We just live our own lives here ... in the Pacific

To state that the mostly rural population of Pacific Islanders spread across 22 nations and hundreds of language and cultural groups are "just living their own lives", acknowledging but not greatly affected by geo-politics and globalisation, is a reasonable assertion. This phrase is borrowed from Geua Dekure of Koiari in PNG when interviewed for the book Views from interviews: the changing role of women in Papua New Guinea. Geua acknowledged that missions, colonial rule and independence had affected her people, but she noted that "we just live our own lives here ... we recognise each other's strengths and traditional knowledge. That is why we are still happy" (Turner 1993: 8-9).