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Sergio Jarillo

University of Melbourne, Geography, Post-Doc

Columbia University, Anthropology, Adjunct

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, Post-Doc

American Museum of Natural History, Anthropology, Research Associate

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Research Associate

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Papers by Sergio Jarillo

The political economy of the social constraints to adaptation

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2024

The constraints to effective, efficient, equitable and fair climate change adaptation have been d... more The constraints to effective, efficient, equitable and fair climate change adaptation have been defined and discussed in the literature for over two decades now. In this review, we discuss the socioeconomic and cultural factors that underpin what climate change adaptation can and cannot achieve. We focus on insights into the constraints to adaptation that come from scholars writing from a political economy lens, showing that the interests of often distant powerful actors and institutions are as important as behaviours and attitudes in constraining adaptation.

Perspectives on Indigenous well-being and climate change adaptation

by Sergio Jarillo and Carlos Crivelli

WIREs Climate Change, 2024

Though it is often said that climate change is a risk to people's well-being, the specific ways i... more Though it is often said that climate change is a risk to people's well-being, the specific ways in which it affects people's well-being is still poorly understood, especially as it relates to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Two interrelated issues contribute to this gap in knowledge: (1) the use of different conceptualizations of well-being across disciplines; and (2) the limited use of local and context-specific understandings of well-being that are meaningful to people exposed to climate change. Here, we review 103 articles covering the topic of climate change adaptation and well-being. We find that, despite the growing interest on the topic, most of the articles do not include definitions of well-being. We then propose an approach informed by emic values to better understand how climate change may affect well-being in Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. We conclude that, given the increasing recognition of well-being as a fundamental marker of successful adaptation, well-being should be central to climate change research and policymaking, but for this to be of benefit to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities context-specific understandings of well-being are necessary.

Migration, belonging, and the sustainability of atoll islands through a changing climate

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 2024

Migration can both enable and hinder the sustainability of atoll populations through a changing c... more Migration can both enable and hinder the sustainability of atoll populations through a changing climate. It can reduce pressure on fragile ecosystems and allow for the sustainable use of natural resources; and it can detract from the human and financial resources that are required to adapt to climate change, and may therefore amplify climate impacts and subsequent migration, resulting in island abandonment. Our research shows that when migrants maintain a meaningful connection to their place of origin-a sense of belonging rooted in sociocultural valuesthe sustainability of atolls is enhanced, as migrants are invested in the future of their home communities and contribute to financial and physical capital in ways that help adapt to climate change.

Reducing personal climate anxiety is key to adaptation

by Sergio Jarillo and Katharine Greenaway

Nature Climate Change, 2023

Personal actions to reduce climate change risk can not only reduce anxiety but also catalyse elev... more Personal actions to reduce climate change risk can not only reduce anxiety but also catalyse elevated perceptions of self-efficacy and hope, which in turn enable collective action on adaptation. There is evidence that personal actions to reduce climate change not only have benefits in the negative end of the emotion spectrum but also have the potential to catalyse anxiety’s ‘good twin’ — hope. Indeed, by promoting hope, climate actions on the personal level have the potential to catalyse group-level benefits including elevated perceptions of collective self-efficacy and collective action on adaptation

“Winga Is Trying to Get in”: Local Observations of Climate Change in the Tiwi Islands

Earth's Future, 2023

There is a growing body of research documenting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities' observa... more There is a growing body of research documenting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities' observations of changes in climate. The accuracy, efficacy, and transferability of this research depends on its motives and methods. In this paper, we report on research to produce a working knowledge of changes in climate and its impacts on local biophysical systems in the Tiwi Islands in Northern Australia. Interviews with 52 Tiwi people were combined with diverse forms of aerial data to produce a nuanced understanding of climate change in these remote islands. These data show changes in climate-sensitive biophysical systems that would otherwise remain undetected by instruments conventionally used for monitoring climate change. These include changes in shorelines, which are causing concerns about damage to buildings that are important for Tiwi well-being, and changes in the marine environment and wetlands, which are causing concerns about damage to natural heritage. We discuss the implications of these findings, arguing that systematic observations collected by networks of people “on Country” can provide excellent monitoring of climate change impacts, and that Indigenous people's interests in the effects of climate change overlap with those of non-Indigenous people, as do their rights to support from the State for adaptation.

Climate change and migration from atolls? No evidence yet

by Sergio Jarillo, Colette Mortreux, and Elissa Waters

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2023

People living on low-lying coral atolls are highly exposed to climate change and there is much di... more People living on low-lying coral atolls are highly exposed to climate change and there is much discussion that climate change is and will increasingly force their migration. This article presents findings from a systematic literature review on climatechange migration in atolls. We found an implicit (if not explicit) assumption in the literature that migration driven by climate change is already happening, yet the literature shows no empirical evidence of this to date. The prevailing assumption that outmigration is the only option has meant there is little consideration of local adaptation options in the literature, with little attention to how people living in these places may want to adapt, nor scrutiny of the enabling policies and institutions necessary for them to secure their futures.

