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dc.contributor.authorPuas, Gonzaga
dc.date.accessioned2021-11-19T16:19:39Z
dc.date.available2021-11-19T16:19:39Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.identifierONIX_20211119_9781760464653_2
dc.identifier.urihttps://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/51549
dc.description.abstractThis study addresses the neglected history of the people of the Federated States of Micronesia's (FSM) engagement with the outside world. Situated in the northwest Pacific, FSM’s strategic location has led to four colonial rulers. Histories of FSM to date have been largely written by sympathetic outsiders. Indigenous perspectives of FSM history have been largely absent from the main corpus of historical literature. A new generation of Micronesian scholars are starting to write their own history from Micronesian perspectives and using Micronesian forms of history. This book argues that Micronesians have been dealing successfully with the outside world throughout the colonial era in ways colonial authorities were often unaware of. This argument is sustained by examination of oral histories, secondary sources, interviews, field research and the personal experience of a person raised in the Mortlock Islands of Chuuk State. It reconstructs how Micronesian internal processes for social stability and mutual support endured, rather than succumbing to the different waves of colonisation. This study argues that colonisation did not destroy Micronesian cultures and identities, but that Micronesians recontextualised the changing conditions to suit their own circumstances. Their success rested on the indigenous doctrines of adaptation, assimilation and accommodation deeply rooted in the kinship doctrine of eaea fengen (sharing) and alilis fengen (assisting each other). These values pervade the Constitution of the FSM, which formally defines the modern identity of its indigenous peoples, reasserting and perpetuating Micronesian values and future continuity.
dc.languageEnglish
dc.relation.ispartofseriesPacific Series
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHM Australasian and Pacific historyen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCC Cultural studiesen_US
dc.subject.classificationthema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSL Ethnic studiesen_US
dc.subject.otherPacific
dc.subject.otherMicronesia
dc.subject.otherMelanesia
dc.subject.otherFSM
dc.subject.otherIndigenous
dc.titleThe Federated States of Micronesia's Engagement with the Outside World
dc.title.alternativeControl, Self-Preservation and Continuity
dc.typebook
oapen.identifier.doi10.22459/FSMEOW.2021
oapen.relation.isPublishedByddc8cc3f-dd57-40ef-b8d5-06f839686b71
oapen.relation.isbn9781760464653
oapen.imprintANU Press
oapen.pages312
oapen.place.publicationCanberra


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