Title: Home in the islands : housing and social change in the Pacific /
Authors: Rensel, Jan, 1951-; Critchlow, Margaret, 1947-
Publisher: University of Hawai'i Press,
Year: 1997
Subjects: Housing Pacific Area Case studies.; Pacific Islanders Social conditions Case studies.; Pacific Area Social conditions Case studies.
Abstract: Home in the Islands addresses changes in housing in the Pacific, considers how these changes came about, and explores their consequences. Architecture intersects with critical anthropology and geography as contributors examine how social, political, religious, economic, demographic, and environmental influences coverage in the nexus of housing. Building on recent interdisciplinary literature, the essays explore the meanings that are spatially negotiated as Pacific Islanders build and dwell in places that have always been home, are homes away from home, and are homelands without homes. Although detailed written and photographic documentation is not available for most case studies of housing in the Pacific, the stories are there for those who learn to read the evidence. They draw attention to colonial and missionary agendas, local and global economies, environmental disasters, cultural identities, social connections, and family continuity, as well as personal choices. And, as the chapter on homeless Hawaiians shows, even those without houses have stories to tell. Anthropologists, architects, environmental designers, geographers, and historians will welcome this diverse volume on a neglected yet important aspect of change in the lives of Pacific Islanders.
Contents: From thatch to cement : social implications of housing change on Rotuma / Jan Rensel -- Samo house styles and social change / R. Daniel Shaw -- Changes in housing and residence patterns in Galilo, New Britain, 1918-1992 / Ann Chowning -- Transformations in the domestic landscape of New Zealand homesteads / Michèle D. Dominy -- Private houses, public sharing : Pollapese migrants coping with change / Juliana Flinn -- A Samoan solution to the limitations of urban housing in New Zealand / Cluny Macpherson -- From houses without walls to vertical villages : Samoan housing transformations / Robert Franco and Simeamativa Mageo Aga -- (Not) in my back yard : housing the homeless in Hawai'i / Judith Modell.