#melanesian

[irawhiti]

while everyone's rightfully talking about oppenheimer and its flaws regarding the erasure of japanese and native american voices regarding nuclear testing and detonations, i'd like to bring up the fact that pacific islanders have also been severely impacted by nuclear testing under the pacific proving grounds, a name given by the US to a number of sites in the pacific that were designated for testing nuclear weapons after the second world war, at least 318 of which were dropped on our ancestral homes and people. i would like if more people talked about this.

important sections are bolded for ease of reading. i would appreciate this being reblogged since it's a bit alarming how few people know about this.

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in 1946, the indigenous peoples of pikinni (the bikini atoll) were forcibly relocated off of their islands so that nuclear tests could be run on the atoll. at least 23 nuclear bombs were detonated on this inhabited island chain, including 20 hydrogen bombs. many pasifika were irreversibly irradiated, all of them were starved during multiple forced relocations, and the island chain is still unsafe to live on despite multiple cleanup attempts. there are several craters visible from space that were left on the atoll from nuclear testing.

the forced relocation was to several different small and previously uninhabited islands over several decades, none of which were able to sustain traditional lifestyles which directly lead to further starvation and loss of culture and identity. there is a reason that pacific islanders choose specific islands to inhabit including access to fresh water, food, shelter, cloth and fibre, climate, etc. and obviously none of these reasons were taken into account during the displacements.

200 pikinni were eventually moved back to the atoll in the 1970s but dangerous levels of strontium-90 were found in drinking water in 1978 and the inhabitants were found to have abnormally high levels of caesium-137 in their bodies.

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i'm going to put the rest of this post under a readmore to improve the chances of this being reblogged by the general public. i would recommend you read the entirety of the post since it really isn't long and goes into detail about, say, entire islands being fully, utterly destroyed. like, wiped off of the map. without exaggeration, entire islands were disintegrated.

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as i just mentioned, ānewetak (the eniwetok atoll) was bombed so violently that an entire island, āllokļap, was permanently and completely destroyed. an entire island. it's just GONE. the world's first hydrogen bomb was tested on this island. the crater is visibly larger than any of the islands next to it, more than a mile in diameter and roughly fifteen storeys deep. the hydrogen bomb released roughly 700 times the energy released during the bombing of hiroshima. this would, of course, be later outdone by other hydrogen bombs dropped on the pacific, reaching over 1000 times the energy released.

one attempt to clean up the waste on ānewetak was the construction of a large ~380ft dome, colloquially known as the tomb, on runit island. the island has been essentially turned into a nuclear waste dump where several other islands of ānewetak have moved irradiated soil to and, due to climate change, rising seawater is beginning to seep into the dome, causing nuclear waste to leak out. along with this, if a large typhoon were to hit the dome, there would be a catastrophic failure followed by a leak of nuclear waste into the surrounding land, drinking water, and ocean. the tomb was built haphazardly and quickly to cut costs.

hey, though, there's a plus side! the water in the lagoon and the soil surrounding the tomb is far more radioactive than the currently contained radioactive waste. a typhoon wouldn't cause (much) worse irradiation than the locals and ocean already currently experience, anyway! it's already gone to shit! and who cares, right, the only ""concern"" is that it will just further poison the drinking water of the locals with radioactive materials. this can just be handwaved off as a nonissue, i guess. /s

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at least 36 bombs were detonated in the general vicinity of kiritimati (christmas island) and johnson atoll. while johnson atoll has seemingly never been inhabited by polynesians, kiritimati was used intermittently by polynesians (and later on, micronesians) for several hundred years. many islands in the pacific were inhabited seasonally and likewise many pacific islanders should be classified as nomadic but it has always been convenient for the goal of white supremacy and imperalism to claim that semi-inhabited areas are completely uninhabited, claimable pieces of terra nullius.

regardless of the current lack of inhabitants on these islands, the nuclear detonations have caused widespread ecological damage to otherwise delicate island ecosystems and have further spread nuclear fallout across the entirety of the pacific ocean.

