Pacific Island Cultures - Article Example

? About Pacific Island Cultures Report Part First Page of the Journal Article The Journal of Pacific History, Vol. 43, No. 3, December 2008, by Richards, Rhys On Using Pacific Shipping Records to Gain New insights into culture contact in Polynesia before 1840_ ABSTRACT Pacific Island maritime history before 1840 is ripe for revolutionary new thinking. Shipping Arrivals and Departures lists (SADs) have been prepared for all the main Pacific Island ports, and lists of foreign visitors before 1840 at all the main island groups. New questions now can be asked that penetrate well beyond the metropolitan and colonial mindsets that have prevailed so far. In 1964, Dr John Cumpston had the foresight and the stamina to devise a now standard format for listing each and every shipping arrival and departure, vessel by vessel, visit by visit.1 This has proved to be a considerable legacy, as his pioneer work has sparked off research by many others who want to get beyond weak generalisations to look at the Pacific’s maritime past in real and quantitative terms. Comparable SADs have followed not only for all the main eastern Australian ports up to 1840, but also for the Bay of Islands, Akaroa and Port Otago.2 In 2000, the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (PAMBU) at The Australian National University and the Hawaiian Historical Society published a comparable list for Honolulu.3 The publication of a comparable list for Tahiti is forthcoming, while the Samoas, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Marquesas and Pitcairn have already been covered in different ways.4 Indeed the stage is set to look afresh at all Pacific Islands and their ports to draw out new substantial facts about their contact and early post-contact histories. These new lists allow the track of a ship, previously unknown, to be followed across the Pacific from island to island and to see each ship’s trade, its impact on local health, and other consequences, in time and in space, in ways that were impossible before, because no comparable ethnographic and oral records have survived. Even though some of the lists read rather like a turgid telephone book, all names and no plot, a great deal of red-blooded life can be drawn from these listings. *An earlier version of this paper was read at Te Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa, the 17th biennial conference of the Pacific History Association at Otago University on 7 December 2006. 1 J. Cumpston, Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Sydney, 1788–1825 (Canberra 1964). 2 Rhys Richards with Jocelyn Chisholm, Bay of Islands Shipping Arrivals and Departures 1803 to 1840 (Wellington 1992); ‘The SAD truth about Bay of Islands shipping 1803–1840’, The Great Circle, 15:1 (Sydney 1993), 30–5; Ian N. Church, Opening the Manifest on Otago’s Infant Years: shipping arrivals and departures Otago Harbour and Coast 1770–1860, Southern Heritage 150 Series (Dunedin 2001). 3 Rhys Richards, Honolulu, Centre of Trans-Pacific Trade: shipping arrivals and departures, 1820 to 1840 (Canberra and Honolulu) 2000. 4 R. Richards and R. Langdon, Tahiti and the Society Islands: shipping arrivals and departures 1767 to 1852 (Canberra forthcoming), based on ‘Ships at the Society Islands 1800–1852’, lists compiled in the 1980s by R. Langdon, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, Canberra; Robert Langdon, Where the Whalers Went: an index to the Pacific ports and islands visited by American whalers (and some other ships) in the 19th century (Canberra 1984); Rhys Richards, ‘Pacific whaling 1820–1840: port visits, shipping arrivals and departures, comparisons and sources’, The Great Circle, 24:1 (2002), 25–40. ISSN 0022-3344 print; 1469-9605 online/08/030375–8; Taylor and Francis _ 2008 The Journal of Pacific History Inc. DOI: 10.1080/00223340802499641 Article 2 First Page of the Journal Article International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education Vol. 23, No. 6, November 2010, 671–690 ISSN 0951-8398 print/ISSN 1366-5898 online © 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09518390903468339 http://www.informaworld.com Family obligations in Micronesian cultures: implications for educators Katherine T. Ratliffe* Department of Educational Psychology, University of Hawaimi]ebpr[`i, 1776 University Ave., Honolulu 96822, USA TaQySloEr_ aAn_d4 F4r7a2n0c1is.sgm (Received 13 February 2008; final version received 2 November 2009) Ir012TDOan09artt.05.iyle1 gi019lrKf0ionf-0n8aer8a0a t@0t3&h2li/9 oe0Ah 8nrF09air ar95n(wtlaAAip1e cnaJrR8lioicen3iaiu.st9etr)ld0n/i1fu9af3l0e 63o64f - in Education Micronesian people, a new group of immigrants to the USA, have a strong system of responsibilities to family members that guides their priorities and actions. When family obligations clash with school priorities, conflicts can occur. I interviewed 26 adults to learn about the relationships and responsibilities of family members to each other in Micronesian cultures and implications for Micronesian parent priorities that may affect their children’s schooling. The system of family obligations in Micronesian cultures is described, and its role in the priorities and behaviors of Micronesian families around schooling of their children is explored through emergent themes of (a) identity, (b) family relationships, (c) family roles, and (d) responsibilities of immigrants. The conventions of family obligations are the core of many cultural traditions from the Pacific. Understanding these traditions may help teachers and administrators better assist immigrant Micronesian families and their children to be successful in American schools. Keywords: family obligations; immigration; culture; Micronesia The USA has been called a