Climate change affects multiple dimensions of well-being through impacts, information and policy responses

Nature Human Behaviour, 2022

The consequences of climate change and responses to climate change interact with multiple dimensi... more The consequences of climate change and responses to climate change interact with multiple dimensions of human well-being in ways that are emerging or invisible to decision makers. We examine how elements of well-being—health, safety, place, self and belonging—are at risk from climate change. We propose that the material impacts of a changing climate, discourses and information on future and present climate risks, and policy responses to climate change affect all these elements of well-being. We review evidence on the scale and scope of these climate change consequences for well-being and propose policy and research priorities that are oriented towards supporting well-being though a changing climate.

The Kula of the Gospels: Christianity, Magic, and Exchange in the Trobriand Islands

The Contemporary Pacific, 2022

Katupela guguya, or "exchange of sermons," is a current practice in the Trobriand Islands in whic... more Katupela guguya, or "exchange of sermons," is a current practice in the Trobriand Islands in which whole villages visit close or distant communities to give prayers on a set date. The Word of God is gifted by visiting parties who preach for their hosts; hosts will later reciprocate, offering other Bible passages when they visit their current guests' village. Modeled partly on the familiar patterns of circulation of the Kula exchange, katupela guguya also entails more material exchanges, including, on some occasions, Kula valuables. The reification of Christian cultural elements not only facilitates their circulation in exchange circuits; it also helps define these circuits, investing them with new meanings. This increased mobility (of things and ideas) has been capitalized on by some individuals to posit a coherent continuity between traditional magic practices and present-day understandings of Christianity. The exchange of sermons offers original insights on how people conceptualize and negotiate social change in the Massim cultural region (Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea) to which the Trobriand Islands belong.

Nature-based solutions for atoll habitability

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 2022

Atoll societies have adapted their environments and social systems for thousands of years, but th... more Atoll societies have adapted their environments and social systems for thousands of years, but the rapid pace of climate change may bring conditions that exceed their adaptive capacities. There is growing interest in the use of 'nature-based solutions' to facilitate the continuation of dignified and meaningful lives on atolls through a changing climate. However, there remains insufficient evidence to conclude that these can make a significant contribution to adaptation on atolls, let alone to develop standards and guidelines for their implementation. A sustained programme of research to clarify the potential of nature-based solutions to support the habitability of atolls is therefore vital. In this paper, we provide a prospectus to guide this research programme: we explain the challenge climate change poses to atoll societies, discuss past and potential future applications of nature-based solutions and outline an agenda for transdisciplinary research to advance knowledge of the efficacy and feasibility of nature-based solutions to sustain the habitability of atolls. This article is part of the theme issue 'Nurturing resilient marine ecosystems'.

Repositioning the (Is)land: Climate Change Adaptation and the Atoll Assemblage

Antipode, 2022

Sinking atolls are an enduring symbol of the power of climate change to destroy inhabited places.... more Sinking atolls are an enduring symbol of the power of climate change to destroy inhabited places. Climate impact science and the media share a panoptic gaze on atoll islands seeing them as being small, inert and passive in the face of rising seas. The focus in these accounts is on the power of water as the agent of destruction, while the agency of the assemblage of human and non-human actors that is the (is)land itself is ignored. Thus, atolls are said to be vulnerable, and the prevailing ideas of adaptation are either international relocation to avoid the sea or seawalls to contain it. Based on qualitative field research in Pacific atolls, this paper examines the connections between island peoples and their terrestrial environments, and the work that they are doing in response to the impacts of climate change. It shows how land is conceived symbolically, socio-culturally and legally, and considers its role in sustaining livelihoods and anchoring identities through a changing climate.

Contingent communality and community-based adaptation to climate change: Insights from a Pacific rural atoll

Journal of Rural Studies, 2021

Research shows that community-based adaptation (CBA) can empower grassroots agents to determine t... more Research shows that community-based adaptation (CBA) can empower grassroots agents to determine their preferred responses to climate change. After two decades of practice, recent analysis is highlighting that CBA has its limits, which we argue is in part because it is predicated on an idea of 'the communal' as being local, static, and spatially distinct. We investigate the relationship between the nature of community and the successful implementation of CBA through an ethnographic longitudinal study in Namdrik in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. We show that the Namdrik community is best understood as a spatially dynamic network of actors whose sense of shared purpose and capacity to act varies over time in response to demographic, economic and political circumstances. These processes at times weaken the shared commitment necessary for collective action on adaptation, especially as the material support and leadership that initiated CBA in Namdrik has waned. In such circumstances, the success of CBA is spatiotemporally contingent, and depends heavily on the persistence of factors that sustain shared commitment to the task, which most often means ongoing financial and technical support for activities and for community leaders.

How Malinowski sailed the Midnight Sun: the academic conference as ethnographic performance

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2021

Anthropology's scope is broader than its public, often limited to other anthropologists, while th... more Anthropology's scope is broader than its public, often limited to other anthropologists, while those who share their knowledge in the field with the ethnographer are too often cut off from anthropological debates about that knowledge. The anthropology conference, seen as research practice, proves successful in readmitting ethnographic subjects into anthropological dialogues. A symposium held in 2015 in Alotau, Papua New Guinea, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Malinowski's arrival in the Massim region, demonstrates how Massim peoples transcend anthropologists' discursive presentations by using images, objects, and performances, diluting, along the way, anthropology's hierarchical control. Anthropology conferences are for anthropologists This article is concerned with one particular instance of anthropological practice: the academic conference. It focuses on the relations that are established between researchers and their public, but also between researchers and the researched, and questions the goals of the conference as well as the means to achieve those goals. The article argues for a more inclusive anthropological practice in line with recent calls to open up the discipline to more dialogic, multidisciplinary research frameworks (Brown 2017;

