Informal Session: Identity Issues and Ethno-Racial Categorization in the Pacific
Organizer: Pauline McKenzie Aucoin

This informal session continued the 2007 informal session on "Race Ideology: Ideas and Practice." This session was very well received and attended by 23 scholars. It was led by Mike Goldsmith, and participants commented on a number of questions that had been posed for discussion including the nature of and difference between racial-ethnic-cultural distinctions in the Pacific;  various understandings and examples (current and historical) of distinction as an ordering social process; and concerns involving the nature of social distinctions and significance of inclusion/exclusion for contemporary political, legal, governmental, residence, gender, and identity rights and issues. Specific topics raised and explored in this discussion included (1) how--if at all--do the current concepts of race/ethnicity/cultural categories fit with local understandings and distinctions of difference; (2) what contemporary examples illustrate how practices of categorization "order" people in the Pacific in terms of gender, residence, educational opportunities, conflict, labor etc.; (3) what terminology is used to draw distinctions between persons and to whom do terms apply; (4) how are self/other differences expressed and understood in language, and how are naming practices of categorization reflected in current political systems, gender, person and citizenship categories, and in residence patterns? Given the interest expressed in this topic, participants would like to continue this session and organize as a working session for 2009. Participants who would like to join this session for 2009 should contact Pauline McKenzie Aucoin by May 30, 2008.