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Where Do You Belong? Identity, N ew G uinea Islanders, and the Power of Peles
Author(s) -
McGavin Kirsten
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1834-4461
pISSN - 0029-8077
DOI - 10.1002/ocea.5112
Subject(s) - new guinea , kinship , indigenous , identity (music) , sociology , pacific islanders , gender studies , power (physics) , westernization , diaspora , politics , ethnology , genealogy , political science , anthropology , history , ethnic group , law , aesthetics , modernization theory , physics , quantum mechanics , ecology , philosophy , biology
Peles is a Melanesian concept related to the grounding of a person's Indigenous origin in a particular place. This notion is especially important in P apua N ew G uinea where, upon first meeting, people are likely to ask, ‘Where are you from?’ Ascertaining someone's peles enables the rapid establishment between previously unknown people of social connections and obligations, kinship, and identity. Despite the increasing influences of westernisation, globalisation, urbanisation, and migration, peles remains steadfast at the centre of P apua N ew G uinean social identity construction. This article addresses the current and emerging ways in which people of New G uinea Islander descent – both at ‘home’ or in the diaspora – connect to peles , whether physically or otherwise and details the social politics of these assertions.