Population research in the Pacific Islands : a case study and some reflections

Abstract

This paper outlines the aims and methods (rather than the results) of a study of population movement undertaken in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate between October 1965 and February 1967, and utilizes this experience for reflections upon population research throughout the insular Pacific. The actual field inquiry not only attempted to focus upon the reasons for the mobility of a non- literate population (a coast and an inland community on south coast Guadalcanal) but also aimed to identify definitions of population processes that were locally meaningful and to test the use of demographic procedures with those that are more traditionally anthropological and geographic.The mobility literature (particularly of sub-Saharan Africa) which stimulated this research is described, the field methods outlined, and some results presented, Based upon this experience, more general observations are made about procedures for collecting, at the territorial level, detailed and more accurate information concerning non-literate populations; and about the potential in mobility research for team investigations and cross-disciplinary orientations. In turn these observations underline the conclusion that, unless the science of population is to become culture- bound, the demography of non-literate societies warrants greater attention than it has been, thus far accorded.