Believing the unbelieved Reincarnation, cultural authority, and politics in the Trobriand Islands

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2020

Our article explored current Trobriand cosmological views and compared the findings with what had... more Our article explored current Trobriand cosmological views and compared the findings with what had been reported from Malinowski onwards. Using mixed methods research, we assessed contemporary ideas about rebirth and the afterlife and concluded that belief in reincarnation had "shifted significantly [.. .] or never was as widespread or constituted as reported." Francesca Mer-lan, Mark Mosko, and Michelle MacCarthy have engaged with the material presented in stimulating, contrasting , and provocative ways, thereby affording us a welcome opportunity to further elaborate on our results. In his extensive reply to our article, Mosko asserts that our findings do not supplant Malinowski's one-hundred-year-old description of the Trobriand socio-cultural system, nor Mosko's more recent model of Trobriand sociality based upon reincarnation and symmetrical exchanges between the living and the dead (Mosko 2017: 386; Jarillo et al. 2020). Mosko uses three lines of argument to rebuff our findings: (1) our project was flawed from the outset because we misread and misrepresented Malinowski's position on reincarnation ; (2) our methodology was ill-suited for our stated task and our results were further invalidated by the nature of our sample; and (3) our findings were tainted by the alleged involvement of our Trobriand co-authors in efforts to weaken the authority of the current Paramount Chief of Omarakana, of whom Mosko is the de facto anthropologist. In her comments to our piece, Mer-lan concludes that the negation of contemporary belief in reincarnation is probably correct, and credits Malinow-ski's intuition with foreseeing the full realization of its marginalization. MacCarthy concurs with our findings that baloma reside eternally in Tuma and reminds us of the dynamic characteristics of Trobriand culture, introducing a fascinating variation on reincarnation through the lens of born-again Pentecostal Christians. Mosko claims that our overly narrow reading of Ma-linowski overlooks his larger project, "an ethnographic analysis that would lead him to the construction of a model of the culture and social organization as a total system" (p. 402, emphasis in original). Similarly, Merlan advises that our article could be improved with an application of the nuanced, "unfolding" approaches to variations in beliefs advocated and practiced by Mali-nowski. Her comments, and for the most part Mosko's, are based on Malinowski's first essay Baloma, which was produced prior to his linguistic fluency, hereby ignoring crucial information from his diaries, notes, letters, and subsequent and more definitive works. In Merlan's conclusion , she cautions us that "we ought not attribute to

Where are our ancestors? Rethinking Trobriand cosmology

by Sergio Jarillo and Allan Darrah

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2020

Reincarnation has been a fundamental tenet of anthropologists' representations of Trobriand cosmo... more Reincarnation has been a fundamental tenet of anthropologists' representations of Trobriand cosmology since Bronislaw Mali-nowski published "Baloma; The spirits of the dead in the Trobriand Islands" in 1916. Yet, during recent ethnographic fieldwork, many Trobrianders repeatedly denied the possibility of rebirth. Faced with a potential major shift in this fundamental belief, we used a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods to assess current Trobriand cosmological views. Drawing on a combination of structured and semi-structured interviews and focus groups, we tested the current validity of prior cosmological representations as found in the literature. In this article, we first analyze the results of the questionnaires. Second, we examine some of the implications that current beliefs have for Trobriand kinship and cosmology. And third, in light of the observed near universal negation of reincarnation, we discuss whether Trobrianders' reported assumptions about the afterlife changed drastically in the last century or if Malinowski misrepresented them at the outset.

Rejoinder to Kret and Straffon

by Sergio Jarillo and James Russell

Journal of Human Evolution , 2018

"Of Dragons and Mermaids: The Art of Mimesis in the Trobriand Islands." In Mimesis and Pacific Transcultural Encounters: In Time, in Trade, and in Ritual Reconfigurations, eds. Jeannette Mageo and Elfriede Hermann. New York: Berghahn Press

Mimesis is a powerful tool for apprehending and comprehending alterity. This chapter examines how... more Mimesis is a powerful tool for apprehending and comprehending alterity. This chapter examines how carvers in the Trobriand Islands appropriate images from outsiders to expand their relational networks. It argues that the creative inventiveness of Trobrianders allows them to imitate foreign forms in their carvings while keeping them intrinsically “Trobriand.” Mimesis reveals ways in which carvings display difference and similarity at the same time, highlighting how for Trobrianders innovation is tradition.

The fear gasping face as a threat display in a Melanesian society

by Sergio Jarillo and James Russell

Theory and research show that humans attribute both emotions and intentions to others on the basi... more Theory and research show that humans attribute both emotions and intentions to others on the basis of facial behavior: A gasping face can be seen as showing “fear” and intent to submit. The assumption that such interpretations are pancultural derives largely from West- ern societies. Here, we report two studies conducted in an indige- nous, small-scale Melanesian society with considerable cultural and visual isolation from the West: the Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea. Our multidisciplinary research team spoke the vernacular and had extensive prior fieldwork experience. In study 1, Trobriand adolescents were asked to attribute emotions, social motives, or both to a set of facial displays. Trobrianders showed a mixed and variable attribution pattern, although with much lower agreement than studies of Western samples. Remarkably, the gasping face (tra- ditionally considered a display of fear and submission in the West) was consistently matched to two unpredicted categories: anger and threat. In study 2, adolescents were asked to select the face that was threatening; Trobrianders chose the “fear” gasping face whereas Spaniards chose an “angry” scowling face. Our findings, consistent with functional approaches to animal communication and observa- tions made on threat displays in small-scale societies, challenge the Western assumption that “fear” gasping faces uniformly express fear or signal submission across cultures.

Recognizing Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion in a Small-Scale Society of Papua New Guinea

We report 2 studies on how residents of Papua New Guinea interpret facial expressions produced sp... more We report 2 studies on how residents of Papua New Guinea interpret facial expressions produced spontaneously by other residents of Papua New Guinea. Members of a small-scale indigenous society, Trobrianders (Milne Bay Province; N 32, 14 to 17 years) were shown 5 facial expressions spontaneously produced by members of another small-scale indigenous society, Fore (Eastern Highlands Province) that Ekman had photographed, labeled, and published in The Face of Man (1980), each as an expression of a basic emotion: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, and disgust. Trobrianders were asked to use any word they wanted to describe how each person shown felt and to provide valence and arousal ratings. Other Trobrianders (N 24, 12 to 14 years) were shown the same photographs but asked to choose their response from a short list. In both studies, agreement with Ekman's predicted labels was low: 0% to 16% and 13% to 38% of observers, respectively.

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Research in Small-Scale Societies: Studying Emotions and Facial Expressions in the Field

Although cognitive science was multidisciplinary from the start, an under-emphasis on anthropolog... more Although cognitive science was multidisciplinary from the start, an under-emphasis on anthropology has left the field with limited research in small scale, indigenous societies. Neglecting the anthropological perspective is risky, given that once-canonical cognitive science findings have often been shown to be artifacts of enculturation rather than cognitive universals. This imbalance has become more problematic as the increased use of Western theory-driven approaches, many of which assume human uniformity (" universality "), confronts the absence of a robust descriptive base that might provide clarifying or even contrary evidence. We highlight the need for remedies to such shortcomings by suggesting a twofold methodological shift. First, studies conducted in indigenous societies can benefit by relying on multidisciplinary research groups to diminish ethnocentrism and enhance the quality of the data. Second, studies devised for Western societies can readily be adapted to the changing settings encountered in the field. Here, we provide examples, drawn from the areas of emotion and facial expressions, to illustrate potential solutions to recurrent problems in enhancing the quality of data collection, hypothesis testing, and the interpretation of results.

ART AND ANTHROPOLOGY BEYOND BEAUTIFUL REPRESENTATIONS: THE MATERIAL HYPERREALITY OF ARTISTIC ETHNOGRAPHY

This paper takes its cue from two art objects that can be considered in themselves as nontextual ... more This paper takes its cue from two art objects that can be considered in themselves as nontextual experiments in ethnographic research. The series Museum Photographs by Thomas Struth, as Guggenheim Museum curators put it, " captures anonymous individuals and crowds looking at iconic works of Western art in the world's most popular museums. " More than the aesthetic value of the artwork and its meaning, Struth's refl ection emphasizes the audience's reaction to the art object, evidencing his concern with the social potential of artworks in the art world. In a similar way, Christoph Büchel puts the public at the center of his installation Simply Botiful by soliciting affective responses to hyperrealistic and emotionally loaded issues. This paper purports to look at Büchel's installation with Struth's conceptual lens as a methodological tool to disentangle the complex web of relations between people and things that gravitate around the art world. Ultimately, it poses the question: if art objects are mediators of and commentaries on reality, under which conditions can artistic practices serve the purpose of exploring new avenues of ethnographic inquiry? In the syllabus-informed institutional frameworks that parse the academic disciplines of the humanities and the social sciences, art and anthropology are commonly held to be two separate domains, where the latter explains the former so as to produce an understanding of art that departs essentially from it. Despite recent theoretical and methodological reconceptualizations, 1 the analytic fl ow is traditionally held to be one-1 Most notably the expographic experiments of Latour and Weibel (2005) and the experimental modes of anthropological research through art collected in Schneider and Wright (2006). Arnd Schneider (2008) in particular is an advocate of the role of the visual art in anthropological representation and research. Beyond the realm of visual art, Max Liboiron prompts interesting ethnographic performances through his interactive art installations: the public engage with traditional anthropological themes such as exchange, consumption, regimes of value, the ecology of the landscape, trash-based social economies, and so on (see http://emedia.art.sunysb.edu/maxliboiron/webpages).

The political economy of the social constraints to adaptation

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2024

The constraints to effective, efficient, equitable and fair climate change adaptation have been d... more The constraints to effective, efficient, equitable and fair climate change adaptation have been defined and discussed in the literature for over two decades now. In this review, we discuss the socioeconomic and cultural factors that underpin what climate change adaptation can and cannot achieve. We focus on insights into the constraints to adaptation that come from scholars writing from a political economy lens, showing that the interests of often distant powerful actors and institutions are as important as behaviours and attitudes in constraining adaptation.

Perspectives on Indigenous well-being and climate change adaptation

by Sergio Jarillo and Carlos Crivelli

WIREs Climate Change, 2024

Though it is often said that climate change is a risk to people's well-being, the specific ways i... more Though it is often said that climate change is a risk to people's well-being, the specific ways in which it affects people's well-being is still poorly understood, especially as it relates to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Two interrelated issues contribute to this gap in knowledge: (1) the use of different conceptualizations of well-being across disciplines; and (2) the limited use of local and context-specific understandings of well-being that are meaningful to people exposed to climate change. Here, we review 103 articles covering the topic of climate change adaptation and well-being. We find that, despite the growing interest on the topic, most of the articles do not include definitions of well-being. We then propose an approach informed by emic values to better understand how climate change may affect well-being in Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. We conclude that, given the increasing recognition of well-being as a fundamental marker of successful adaptation, well-being should be central to climate change research and policymaking, but for this to be of benefit to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities context-specific understandings of well-being are necessary.

Migration, belonging, and the sustainability of atoll islands through a changing climate

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 2024

Migration can both enable and hinder the sustainability of atoll populations through a changing c... more Migration can both enable and hinder the sustainability of atoll populations through a changing climate. It can reduce pressure on fragile ecosystems and allow for the sustainable use of natural resources; and it can detract from the human and financial resources that are required to adapt to climate change, and may therefore amplify climate impacts and subsequent migration, resulting in island abandonment. Our research shows that when migrants maintain a meaningful connection to their place of origin-a sense of belonging rooted in sociocultural valuesthe sustainability of atolls is enhanced, as migrants are invested in the future of their home communities and contribute to financial and physical capital in ways that help adapt to climate change.

Reducing personal climate anxiety is key to adaptation

by Sergio Jarillo and Katharine Greenaway

Nature Climate Change, 2023

Personal actions to reduce climate change risk can not only reduce anxiety but also catalyse elev... more Personal actions to reduce climate change risk can not only reduce anxiety but also catalyse elevated perceptions of self-efficacy and hope, which in turn enable collective action on adaptation. There is evidence that personal actions to reduce climate change not only have benefits in the negative end of the emotion spectrum but also have the potential to catalyse anxiety’s ‘good twin’ — hope. Indeed, by promoting hope, climate actions on the personal level have the potential to catalyse group-level benefits including elevated perceptions of collective self-efficacy and collective action on adaptation

“Winga Is Trying to Get in”: Local Observations of Climate Change in the Tiwi Islands

Earth's Future, 2023

There is a growing body of research documenting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities' observa... more There is a growing body of research documenting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities' observations of changes in climate. The accuracy, efficacy, and transferability of this research depends on its motives and methods. In this paper, we report on research to produce a working knowledge of changes in climate and its impacts on local biophysical systems in the Tiwi Islands in Northern Australia. Interviews with 52 Tiwi people were combined with diverse forms of aerial data to produce a nuanced understanding of climate change in these remote islands. These data show changes in climate-sensitive biophysical systems that would otherwise remain undetected by instruments conventionally used for monitoring climate change. These include changes in shorelines, which are causing concerns about damage to buildings that are important for Tiwi well-being, and changes in the marine environment and wetlands, which are causing concerns about damage to natural heritage. We discuss the implications of these findings, arguing that systematic observations collected by networks of people “on Country” can provide excellent monitoring of climate change impacts, and that Indigenous people's interests in the effects of climate change overlap with those of non-Indigenous people, as do their rights to support from the State for adaptation.

Climate change and migration from atolls? No evidence yet

by Sergio Jarillo, Colette Mortreux, and Elissa Waters

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2023

People living on low-lying coral atolls are highly exposed to climate change and there is much di... more People living on low-lying coral atolls are highly exposed to climate change and there is much discussion that climate change is and will increasingly force their migration. This article presents findings from a systematic literature review on climatechange migration in atolls. We found an implicit (if not explicit) assumption in the literature that migration driven by climate change is already happening, yet the literature shows no empirical evidence of this to date. The prevailing assumption that outmigration is the only option has meant there is little consideration of local adaptation options in the literature, with little attention to how people living in these places may want to adapt, nor scrutiny of the enabling policies and institutions necessary for them to secure their futures.

Climate change affects multiple dimensions of well-being through impacts, information and policy responses

Nature Human Behaviour, 2022

The consequences of climate change and responses to climate change interact with multiple dimensi... more The consequences of climate change and responses to climate change interact with multiple dimensions of human well-being in ways that are emerging or invisible to decision makers. We examine how elements of well-being—health, safety, place, self and belonging—are at risk from climate change. We propose that the material impacts of a changing climate, discourses and information on future and present climate risks, and policy responses to climate change affect all these elements of well-being. We review evidence on the scale and scope of these climate change consequences for well-being and propose policy and research priorities that are oriented towards supporting well-being though a changing climate.

The Kula of the Gospels: Christianity, Magic, and Exchange in the Trobriand Islands

The Contemporary Pacific, 2022

Katupela guguya, or "exchange of sermons," is a current practice in the Trobriand Islands in whic... more Katupela guguya, or "exchange of sermons," is a current practice in the Trobriand Islands in which whole villages visit close or distant communities to give prayers on a set date. The Word of God is gifted by visiting parties who preach for their hosts; hosts will later reciprocate, offering other Bible passages when they visit their current guests' village. Modeled partly on the familiar patterns of circulation of the Kula exchange, katupela guguya also entails more material exchanges, including, on some occasions, Kula valuables. The reification of Christian cultural elements not only facilitates their circulation in exchange circuits; it also helps define these circuits, investing them with new meanings. This increased mobility (of things and ideas) has been capitalized on by some individuals to posit a coherent continuity between traditional magic practices and present-day understandings of Christianity. The exchange of sermons offers original insights on how people conceptualize and negotiate social change in the Massim cultural region (Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea) to which the Trobriand Islands belong.