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while the marshall islands, micronesia, and the surrounding areas of melanesia and polynesia were (and still are) by far the worst affected by these atrocities, the entirety of the pacific has been irradiated to some extent due to ocean/wind currents freely spreading nuclear fallout through the water and air. all in all, at least 318 nuclear bombs were detonated across the pacific. i say "at least" because these are just the events that have been declassified and frankly? i wouldn't be shocked to find out they didn't stop there.

please don't leave the atomic destruction of the pacific out of this conversation. we've been displaced, irradiated, murdered, poisoned, and otherwise mass exterminated by nuclear testing on purpose and we are still suffering because of it. many of us have radiation poisoning, many of us have no safe ancestral home anymore. i cannot fucking state this enough, ISLANDS WERE DISINTEGRATED INTO NONEXISTENCE.

look, this isn't blaming people for not talking about us or knowing the extent of these issues, but it's... insidiously ironic that i haven't seen a single post that even mentions pacific islanders in a conversation about indigenous voices/voices of colour being ignored when it comes to nuclear tests and the devastation they've caused.

[mymomichis-blog]

yakumo yukari

[kemetic-dreams]

New research articles mention that E haplogroup is strongly of Eurasian origins. If this is the case, how is it possible that African populations mostly carry this haplogroup and they are of darker complexion vs. lighter skinned West-Asians?

Eurasian doesn’t mean white. Know this and know peace!

Melanesian kids

[eirikswood]

Descendants of the First Seafarers

Some of the ancestors of the native peoples of Madagascar, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Pacific Islands (Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia) came from an ancient seaborne migration out of Taiwan and the Philippines (2200 BCE - 1250 CE). Cultural traditions still shared among these far-flung peoples today include tātau (tattoos), jade carving, stilt houses, and the cultivation of taro, pork, rice, coconuts, and yams.

[tyrannoninja]

Somewhere in the South Pacific in ancient times, this Melanesian huntress must defend her island home from the wrath of Gojira, King of Monsters, with a rudimentary ballista!

[flocysafrocurls]

Grey glistering form

Yellow firm fin graceful glide

Blue ocean covered

[yourfavpasifikacreator]

Shuri x Fem!Melanesian!Reader

As shuri was visiting a island in the south pacific is melanesia she loved everything about the island she visited the kids were happy the people were happy there in one of the days she was there she heard of a festival of cultural dancing happening on the main land

When she got there she witnessed all the beautiful cultural dances she saw you in one of the cultural dances she looked at you with pure amazement she was amazed Of your cultural dressing and millenated skin after the dancing she walked around you went out of the place you were in with cultural dressing just to get a breath of fresh air

There you saw her a her eyes met yours you knew who she was she queen shuri of wakanda not many people knew heck you think you'd be the only one about on your Island due to not that much of phones or social media so your people were completely oblivious to the fact the litteral queen of wakanda was walking here in there island

You bet your people didn't even know anywhere else but the pacific islands you were you were too busy in your thoughts you didn't realize she was approaching you thought 'shit i look bad right now she's think i look bad'

When she got near enough to talk to you she said "hello." If you were being honest the hello was a bit dry and you laught a bit a smiled a said "hello Mrs queen shuri" you said formally a in your head you thought 'should of i had said that or something different ' she sighed and said "just call me shuri darling." her accent was thick it made every thing she said sound great though you thought

"O-oh yeah sure" you hated when you stuttered it made you sound dumb but she find it adorable a funny she laughed a said "I just wanted to say I found your dancing beautiful" you looked at her with kind a warm eyes a smiled brighter "you did? Wow jeez thanks" you said kindly one of your auntys called you a you said "yeah I'm coming just wait! Hey look it was lovely meeting you shuri I wish I could stay some more but I got to go-" she cut you off a said "hey if your not busy tomorrow meet me again here in the afternoon tomorrow" and you said back to her "yeah sure cause I'm not doing anything tomorrow afternoon but yeah I have to go see you tomorrow!" You smiled at her warmly a left you left her with a warm heart.

My thumbs are tired asf tell me if you want me to continue this a ill try too if my mental health is up to it!^^ this is my first time writing i know its short im sorry please no hate :) but you can politely tell me what to improve on in my writing!

[maidaaart]

Melanesian girl

Another OC I have been working on. All I knew was that I wanted her to be a Melanesian character. Name, and anything else is yet to be decided.

