Wone Sohte Lohdi: History and Place on Pohnpei

Hanlon, David

"A sense of place is strong among the people of Pohnpei. Despite the disruptive pressures brought on by colonialism and more recently globalization, an identification with place continues to inform peoples sense of themselves and their past. Histories of Pohnpei, once a world and now an island, reside in a variety of forms, including the names given to the land and seascapes, many of which have changed over time to reflect the arrival of different clans or groups who established themselves in a particular locale only to be replaced or displaced by yet other and later groups. Visitors from Europe, America, and later Asia also gave names and histories to the island, its geographical features, and surrounding seas. These more recent colonial histories have worked to reduce the complexity of Pohnpei's past by denying earlier local histories in place of favor of neater, simpler, more ordered historical narratives. The problem is not confined to the study of Pohnpei's past, but affects the practice of history in Oceania as a whole. I seek in this essay to revisit these earlier histories of peoples and places on Pohnpei and, in the process, to argue for an island's histories rather than an island's history - histories that continue to defy denial, dismissal, evasion, or co-option." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Pohnpei Historic Preservation Office, Department of Land and Natural Resources, administered by the Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Wone Sohte Lohdi: History and Place on Pohnpei

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