Tahitian Transformation: Gender and Capitalist Development in Rural Society.

Robinson, Kathryn

Tahitians are incorporated into the global economy through a process termed 'welfare colonisation' by Lockwood. Drawing on the dependency theory and world systems perspectives she analyses the ways in which the economy of village communities has been transformed in the contemporary world. Part one provides a historical framework for understanding the relation of Tahiti to the modern world system: the historical process by which these Pacific Islands became a French overseas territory, the changes introduced by the establishment of French colonial control, the contemporary effects of Tahiti's utility to France as a nuclear test site, the consequences of tourist development, the effects of commodity production in previously subsistence communities, and also the effects of the incorporation into the modern French nation state. It is clear that these islands, like the American Micrones-ian possessions have a peculiar relation to global economic and political systems: the simple models of 1970s dependency and world systems models do not readily apply; in eeo-nomic terms, there are net inflows of capital through welfare payments from the metropole and the strategic benefits of economic control loom as of great significance to the metropolitan power.

Part two of the book focuses on economic organisation in the islands of Tubuai, focusing principally on the establishment of commodity production in those islands. As a consequence of a metropolitan influenced transformation of Tahitian taste, the potato and its products (French fries, etc.) are a growing market crop. Potato production has been sponsored through state funded development projects, and many rural people have greatly improved their material circumstances through their production. She analyses the effects of this form of integration into the capitalist system, and shows how, because they have retained control of land, the effects of this production for the market have, on the whole, been materially beneficial. On the basis of this finding, she refutes the bald conclusion of dependency theory that incorporation into the world capitalist system necessarily leads to exploitation. However, her case study is a good exemplar of a basic flaw in the model of dependency theory: it fails to distinguish between incorporation into the global system on the basis of changes in production relations and incorporation on the basis of links in the sphere of exchange. There have been a number of studies of commodity production in the Third World which show that where producers retain control of the land and can make their own decisions about allocation of land and labour, between production for the market and production for self-consumption, and have the ability to respond themselves to market forces, commodity production can yield net increases in income. The situation is markedly different when peasant producers lose control of productive resources and are forced to survive on a (low) wage. Indeed in the case studies presented in this book we see people making decisions about labour and resource utilisation/allocation which improve their circumstances, or allow them to ride out unanticipated shifts in fortune.

The second theme of this book is the consequence of the broad economic changes for Tahitian women. Lockwood's study causes her to demur from the broad conclusions of the 'Women in Development' debates that capitalist development inevitably leads to a worsen-ing of women's social and economic position. The crucial factor determining how Tahitian women fare is the fact that women have access to land which they have been able to cultivate as a base for an independent stake in the modern economy. (She presents a counter case to the Boserup thesis that under colonial rule women have retained control of land, but this strengthens rather than refutes Boserup's contention about the consequences of women losing control of productive resources.

The analysis is somewhat limited by relying on debates of the 1970s: it is very much focused on economic relations and gives only enticing glimpses of social and cultural questions. One wonders what Lockwood could have done, for example, with an analysis in the mode of Bourdieu on questions of education, and of the assumption of French 'taste'.

The book is well written and clearly argues its principal theses. It will be of interest to Pacific scholars who are keen to understand the ways in which the familiar complex of forces in the Pacific (small island states, colonial history, Christianity, dependent economies, small scale commodity production and migration) shape up in the Tahitian context. It presents a wealth of interesting empirical material from which to reflect on these matters. It would be interesting to read in association with similar works, for example, Margaret Rodman's work on copra producers in Vanuatu and in this way I am sure it will find its way onto undergraduate reading lists in development studies and economic anthropology.

KATHRYN ROBINSON University of Newcastle