Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1983. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 321-334).

Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala University, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [174]-178).

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.

This thesis is an application of the theory and method of the comparative world-systems approach to West Polynesia. This study examines the interactions between the archipelagos of Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa during the period between 1770 and 1870, that include the exchange in prestige valuables, military/political interactions, and marriages. Using the nested interaction net model of Chase-Dunn and Hall, this thesis analyzes the interactions in order to determine whether the interactions display systemic properties, that is to say whether the interactions are important in the social reproduction in each of the particular societal units of the region. The archival evidence shows that the region was an indigenous world-system, whereby interactions served to maintain the stability of the system, which then as a result of European involvement in the region resulted in an increase of Tongan political domination, before the entire system was broken up and governed by different colonial powers. / Graduate

This thesis investigates the impact of France on conflict and stability in the South Pacific from 1985-2006, with a primary focus on France's two largest regional dependencies: New Caledonia and French Polynesia. It is demonstrated that France had a largely destabilising influence prior to 1988, due to its controversial nuclear testing programme in French Polynesia, its repression of the independence movement in New Caledonia, and its failure to act on the pronounced social and economic imbalances between the local indigenous populations and the settler communities. However, France has played a more positive stabilising role since 1988, by factoring local and indigenous concerns into peace agreements in New Caledonia, disestablishing the French Polynesian nuclear testing programme in 1996, and allowing for greater integration of its dependencies into the region by granting increased autonomy to the territorial governments. Nonetheless, France's determination to retain sovereignty of its South Pacific dependencies continues to pose a latent threat to stability. The negotiated peace achieved in New Caledonia through the Noumea Accord's deferred referendum on self-determination contrasts starkly with current political instability in French Polynesia, where the power struggle between Independentist and Loyalist parties has again brought into question the impartiality of the French State. While not a theoretical study, the developed hierarchy of variables helps explain France's reluctance to grant sovereignty to its dependencies, and emphasises the importance of 'emotional interest' in the French approach. It is concluded that France's trend towards playing an increasingly stabilising role in its dependencies will be sustained only through an enduring commitment to rebalance territorial inequalities, tolerate pro-independence sentiment, and mediate impartially in local political disputes. Under these circumstances, the stability provided by France and its dependencies in the region would be preferable to the resource and funding vacuums that would be generated by a French withdrawal.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-170). / xvi, 170 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1982 / Pacific Islands Studies

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005 / Pacific Islands Studies

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1994 / Pacific Islands Studies

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2011 / Pacific Islands Studies