The Rapanui Diaspora on Tahiti. Pamatai Lands as a Memorial Settlement
Résumé
When commercial flights between Rapa Nui and Tahiti began in 1968, after nearly 70 years of colonial confinement, a new migratory process began from Rapa Nui to Tahiti. This included claims of ownership of the Pamatai lands, bought 80 years earlier by a group of 25 Rapanui’s immigrants. For the Rapanui people the history of the Pamatai lands evokes a series of memories and forgetfulness, the genealogical ties as well a constant search for the linkage with Tahiti—a “memory of diaspora”.
In this paper I analyze the history of links between Rapanui people and Tahiti and the role of Pamatai’s land in the Rapanui migration process: the exodus during nineteenth century, confinement on Easter Island, the broken link with Tahiti, and Rapanui claims for ownership of the Pamatai lands after the 1970s.