“There Is No Place Like Home.” This is the title of a new book just donated to the Bureau of Arts and Culture by Dr. Stephanie Walda-Mandel. Dr. Walda-Mandel is a German anthropologist who has spent several years studying the migration of the people of Sonsorol State in Palau, to the main islands of Palau as well as to Guam, Saipan, and the US mainland cities of Portland and Salem, Oregon. Dr. Walda discusses the reasons for migration and how the people of Sonsorol are able to maintain their identity as Sonsorolese even while living elsewhere. She notes in her book that “Today, Sonsorolese are found in Hawaiian shopping centers, in Saipanese libraries, Guamanian fast food restaurants, as well as in accounting offices in Portland.”
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… although this study focuses on the people of Sonsorol, the issues of cultural and linguistic identity are relevant to all Palauans, many of whom have also migrated to Guam, Saipan, and the US mainland.
This book is volume 5 in the series Heidelberg Studies in Pacific Anthropology. An additional copy of the book was donated to the Sonsorol State Government. It is available at www.amazon.com and the distributor www.isdistribution.com [/restrict]