Pacific Islands Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pacific Islands Culture - Research Paper Example These groups of islands have both differences as well as commonalities based on culture, social structure, and historical experience. Populations migrating from other regions such as Africa and Asia began colonizing the islands over 35,000 years ago. Over the millennia, there were numerous encounters of the settlers with the outside world. Of over 6.3 million currently living in the Pacific Islands, the majority of the population of around 84% live in Melanesia, only around 9% live in Polynesia and approximately 7% live in Micronesia (Eccleston et al, 1998). Melanesia is related to the Greek words melas which means black and nesos (islands); it refers to the â€Å"physical appearance of the indigenous inhabitants of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji and Solomon Islands† (Eccleston et al, 1998, p.249). Polynesia is related to the Greek word poly (many). It forms a triangular group of islands including Hawaii in the north, Aotearoa/ New Zealand in the south-west to Rapanul/ Easter Island in the south-east. The single culture in this unique triangle is reduced by the intrusion of colonialism. Indigenous Polynesians maintain effective sovereignty to some extent only in the inner islands, excluding the peripheral ones. Micronesia from micros (small) encompass the Northern Marianas in the north, Palau in the west, and Kiribati in the south-east. The smaller islands of Micronesia have societies similar to those in Polynesia; they are â€Å"ruled by indigenous hereditary aristocracies both before and after contact with colo nial powers† (Eccleston et al, 1998, p.249). In comparison with Polynesia and Micronesia, in most of Melanesia with some exceptions like Fiji which is on the boundary, the societies are more egalitarian with equality among men; contrastingly however, gender inequalities are greater. Originating from the Fujian province of southern China, seafaring people who spoke the Austronesian language, settled in the distant parts of Melanesia,

Lying is Universal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Lying is Universal - Essay Example For our elders who have already passed most parts of their lives such as our grandparents lying is such a trivial phenomenon that they hardly realize when they are undergoing it. Virtually they make themselves believe that whatever they are thinking is right and is based on nothing but facts! It has often been noticed that their thoughts about any matter in particular are based over a series of continuous lies that they have made themselves believe as facts rather than otherwise! Even if it is pointed out to them that what they are sayin is incorrect they claim to have never lied about anything ever before. Below is a narration of such a happening in which an elderly person lies about certain things without realizing what she is doing. A few weeks ago on a sunny afternoon I was lazily reclining on my armchair engrossed in the servitude of my summer vacations. â€Å"I cannot find my Ring! I have looked every where!† exclaimed my grandmother. There was nothing else that could ha ve taken my attention off from the suspense novel that I was reading other than my grandmother’s remarks. What was so special about them was that she was talking about the so very famous ring that had a myth behind it. It was our family’s ancestral ring. ... But today, when she had come back into her room after her morning chores she had suddenly realized that she was not wearing her ancestral ring. She could not recall when she had taken it off and where she had put it. The only thing she knew was that she had looked up all the possible places where the ring could supposedly have been but in-vain. She could find it nowhere. I and my siblings offered our services to her and each one of us took up a separate room to conduct the â€Å"Ring-Hunt† in it. Under the sofa, over the cabinet, beside the refrigerator and below the room carpet, after about 3 hours of continuous search there was no place left on our ground floor that we hadn’t looked up. In the meantime when we were busy searching we could continuously hear grandmother complaining to each and everyone of her children and friends over the phone that she had lost the ring and that she suspected the cleaning lady of having stolen her centuries’ old ring. She was so very convincingly telling everyone that the maid had taken her ring that the listener would get the idea that grandmother was cent percent sure in her saying and that it was not just an imaginary assumption that she was making. Is she not lying? I thought to myself while looking up the ring in her closet. But she was talking as if she had seen the maid take the ring with her own eyes whereas only a few hours earlier had she mentioned that she did not recall where it that she had last seen the ring was. The next thing I heard was that she had extended her Pretend-Story of Stolen Ring Even more. She had linked it with every time the maid had ever mentioned to grandma that she really appreciated the antique jewels that she possessed. She quickly