Land Tenure in the Woleai
Alkire, William H. (1974). "Land Tenure in the Woleai". In Lundsgaarde, Henry (ed.). Land Tenure in Oceania. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press. pp. 39–69.
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Abstract: Those islands of the central Carolines in Micronesia that lie between Woleai Atoll in the west and the raised coral island of Satawal in the east are often collectively referred to as “the Woleai.” Eauripik, Ifaluk, Faraulep, Elato, and Lamotrek are included. The total population of the area is approximately 1,600 individuals. Woleai Atoll itself is both the most populous, with nearly 600 residents, and the largest, even though its total land area is less than 11⁄2 square miles. The data for this analysis were gathered on Woleai Atoll in 1965 and Lamotrek in 1962 and 1963.1 Minor variations in practices and especially terminology were noted between these two atolls, and undoubtedly additional variations will be found on the other islands. Nevertheless, I believe the similarities in the land tenure practices in the islands of the Woleai are greater than their differences.
The land tenure system of the Woleai is still essentially a traditional one. Even though the area has, within the memory of residents, been administered in turn by the Germans, Japanese, and Americans, no official land surveys have been made. Consequently, there are neither land registers nor land taxes although a cadastral program is currently underway in the Trust Territory which eventually will probably result in a survey and registration of land holdings in the Woleai. In addition, although there is a court on Yap which officially has jurisdiction overthese outer islands, no case involving a land dispute has ever been brought before it. Direct changes by foreigners in the tenure system have been imposed, primarily during the years of Japanese administration. But while some lands were confiscated and transferred to Japanese government and commercial interests, most of these parcels reverted to their original owners when the Japanese left Micronesia.
Indirect changes traceable to the presence of colonial powers, but not the result of their direct interference, appear to have been more long lasting. These latter changes involve parcels of land that now have importance in the copra trade. Certain previously unexploited or marginally important areas of land, that is, the ocean side of inhabited islands and the whole of uninhabited islands, now have a continuing importance for cultivation of coconuts where previously they were unimportant to the subsistence economy. The changes brought about by this, however, are mainly ones in which traditional tenure principles that previously would have been infrequently invoked are now of great importance and, consequently, frequently utilized. This is especially true of those traditional rules that permit an individual to exploit land on islands other than the one on which he normally resides. Of direct concern in this chapter is the interrelationship of the land tenure system and the social groups of Woleai society. As Goodenough (1951) emphasized in his study of Truk, land and social groupings, primarily kin groups, are inseparably linked and thus a full analysis of the tenure system demands clear definition of such groups.
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DOI: 10.2307/j.ctvp2n5c9.6 MAG: 2980926652 OpenAlex: W2980926652 CorpusID: 210293522
