Liam Brown
Of the thesis entitled: Death in the City: The St. Lawrence Funeral Centre
Abstract:
In
contemporary
North
America,
death
is
contained
within
a
network
of
cemeteries,
crematoria
and
funeral
homes.
Death-
space
and
its
associative
funeral
rituals
are
both
sacred
and
abject
resulting
in
marginalization
that
adversely
affects
how
the
living
understand
their
mortality.
Our
perception
of
death
influences
our
place
in
the
world
and
funeral
ritual
facilitates
our
departure
from
it.
In
most
cities,
the
funeral
home
houses
this
liminal
ritual,
while
also
providing
the
clinical
handling
and
processing
of
the
deceased
body.
Investigation
of
the
funeral
home
and
its
role
within
the
city
addresses
how
architecture
can
influence
cultural
views
on
death.
Through
the
funeral
home
there
is
an
opportunity
to
balance
the
seemingly
opposing
narratives
of
the
living
and
the
deceased
by
bringing
them
together
for
the
funeral.
In
the
City
of
Toronto,
the
density
of
its
diverse
neighbourhoods
is
not
reflected
by
a
proportionate
number
of
local
funeral
homes.
This
thesis
proposes
a
non-denominational
space
for
funeral
ritual
and
cremation
within
the
dense
St.
Lawrence
Neighbourhood.
The
placement
of
the
Funeral
Centre
satisfies
the
practical
requirements
of
this
growing
community,
while
the
adjacency
to
the
St.
Lawrence
Market
juxtaposes
the
vibrancy
of
the
ordinary
and
the
solemnity
of
the
sacred.
This
proposal
extends
into
a
network
for
the
scattering
of
ashes
throughout
the
city
aiming
to
reconnect
people
to
the
realities
of
their
existence.
The examining committee is as follows:
Supervisor:
Committee members:
Andrew Levitt
Rick
Haldenby,
University
of
Waterloo
Ryszard
Sliwka,
University
of
Waterloo
External reader:
Scott Sorli, University of Toronto
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
The Defence Examination will take place at:
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (ARC 2026)
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.
Chris Knight
Of the thesis entitled: Raising Islands
Abstract:
In
an
era
of
dawning
anthropogenic
climate
change,
people
of
atoll
nations
face
grievous
threats
to
their
future.
Rising
sea
levels,
warming
oceans,
and
changing
weather
patterns
conspire
with
economic
isolation,
rapidly
growing
populations,
and
the
loss
of
traditional
livelihoods
to
perpetuate
conditions
of
dependence
and
wardship
which
threaten
the
very
existence
of
their
island
homes.
This
project
examines
an
atoll
nation
of
the
equatorial
Pacific,
the
Republic
of
the
Marshall
Islands,
where
the
outward
appearance
of
pristine
tropical
paradise
belies
a
tragic
history
of
nuclear
weapons
and
ballistic
missile
testing
at
the
hands
of
the
US
military.
While
the
islands
have
been
consistently
framed
in
rhetoric
which
stresses
vulnerability,
smallness
and
unsustainability,
this
project
contests
the
limited
scope
of
the
regimes
of
power
in
Oceania
by
considering
how
the
independent,
grassroots
actions
of
local
groups
of
islanders
have
achieved
surprising
and
dramatic
results
in
defiance
of
the
policies
and
planners
at
the
top.
In
developing
a
design
proposal
for
the
contemporary
condition,
this
thesis
examines
the
persistent
ways
in
which
the
islands
and
people
are
framed
by
outsiders.
This
project
engages
with
the
social,
political
and
natural
history
of
the
atolls:
common
tropes
are
challenged
by
the
actions
and
agency
of
a
people
who
have
dealt
with
imperialist
outsiders
in
sophisticated
and
conscious
ways.
It
explores
the
traditional
cultural
practices
which
enabled
the
ancestors
of
the
Marshallese
people
to
flourish,
and
suggests
that
it
is
at
the
level
of
actions
by
ordinary
people
that
the
most
fertile
potentials
lie,
and
are
in
fact
already
being
played
out.
What
forms
of
urbanism
might
be
appropriate
in
this
environment?
How
can
islanders
effectively
manage
their
landscape
and
engage
with
the
natural
processes
-
as
their
ancestors
once
did
to
a
remarkable
degree?
By
pairing
traditional
techniques
with
modern
technologies,
a
proposal
is
synthesized
which
could
empower
the
contemporary
Marshallese
to
transform
their
landscape
and
develop
sustainable
livelihoods
in
this
extreme
and
dynamic
environmental
condition:
to
build
a
future
which
offers
the
best
aspects
of
both
traditional
and
contemporary
ways
of
life.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows: