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Low-lying Pacific island nations are experiencing the frontline of
sea-level rises and climate change and are responding creatively
and making-sense in their own vernacular terms. Pacific Climate
Cultures aims to bring Oceanic philosophies to the frontline of
social science theorization. It explores the home-grown ways that
'climate change' becomes absorbed into the combined effects of
globalization and into a living nexus of relations amongst human
and non-humans, spirits and elements. Contributors to this edited
volume explore diverse examples of living climate change-from
floods and cyclones, through song and navigation, to new forms of
art, community initiatives and cultural appropriations-and
demonstrate their international relevance in understanding climate
change. A Prelude by His Highness Tui Atua Efi and Afterword by
Anne Salmond frame an Introduction by Tony Crook & Peter
Rudiak-Gould and nine chapters by contributors including John
Connell, Elfriede Hermann & Wolfgang Kempf and Cecilie Rubow.
Endorsement from Professor Margaret Jolly, Australian National
University: This exciting volume offers innovative insights on
climate cultures across Oceania. It critically interrogates Western
environmental sciences which fail to fully appreciate Oceanic
knowledges and practices. It reveals how climate science can be
both 'a weapon of the weak' and 'an act of symbolic violence of the
powerful'. A compelling series of studies in the Cook islands,
Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Samoa suggest not diverse
cultural constructions of 'natural facts' but processes of
knowledge exchange and at best a respectful reciprocity in
confronting present challenges and disturbing future scenarios.
'Home-grown' Pacific discourses and ways of living emphasise the
interconnections of all life on earth and in our cosmos; they do
not differentiate between the natural and the moral, between
environmental and cultural transformations. These studies evoke the
creative agency of Oceanic peoples, too often seen as on the
vanguard of victimhood in global representations of climate change,
and offer distinctive visions for all humanity in these troubling
times.
The citizens of the Marshall Islands have been told that climate
change will doom their country, and they have seen confirmatory
omens in the land, air, and sea. This book investigates how
grassroots Marshallese society has interpreted and responded to
this threat as intimated by local observation, science
communication, and Biblical exegesis. With grounds to dismiss or
ignore the threat, Marshall Islanders have instead embraced it;
with reasons to forswear guilt and responsibility, they have
instead adopted in-group blame; and having been instructed that
resettlement is necessary, they have vowed instead to retain the
homeland. These dominant local responses can be understood as
arising from a pre-existing, vigorous constellation of Marshallese
ideas termed "modernity the trickster": a historically inspired
narrative of self-inflicted cultural decline and seduction by
Euro-American modernity. This study illuminates islander agency at
the intersection of the local and the global, and suggests a theory
of risk perception based on ideological commitment to narratives of
historical progress and decline.
The citizens of the Marshall Islands have been told that climate
change will doom their country, and they have seen confirmatory
omens in the land, air, and sea. This book investigates how
grassroots Marshallese society has interpreted and responded to
this threat as intimated by local observation, science
communication, and Biblical exegesis. With grounds to dismiss or
ignore the threat, Marshall Islanders have instead embraced it;
with reasons to forswear guilt and responsibility, they have
instead adopted in-group blame; and having been instructed that
resettlement is necessary, they have vowed instead to retain the
homeland. These dominant local responses can be understood as
arising from a pre-existing, vigorous constellation of Marshallese
ideas termed "modernity the trickster": a historically inspired
narrative of self-inflicted cultural decline and seduction by
Euro-American modernity. This study illuminates islander agency at
the intersection of the local and the global, and suggests a theory
of risk perception based on ideological commitment to narratives of
historical progress and decline.
The Marshall Islands, an archipelago of low-lying coral atolls in
Micronesia, have never been an easy place to survive. The future
will bring new difficulties: sea level rise and other effects of
global climate change may render the entire country uninhabitable
within the lifetimes of its inhabitants. This book examines local
interpretations of this doomsday prophecy, weaving into this story
related topics such as Marshallese notions of the good life,
narratives of cultural change, attitudes towards Americans and
foreign scientists, and perceptions of lingering radiation from
nuclear testing. It includes a transcript of the author's interview
with the President of the Marshall Islands regarding climate
change, as well as an appendix offering practical advice to
activists who wish to promote awareness and adaptation in
communities vulnerable to climate change. The study is based upon
ethnographic fieldwork in 2007 including interviews in the
Marshallese language, as well as the author's experience as a
volunteer teacher in a rural Marshallese community from 2003 to
2004.
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