Remote Oceania: A Region of “Sharing Nations”

A Cultural Opinion Piece

Map of the Pacific Islands

You’ve learned about the wonderful concept of “sharing cities”- they are sustainable urban cities that are premised on a collective identity and mutual aid. At a crucial time such as our current pandemic, sustainability is key in order to keep big cities afloat. That being said, while this may seem ideal in theory, few cities have actually achieved this status. Quite frankly, in a capitalist society, it may even seem near close to impossible! While there are definitely bound to be issues of such a transition, history has shown that sharing between societies is possible, but even to a larger degree. Oceania is an example of “Sharing Nations” if you will.

Regionalized Map of Oceania

Oceania is a region within the Pacific Ocean which consists of three different smaller categories: Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. These islands became inhabited by the world’s first sea voyagers originating from South-East Asia. The people first began inhabiting Melanesia, as it was closest to South-East Asia and mostly land (at the time), then began migrating to Micronesia and Polynesia (AKA Remote Oceania) which were hundreds of miles away from each other by sea.

Despite the great distance, travel between island nations was very common for a variety of reasons. One being that it granted them access to additional resources. If an island was not abundant in fish or wanted special seashells or wood not found on their island, they could simply go to the next island for aid or trade, which more often than not, was granted in order to forge good relations and if resources allowed so. These relations came in the form of allyship and marriage- many clans enforced exogamy, meaning that you were required to find a partner outside of your kinship line. These marriages only further strengthened relationships between islands, as the married couple would need to support both of their home nations, thus dividing their cumulative resources appropriately. Additionally, oftentimes groups also visited other islands for the simple sake of entertainment, such as performing their cultural dances for each other. The effects of all of these interactions are still seen today- our languages are similar, of our cultural stories and understanding of our creation all share similar plotlines and characters, and many of our dances feature the same techniques. Thanks to these inter-island sharing interactions, each island nation were able to maintain itself sustainably (with the exception of Rapa Nui, AKA Easter island. They had deforested their whole island and were thus unable to create canoes necessary to visit the other islands), proven by the fact that all inhabitable islands in the Pacific were still occupied and independent when the Europeans “discovered” them hundreds of years later. Unfortunately, colonialism banned these interactions and forced island inhabitants to instead be dependent on the colonizing state.

That being said, it’s important to note the longevity of Pasifika practices. The islanders had shared space, culture, politics, and resources amongst one another, creating a larger sense of community throughout the islands of Remote Oceania that allowed them to survive in the middle of the ocean for hundreds of years without depleting their nation island’s assets. If hundreds of island nations were able to partake in a “sharing” model with hundreds of miles of the ocean in between them, cities today can do so as well.

Works Cited:

“Communication and Relative Isolation in the Sea of Islands.” The People of the Sea: Environment, Identity, and History in Oceania, by Paul D’Arcy, University of Hawai’i Press, 2008.

Irwin, Geoff. “Pacific Migrations.” Pacific Migrations, teara.govt.nz/en/pacific-migrations/print.