Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the methodological dynamics of "insider" anthropology conducted within Pacific Islander communities and examines the circumstances under which insider anthropologists must negotiate a path that balances their personal identities and their professional identities as anthropologists.

Paper long abstract:

In conducting anthropology as a member of the community that is the focus of the study, questions of personal and professional identity often arise. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this positioning and I draw on my experiences as an anthropologist of New Zealand and New Guinea Islander descent to explain this point. This paper explores the boundaries of insider and outsiderness; examines the postcolonial sociopolitics of "insider" anthropology in the Pacific region; and analyses the broad intersections between race, family, culture and anthropological practice. These themes highlight the moral decisions some anthropologists must navigate in order to strike a balance between entwined personal and professional identities.

In this paper, I define "Pacific Islander" as any person of Melanesian, Micronesian or Polynesian descent. I use this term (rather than a more concise national of ethnic category e.g. Fijian, Ngati Whatua, ni-Vanuatu) because this paper stems largely from my recent postdoctoral research on diasporic, panethnic Pacific Islander identity, and this term's encompassing nature enables me to draw on the spectrum of encounters I experienced during my fieldwork in Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.