Nature-based solutions for atoll habitability

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 2022

Atoll societies have adapted their environments and social systems for thousands of years, but th... more Atoll societies have adapted their environments and social systems for thousands of years, but the rapid pace of climate change may bring conditions that exceed their adaptive capacities. There is growing interest in the use of 'nature-based solutions' to facilitate the continuation of dignified and meaningful lives on atolls through a changing climate. However, there remains insufficient evidence to conclude that these can make a significant contribution to adaptation on atolls, let alone to develop standards and guidelines for their implementation. A sustained programme of research to clarify the potential of nature-based solutions to support the habitability of atolls is therefore vital. In this paper, we provide a prospectus to guide this research programme: we explain the challenge climate change poses to atoll societies, discuss past and potential future applications of nature-based solutions and outline an agenda for transdisciplinary research to advance knowledge of the efficacy and feasibility of nature-based solutions to sustain the habitability of atolls. This article is part of the theme issue 'Nurturing resilient marine ecosystems'.

Repositioning the (Is)land: Climate Change Adaptation and the Atoll Assemblage

Antipode, 2022

Sinking atolls are an enduring symbol of the power of climate change to destroy inhabited places.... more Sinking atolls are an enduring symbol of the power of climate change to destroy inhabited places. Climate impact science and the media share a panoptic gaze on atoll islands seeing them as being small, inert and passive in the face of rising seas. The focus in these accounts is on the power of water as the agent of destruction, while the agency of the assemblage of human and non-human actors that is the (is)land itself is ignored. Thus, atolls are said to be vulnerable, and the prevailing ideas of adaptation are either international relocation to avoid the sea or seawalls to contain it. Based on qualitative field research in Pacific atolls, this paper examines the connections between island peoples and their terrestrial environments, and the work that they are doing in response to the impacts of climate change. It shows how land is conceived symbolically, socio-culturally and legally, and considers its role in sustaining livelihoods and anchoring identities through a changing climate.

Contingent communality and community-based adaptation to climate change: Insights from a Pacific rural atoll

Journal of Rural Studies, 2021

Research shows that community-based adaptation (CBA) can empower grassroots agents to determine t... more Research shows that community-based adaptation (CBA) can empower grassroots agents to determine their preferred responses to climate change. After two decades of practice, recent analysis is highlighting that CBA has its limits, which we argue is in part because it is predicated on an idea of 'the communal' as being local, static, and spatially distinct. We investigate the relationship between the nature of community and the successful implementation of CBA through an ethnographic longitudinal study in Namdrik in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. We show that the Namdrik community is best understood as a spatially dynamic network of actors whose sense of shared purpose and capacity to act varies over time in response to demographic, economic and political circumstances. These processes at times weaken the shared commitment necessary for collective action on adaptation, especially as the material support and leadership that initiated CBA in Namdrik has waned. In such circumstances, the success of CBA is spatiotemporally contingent, and depends heavily on the persistence of factors that sustain shared commitment to the task, which most often means ongoing financial and technical support for activities and for community leaders.

How Malinowski sailed the Midnight Sun: the academic conference as ethnographic performance

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2021

Anthropology's scope is broader than its public, often limited to other anthropologists, while th... more Anthropology's scope is broader than its public, often limited to other anthropologists, while those who share their knowledge in the field with the ethnographer are too often cut off from anthropological debates about that knowledge. The anthropology conference, seen as research practice, proves successful in readmitting ethnographic subjects into anthropological dialogues. A symposium held in 2015 in Alotau, Papua New Guinea, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Malinowski's arrival in the Massim region, demonstrates how Massim peoples transcend anthropologists' discursive presentations by using images, objects, and performances, diluting, along the way, anthropology's hierarchical control. Anthropology conferences are for anthropologists This article is concerned with one particular instance of anthropological practice: the academic conference. It focuses on the relations that are established between researchers and their public, but also between researchers and the researched, and questions the goals of the conference as well as the means to achieve those goals. The article argues for a more inclusive anthropological practice in line with recent calls to open up the discipline to more dialogic, multidisciplinary research frameworks (Brown 2017;

Believing the unbelieved Reincarnation, cultural authority, and politics in the Trobriand Islands

