Religious institutions as alternative structures in post-conflict Solomon Islands? Cases from Western Province

"...this essay draws on postdoctoral research carried out in the Western Province of Solomon Islands and in the Solomons capital of Honiara over four months in 2006-07 and in October 2007, as well as extensive prior research carried out over the past decade that has focused on the Western Province island of Ranongga. Following a general overview of Solomon Islands Christianity, I describe the three predominant churches in Western Province: the United Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Christian Fellowship Church. This discussion highlights significant differences in the organizational structures of the churches, in the ways they manage economic resources, and in the degrees to which church members embrace trans-local forms of identity. I then turn to a few of the bewildering array of new denominations and sects that are gaining adherents. Working effectively with churches requires understanding not only the importance of the historically dominant churches, but also why some adherents are seeking new options. Like other historic churches in the Solomons, the United Church has a bureaucratic structure that allows extensive local participation; moreover, of all of the Western Province churches discussed here, its structures and ideologies appear most congruent with the secular liberal attitudes that inform the ‘good governance’ agendas of Australia and some other donor nations. Why, then, are some adherents of the United Church seeking both salvation and worldly connections through newer and smaller religious groups? ... "- page 2Australian Research Council Discovery ProjectAusAI

Spiritual capacity? Overseas religious missions in RAMSI-era Solomon Islands

"This paper focuses on the nexus of overseas Christian missions and secular development agendas in Solomon Islands during the era of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) — an Australian-led intervention that began in 2003 following a five-year period of civil conflict" - page 2AusAI

Lost passports? Disconnection and immobility in the rural and urban Solomon Islands

Anthropologists have documented the dense “trans-island” ties between rural and urban life in contemporary Melanesia. In exploring dilemmas of mobility and belonging in Solomon Islands, this article focuses on anxieties about the ways that these geographically expansive networks are shrinking – anxieties expressed through jokes and laments about “losing passports”. Drawing on interviews and published memoirs, it tracks the stories of two Malaitan families who migrated for economic opportunities in the late 1950s: one followed a well-trodden path to the Western Solomons to work on a copra plantation on Ranongga; the other family followed new paths to the rapidly developing the post-World War II capital, Honiara. Playing out against the backdrop of the so-called “Ethnic Tensions” (1998-2003), these narratives underscore the importance of maintaining ties to an ancestral home, but also the degree to which these networks are becoming attenuated.Les anthropologues ont documenté les intenses liens inter-îles qui existent entre la vie rurale et la vie urbaine en Mélanésie aujourd’hui. Tout en explorant les dilemmes causés par la mobilité et l’appartenance aux îles Salomon, cet article met l’accent sur l’anxiété associée au rétrécissement de ces réseaux, anxiété qui s’exprime à travers différentes blagues et plaintes à propos de la « perte du passeport ». En utilisant des entretiens et des mémoires publiées, l’article suit les histoires de deux familles de Malaita qui ont migré pour des raisons économiques vers la fin des années cinquante. La première a suivi le chemin souvent emprunté vers les Salomon occidentales pour y travailler sur une plantation de coprah ; l’autre s’est dirigée vers la capitale Honiara qui se développait rapidement après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Sur fond de tensions ethniques (1998-2003), ces histoires soulignent l’importance du maintien des liens avec la terre ancestrale, mais aussi l’érosion de ces réseaux

Sub-national governance in post-RAMSI Solomon Islands

In this critical period of transition, the most important thing that the Australian government and other members of the international community can do is help Solomon Islanders reverse a recent history of defunding and dismantling the institutions of subnational government. Abstract Over the past decade, RAMSI has stabilized the state in Solomon Islands, but many basic problems of governance remain. Among the most pressing is the failure of the state to effectively engage with and deliver services to the rural people who comprise the majority of the population. Since the colonial era, underfunded administrations have struggled to govern these geographically dispersed islands, but many ordinary citizens and public servants feel that subnational government functioned better twenty or thirty years ago than it does today, even after ten years of intensive statebuilding. Frustration about failure of subnational govrnment is felt widely and deeply in Solomon Islands, but recent attempts to address this failure, which have included a dramatic expansion of development funds administered directly by Members of Parliament, have arguably made the situation worse. Such challenges were the focus of a roundtable discussion held during the "Solomon Islands in Transition" workshop at the Australian National University (4-6 November 2013) with senior Solomon Islands public servants and academics from Solomon Islands, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. A core message that emerged from that conversation was that in this critical period of transition, the most important thing that the Australian government and other members of the international community can do is help Solomon Islanders reverse a recent history of defunding and dismantling the institutions of subnational government

Introduction: Christian Politics in Oceania

DP087873

“All Read Well”: Schooling on Solid Ground in a Solomon Islands Language Movement

