Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

The Republic of Kiribati is one of the last countries to face the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Pacific. First appearing in the region in 1982, HIV/AIDS was recognized as a national concern during the late 90s. Partnering with the National AIDS Committee, research was conducted using qualitative and quantitative methods which included focus groups, surveys, personal interviews and quasi experiments. These methods were used to explore population and individual perceptions and behaviors related to HIV/AIDS. Once perceptions and behaviors were understood, HIV/AIDS was placed in a broader historical and social context. Placing the illness in these contexts, I examined how history and social environments influenced the spread of the virus. Focusing on youth, research exposed complex social structures which produced opportunities for varying levels of stigma, economic development, migration, education and modernity, all contributing to a systematic promotion and prevention of the spread of HI V/AIDS. Conclusions showed that gender roles, modernity, educational and economic opportunity, overpopulation, religious beliefs and limited resources contributed to greater amounts of high risk behaviors taken by individuals. Conversely, gender roles, religious beliefs, and modernity also assisted in the prevention of transmission. / Graduation date: 2006

plan B / Pacific Islands Studies

This biocultural study examines patterns of infertility, or failure to produce live births, by female age cohorts in the Micronesian population of Butaritari Atoll, Kiribati. Anthropological and demographic methods employed included analysis of census survey, reproductive history collection, structured and semi-structured interviews, participant observation, ethnohistorical research, vital registrations, and clinic records. Primary infertility levels are found to be extremely low in this population. This is argued to be a consequence of low risk of exposure to fertility-inhibiting disease, typically extended exposures to coital activity, and a culturally-influenced resistance to birth-limiting behavior before at least one child is born. There is little reduction in fertility, and therefore in biological capacity for conception, before women reach the end of their thirties. This pattern of high fertility is maintained because of socio-culturally defined patterns of sexual behavior within marriage which tend to maintain coital activity despite increasing marriage durations, and therefore with increasing age. In the study's conclusion infertility patterns by age for this population are discussed in relation to issues of the role of physiological aging and infertility increases in human populations. It is concluded that studies of infertility by age need to be considered as culturally-grounded and population-specific, particularly in reference to patterns observed at the population level in female age groups under forty.

In the last 50 years, Pacific Island Countries (PICs) have experienced unprecedented levels of urban development. During this time, the general failure of traditional industrialised planning models to be successfully adapted in PICs has resulted in the need to explore alternative models for urban settlement in the Pacific. In this way, the incorporation of tree based agricultural systems (agroforestry) into urban settlements has considerable potential to address many of the problems associated with rapid urbanisation such as food security, waste management, environmental degradation and unemployment. Research in the Pacific has already shown how urban agroforestry systems can improve food security, increase access to nutritional foods, recycle organic waste, create employment and protect fragile ecological systems. However, in Pacific towns and cities urban agroforestry systems are rarely developed beyond a homegarden setting. The growth of urban centres in the Republic of Kiribati is an example of the challenges confronting many rapidly urbanising PICs. With infertile soils, severely restricted land and water resources and an emerging economy, Kiribati is a developing nation where sustainable development faces some of its greatest challenges. Due to rapidly expanding urban populations, the Kiribati Government is currently investigating the development of future planned urban settlements. In such a scenario, potential exists to extend urban agroforestry systems beyond a homegarden setting and explore alternative models for sustainable urbanisation in the Pacific. This research uses a mixed methods case study approach to investigate the potential role of food producing urban agroforestry systems in future planned urban settlements in Kiribati. More specifically, qualitative procedures are used to explore issues surrounding the promotion and development of urban agroforestry systems in future planned urban settlements while quantitative procedures are used to analyse the nutritional contribution of these systems. Findings from this study show that although urban agroforestry is a highly sustainable land use it faces two main challenges in Kiribati: (i) people’s perception that urban agroforestry systems are a relatively low value land use and (ii) the general inability of the Kiribati Government to effectively regulate urban land uses. However, in the event that urban agroforestry systems were deliberately included at a settlement wide scale beyond a homegarden setting, this study highlights the initial importance of equally allocating productive lands to individual households. Furthermore, the results emphasise the value of simple on-site composting technologies as components of the broader urban agroforestry system. Finally, the marginal nature of the atoll environment is evident in findings on the nutritional contribution of urban agroforestry species in future planned urban settlements. In summary, while considerable constraints must be overcome to ensure the long term viability of planned urban agroforestry systems at a whole of settlement scale, it is argued that such an approach is one of the most cost effective, culturally acceptable and environmentally responsible methods for addressing a range of urban issues in the Pacific and is therefore an essential component to the design of future planned urban settlements in Kiribati.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1999 / Pacific Islands Studies

