Abstract

The civil conflict in Solomon Islands (1998-2003) is often blamed on the failure of the nation-state to encompass culturally diverse and politically fragmented communities. Writing of Ranongga Island, the author tracks engagements with strangers across many realms of life—pre-colonial warfare, Christian conversion, logging and conservation, even post-conflict state building. She describes startling reversals in which strangers become attached to local places, even as kinspeople are estranged from one another and from their homes. Against stereotypes of rural insularity, she argues that a distinctive cosmopolitan openness to others is evident in the rural Solomons in times of war and peace.

“…a remarkable contribution to Solomon Islands studies. The book is significant for furthering our understanding on issues of ethnicity, hospitality, land tenure, conflict and conflict management… I find the personal experiences of the author throughout the book captivating, and helpfully illustrative when discussing complex themes. The accessibility of McDougall’s prose makes for an easy read, especially for non-native speakers of English. A book of this quality is a valuable addition to the historical and anthropological narrative of a country so small yet so complex in its socio-cultural, political and economic composition.” • The Journal of Pacific History

“McDougall’s ethnography is thoughtful and composed in relatively accessible prose. It presents a useful example of a broader problem in the postcolonial Pacific, not to mention, the wider developing world, which one can see as a kind of double alienation, one that is constituted in terms of both indigenous and modern estrangements.” • Pacific Affairs

“Clearly the argument put forward in Engaging with Strangers has relevance well beyond Solomon Islands or even the Pacific Islands. While it is sure to take its place in the canon of must-read works for Solomon Islands studies it also deserves attention in the widest circles of anthropology and indigenous studies.” • Anthropological Forum

“A thoughtful study of the tradition of migration, mixing, and encountering ‘the other’ on one’s shores—and of being ‘the other’ on someone else’s shores—offers a salutary critique of ‘tribalism’ and ‘descent groups’ in Oceania and a message of empathy for peoples around the world today who are pressed to welcome others or to seek welcome from others.” • Anthropology Review Database

“In this compelling and often entrancing ethnography, McDougall analyzes what she calls ‘stranger sociality’–that is, how the people of Ranongga, Solomon Islands have embraced and incorporated outsiders over the course of 200 years.” • Holly Wardlow, University of Toronto

“An excellent book. Its high quality is multifaceted, and it will be of great interest to a number of important audiences, most obviously anthropologists, historians, natural resources specialists, government policy-makers, NGO planners, and, importantly, Solomon Islanders… To my mind, this is the best ethnography to come out of the Western Solomons in a good long while.” • David Akin, managing editor of Comparative Studies in Society and History

Debra McDougall is Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia. She co-edited Christian Politics in Oceania with Matt Tomlinson (Berghahn, 2013) and has published chapters and articles on religion, politics, and sociality.