Abstract
The Naming Systems/Naming Relations group finished work in Kona as a Formal Symposium. Seven participants joined together on the Big Island: Kun-hui Ku (Paiwan, Taiwan), Wen-Te Chen (Puyuma, Taiwan), Chun-wei Fang (Bunun, Taiwan), Doris Bacalzo (Wampar, PNG), Isabel Leblic (Paicî, New Caledonia), Latham Wood (Aneityum, Vanuatu), and Lamont Lindstrom (name-sets everywhere); and three others shared papers in absentia: Monica Janowski (Kelabit, Sarawak); Denis Regnier (Betsileo, Madagascar), and Mac Marshall (Namoluk, FSM). Names implicate a number of central issues of anthropological, linguistic, and philosophical concern, and papers addressed three central themes: Social reproduction (how naming systems inform the constitution of local groups from one generation to the next); identity and personhood (how names both identify and get used by persons in strategic social and political competition including how individuals rename themselves throughout their life cycles or to reposition themselves in significant ways); and the history of global impacts that have transformed naming systems and how these reflect local social structures and personhood. Our goal in Kona was to identify and strengthen shared concerns and themes better to unite all papers into a coherent collection. One strength is that our case studies come from across the Austronesian language area from Madagascar, to Sarawak, to Taiwan, to Chuuk, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu. We thank members of an engaged audience who also contributed questions and observations pertinent to core issues. We will explore possibilities to publish the papers as a set in a special issue of an appropriate journal.