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- Convenors:
-
Norbert Pötzsch
(University of Göttingen)
Janne von Seggern (MLU)
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- Format:
- Workshop
- Regional groups:
- Oceania
- Transfers:
- Closed for transfers
Short Abstract:
This workshop aims to discuss ethnographic papers focussing on different types of mobilities of people, ideas, and artefacts that (re-)shape ideas of un/commoning in Oceania along the lines of personal, economical, religious, environmental, and political influences and (trans-)national aspirations.
Long Abstract:
Oceania is marked by multiple mobilities of people, ideas, and artefacts that move back and forth over (trans-)national spaces, and places. While doing so they interdependently influence each other as well as their surrounding environments. In Oceania, people, ideas, and artefacts were strongly considered a common property of families, communities, or the state, for centuries. This notion however has been challenged by contemporary economical, religious, environmental, and political influences as well as individual aspirations that (re-)shape ideas of property and belonging, as well as who should benefit from and identify with them. Notions of individualistic versus community-based approaches arise at the same time as international capitalistic interests shape the way how states try to manage human and non-human resources. Societies and actors in Oceania therefore face questions on how un/commoning should be done for the ‘better’ of their own people, now and in the future: For instance, while encountering work migration schemes, climate change, extractions of minerals, or the repatriation of artifacts.
This workshop invites ethnographically-rich papers to focus on different types of mobilities of people, ideas, and artefacts that challenge or (re-)shape ideas of un/commoning in Oceania along the lines of personal, economical, religious, environmental, and political influences and (trans-)national aspirations.
Accepted contributions:
Session 1Contribution short abstract:
Based on original fieldwork in Tuvalu in 2025, this presentation shall engage with the country's plans to create a digital twin in cyberspace as part of its Future Now project, raising questions of statehood and identity and their potential to unroot Western hegemonic ideals - or sustain them.
Contribution long abstract:
Tuvalu is widely known for being considered one of the first small island developing states (SIDS) to face inundation due to rising sea levels caused by global climate change. The narrative of Tuvalu as “sinking islands” stands emblematic for the foreign perception of the nation, posing serious questions concerning Tuvalu’s sovereignty in case of loss of territory. This issue is tackled through Tuvalu’s Future Now initiative, that, alongside physical adaptation processes like seawalls and softer practices like migration treaties (like the fale pili Union with Australia), proposes the creation of a digital twin of the country in cyberspace. The establishment of this digital twin is supposed to ensure maintenance of sovereignty in an unprecedented case that questions hegemonic notions of statehood, centering Pacific knowledge systems such as fenua. At the same time, it bears questions regarding its sustainability and global dependencies in the question of server locations around the world.
Based on two months of fieldwork, this presentation shall deal with this ambivalence through the following questions: How does the Tuvaluan population deal with the risks of inundation and the government’s plans to create a digital twin of the country alongside adaptation and migration pacts like the fale pili union? And is the cyberspace migration proposal of the government a challenge to current ideals of statehood or merely a symptom of post-Fordist solutions to real problems affecting real people? Finally, what does this mean for the idea of physical land as a commons in a world of rising sea levels?
Contribution short abstract:
Vanuatu's '20 Vatu food' is supposed to be an affordable, healthy and local alternative to imported fast food. But how exactly does it strengthen food sovereignty, promote local food practices and enable self-sufficient and sustainable community nutrition through the commons concept?
Contribution long abstract:
In Vanuatu, people are moving away from rural areas to live in cities, they want quick meals, but fresh, local food is expensive in the markets and takes a long time to prepare. 20vatu food is a way to address these issues by providing affordable meals using local ingredients, which can help people become less dependent on imported food.
A key part of the "20 Vatu food" is the commons principle: 'mamas' cook for the community and are financially rewarded for doing so. This could not only promote social cohesion, but also protect local food traditions. It could also be a way of reducing dependence on industrial food production and strengthening food sovereignty. In this way, "20 Vatu food" could be a good example of sustainable, local food and help to solve health problems caused by the consumption of highly processed food.
With this in mind, as part of my PhD research "The ‘future gardens’ of Luganville?" I will also be investigating the ways in which the practice of "20vatu food" in Luganville is enacted in peri-urban communities. Using an ethnographic approach and a range of qualitative methods, including working with local cooks and consumers, I aim to gain a deeper understanding of how this food practice is embedded in everyday life.
Contribution short abstract:
Paying particular attention to the relational and institutional undercurrents of Fijian sociality, this paper ponders the strategies employed by Japan- and UK-based indigenous Fijians to limit or circumvent communal expectations related to kin and wider communities of origin in Fiji.
Contribution long abstract:
This paper discusses some of the strategies Japan- and UK-based indigenous Fijians employ to selectively limit or circumvent im/material expectations many of them face from relatives and wider communities of origin in Fiji. In doing so, it critically engages with a common bias in Pacific Islander mobility and migration studies that routinely characterizes remittances as integral to Pacific diasporas and transnationalism. Working towards a more balanced perspective, this paper draws on ethnographic research conducted with first-generation migrants from Fiji in the Tokyo metropolis, Greater London and other parts of Japan and England, who offered (at times substantial) criticism against Fijian communalism and its metacultural foundations (cf. Tomlinson 2009) without questioning it as such. This was particularly evident if Fijians were concerned who faced exaggerated and excessive requests for support from relatives and others who were unaware of the migrants’ living conditions and misjudged their financial capabilities. In response, diasporic Fijians used a range of strategies to navigate communal ways of being and belonging, for example, they limited remittances to specific persons and causes, maintained a degree of spatial distance during stays in Fiji or resorted to unannounced visits to the country. To theorise the ethnographic material presented, the paper pays particular attention to the institutional and relational undercurrents of Fijian communalism in order to trace the place of migrants within Fijian sociality at large.
Contribution short abstract:
Focusing on practices of un/commoning mobilities and contemporary Chuukese ways of being and belonging, the paper critically engages with common ideas of the transnational space between Chuuk and the US.
Contribution long abstract:
The Micronesian State of Chuuk (FSM) and the US are historically entangled in various types of transborder and transnational mobilities of people, goods, information, tastes, ideas of morality, and money. Mobility is not only integral to Chuukese sociality, it is also the foundation for remittances of all kinds which have been shaping Chuukese commonality and ways of belonging over decades. Yet, this ethnographically-driven paper illustrates that the ideal of communalism is increasingly challenged by Chuukese migrants’ individual aspirations and ambitions. This is evident, for example, during elections, when specific financial support is directed towards specific voting behavior. More generally, younger Chuukese migrants increasingly question their relatives’ taken for granted attitude related to financial expectations and move towards alternative ways of being and belonging. This paper highlights how, along im/material expectations and aspirations, deliberations on possible benefits of un/commoning shape the current transnational space that connect Chuuk and the US. In a broader sense, the paper contributes towards a more balanced discussion on ideas of mobilities and diaspora in Oceania.