[ANU Pacific.Institute] Fwd: Pre-submission oral presentation

[Ingrid Ahlgren]

Dear all,

Please be informed of my final phd presentation, next Friday:

*Resources, Environment and Development, Crawford School of Public Policy*

*ANU College of Asia & the Pacific *

 Friday, 29 April, 12:30 - 2:00pm

Seminar Room A, Coombs Building (9), Fellows Road, ANU

 Pre-submission PhD Oral Presentation

Ingrid Ahlgren


*Understanding mo: an ethnographic study of place-based 'taboo' in the
Marshall Islands*


In the early 21st century, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI)
published its national conservation plan, guided by the local concept of *mo,
*heralded as a traditional conservation practice and most simply equated
with the concepts of *tapu/tambu/tabu* elsewhere in Oceania.  Yet personal
experience and ethnographic evidence suggests the term *mo *entails a
variety of places, resources, behaviors, and beliefs not confined to
conservation, but representing a diversity of off-limit areas including
haunted forests, medicinal sites, bird and turtle nesting islets, chiefly
cemeteries, tribute sites for resident spirits, and entire islets for
private chiefly use.


 This thesis examines traditional and contemporary notions of place-based
taboos in the Marshall Islands as surveyed in four atolls with diverse
ecological and historical settings, resulting in an ethnography of *mo*.
Its function strictly as a conservation practice in a limited resource
setting is proven wholly unsatisfactory in explaining the wide variety of
sites documented.  Other prevalent theories about Oceanic taboo overall are
considered in making sense of the concept, including ideas about the sacred
and profane, distinction and hierarchy, control over resources, danger and
pollution.  Using case studies, as well as a comprehensive analysis of the
use and meaning of the term, I observe a great variation and ambiguity that
exists in contemporary expressions of *mo* across the different settings,
explained by an observed instability in beliefs about spiritual ecology and
chiefly authority through periods of change.


In this final presentation, I will give an overview of my research findings
and present a discussion on the difficulties encountered in diagnostically
interpreting a sensitive, widespread, and diverse concept.



-- 

*Ingrid Ahlgren*, PhD Candidate
Resources, Environment and Development (READ)
Australian National University
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