Tokelau, an atoll society comprising about 1400 people with a diasporic population of approximately 10.000 and is a “non-self-governing territory” of New Zealand. Coming under the New Zealand Administration of then Western Samoa, Tokelau has been on a path to an act of eventual self-determination since entering the United Nations’ list of decolonizing territories.

The first ever referendum on the atolls’ future political status was held in 2006, followed by another in 2007 (Hoëm 2015, Ickes 2009, Huntsman and Kalolo 2007). The referenda were occasions for intensive infrastructural investments, and lengthy consultation, with villagers and the diaspora. However, perceptions of the issues at stake, and particularly the consequences of the different alternatives on the table varied greatly. The presentation will discuss aspects of decolonization as a State Project, as it relates to issues of indigeneity and sovereignty.

Speaker:

Ingjerd Hoëm is Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. She has conducted anthropological and linguistic fieldwork, mainly in the Pacific atoll society of Tokelau, and its diasporic population in the larger Wellington area in New Zealand intermittently since 1987. Her current research interests are temporal orientations and historicity, political communication, performances and dreams. She is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences.