Social and organisationally informal networks in combination with transnational movements and the exchange of practices and information have been increasingly recognised as highly functional. These networks are also regarded as contributing effectively to development because of the aspects of fluidity and reciprocity that are involved (Bebbington 2002; Gibson-Graham 2005; Henry, Mohan and Yancopulos 2004). In this theoretical context, two recent publications have acknowledged and referred to the long history of cultural and family connections and networking over time and space in context of migration and mobility in the Pacific. The first one, a working paper by Barcham, Scheyvens and Overton (2007) suggests a ‘New Polynesian Triangle’, extending from historical Polynesia, and relatively restricted movements during colonial times, to an extended and more complex Polynesia that participates and is affected by the dynamics and neoliberal politics of globalisation and has perhaps, despite such politics, extended to include places and transnational communities in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Movements within such a new Polynesian transnational space must include the multi-dimensional nature of migration and the ties that bind people to their homeland, resulting in movements of people and their expressions of identity that are multidirectional (Barcham, Scheyvens and Overton 2007). The authors refer in particular to Polynesian families living in nations with strong political links to the Pacific Rim, including Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue and Hawai’i. They refer to the expanding concepts of transnationalism but emphasise the important aspect of culture and family as key unit of analysis, and advocate a clearer understanding of the complexities of transnational flows, such as remittances, that can be both multi-directional and embrace symbolic and cultural meanings, which may be seen as equally significant to economic importance (see also Borovnik 2005; Koteka-Wright 2006; Marsters, Lewis and Friesen 2006 in this context).

Basing their arguments on Hau’ofa (1993:6), Barcham, Scheyvens and Overton (2007:8) explain that ‘in an increasingly unfavourable geo-political climate, Polynesians have moved even further afield – yet this expansion of movement has, for too long, been disregarded’, and people expand their movements by crisscrossing the boundless ocean as always. These arguments are based on the frequent flows between Oceania and the Pacific Rim, and reject discourses on migration that only focus on aspects of permanence and assimilation in new places, by showing that in the context of Polynesians we cannot conclude as such. Although this paper did not include Micronesia, it can clearly be linked to the transnational practices and experiences of seafarers in the Pacific, and hence, these arguments can be regarded as suitable for Tuvaluan as well as I-Kiribati families.

The second publication concerned with ‘The Pacific Islanders and the Rim: Linked by Migration’ is a special issue in the Asia Pacific Migration Journal edited by Carmen Voigt-Graf (2007a) which addresses the larger region of Oceania. Again, the ‘extraordinarily large migration flows’ in the region are being observed (Voigt-Graf 2007b, 143), and the large Polynesian component at least in New Zealand and Australia has been recognised. This issue also addresses the MIRAB debate and strong views on remittance dependence in 1995 (Brown and Connell 1995). The contributors expand on these debates by including aspects on social networks, identities and cultural changes in more detail, addressing shifts in migration discourses including now second generations and a more positive view on remittances. This issue, however, also addresses the multiple directions and symbolic of transnational flows and the need for more research on the social aspects of the affects of migration and labour circulation (see Connell 2007; Lee 2007).

In conclusion, discourses on transnationalism, especially in the context of Pacific seafarers have now included different scales of geographies as well as social, cultural and economic components of networks resulting from the multiplicity of movement articulations especially within the Pacific context under the influence of globalisation.