Australian South Sea Islanders’ narratives of belonging
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Clive Moore
Abstract
This chapter examines how the narrative of ASSI identity has developed, as an Australian ethnic group, as Pacific Islanders who have reconnected with their islands of origin aver the last fifty years, and as part of a larger diaspora of indigenous peoples dislodged from their homes as part of labour migration related to nineteenth capitalism and forced labour migration. ASSI by-and-large interpret their history through a narrative of kidnapping and slavery which is at odds with Pacific historians who for the last fifty years have stressed Islander agency and voluntary participation in labour migration, albeit with an early phase of illegal and often violent recruitment. The specific points addressed in this chapter relate to origins, the difference of opinion with academic historians, semantic differences in the use of words, identity as both Australian and Pacific peoples, and contemporary political agendas.
Abstract
This chapter examines how the narrative of ASSI identity has developed, as an Australian ethnic group, as Pacific Islanders who have reconnected with their islands of origin aver the last fifty years, and as part of a larger diaspora of indigenous peoples dislodged from their homes as part of labour migration related to nineteenth capitalism and forced labour migration. ASSI by-and-large interpret their history through a narrative of kidnapping and slavery which is at odds with Pacific historians who for the last fifty years have stressed Islander agency and voluntary participation in labour migration, albeit with an early phase of illegal and often violent recruitment. The specific points addressed in this chapter relate to origins, the difference of opinion with academic historians, semantic differences in the use of words, identity as both Australian and Pacific peoples, and contemporary political agendas.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editor’s note vii
- Glossing abbreviations ix
- About the authors xi
- Introduction 1
-
Inside the storyworld
- Moving through space and (not?) time 15
- We’ve never seen a cyclone like this 37
-
Telling narratives, constructing identities
- Local ecological knowledge in Mortlockese narrative 61
- Small stories and associated identities in Neverver 81
- ‘Sometime is lies’ 101
-
Narrative memories, cultures and identities
- Constructing Kanaka Maoli identity through narrative 119
- ‘Stories of long ago’ and the forces of modernity in South Pentecost 135
- Australian South Sea Islanders’ narratives of belonging 155
- Avatars of Fiji’s Girmit narrative 177
- Samoan narratives 193
- “[P]ulling tomorrow’s sky from [the] kete” 209
- Beyond exile 225
- Embodied silent narratives of masculinities 243
- Index 259
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editor’s note vii
- Glossing abbreviations ix
- About the authors xi
- Introduction 1
-
Inside the storyworld
- Moving through space and (not?) time 15
- We’ve never seen a cyclone like this 37
-
Telling narratives, constructing identities
- Local ecological knowledge in Mortlockese narrative 61
- Small stories and associated identities in Neverver 81
- ‘Sometime is lies’ 101
-
Narrative memories, cultures and identities
- Constructing Kanaka Maoli identity through narrative 119
- ‘Stories of long ago’ and the forces of modernity in South Pentecost 135
- Australian South Sea Islanders’ narratives of belonging 155
- Avatars of Fiji’s Girmit narrative 177
- Samoan narratives 193
- “[P]ulling tomorrow’s sky from [the] kete” 209
- Beyond exile 225
- Embodied silent narratives of masculinities 243
- Index 259
