(2015) The Rapanui diaspora in Tahiti and the lands of Pamatai (1871-1970) By Diego Muñoz

https://www.academia.edu/20156041/_2015_The_Rapanui_diaspora_in_Tahiti_and_the_lands_of_Pamatai_1871_1970_?nav_from=b0a5a47d-646c-4000-b05d-cae601770d58 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 lands of Pamatai, bought 80 years earlier by a group of 25 Rapanui immigrants. For the Rapanui people, the history of the lands of Pamatai evokes a series of memories and forgotten events, genealogical ties, as well as a constant search for a 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 the lands of Pamatai in the Rapanui migration process: the exodus during the nineteenth century, confinement on Easter Island, the broken link with Tahiti, and Rapanui claims for ownership of the lands of Pamatai after the 1970s. ...