UC San Diego

In this dissertation, I explore the educational experiences and opportunities of youth, ages 15-30, in Solomon Islands. Based on research at two secondary schools in Solomon Islands and the communities surrounding them, this project examines the challenges young people face when pursuing secondary schooling and the cultural values that motivate them to continue in spite of those challenges. I analyze how the experiences that students gain in secondary schools influence their identities as they intersect with the skills, values, and knowledge that are needed once they complete school. Through this narrative, I ask what drives students to keep going when the odds are against them? To answer this question, I explore the people, places, and things youth use to ground themselves and keep moving forward. This project is based on seventeen months of ethnographic research in Honiara, the capital city of Solomon Islands, and Buala, the provincial headquarters in Isabel province. Drawing on data collected through participant observation, interviews, surveys, photo elicitation, and social network analysis, I seek to highlight the voices of young people and share their stories. I describe the obstacles to educational success that young people face such as overcrowded schools, exam-based education, and learning in a foreign language. I explore the tensions youth face as they attempt to maintain kastom practices but are also drawn to new behaviors and practices through education and a rapidly globalizing world. The ethnographic narrative throughout the dissertation presents a picture of youth who are balancing cultural practices and connections to home while developing modern identities through education, friendships, and connections with the outside world. Despite these challenges, I argue that cultural values and community relationships motivate young people to “skul gud” (do well in school) so they can one day contribute to the kin who supported them. Connections to their Indigenous “home,” relationships with family, and commitments to kastom values are key in developing a personal identity and are motivations for educational success.