Micronesian conceptions of home and gender in Chuuk and the US: Between the presence of absent islanders and island imaginaries abroad

Pacific Geographies

article

Josealyn Eria¹  Rebecca Hofmann²  Sarah A. Smith³ 

[1] University of Guam, UOG Station Mangilao;University of Education Freiburg;SUNY Old Westbury

关键词: Transnationalism;    Gender;    Family-making;    Place-making;    Remittances;   

DOI  :  10.23791/581118

来源: Arbeitsgemeinschaft fuer Pazifische Studien e.V.

【 摘 要 】

Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), represents a space altered by transnational migration, reshapingthe social lives of both those who enact their mobility and those who stay. While transnationalism has been exploredin-depth from the perspective of those abroad, little work has juxtaposed them with how migration reshapes life back“home.” Considering the presence of absent islanders for those who remain in Chuuk and the idealized imagery of thosesame islands by women living in the US, this paper explores how conceptions of those “home” and “abroad” belong toa liminal and transformational space. Migrants and the families left behind negotiate land tenure, family relationshipsand obligations, gender norms, and Chuukese identity from differing and fluid perspectives. This manuscript exploreshow contemporary forms of gendered Chuukese social life are both shifting and reinforced in this transnational context.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC-ND