Education in Oceania tends to orient students to distant shores. Schooling is a path away from home places and often away from home languages. In this article, we discuss a vernacular language movement that has grown over two decades on Ranongga, a mountainous island on the far western edge of Solomon Islands. Named the Kulu Language Institute after the two languages spoken on the island (Kubokota and Luqa), the movement has as its emblem a sprouting nut, a resonant symbol of one of the island’s most important foods and trees, and its motto is “All read well.” In Ranongga, the English word “read” is translated to “tiro,” a word that encompasses many other forms of searching for signs in the environment, including searching for nuts under the forest litter. This metaphor runs through the curriculum materials, encouraging students to look under the surface of words for their deeper meaning. Today, approximately 20 percent of the island’s population has studied writing and reading in Kubokota or Luqa, and a growing number of young people have undertaken an intensive series of courses focusing on the grammatical structures of Luqa. Students and teachers at the school speak of how studying their own language has anchored them intellectually. In contrast to the English-language instruction of primary and secondary school, learning in their own language has given them a sense of being firmly connected to the ground, no longer flailing toward an uncertain future

The Promise of Education: Schooling Journeys in the Southwestern Pacific

“Schooling journeys” is more than a metaphor in the southwestern Pacific. Especially in rural areas, many children travel hours each day or live away from home for months at a time in order to step into a classroom. Young people embark on these precarious journeys, and their families make sacrifices to support them, because schooling promises a better life. For decades, policy makers and educators have worried that this promise is misleading because there are not enough jobs in the formal economy to employ all graduates. Anthropologists have critiqued formal education as part of a colonial structure that devalues Indigenous knowledge, alienates young people from home, and creates unrealistic expectations of modernist lives. Yet, as we begin the third decade of the twenty-first century, it is hard to deny that schooling is a profoundly local project throughout the region. In this article, we outline distinctive features of formal education in the southwestern Pacific and suggest that questions about who controls education are more important than questions about whether knowledge is Western or Indigenous. Building on long-standing discussions about the relative importance of academic and practical training in the Pacific, we argue that schooling is about much more than paid employment—it is also a site where relationships are established, affirmed, and transformed. Along with the other contributors to this special issue, we suggest a new approach to schooling that sees it not as a foreign imposition but as an integral part of life

Ultrasonographic Findings in 41 Dogs Treated with Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate and Platelet-Rich Plasma for a Supraspinatus Tendinopathy: A Retrospective Study

Objective To report sonographic findings for dogs with a supraspinatus tendinopathy (ST) treated with an ultrasound-guided intratendinous injection of bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP).Methods Medical records for dogs diagnosed with an ST and treated with a BMAC-PRP injection were reviewed. Data collected included patient signalment, radiographic findings at the time of initial evaluation, and sonographic findings, including cross-sectional area (CSA), fiber pattern, and echogenicity.ResultsOf 70 records reviewed, 41 met the inclusion criteria. Mean CSA of the supraspinatus tendon decreased by 0.06 cm2 between baseline and 45 days post-treatment (p = 0.0025), and 0.09 cm2 between baseline and 90 days post-treatment (p < 0.0001). Analysis of CSA in dogs with a unilateral ST at baseline revealed a difference of 0.08 cm2 between the affected and unaffected tendon at baseline, with the affected tendon measuring larger than the contralateral tendon (p < 0.0001). This difference became statistically insignificant by 45 days after treatment (u1-u0 = 0.04 cm2, p = 0.2855) and remained so 90 days post-treatment (u1-u0 = 0.03 cm2, p = 0.1910). In most cases (90.6%), the fiber pattern and echogenicity was considered improved 90 days post treatment. In a minority of these cases (13.8%) the fiber pattern and echogenicity abnormalities were considered resolved.Conclusions Using qualitative and quantitative sonographic measures, BMAC-PRP was associated with an improvement in supraspinatus tendon size, fiber pattern, and echogenicity. Given the protracted nature of tendon healing, long-term evaluation may reveal continued improvements in chronic structural changes not captured during the current study. Functional studies are required to evaluate the clinical benefits of BMAC-PRP in the treatment of STs in dogs.Clinical significance An ST is a common contributor to forelimb lameness in dogs and remains notoriously difficult to treat. Previous studies have been associated with inconsistent treatment outcomes. In the current study, BMAC-PRP is investigated as a minimally invasive treatment option, revealing positive sonographic results

Unequal Lives Gender, Race and Class in the Western Pacific

This collection is a major contribution to academic and political debates about the perverse effects of inequality, which now ranks among the greatest challenges of our time. The inspiration for this volume derives from the breadth and depth of Martha Macintyre’s remarkable scholarship. The contributors celebrate Macintyre’s groundbreaking work, which exemplifies the explanatory power, ethical force and pragmatism that ensures the relevance of anthropological research to the lives of others and to understanding the global condition