Explorations into Micronesian mobility: Transforming family and home across borders – an introduction

Abstract

This article introduces a collection of essays on Micronesian mobility with a particular focus on family- and home-making discourses and practices. The special issue starts from the assumption that Oceania remains by and large invisible in the broader context of Mobility and Migration Studies despite observations that rural-urban, interisland and transborder mobility feature prominently in the lives of many Pacific Islanders and that existing transnational social fields take at times global scales beyond the Pacific. In this light, the special issue builds on ethnographic explorations and empirical case studies of Micronesian mobility and wishes to open the floor for a renewed discussion on its relevance both within scholarship on Oceania and mobility and migration research more generally.

Keywords

• micronesia
• migration
• mobility
• transnationalism
• family