nation of immigrants. Within a few years, researchers and statisticians theorize that Americans of European ethnicities will no longer constitute the majority in the USA (Hernandez, Denton, and Macartney 2007). Today, one of five schoolchildren has immigrant parents, and this is projected to change to one in three children by 2040 (Suarez-Orozco, Suarez-Orozco, and Todorova 2008). It is imperative for educators to be cognizant of the issues surrounding the education of immigrant youth. A common aspect of culture for many immigrant groups is the obligation that individuals have toward their families. Family obligations have been defined as a ‘collection of values and behaviors related to the … provision of assistance, support, and respect to … parents, siblings, and extended family’ (Fuligni 2007). Family responsibilities have been shown to be high in Asian, Latin American, African, and other cultures that are characterized by collectivism (Fuligni, Tseng, and Lam 1999; Fuligni and Zhang 2004; Sabogal 1987; Sy and Romero 2008). Fuligni, Tseng, and Lam (1999) found that these obligations differed significantly between collectivist immigrant adolescents and their European– American peers and that they continued to be maintained, across generations. Family obligations can influence and be influenced by aspects of community functioning *Email: ratliffe@hawaii.edu Part 2 of article 1 Richards, Rhys. 2008. "On Using Pacific Shipping Records to Gain New insights into culture contact in Polynesia before 1840." Journal Of Pacific History 43, no. 3: 375-382. Part 3 Introduction The article uses Pacific Shipping Records in order to gain a clear understanding of various activities related to culture contact that took place in Polynesia before 1840. The author manages to draw a list of tedious ships and their quantitative statistics in order to get comprehensive information concerning the early post-contact period. Most of the information is from records of shipping arrivals and the departures ones. These records were prepared for all the main Pacific Islands Ports. Moreover, the author also uses documented records of all the foreign visitors who were landing on these Islands before 1840. Through the help of a standard format that was developed by Dr. John Cumpston in 1964, the author is able to get an insight of various activities that took place before 1840 in various Pacific Islands. The standard format devised by Cumpston illustrates the listing of all the ships by indicating their arrival and departure time. This particular format shows the required information by illustrating each vessel and the number of visits it made on the Island. In order for the author to demonstrate his information in a method that every reader will understand, he has managed to show a table of various ships that made a number of visits to the Islands before 1821. Even though the exact figures do not matter in getting the required information, the author indicates that all the overall trends are of significance importance. The author manages to address a number of Islands in the article that include Tahiti, New Zealand, Marqueas, Huwaiian Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Cook Islands and Samoa. Some of the Ports where most of the ships conducted their activities that are addressed by the author include Sydney, Hobart, Honokulu and Lahaina. In this article, the author covers the shipping activities that took place between the period of 1821 and 1840. Some of the main topics addressed include all the activities related to operations of the ships in all of the Pacific Islands during this particular period. Another significant topic addressed in the article is the pacific ports and whaling. On this particular issue, the author manages to make various comparison and conclusions concerning all the ships that visited the Islands. Moreover, the author shows how the Islands were exposed to foreign influences by the end of 1820. After making the comparisons and getting reliable information, the author makes his views on a new perspective on the Pacific Islands culture that relates to the operations, which took place on the addressed period. Part 4 According to the author, the evidence that he uses to obtain the required information is tracking all the ships that operated in the route related to the mentioned Pacific Islands. Through the standard format that was developed by Cumptson, the author manages to establish the trades that each ship conducted on the Island. Moreover, the standard format helps the author to indentify how the health impacts that the trading operations from the ships affected the society. This information helps the author to gain insight of what consequences were brought by the operations of various ships during this particular period. Even though some of the available lists that contain some important information can hardly be read, through the standard format, the author manages to get the required information. After compiling data with the use of Cumptson standard format, the author gets certain data that helps him to identify the number of ship that visited the Islands by 1821. The data also indicates the total population of residence occupying the Island during this period. Moreover, the author shows the impact of the Islands that were exposed to foreign contact through demonstrating an index on the number of population that was present. The following table illustrates on how the author manages to illustrate a simple index that shows information of shipping activities on the Pacific Islands up to 1821. Island Ship Visits Population Greatest Impact index (*1000) Tahiti 119 50,000 2.38 New Zealand 225 110,000 2.31 Marquesas 75 90,000 0.83 Hawaiian Islands 136 225,000 0.60 Tonga 15 25,000 0.60 Fiji 46 