Belonging in Oceania

Ethnographic case studies explore what it means to "belong" in Oceania, as contributors consider ongoing formations of place, self and community in connection with travelling, internal and international migration. The chapters apply the multi-dimensional concepts of movement, place-making and cultural identifications to explain contemporary life in Oceanic societies. The volume closes by suggesting that constructions of multiple belongings-and, with these, the relevant forms of mobility, place-making and identifications-are being recontextualized and modified by emerging discourses of climate change and sea-level rise.
 

Ethnographic case studies explore what it means to “belong” in Oceania, as contributors consider ongoing formations of place, self and community in connection with travelling, internal and international migration. The chapters apply the multi-dimensional concepts of movement, place-making and cultural identifications to explain contemporary life in Oceanic societies. The volume closes by suggesting that constructions of multiple belongings—and, with these, the relevant forms of mobility, place-making and identifications—are being recontextualized and modified by emerging discourses of climate change and sea-level rise.
 

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Movement, Place-making and Cultural Identification: Multiplicities of Belonging  
Wolfgang Kempf, Toon van Meijl and Elfriede Hermann

Chapter 1. Culture as Experience: Constructing Identities through Cross-cultural Encounters
Eveline Dürr

Chapter 2. ‘Forty Plus Different Tribes’: Displacement, Place-making and Aboriginal Tribal Names on Palm Island, Australia
Lise Garond

Chapter 3. Coconuts and the Landscape of Underdevelopment on Panapompom, Papua New Guinea
Will Rollason

Chapter 4. Invisible Villages in the City: Niuean Constructions of Place and Identity in Auckland
Hilke Thode-Arora

Chapter 5. Migration and Identity: Cook Islanders’ Relation to Land
Arno Pascht

Chapter 6. Protestantism among the Pacific Peoples in New Zealand: Mobility, Cultural Identifications, and Generational Shifts
Yannick Fer and Gwendoline Malogne-Fer

Chapter 7. Identity and Belonging in Cross-cultural Friendship: Māori and Pākehā Experiences
Agnes Brandt

Epilogue: Uncertain Futures of Belonging: Consequences of Climate Change and Sea-level Rise in Oceania
Wolfgang Kempf and Elfriede Hermann

Notes on Contributors