FROM MORAL COMMUNITY TO MORAL COMMUNITIES: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MIGRANT SOCIAL SOLIDARITY AMONG SAMOANS IN URBAN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND

There is clear evidence of moral community within early expatriate migrant Samoan communities in New Zealand. This moral community was partly the consequence of many migrants’ common life experiences and their resultant commitment to, and belief in, the integrity of their worldview and lifestyle. While commitment was a necessary condition, it was not a sufficient condition for moral community. This article argues that critical to the emergence of moral community were demographic, political, and economic factors—often underrated in anthropological explanations—that influenced the choice of migrants by their families, the processes of migration, and the concentration of migrants in residential and occupational areas. First- and second-generation New Zealand–born Samoans grow up with different social, political, and economic realities, and they do not share the social experiences that underpinned their parents’ and grandparents’ moral community. They may reconstitute a new form of moral community derived from parental cultures and common experiences of, and social positions within, New Zealand society

OASIS OR MIRAGE: THE FARMING OF BLACK PEARL IN THE NORTHERN COOK ISLANDS

By the late twentieth century, small island states in the Pacific faced severe problems resulting from the ways in which they had become integrated into the world capitalist economy since the early nineteenth century. Generic environmental, economic, and social problems follow from dependence on the production of a relatively small number of crops for sale in the world economy, out-migration and remittances, and foreign aid. Most states have sought to reduce their dependence and to move toward greater degrees of economic self-sufficiency. In the case of atolls, opportunities for development are typically regarded as minimal because of fragile ecosystems and a shortage of land, fresh water, and local energy. Black-pearl farming is an environmentally sustainable activity that has led to higher incomes and repopulation in the Northern Cook Islands. While it is not the solution for all atolls, its success warrants careful examination

CHANGING CONTOURS OF KINSHIP: THE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ON KINSHIP ORGANIZATION IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC

The incorporation of microstates into the capitalist world-system sets the stage for profound transformations of kinship organization. This article argues that, while ideologies of kinship may remain largely intact, the actual organization of kinship is changing. It explores the roles of social, demographic, political, and economic factors in the transformation of the structure of kinship and family in the South Pacific in the period since continuous contact with the West commenced some 170 years ago. The case of Western Samoa is offered as an example of the process of change that is occurring at varying rates throughout Pacific Island societies

MONETIZATION AND TRADITION: CASH AND CONCILIATION IN CONTEMPORARY SAMOA

This article explores the evolving role of cash in Samoan ceremonial traditions, where it is increasingly used alongside or in place of traditional symbolic goods. While the integration of cash into ceremonies has been relatively seamless, its use in more culturally sensitive rituals has proven problematic. The paper examines how these changes challenge the traditional social variables of contemporary Samoa

NEW RITUALS FOR OLD: CHANGE AND COMPETITION IN SAMOA

In precontact Samoa, extended families, āiga, and villages, nu‘u, demonstrated their social and political cohesion in periodic, competitive displays of conspicuous consumption, hospitality, and in warfare. Demonstrations of economic capacity and military superiority increased their sociopolitical capital and established, or maintained, their claims to social and political power. These competitive rituals were central features of precontact social organization: the fa‘asamoa

Gendered endings: Narratives of male and female suicides in the South African Lowveld

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11013-012-9258-y. Copyright @ Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012.Durkheim’s classical theory of suicide rates being a negative index of social solidarity downplays the salience of gendered concerns in suicide. But gendered inequalities have had a negative impact: worldwide significantly more men than women perpetrate fatal suicides. Drawing on narratives of 52 fatal suicides in Bushbuckridge, South Africa, this article suggests that Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘symbolic violence’ and ‘masculine domination’ provide a more appropriate framework for understanding this paradox. I show that the thwarting of investments in dominant masculine positions have been the major precursor to suicides by men. Men tended to take their own lives as a means of escape. By contrast, women perpetrated suicide to protest against the miserable consequences of being dominated by men. However, contra the assumption of Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’, the narrators of suicide stories did reflect critically upon gender constructs

The re-professionalization of the police in England and Wales

In this article contemporary police claims to professional status are analysed and related to a new structure of police regulation in England and Wales. It is argued that the notion of the police as a profession is not new and, unlike police and academic commentary, analysis of this subject, should draw on sociological understandings of professions. The wider policy context within which claims to professionalisation are made is also considered. It is argued that a new, loosely-coupled system of regulation has been developed in England and Wales. Policing’s professional body, the College of Policing, is central to this regulatory framework that has placed government at a distance from constabularies and police representative associations. Finally, some of the consequences of the hybrid system are considered and benefits of the framework of analysis proposed are discussed

Enhancing Community Resilience: Assessing the Role That Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Law Enforcement (LEA) Staff Associations and Networks Can Play in the Fight Against Radicalisation

This chapter discusses the concept of community resilience and explains it in the context of the fight against radicalisation and CVE. Adopting Michael Ungar’s (American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 81:1–17, 2011) definition of resilience, the chapter argues that resilience is not the attribute of a community but the end product of a process whereby identified community capabilities (e.g. willingness to address problems) are harnessed and supported by culturally sensitive resources offered by culturally aware and capable service providers in which the community has trust and confidence. It is argued that the community will naturally navigate to such resources and that resilience will occur because the community is empowered to negotiate and work in partnership with the resource providers to address the adversity (i.e. problem of radicalisation/CVE). The chapter also acknowledges the important role that British Black, Asian and minority police officer staff associations and networks have been playing in engaging with and helping minority ethnic communities in the UK, including addressing issues of radicalisation, and argue that this valuable resource within the British LEA is undermined by very low numbers of BAME officers in counterterrorism activities