200,000 0.23 Cook Island 15 15,000 1.0 Samoa 5 50,000 0.1 According to the above table, the author illustrates that it is evident there were certain Islands that received more foreign visitors compared to the other. The more the ships visited a certain Island indicates that the more foreign visitors were interested on the Island. In interpreting about the data represented on the table above, the author states that the Island that had few visitors retained an impact culture. For example, the Island with the least movements of ships depict that there were less impacts of foreign diseases and development related to technology and ideas was slight. The study of ships also illustrates that some of the Islands across Polynesia had a great influence of visitors compared to the others. Some of the issues that contributed to this particular influence include the fact that trade operations were better in some areas. Moreover, missionaries who were spreading the gospel also contributed to an increase in shipping activities in these areas during this period. The data illustrated on the table above assisted the author in depicting the whaling operations that occurred in the period before and after 1820. Moreover, the author indicates that there had been little whaling in Polynesia before 1820. However, after 1820, whaling was very common in the Polynesia Islands where many Americans and French visitors came in large numbers. Another data that the author manages to add relating to whaling is that there were about 650 American whale-ships in 1839. All the whale ships had about 16,000 thousand men. This indicates that there was a significance increase in the number of visitors after 1820 as illustrated by the author. The author indicates that the shipping activities tend to give the knowledge of what happened in thee Polynesia culture before 1840. Part 5 There is much information about Polynesia that I have managed to gain from the article. The first new aspect I have identified is that before 1820, there were less activities going on in all the Pacific Islands. The level of illiteracy was high in these regions before 1820. For example, there was less development and innovation activities in the Island during this particular period. Moreover, population of residents in these regions was very low during this period. This might be the cause of having less development activities going on in these Islands. Another significant aspect about the pacific Island derived from the article is that foreign visitors are the one who contributed in developing and generating new ideas in these Islands. Some of the foreign visitors were traders who came from American and various European countries. The other type of visitors who came in these regions included missionaries, whose main objective was spreading the gospel. The missionaries contributed in making development in this region by building churches, hospitals and schools in order to help the community access basic needs. Through these activities, the era of development started in the region. Trading activities also played a major role in enhancing development in these regions. This is because the residents were able to earn more income from the trading operations and identified some of the products in the region that were of economic value. The information presented on the article relates to my course work in the sense that historical records are of significant advantage. This is because they assist in tracing and getting the knowledge of various activities that took place in the early days. Moreover, through historical records, it is possible to identify various aspects that changed the culture of a certain community. Part 2 of article 2 Ratliffe, Katherine T. 2010. "Family obligations in Micronesian cultures: implications for educators." International Journal Of Qualitative Studies In Education (QSE) 23, no. 6: 671-690. Part 3 Introduction The article illustrates various cultural practices of the Micronesian people. The author discusses various responsibilities of the Micronesian families who migrated to the USA. According to the author, various roles that Micronesian parents play tend to affect the education of their children. This is because some of the cultures with Micronesian people tend to clash with various rules and regulations employed in many of the learning institutions in America. The author manages to describe the system of the Micronesian culture that affects the schooling of many children in the community. The author also describes various obligations played by Micronesian people that are very different from other western communicates. According to the author, the convection of various family obligations employed by the Micronesian people describes their cultural traditions. After interviewing a group of 26 adults from the community, the author indicates various obligations that parents play that make a significant effect on the education of their children. The author also manages to discuss in deep, various family obligations of Micronesian people. Some of the main topics addressed in the article include the framework that assist in studying immigration. According to the author, these are the necessary aspects to consider when studying the culture of the Micronesian people in relation to migration. Some of the questions that the author manages to answer in the article include how immigration tends to affect family obligations in the Micronesian community. Another question answered in the article is whether various family obligations detract the education of their children. Moreover, the author answers, the question of what responsibilities, which teachers are supposed to play in order to provide the recommended support on the education of Micronesian immigrant