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2020

Our article explored current Trobriand cosmological views and compared the findings with what had... more Our article explored current Trobriand cosmological views and compared the findings with what had been reported from Malinowski onwards. Using mixed methods research, we assessed contemporary ideas about rebirth and the afterlife and concluded that belief in reincarnation had "shifted significantly [.. .] or never was as widespread or constituted as reported." Francesca Mer-lan, Mark Mosko, and Michelle MacCarthy have engaged with the material presented in stimulating, contrasting , and provocative ways, thereby affording us a welcome opportunity to further elaborate on our results. In his extensive reply to our article, Mosko asserts that our findings do not supplant Malinowski's one-hundred-year-old description of the Trobriand socio-cultural system, nor Mosko's more recent model of Trobriand sociality based upon reincarnation and symmetrical exchanges between the living and the dead (Mosko 2017: 386; Jarillo et al. 2020). Mosko uses three lines of argument to rebuff our findings: (1) our project was flawed from the outset because we misread and misrepresented Malinowski's position on reincarnation ; (2) our methodology was ill-suited for our stated task and our results were further invalidated by the nature of our sample; and (3) our findings were tainted by the alleged involvement of our Trobriand co-authors in efforts to weaken the authority of the current Paramount Chief of Omarakana, of whom Mosko is the de facto anthropologist. In her comments to our piece, Mer-lan concludes that the negation of contemporary belief in reincarnation is probably correct, and credits Malinow-ski's intuition with foreseeing the full realization of its marginalization. MacCarthy concurs with our findings that baloma reside eternally in Tuma and reminds us of the dynamic characteristics of Trobriand culture, introducing a fascinating variation on reincarnation through the lens of born-again Pentecostal Christians. Mosko claims that our overly narrow reading of Ma-linowski overlooks his larger project, "an ethnographic analysis that would lead him to the construction of a model of the culture and social organization as a total system" (p. 402, emphasis in original). Similarly, Merlan advises that our article could be improved with an application of the nuanced, "unfolding" approaches to variations in beliefs advocated and practiced by Mali-nowski. Her comments, and for the most part Mosko's, are based on Malinowski's first essay Baloma, which was produced prior to his linguistic fluency, hereby ignoring crucial information from his diaries, notes, letters, and subsequent and more definitive works. In Merlan's conclusion , she cautions us that "we ought not attribute to

Where are our ancestors? Rethinking Trobriand cosmology

by Sergio Jarillo and Allan Darrah

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2020

Reincarnation has been a fundamental tenet of anthropologists' representations of Trobriand cosmo... more Reincarnation has been a fundamental tenet of anthropologists' representations of Trobriand cosmology since Bronislaw Mali-nowski published "Baloma; The spirits of the dead in the Trobriand Islands" in 1916. Yet, during recent ethnographic fieldwork, many Trobrianders repeatedly denied the possibility of rebirth. Faced with a potential major shift in this fundamental belief, we used a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods to assess current Trobriand cosmological views. Drawing on a combination of structured and semi-structured interviews and focus groups, we tested the current validity of prior cosmological representations as found in the literature. In this article, we first analyze the results of the questionnaires. Second, we examine some of the implications that current beliefs have for Trobriand kinship and cosmology. And third, in light of the observed near universal negation of reincarnation, we discuss whether Trobrianders' reported assumptions about the afterlife changed drastically in the last century or if Malinowski misrepresented them at the outset.

Rejoinder to Kret and Straffon

by Sergio Jarillo and James Russell

Journal of Human Evolution , 2018

"Of Dragons and Mermaids: The Art of Mimesis in the Trobriand Islands." In Mimesis and Pacific Transcultural Encounters: In Time, in Trade, and in Ritual Reconfigurations, eds. Jeannette Mageo and Elfriede Hermann. New York: Berghahn Press

Mimesis is a powerful tool for apprehending and comprehending alterity. This chapter examines how... more Mimesis is a powerful tool for apprehending and comprehending alterity. This chapter examines how carvers in the Trobriand Islands appropriate images from outsiders to expand their relational networks. It argues that the creative inventiveness of Trobrianders allows them to imitate foreign forms in their carvings while keeping them intrinsically “Trobriand.” Mimesis reveals ways in which carvings display difference and similarity at the same time, highlighting how for Trobrianders innovation is tradition.

The fear gasping face as a threat display in a Melanesian society

by Sergio Jarillo and James Russell

Theory and research show that humans attribute both emotions and intentions to others on the basi... more Theory and research show that humans attribute both emotions and intentions to others on the basis of facial behavior: A gasping face can be seen as showing “fear” and intent to submit. The assumption that such interpretations are pancultural derives largely from West- ern societies. Here, we report two studies conducted in an indige- nous, small-scale Melanesian society with considerable cultural and visual isolation from the West: the Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea. Our multidisciplinary research team spoke the vernacular and had extensive prior fieldwork experience. In study 1, Trobriand adolescents were asked to attribute emotions, social motives, or both to a set of facial displays. Trobrianders showed a mixed and variable attribution pattern, although with much lower agreement than studies of Western samples. Remarkably, the gasping face (tra- ditionally considered a display of fear and submission in the West) was consistently matched to two unpredicted categories: anger and threat. In study 2, adolescents were asked to select the face that was threatening; Trobrianders chose the “fear” gasping face whereas Spaniards chose an “angry” scowling face. Our findings, consistent with functional approaches to animal communication and observa- tions made on threat displays in small-scale societies, challenge the Western assumption that “fear” gasping faces uniformly express fear or signal submission across cultures.

Recognizing Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion in a Small-Scale Society of Papua New Guinea

We report 2 studies on how residents of Papua New Guinea interpret facial expressions produced sp... more We report 2 studies on how residents of Papua New Guinea interpret facial expressions produced spontaneously by other residents of Papua New Guinea. Members of a small-scale indigenous society, Trobrianders (Milne Bay Province; N 32, 14 to 17 years) were shown 5 facial expressions spontaneously produced by members of another small-scale indigenous society, Fore (Eastern Highlands Province) that Ekman had photographed, labeled, and published in The Face of Man (1980), each as an expression of a basic emotion: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, and disgust. Trobrianders were asked to use any word they wanted to describe how each person shown felt and to provide valence and arousal ratings. Other Trobrianders (N 24, 12 to 14 years) were shown the same photographs but asked to choose their response from a short list. In both studies, agreement with Ekman's predicted labels was low: 0% to 16% and 13% to 38% of observers, respectively.

