The Tinian Chamorros

Abstract

In a previous number of Human Organization, Leonard Mason described the transplanting of the Marshallese population from Bikini atoll to a succession of islands, and the consequent adjustment problems this small community faced. The present paper deals with another transplanted group in the Trust Territory—the Chamorros of Tinian Island, in the Marianas—for the purpose of adding another set of firsthand observations to the record on transplanted peoples. After World War II, the majority of the Tinian Chamorros were moved to Tinian from the western Caroline island of Yap, while the remainder of the group migrated from either Saipan or Rota. The Tinian community is therefore a new one, facing its own adjustment problems. This paper is concerned with these problems; with how they have been met; with the factors that have operated to facilitate or hinder the process of adjustment; and with the lessons in administration that can be learned from the experience on Tinian.