Naming Systems and Naming Relations in Austronesia/Oceania

Fourteen people attended the Naming session on Friday morning and nine of these agreed to commit to the working session next year. The session started with the presentations by those who signed up on the program before October 2011, except for Professor Jay Crain who was absent due to health issues. The presentations ranged from sketches of ideas to semi-formulated papers in various ethnographic settings. These were enriched by observations from those in the audience who also had personal experiences with local names, naming practices and the social obligations that came with them. The topics include the following: nomination and social reproduction/social structure; naming and personal transformation; ancestral names and identity; naming practices and changing identity; names and personhood; names and socio-cultural values. Discussion also included how theories of names and naming can engage in vital topics in the Pacific (e.g., adoption, siblingship, house society and names in diasporic settings etc). We continue to invite interested parties to submit a ten-page draft paper to organizers by August 1, 2012 for inclusion in the September newsletter.

Kun-hui Ku, National Tsing Hua University, Institute of Anthropology, No. 101, Sec.II, Kuang-fu Rd. Hsin-chu, 30013 TAIWAN, ph: 886-35742827, kunhui.ku@gmail.com

Lamont Lindstrom, University of Tulsa, Department of Anthropology, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa OK, USA; ph: (918) 631-2348, lamont-lindstrom@utulsa.edu

Dan Jorgensen, University of Western Ontario, Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada N6A 5C2, Tel: 519-661-3430; dwj@uwo.ca