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Research in Small-Scale Societies: Studying Emotions and Facial Expressions in the Field

Although cognitive science was multidisciplinary from the start, an under-emphasis on anthropolog... more Although cognitive science was multidisciplinary from the start, an under-emphasis on anthropology has left the field with limited research in small scale, indigenous societies. Neglecting the anthropological perspective is risky, given that once-canonical cognitive science findings have often been shown to be artifacts of enculturation rather than cognitive universals. This imbalance has become more problematic as the increased use of Western theory-driven approaches, many of which assume human uniformity (" universality "), confronts the absence of a robust descriptive base that might provide clarifying or even contrary evidence. We highlight the need for remedies to such shortcomings by suggesting a twofold methodological shift. First, studies conducted in indigenous societies can benefit by relying on multidisciplinary research groups to diminish ethnocentrism and enhance the quality of the data. Second, studies devised for Western societies can readily be adapted to the changing settings encountered in the field. Here, we provide examples, drawn from the areas of emotion and facial expressions, to illustrate potential solutions to recurrent problems in enhancing the quality of data collection, hypothesis testing, and the interpretation of results.

ART AND ANTHROPOLOGY BEYOND BEAUTIFUL REPRESENTATIONS: THE MATERIAL HYPERREALITY OF ARTISTIC ETHNOGRAPHY

This paper takes its cue from two art objects that can be considered in themselves as nontextual ... more This paper takes its cue from two art objects that can be considered in themselves as nontextual experiments in ethnographic research. The series Museum Photographs by Thomas Struth, as Guggenheim Museum curators put it, " captures anonymous individuals and crowds looking at iconic works of Western art in the world's most popular museums. " More than the aesthetic value of the artwork and its meaning, Struth's refl ection emphasizes the audience's reaction to the art object, evidencing his concern with the social potential of artworks in the art world. In a similar way, Christoph Büchel puts the public at the center of his installation Simply Botiful by soliciting affective responses to hyperrealistic and emotionally loaded issues. This paper purports to look at Büchel's installation with Struth's conceptual lens as a methodological tool to disentangle the complex web of relations between people and things that gravitate around the art world. Ultimately, it poses the question: if art objects are mediators of and commentaries on reality, under which conditions can artistic practices serve the purpose of exploring new avenues of ethnographic inquiry? In the syllabus-informed institutional frameworks that parse the academic disciplines of the humanities and the social sciences, art and anthropology are commonly held to be two separate domains, where the latter explains the former so as to produce an understanding of art that departs essentially from it. Despite recent theoretical and methodological reconceptualizations, 1 the analytic fl ow is traditionally held to be one-1 Most notably the expographic experiments of Latour and Weibel (2005) and the experimental modes of anthropological research through art collected in Schneider and Wright (2006). Arnd Schneider (2008) in particular is an advocate of the role of the visual art in anthropological representation and research. Beyond the realm of visual art, Max Liboiron prompts interesting ethnographic performances through his interactive art installations: the public engage with traditional anthropological themes such as exchange, consumption, regimes of value, the ecology of the landscape, trash-based social economies, and so on (see http://emedia.art.sunysb.edu/maxliboiron/webpages).

Review - The Tuma Underworld of Love. Erotic and Other Narrative Songs of the Trobriand Islanders and Their Spirits of the Dead, by Gunter Senft

Trobriand Tales, Kwanebuyee Kilivila (preview)

Trobriand Tales, Kwanebuyee Kilivila. Folktales and Mythical Stories from the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea, Collected by Jerry W. Leach and Held at the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, 2021

Trobriand Tales, Kwanebuyee Kilivila: Folktales and Mythical Stories from the Tro- briand Islands... more Trobriand Tales, Kwanebuyee Kilivila: Folktales and Mythical Stories from the Tro- briand Islands of Papua New Guinea, Collected by Jerry W. Leach and Held at the National Anthropo- logical Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, number 53, xxiv + 330 pages, frontispiece + 234 figures, 2 maps, 2021. — This volume comprises an edited compilation of traditional oral narratives from the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea obtained by Jerry W. Leach from 1970 to 1973, which are held in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Anthropological Archives. The narratives encompass key aspects of Trobriand cultural heritage as well as insights into the Kilivila language, regional cosmologies, and past and present social practices. The narratives constitute an elaborate but fragile system of knowledge that is threatened by rapid social change. The book is the culmination of a research project begun in 2011 through the auspices of the Recovering Voices Program at the National Museum of Natural History. Traveling to the Trobriand Islands with copies of the Leach narratives, the editor worked with communities to select the most culturally important and prevalent narratives, 79 of which are presented here. Trobriand communities proposed that those narratives be printed in Kilivila and in English to help pre- serve traditional knowledge for future generations. Each narrative is categorized in local terms, preceded by details regarding the storytellers and a summary, as well as links to other stories when narratives are related, and many are followed by a list of key words and expressions that are defined in a section on vocabulary. Further explanations and illustrations help clarify and complete the stories, providing examples of traditional objects and techniques as well as their uses.