children. The specific period discussed on the article is that of between 1940 and 2008. The author addressed the culture of Micronesian community from three Islands. These Islands include the Federal States of Micronesia (FSM), Republic of Marshal (RMI) Island and Palau. Part 4 The author manages to get the required information in his study through gathering information from research work that was performed earlier and through conducting interviews. After finding reliable information concerning various characteristics of the Micronesian culture, the author identifies that accomplishing family obligations is a major objective among the community. However, the author indicates that only little information can be found that relates to Micronesian immigrants in America. When conducting the interview, the author managed to engage 26 adults in the study. The only requirement for participating was that the interviewee must be an adult of over 20 years old. Another requirement was that the participant had to be a member of the Micronesian community and was brought up in the society of Micronesian people. This means that all the participants were supposed to have attended elementary and high school in Micronesia. The main reason that why the author emphasized on these requirements was that all the participants to be people who have great experience of the Micronesia culture. This would contribute in achieving the main goals and objectives of the study. Some of the data related to all the participants who were interviewed include that 11 of the participants were living in Micronesia during the interview process. The other 15 participants had been living in America for a period of 1 and 28 years. The author indicates that the average time of the participants being in USA was below 5 years. The author also indicates that all the participants were ranging from the age of 23 and 55 years. The mean age of all the participants was 40 years. Seventeen of the participants had teaching and educating obligation. The other nine participants had no formal roles in school. The author also managed to collect the education qualification data of the participants. Twelve of the participants were degree holders while 4 participants had completed their high school education. The other four participants had less than high school education. Moreover, 3 of the participants were married. The author used the data obtained from all the participants to identify which were the best questions to ask them individually in an interview that lasted between 30 and 90 minutes. The author managed to audio-record the interviewees from the permission of the participants and she took field notes. Moreover, the author included two other women who had considerable experience and understanding of the Micronesia culture. Both women assisted in analyzing the data. In order to refine the interpretation of the data, the author presented her findings to an audience of Micronesian educators. After analyzing the data, the author managed to find that Micronesian people consider various roles in their families to be of significant value. The author found out that Micronesian community assist each other even in the extended family to accomplish various obligations when there is a need. Moreover, she concentrated on their value towards education where she found out that the Micronesian culture tends to affect their children’s education both in a positive and negative way. For example, she found out that because of how the community value family obligations, children sometimes miss to attend school while parents miss to participate in meetings related to schoolwork. The author also found that Micronesian families do not actively participate in school obligations because most of them are poor. This limits their ability to support their children education even when in need. Part 5 According to the information provided by the author, I have gained considerable knowledge concerning the culture of the Micronesian community who migrated to USA. Moreover, I have come to understand how the community relates to the education of their children. The author makes it clear that relationship, which holds families together, affects the education of Micronesian children. However, this is their culture that they value much. The culture set various priorities in the family that in most of the times conflict with the set priorities of school. This makes most of the children in this community fail to achieve their academic ambitions. Another significant aspect addressed on the article that relates to the Micronesian culture is that their family obligation goes beyond domestic purposes. The author illustrates that most of the family obligations include offering financial assistance in a way of supporting various cultural practices like funerals. Even though immigration tends to affect a community in various different ways, the Micronesians are unique in the sense that they tend to have powerful allegiances to their cultural obligations. Moreover, most of the Micronesian people living in USA tend to hold a strong connection with their home islands. This article relates to the knowledge I have acquired my schoolwork in various different ways. One of them is that cultural practices mean a lot in every community. However, there are some of the community that tend to hold their culture strongly compared to others Micronesia community is a good example of those communities that tend to hold their cultural values in a strongly way. Another issue that relates with the knowledge I have acquired so far is that culture practices can affect the lives of people in a community. Some of the practices assist in shaping people’s lives while others affect their lives in a negative way. Read More