The defining distance: people, places and worldview.

Abstract

An autobiogeography of movement, this is an account of what it means to be born and raised in Tonga, formally educated in New Zealand and the United States, and subsequently to live in Fiji and work at a regional institution in the South Pacific. Attempts are made to link spatial movement and identity and to examine the gradual yet significant shifts in worldview, from an identity based on one's kin group to a more individual and personal identity in New Zealand and the United States and thence towards a broader-based identity that might be called 'Pan Pacific'. -Author