau

7.4 Metropolitan Countries

7.4.1 Backwash and Spread Effects on Tarawa from Metropolitan Countries

7.3 Further Aspects of Economic Change in Kiribati

7.3.1 Tarawa's Economy

7.3.2 Nikunau's Economy

7.2 Dynamics of Economic and Related Developments on and away from Nikunau

7.2.1 Bartering with Foreign Visitors

7.2.2 Private Trade Stores

7.2.3 Cooperative Trade Stores

Environmental Circumstances (te mauri)

8.1 Tarawa's "Worrisome Trend"

8.4 Climate Change and Emigration

8.4.1 Immigration Information

8.3 Diasporic Communities on Higher Ground

8.2 On Nikunau

Biological Circumstances (te mauri)

Nutritional and Corporeal Circumstances (te mauri)

10.1 On Nikunau

10.3 Aotearoa New Zealand

10.2 Tarawa

Political Circumstances (te raoi).

11.4 Quasi-traditional Governance on Nikunau and within Diasporic Communities

11.3 I-Nikunau in the Political System

11.2 From Mwaneaba District Autonomy on Nikunau to Rule from Tarawa

11.2.1 I-Nikunau governing themselves traditionally on Nikunau

11.2.2 Informal Colonialism on Nikunau

11.2.3 British Colonial Rule

11.2.4 Rule by I-Kiribati

11.1 Government in Kiribati

Spiritual Circumstances (te raoi)

12.3 Consequences of Christianity for I-Nikunau

12.2 Religious "Conversion"

12.2.1 Fundraising

12.1 I-Nikunau's Traditional Spiritual Beliefs

Educational Circumstances (te mauri)

13.1 Outline of Formal Education

13.4 Formal Education and its Wider Consequences

13.3 Esteem and Impact of Non-Traditional Education

Qualifying to Emigrate

Knowledge Varying by Location

Conflicts between Traditional and Formal Education

13.2 Retrospective Analysis of Education on Nikunau and within Kiribati

13.2.1 Traditional Education

13.2.2 Mission Schools

13.2.3 Primary Schools

13.2.4 Secondary Schools

13.2.5 Tertiary Study

Social Circumstances (te mauri ao te raoi)

14.1 Mwenga as the Basic Kin Units

14.7 Social Categories and Resources of a Colonial and Post-Colonial Nature

14.6 Genealogical Accounts

14.5 Unimane, Unaine and other Age and Gender Statuses

14.4 Te Katei ni Kiribati and Differentiation

14.3 Aba, Lands and People

14.2 Community Activities and Botaki

Organisational Circumstances (te raoi)

15.4 Diasporic Communities

15.3 Conflicts between the Traditional and Non-traditional

15.2 Colonial and Traditional Traits in Present-day Organisations

15.1 Tradition and Effects of Initial Challenges

15.1.1 The Maritime Trade

15.1.2 Island Administration

Distributional Circumstances (te tabomoa)

16.1 Distributions among I-Nikunau.

16.3 Distributions between I-Nikunau Communities

16.2 Distributions between I-Nikunau and Others

Cultural Circumstances (te raoi)

17.2 External Influences on I-Nikunau Culture

17.1 I-Nikunau Culture

Societal Circumstances (te mauri ao te raoi)

Conclusion

References

Acknowledgements

Notes

Blank Page.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Dixon, Keith Acclimatising to Higher Ground

ISBN:

9789464260311

OCLC:

1285781431