Thesis--University of California, San Diego, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-348).

Thesis--University of California, San Diego, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-348).

The Niuean population has been in decline since the airport opened on the island. This thesis investigates a specific aspect of the migration from the island: what final year high school students in Niue plans to do after graduation in relation to leaving or staying in Niue. The study relates this decision to place attachment, values and climate change.The study indicates that Niuean youth doesn’t want to study on the island but instead move to New Zealand to pursue their academic ambitions. The students exhibit a strong sense of place attachment that is based in their identification with the island culture and nature. They want to return to the island after getting their university degree, making them attached stayers. The risk of cyclones does not affect the students wishes to live on the island. Decisions are in large motivated by caring for family, the students want to get a degree and then return to be able to take care and give back to their parents, grandparents and other people that have cared for them during their childhood.

Abstract While Niue’s resident population is below 1,500, New Zealand’s Niuean population now exceeds 22,000. The vast and recent out-migration is resulting in many changes to on-island Niuean society and culture. Much research on Polynesian migration focuses on out-migrants and their new place of living, especially in relation to Tongan and Samoan migration. While drawing on the theoretical insights of previous research, this thesis focuses on the less researched Polynesian nation of Niue as the cultural homeland of Niuean out-migrants, to investigate how their on-island culture is changing as a result of the significant out-migration of its residents that began in the late 1960s. It uses the analytical lens of culture and migration to understand in greater detail the social and cultural changes in Niue by the contemporary migration. Using ethnographic field research the thesis examines and analyses the impact of ‘cultural migration’ in relation to the central aspects of on-island Niuean social and cultural change, ranging from everyday life occurrences to once in a lifetime events. The thesis examines changes involving such items as language, Niuean youth haircutting and ear-piercing ceremonies, food habits, Niuean entertainment, arts and crafts, family and more. From ethnographic data collected in Niue and among the out-migrant Niuean community in New Zealand, the thesis argues that on-island Niueans are taking on the characteristics of out-migrant Niueans. Although New Zealand administered Niue for many years and still has a role in Niue’s status as a Pacific island-nation, Niueans themselves have been most responsible for the changes influencing their on-island society and culture.