Where Do You Belong? Identity, New Guinea Islanders, and the Power ofPeles

Abstract

Peles is a Melanesian concept related to the grounding of a person's Indigenous origin in a particular place. This notion is especially important in Papua New Guinea where, upon first meeting, people are likely to ask, ‘Where are you from?’ Ascertaining someone's peles enables the rapid establishment between previously unknown people of social connections and obligations, kinship, and identity. Despite the increasing influences of westernisation, globalisation, urbanisation, and migration, peles remains steadfast at the centre of Papua New Guinean social identity construction. This article addresses the current and emerging ways in which people of New Guinea Islander descent – both at ‘home’ or in the diaspora – connect to peles, whether physically or otherwise and details the social politics of these assertions.

Melanesian reimagining: a digital tok stori of Papua New Guinean identity on Instagram

“…1, 7). This is especially pertinent to urban migrated and diasporic Pacific communities’ connection to cultural identity, community, and ples (McGavin, 2016). @archiveples intentionally creates space for engaging with colonial histories and legacies, and negotiating and connecting to both ples-based identities and a collective Papua New Guinean identity (Homerang, n.d.).…”

“…The diversity and complexity of PNG underpins the value of social media self-representations of Papua New Guinean identity. Due to various influences of colonisation, urbanisation, and globalisation, contemporary Papua New Guinean identity is highly personalised, in constant negotiation, and dependent on context and the tension between personal experience and social expectation (McGavin, 2016). Central to Papua New Guinean identity and social relationship is ples (village, home), “a multivocal Tok Pisin [a Creole official language of PNG] term referring to a person’s place of Indigenous origin” (McGavin, 2016, p. 57).…”

“…Due to various influences of colonisation, urbanisation, and globalisation, contemporary Papua New Guinean identity is highly personalised, in constant negotiation, and dependent on context and the tension between personal experience and social expectation (McGavin, 2016). Central to Papua New Guinean identity and social relationship is ples (village, home), “a multivocal Tok Pisin [a Creole official language of PNG] term referring to a person’s place of Indigenous origin” (McGavin, 2016, p. 57). Papua New Guinean identity is extremely diverse due to the weight of ples - based identities within an amalgamated colony of extreme ethnolinguistic diversity.…”

Compassion or Corruption? Temporalities of Care and Nationhood in Papua New Guinean Nursing Education

“…In recent writing on Papua New Guinean national identity and ideologies of nationhood, Ryan Schram has proposed the concept of “ethnographic citizenship” to describe this double vision (Schram 2022). Papua New Guineans understand Papua New Guinean‐ness as built on a pre‐existing tie to ples , a Tok Pisin word meaning “place” or “village” but more broadly indicating an emplaced, indigenous landholding cultural group (McGavin 2016). Yet the cultural characteristics associated with ples life, such as material obligations to extended kin, are thought to preclude full membership in a modern nation‐state.…”

Mobilities of Return: Pacific Perspectives

“…Indeed, my research has shown that both elements are expected of an 'authentic' Pacific Islander identity, and it is often the 'doing' component which is the most frequently scrutinised by others in the Islander community. Importantly, this is one reason which drives some diasporic Pacific Islanders to journey 'back' to their homeland-because visits to peles are perceived as enabling people to remember and therefore put into action their cultural knowledge (see McGavin, 2016).…”