Thesis (doctoral) - Universität, Duisburg-Essen, 2004. / Includes bibliographies.

In this thesis, I will look into the relationship between landscape and identity on the island nation of Kiribati, a low lying island nation in the Micronesian region of the Pacific that is currently under threat by climate change. Based on qualitative research from several islands in Kiribati (semi-structured interviews and observations), I explore how landscape and landscape changes, identity, and present and future challenges are perceived by Kiribati residents. Landscape is more than just physical surroundings, encompassing qualities of heritage, memory, skills, knowledge and learning, and there is a strong link between landscape and identity for Kiribati islanders. Respondents stressed the importance of community and the ‘simple life’ as important qualities of life in Kiribati. People still come together frequently in their communities where they discuss issues such as building a new house for someone. Communities have as main purpose helping each other and are based on strong bonds of love and friendship. Respondents defined the simple life as a life without violence, without having to worry about money, without any major natural disasters (apart from climate change), and a life in which people are open and friendly to everyone. When it comes to present and future challenges, most respondents were worried about issues related to environmental changes such as changes in fresh water resources and coastal erosion. Although many respondents felt the effect of these environmental changes and people have become more aware of the link between those and global warming, many residents remained sceptical towards climate change, simply because believing it would make it real. A future challenge respondents were worried about is the risk of having to resettle in the future. They are afraid that this will affect their community, their Kiribati identity, and that it would mean the loss of the simple life. For example, the idea exists that in other countries people will not smile on you on the street and that the only family you will have is your core family. Many people also never had to find a job and this is something that scares them as well. I conclude that landscape is a part of every aspect of life in Kiribati. Therefore it is strongly connected to the sense of identity of Kiribati islanders and many fear what will happen in the case of a radical landscape change.

Depuis la prise en compte croissante du changement climatique, denombreux commentateurs ont commencé à raconter une histoire : celle des petitsÉtats insulaires du Pacifique sud, entièrement constitués d’atolls, qui risquent dedisparaître en raison de l’élévation du niveau marin. Nous considérons que cettehistoire est un « récit d’action publique » destiné à attirer l’attention et à convaincreles décideurs politiques d’agir pour empêcher la réalisation du problème ou luitrouver une solution. Ces « récits de la disparition » présentent deux particularités :ils ne sont associés à aucune politique publique déjà mise en oeuvre et ils sontmobilisés par des acteurs variés issus des milieux politiques et de la société civile.À partir de la littérature sur l’analyse cognitive des politiques publiques et plusparticulièrement l’analyse des récits de politiques publiques, cette thèse se proposed’étudier la production, la diffusion et les cadrages de ces récits de la disparition àl’aide de méthodes mixtes associant une démarche qualitative d’enquête avec laréalisation d’une analyse statistique textuelle. / In the last 40 years, climate change has been increasingly taken intoaccount. Various observers have started to tell a story: the story of small Pacific atollisland states that might disappear beneath the rising seas. The argument developedin this thesis is that this story is a "public action narative" which aims at drawingattention towards those states and at inciting policy makers to prevent the risk or tofind a solution. Those "sinking island States narratives" display two particularcharacteristics: they are not linked to an existing policy and they are used by variousactors from the political sphere and the civil society.Building on the policy narratives literature, this thesis aims at analysing theproduction, the dissemination and the framing of the sinking island states narratives.It is based on mixed methods and combines a qualitative framework and a statisticalanalysis of textual data.