Whose Knowledge? Epistemological Collisions in Solomon Islands Community Development

We show in this article how modernization, disguised as “community development,” continues to fail rural villages in Solomon Islands despite the supposed movement toward a more people-centered, bottom-up philosophy in development education and practice. We focus on the case study of a Kwara‘ae (Malaita island) rural, locally owned and operated project aimed at giving unemployed male youth a stake in the community and preventing their off-island migration. Successful for a decade, the project was destroyed by the intervention of a retired government official who, because of his education, training, and work with outside development agencies, imposed a modernization framework, including centralization of leadership and the valuing of Anglo-European knowledge over indigenous knowledge. While agreeing with the theoretical argument for indigenous knowledge in development, we argue that it is equally important that development be guided by people’s indigenous epistemology/ies and indigenous critical praxis for (re)constructing and applying knowledge

Schooling, Knowledge and Power: Social Transformation in the Solomon Islands

This paper compares traditional education with national schooling in the Solomon Islands, concentrating on the nature, meaning, and transmission of knowledge, and the impact of an imposed Western model of schooling on social change. We examine: micro-level structuring of teaching-learning interactions which embody knowledge as content, and teach important social values and ways of thinking; and macro-level processes in formal education as it developed in the Solomons, together with societal changes contributed to by schooling as a social institution. Our primary focus is rural West Kwara'ae, where for the past ten years we have conducted research on culture and children's language socialization. Our discussion of schooling is based on historical sources, government publications, observations at a rural primary school, interviews with headmasters, teachers, and parents, and data we collected on children's socialization

Labour mobility and diaspora: An overview of Solomon Islands’ historical regulatory experience, 1850s-2013

With less than 4,500 of its population of around 600,000 living overseas in 2013, the Solomon Islands ranks 138th in the world for diaspora formation. At these levels the scale of the diaspora as a proportion of population (0.8 percent) remains lower than it was in the early 20th century, when more than 5,000 Solomon islanders were compulsorily repatriated from Queensland under early Australian Commonwealth legislation. This working paper retraces and reframes the history of Solomon Islands labour mobility and diaspora formation since the 1850s, considering it in relation to the wider institutional and macro-regulatory machineries of three phases or regimes of economic, trade and mobility regulation. These regimes are referred to in this paper as: 1.liberal imperial, 2. national territorial and 3. International neoliberal. We argue that Solomon Islanders’ participation in labour mobility has been substantial under all three phases, but that international mobility and diaspora formation only developed significantly under the liberal imperial regime. Even then, however, its development proved precarious. The ways regional actors and governments acting within the different regimes have framed and segmented labour markets continue to powerfully shape mobility and diaspora outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the situation to date for future economic development and security in Solomon Islands

Ethnographic Inquiry into Second Language Acquisition and Instruction

IN THE PAST FEW YEARS, we in ESL have become increasingly aware of the important role culture and cultural differences play in communication, learning, and thinking. Yet research methods traditionally used in our field have been less than successful in clarifying this role, or in helping us to take account of it in teaching. Ethnography is potentially a very important tool for basic research because it gives us a way to focus on the intersection of language, social context, and society. The purpose of this paper is to clarify what is involved in good ethnographic research both descriptively and analytically, and to illustrate the value of an ethnographic approach to research in ESL and second language acquisition. First, we will offer a basic definition of "ethnography." Next, we will briefly describe key principles of ethnographic research (further discussed in Watson-Gegeo, 1988). Then we will illustrate our points through two examples of research in which we are individually involved

Critical community language policies in education: Solomon Islands case

This chapter first offers an overview of critical community language policy and planning in education (CCLPE). It provides an example of CCLPE, focusing on Malaita in the wake of the Tenson (ethnic conflict) between Guadalcanal and Malaita in Solomon Islands (SI) (1998–2007). The authors contextualize their analysis by tracing the turning points for LPP in SI history, and discuss implications of the SI case for CCLPE and the future of SI education. The analysis focuses on local processes of uncertainty and instability in times of rapid social change that undermine community faith in the nation-state. The chapter shows that indigenous communities have learned that they can exert their agency to shape LPP from the bottom up, and that the shaping must be grounded in indigenous language(s) and culture(s). This argument is consistent with the call for epistemological and ontological diversity in development theory, education, and related studies

Lon Marum - People of the volcano

In June 2013, the Vanuatu National Cultural Council, the regulatory body for research in the Republic of Vanuatu, introduced a one-year moratorium on social research in the country. The moratorium restricts new outside researchers from undertaking social research in Vanuatu and asks current researchers to submit a report on their research projects. Its purpose is to take stock of research being undertaken and to develop appropriate policies for research in Vanuatu.1 It is a response to exploitation of cultural knowledge and is an initiative by Vanuatu to take ownership of their cultural stories and knowledge, as well as the responsibility to conduct their own research. Lon Marum—People of the Volcano is an exploration of different understandings and ways of presenting and owning knowledge. The film tells the story of communities on the Vanuatan island of Ambrym and their connection to one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The film begins in the community, where we learn, through mythical stories and community narratives, how the fire came to the island and the volcano came into being. Community members reenact scenes from ancestral times. For example, Chief Stanislas da Mangkon reenacts the magic song for controlling the fire. He explains how the fire was discovered and brought from Malakula island to Ambrym using the Magic Transport. The fire was eventually moved further up to the center of the island, where it is today. The first part of the film sets up the fact that local chiefs have control over the volcano as well as have ownership of the story of the volcano. “If someone wants to go up the volcano, and have good weather, they should ask me first for permission,” comments one of the volcano chiefs

The Role of Metalanguage in Supporting Academic Language Development

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96715/1/j.1467-9922.2012.00742.x.pd

Formative Research Using Settings and Motives to Explore Child Faeces Disposal and Management in Rural Solomon Islands.

Unsafe child faeces management can lead to adverse health and wellbeing outcomes for children. In Solomon Islands, diarrhoeal disease is a leading cause of under-5 mortality, though there is limited research into CFM practices and promotion of safe behaviours. The formative research applied a Behaviour-Centred Design framework to investigate the habits, motives and settings related to child faeces management in rural Solomon Islands villages. Data were collected through structured recall demonstrations by caregivers (n = 61), household infrastructure observations (n = 57), semi-structured interviews with caregivers (n = 121) and community leaders (n = 30), focus group discussions (n = 26), and three participatory activities with caregivers. The findings identified a range of CFM-related behaviours, some of which would be considered safe and some, such as outside defecation and disposal to a waterway, as unsafe. Convenience is important in shaping CFM practice and may help health benefits to be achieved without women bearing the cost of an increased work burden. Nurture and disgust may provide the basis for behaviour change communication in SI as they have elsewhere. Critically, the participation in and promotion of safe CFM by fathers in households should be promoted, and motivating such behaviours might be achieved through focus on nurture as a motive