Paper short abstract:

Ngardmau village in Palau underwent the traumatic destruction caused by bauxite mining in the 1940s. However, the people of Ngardmau have retrieved their village landscape through a peculiar way of remembrance in which exploitation by the Empire of Japan is converted into prosperity of the village.

Paper long abstract:

In the early 1940s, the Empire of Japan initiated bauxite mining in Ngardmau village on Babeldaob, a largest volcanic island in the Palau Islands. The mining transfigured the village-scape far from the traditional one. Along the bauxite mining, Ngardmau saw the arrival of a large number of external trespassers; Japanese engineers; miners from Japan, Korea, Palau and other Micronesian islands; and military personnel proceeding to or retrieving from the South. Those involved in mining left Ngardmau after the Pacific War, leaving the non-operable mining infrastructure and materials behind. Soon after the transitional time, most villagers left their traditional houses with stone pavements to resettle along the new roads the Japanese mine company had built. The villagers also reused the harbors from which mined ores had been transported, foundations of houses for mine workers, and other remnants. To the present, the villagers has maintained the memory of mining era in the songs sung in Japanese and Palauan languages, which are often performed with contemporary dances. These songs tell the story of mine workers working in the mountains and factories and include the stories from the leisure time after work. Although the relics from the mining era pertain hues of optimism, the songs exemplify a peculiar way of remembrance in which Palauans convert exploitation by the Empire of Japan into prosperity of their own village. Despite the severe exploitation and destruction, the people of Ngardmau have retrieved their village landscape through appropriating colonial discourse of development.