Category: The Contemporary Pacific

The Pacific Islands (map)
p. V

About the Artist: Fatu Feu‘u
Katherine Higgins, VI

ARTICLES

Vulnerable Islands: Climate Change, Tectonic Change, and Changing Livelihoods in the Western Pacific
John Connell, 1

Small Pacific islands, especially atolls, have been widely argued to be in the forefront of climate change. Recent degradation of island environments has primarily been attributed to the impact of sea-level rise. However, physical changes to several small islands can be linked to a range of physical influences and to human modification. La Niña events, cyclones, and wind waves have caused localized flooding and storm damage. Most atoll islands have not significantly changed in size, as deposition balances erosion. Many islands have experienced broadly similar environmental problems in earlier times, at different scales, and over different time periods, now accentuated by human pressures on scarce land areas and resources. Local human factors (including construction and mining), tectonic subsidence, and La Niña events have created some iconic sites that have become symbols of sea-level rise, sometimes erroneously attributed solely to global warming. Limited economic prospects in most small islands, rising expectations, and growing populations have contributed to a culture of migration, marked by international migration and urbanization, that has diversified impoverished livelihoods, extended island geographies, and resulted in accentuated population concentrations. Contemporary climate change exacerbates present environmental changes, stimulates further migration, and points to diasporic futures.
Keywords: atolls, climate change, sea level, tectonics, urbanization, migration

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 27, no. 1 (2015)”

Global Sport in the Pacific

Guest edited by Fa’anofo Lisaclaire (Lisa) Uperesa and Tom Mountjoy

The Pacific Islands,  iv

About the Artist: Greg Semu, viii-553

ARTICLES

Global Sport in the Pacific: A Brief Overview
Fa‘anofo Lisaclaire (Lisa) Uperesa and Tom Mountjoy, 263

Abstract: In recent decades, sport has become an increasingly important path of mobility for Pacific Islander men, positioning them within interlinked local, state, regional, and global sporting economies. Players from the Pacific (particularly in rugby, rugby league, soccer, and gridiron football) have become icons through their sporting prowess, not only within Oceania but in Japan, the United States, and throughout Europe as well, as new markets have opened up through professional and semi-professional sport. Yet this movement continues to take place within the fragile context of the spread of globalized media, transnational capital investment, and development initiatives throughout the region. This introduction to global sport in the Pacific considers the complicated realities of and links between modern, highly commercialized team sports that have facilitated both the rise of global sport in the Pacific and the rise of the Pacific in global sport. Focused on key themes of agency and mobility; development and discipline; indigenization, embodiment, and ethno-nationalism; and polyvalent imaginaries, the contributions to this special issue explore how and why sporting practices have become closely linked to various economic, political, and social processes that shape possibilities for everyday life across the Pacific and beyond.
Keywords: sport, mobility, globalization, commoditization, ethnography

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 26, no. 2 (2014)”

About the Artist: Visesio Poasi Siasau, vii

The Pacific Islands, viii

ARTICLES

Climate-Change Migration in the Pacific
John R Campbell, 1

Abstract: Despite considerable debate about whether or not climate change will cause large numbers of people to migrate, there has been little consideration of how such displacement might be caused. Three effects of climate change are identified as possible drivers of migration: loss of or reduction in land security, livelihood security, and habitat security. Where these are destroyed by climate change, migration will be forced and would require the abandonment of some locations. Such community relocation is likely to be a disruptive form of climate-change migration, and past experience indicates that there are numerous social, cultural, emotional, and economic costs associated with such moves, even at relatively small distances. Where the loss of security is partial, voluntary or induced migration may be a practical adaptive response, reducing pressure on declining local life-support systems and providing remittances to supplement declining livelihoods. Most attention has been focused on atoll communities, but most Pacific communities (with the exception of Papua New Guinea) are coastal, and the security of some inland areas may be threatened by increasing magnitude and frequency of droughts. Destinations for climate-change migrants may range from locations within customary lands to foreign countries within and beyond the region. A key issue is the essential link between Pacific Islands people and their land, which poses major problems not only for those forced to leave but also for communities within the region that may be required to give up land for relocatees.
Keywords: climate change, migration, relocation, land security, livelihood security, habitat security
Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 26, no. 1 (2014)”

The Pacific Islands, v

About the Artists: From the 2012 Festival of Pacific Arts, vii

articles

After Cannibal Tours: Cargoism and Marginality in a Post-touristic Sepik River Society
Eric K Silverman, 221

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 25, no. 2 (2013)”

The Pacific Islands, v

About the Artists: The Jaki-Ed Collective, vii

ARTICLES

How Can Traditional Knowledge Best Be Regulated? Comparing a Proprietary Rights Approach with a Regulatory Toolbox Approach
Miranda Forsyth, 1

Abstract: Traditional knowledge is increasingly being seen as a potential source of economic value in the Pacific Islands region. Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 25, no. 1 (2013)”

The Pacific Islands, v

About the Artist: Ani O’Neill, vii

ARTICLES

Pills, Potions, Products: Kava’s Transformations in New and Nontraditional Contexts
Jonathan D Baker, 233

Abstract: This article focuses on kava (Piper methysticum G. Forst, Piperaceae) in its various forms: plant, beverage, medicine, and dietary supplement. Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 24, no. 2 (2012)”

The Pacific Islands, v

About the Artist: Solomon Enos, vii

ARTICLES

Fleeting Substantiality: The Samoan Giant in US Popular Discourse
April K Henderson, 269

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 23, no. 2 (2011)”

The Pacific Islands, v

About the Artist: Niki Hastings-McFall, vii

articles

Navigating the Revival of Voyaging in the Marshall Islands: Predicaments of Preservation and Possibilities of Collaboration
Joseph Genz, 1

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 23, no. 1 (2011)”

Albert Wendt’s Creative and Critical Legacy in Oceania

Guest edited by Teresia K Teaiwa and Selina Tusitala Marsh

The Pacific Islands, iv

About the Artist: Michel Tuffery, ix

Albert Wendt’s Critical and Creative Legacy in Oceania: An Introduction
Teresia Teaiwa and Selina Tusitala Marsh, 233

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 22, no. 2: Flying Fox Excursions”

The Pacific Islands, v
About the Artist: Sue Pearson, vii

articles

From Full Dusk to Full Tusk: Reimagining the “Dusky Maiden” through the Visual Arts
A Marata Tamaira, 1

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 22, no. 1 (2010)”

Index to vols. 1-10 (1989-1998)
compiled by Linley Chapman and Heather Stanton

Back issues of The Contemporary Pacific are now available online in the University of Hawai‘i Library’s ScholarSpace digital repository. Titles in the index below are linked to their article “handles” (URLs) in ScholarSpace.

Entries are arranged in a single alphabetical list, with items indexed by volume and inclusive page numbers (1:43-74). Names of AUTHORS are in capital letters. Titles of articles are reproduced as they appeared, followed by the last name of the author in parentheses. Alphabetization ignores initial articles, conjunctions, and prepositions. Each article is listed by title, last name of (first) author, approximately five subject categories, and appropriate place names. Where articles had more than one author, secondary authors are listed by last name only, with cross-references to the primary author. Dialogue and Resources items are indexed as articles. Political Reviews are listed under the name of the political entity and the last name of the author. Titles of books are in italics. Place names (mostly of political units or regions) are in boldface type. Books reviewed are listed only by last name of (first) author, with the last name of the reviewer in parentheses following the book title, and cross references from the reviewer.

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vols. 1-10 (1989-1998): Online Index”