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Food everywhere plays major roles in cultural reproduction. This chapter presents an ethnographic case study of food in the Micronesian island complex of Yap, where the indigenous food system of local cultigens & fish has long been the primary means through which the people express their cultural values. Further, women's preparation of starch foods such as taro & yams, complemented by men's production of fish & other protein foods, has been the core element of the Yapese political economy. Over the last 40 years, however, a growing wage economy has brought both social & economic change. The Yapese diet today includes many imported foods, especially rice, canned meats, & frozen poultry. Not only has the new diet resulted in diabetes, obesity, & hypertension, but cultural customs of almost daily sharing of food between households have diminished. Nonetheless, the Yapese have always used food to build their social world, & though the exchanges may be less frequent, & the foods may now include purchased goods such as rice, beer, & canned fish, the custom of food sharing continues. New to the culture are gatherings of family & friends at parties or picnics at the beach, with barbequed hot dogs & chicken. Thus the Yapese have developed strategies to maintain their cultural values & fulfill their social needs within the new economy. References. J. Stanton

Founded by individuals pursuing higher education in the United States, the Marshallese community in Orange County today also represents family and national interests in access to business opportunities, employment, education, medical services, and other goals. This community has become an "official" Marshallese overseas community, site of the first Marshallese consulate in the mainland United States, and a link between overseas Marshallese and the home islands. Individuals and family units traverse networks of inter-linked households, highlighting processes of Islanders' investments, including at least a short-term reversal of theoretically expected remittance flows. We explore the process of community formation, and compare rural and urban sites in the Marshall Islands to call attention to the community's place in a system of geographically dispersed locations within the global political economy.

Economic and political changes in Palau in the last two decades have led to a rapid increase in the numbers of foreign workers. At current levels of growth, Palauans could become a minority in their own country. We examine the global processes that have produced this phenomenon and discuss their social and cultural impacts on Palau. In doing so we examine ways the meanings of work in Palau are understood, and how these are changing. We conclude that a new distinctly Palauan system of occupations is emerging that is neither traditional nor purely western and that is widely shared between Palauans and non-Palauans.