Description

Explore traditional society and social transition in Oceania.

Through interdisciplinary coursework, field study, and independent research, students explore processes of change in Samoa and other Pacific communities. Students consider the impact of new and different values on Pacific Island communities and social structures in light of development and globalization pressures.

Topics for study in the context of the Pacific include:

* Impacts and incorporation of Christianity
* The shift from a subsistence to cash economy
* Introduction of human rights into a communal society
* Migration patterns and the role of remittances
* Social changes resulting from globalization, migration, and development in Samoa, American Samoa, and Fiji
* The current "coup culture" in Fiji

Learn from local academics and university resources
Utilizing SIT's strong in-country partnerships, students enjoy access to local academics and university resources while at the program base in Apia, Samoa as well as during the orientation period in Hawaii, and on excursion in American Samoa and Fiji. Academic resources include the University of Hawaii and East West Center, the University of the South Pacific (USP) in both Samoa and Suva Fiji, and the American Samoa Community College (ASCC).

Live with host families and learn Samoan
Through Samoan language instruction and homestays with host families in several Pacific island communities, students are exposed to diverse perspectives on social change and transition in the Pacific context, learning directly from Pacific Islanders.

Experiences include:

* Working in the lo'i talo, or taro patches, alongside young Hawaiians where students learn about the challenges Hawaiian youth face as indigenous people in the context of a US state.
* Staying in the eco-tourist village of Abaca in Fiji where students observe the impact of tourism on a small indigenous village.
* Living with an Indo-Fijian family, which provides a firsthand look at the similarities and differences in the values, beliefs, and practices of Fiji’s two major ethnic groups.
* Living with families in rural Samoa where students experience the growing, harvesting, and preparing of food on a daily basis. This deepens their understanding of subsistence living.