Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Pacific Island Movement and Socioeconomic Change: Metaphors of Misunderstanding

1991; Wiley; Volume: 17; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1973731

1728-4457

Murray Chapman,

Migration and Labor Dynamics

The primary thrust of this article on shifting population movement in the Pacific Islands is that images and metaphors do not convey the current ebb and flow of Pacific Island movement nor the volatile and ambiguous character. The history of the population movement is briefly summarized for the period of the 1950s-80s. In the reconstruction of mobility in the upper Wainimala Valley of Fiji by Margaret Chung it is reported that she found evidence of a drift pattern of redistribution of people born in central Viti Levu prior to 1870 and between 1924 and 1970. The intervening years held dislocation due to war and stabilization of rural settlement due to colonial government. There is discussion of residential patterns of change by generation such that the impression made is that between 1910-70 3 out of 5 persons born in wainimala tikina (303 out of 526 leave for a period longer than a year. The drift is between Wainimala and other rural places and communities and not the popular metaphor of rural/urban type. This occurs inspite of the good road access on Viti Levu to the capital of Suva and intermediate cities of Lautoka and Ba wage differentials and urban employment. It is known among rural villagers that urban living eats up money and the message is conveyed through kinsfolk by work of mouth. The socioeconomic pragmatism operates; going away to wage work is incorporated within a semisubsistence system of agricultural production and is mediated and circumscribed by family needs. The 8th and 9th development plans of Fiji (1981-90) addressing the need to stem the rural/urban drift tries to respond to an inappropriate metaphor and assures that socioeconomic benefits for the inland districts like Wainimala will be illusory. The next major section is concerned with a discussion of the concepts of emigration and depopulation using Yvonne Underhills research on whether atoll households have incorporated movement as a socioeconomic strategy for collective survival within the past 25 years (Manihiki populations). Distinctions are made between de facto families and de jure households and the observation is made that intense circuits of movement are tied to a common point of origin. In following the Manihiki society it was found that movement satisfied various socioeconomic objectives but was linked to moving way to stay behind. The 3rd section is devoted to freedom of movement and the interaction with the law. The final chapter amplifies the theme of group movement as ambiguity and paradox. The clan the lineage and the extended family have not been used as the frame of reference for understanding the changing patterns and recent case studies reflect the difficulties in applying conventional models. There is ignorance of the obvious fact that migration and circulation are an integral part of a broader regional system of mobility connecting individuals the families and the wider communities of 22 political entities.