Project members

Current research project:

Space, Religion, and Movement. Changing perception
of 'identity' in East Polynesia A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1700

The project seeks to understand the development of independent island cultures in East Polynesia, from time of colonisation to the first Eurpeans described them in the 17th century, in terms of processes of changing identities. The main objective of the project is to investigate the origins and development of the East Polynesian marae complex. In particular do we try to pin-down the time for the first construction of marae complexes in the various island groups in the region. Fieldwork is conducted in the Maeva area of Huahine, in the Society Islands, under the direction of Dr. Paul Wallin at the Kon-Tiki Museum and in collaboration with Dr. Yosihiko Sinoto, B.P. Bishop Museum.

About myself:
I was born near the heartland of the Paiwan tribe in Ping Tung on the southwestern coast of Taiwan in 1968. My parents were missionaries.
I earned my B.A. from the University in Oslo in 1995, and my M.A. from the University of Bergen in 1999, on a thesis entitled "Space and Landscape in the Marquesas", a re-analysis of Peter S. Bellwood's survey data from the Hanatekua Valley, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands (1972).

Besides Norway, I have done fieldwork on Easter Island and on Huahine in the Society Islands.

At the present I am a Ph.D. Fellow at the Ethnographic Museum, University in Oslo, until August 2005.