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Pacific Interactions. Pasifika in New Zealand - New Zealand in Pasifika, A. Bisley (ed.) (2008) Wellington, Institute of Policy Studies, VUW.
Reviewed by Paul Spoonley
This is book that was published online in 2008. It emerged from the 'Pasifika Project' that was sponsored by the grandly named Public Service Chief Executives' 'Emerging Issues Programme'. The project was hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies. As Alistair Bisley notes in his introduction: "The point of departure for this projectis the shift in the nature of our relationship with Pasifika that more than 50 years of immigration has brought about" (p.2).
It has some extremely useful information - and some highly debatable positions - but it does not appear to have made much of an impact. A quick check in terms of subsequent publications shows that few academics are aware of it, me included (until this review). At the very least, it deserves greater attention as an important contribution to a number of key policy, demographic and economic concerns.
Bisley has obviously been a key player in bringing the book together and provides an introduction to the content of the book and why it is necessary. One aspect that deserves greater attention is who qualifies as Pasifika? As a number of chapters make clear, especially that offered by Paul Callister and Robert Didham, there are some interesting issues raised by multiple and hybrid identities, transnational and diasporic populations, and the churn that is produced by return and onward migrations within and beyond the Pacific, not to say anything of assumptions held by some New Zealanders that Pasifika refers primarily and sometimes exclusively to Polynesians. Unfortunately, the prime discussion is contained in a footnote.
The Callister and Didham contribution starts with a reasonably orthodox overview of the position of Pacific peoples provided by...