[cosmoglass]

Took these screenshots from three episodes of ‘Tribes, Predators & Me’ years ago when it was on TV.

1. Kids of the Solomon Islands 2. San mother and daughter 3. Papuan girl

[nanasstuffsposts]

Idek who she was.. found this beautiful photo of this beautiful woman in our family’s album.

It’s the vintage style & the Afro for me ‼️🫰🏽

[toshkakoshka]

so pictured: the filipino aeta, Melanesian children and indigenous australians

they’re all different face types, theyre variants from the “out of africa” category which means they’re an ethnicity that evolved past african roots but still managed to keep key features like their dark skin and afro textured hair

at least for the melanesians it seems that they have the least amount of resemblance towards today’s african populations, tho while they carry similar features (though its guaranteed as a sometimes thing) they are not at all closely related to their african roots anymore, and have evolved from the paleolithic and neolithic era

this is what the humanphenotypes site says about them:

Medium brown to black skin, tight-curly hair, robust features, often with supraorbital arches, wide, relatively high noses and full lips, the height is variable, the limbs are long. Although features sometimes appear Sub-Saharan African, no close relationship exists, and they result from convergent evolution. Besides the Insular Melanesid proper, a more gracile, long-nosed Neo Melanesid variety is found among Papuans. Mountain Melanesids show very robust features, Tapirids are among the shortest people of the world. In the Western Solomon Islands, a very dark Bukaid variety exists. A very ancient, Australoid variety is the Paleo Melanesid.

for indigenous australians, they in particular are apparently carrying genetics from the south asian vedid (as according to the site they “migrated to australia in a south asian route”) and you can see the resemblance when you put the vedid face type together with the australid face type. in fact i would go as far as to say they have the least resemblance towards their african ancestors, though while im not sure how much time has passed during their stay in south asia its definitely evident that they carry a resemblance to their counterparts especially with only wavy to curly hair and facial proportions

the site text:

Probably split off from one of the early Out-of-Africa migrations before the divergence of Europeans and East Asians. Migrated to Australia via a South Asian route. Often shows a variety of ancient features. Superciliary arches strong, prognathy, long skulls, receding chin and foreheads. Long-legged, slender, skin medium brown to black, hair wavy to curly, noses very wide. Body hair stronger than in Sub-Saharan Africans. The North Australid variety is high-skulled, taller, darker, and more slender, the South Australid low-skulled, more thickset, and fairer-skinned. In the Western Desert exists a short-faced, lighter-haired Desert Australid variety. Until the 20th century a pygmoid Barrinean variety was found in the forests. The kinky-haired Tasmanid was native to Tasmania.

so finally we have the aetas, aka the negritos (little black ones— they literally resemble smaller africans hence the name) who bare the most resemblance towards their african roots. however, they also carry features from south asian genetics, which comes into play with the fact they immigrated through oceanic routes, meaning that they were islanders. this is what the site says about them

site text:

Very ancient South Asian type that probably arrived with an early Out-of-Africa migration via oceanic routes. Negritids are very short, males often below 150 cm, and have dark brown to black skin, kinky hair, and relatively short skulls. In difference to African Pygmies, Negritids show adultiform proportions, e.g. no abnormally short legs. Facial features are usually more gracile, noses not very wide. Was pushed back by later migrations of Veddids and Mongoloids, and survives only in small numbers scattered across several remote locations. Until 1857, the Andamanids (North Andamanid, South Andamanid) lived extremely isolated. After contact, populations rapidly collapsed due to disease. In the Philippines, an Aetid variety exists, in the Malayan peninsula a Semangid variety, both still survive in the rainforests. Deforestation, loss of culture, and disease could soon wipe out these unique people.

its actually really sad that many of their subvariants mentioned in the article are long gone due to colonization, racism and colorism, and i find it fucking abhorrent that it’s always been white people being the root of the problems they face. these are very unique groups of people and the fact their variants weren’t able to survive due to the circumstances, means that they’re also in even further danger if they aren’t protected.

to conclude, face types are super fascinating and should be something worth looking into especially when you talk about the history behind it. oceania and southeast asia hold super diverse ethnic groups and it’s not just limited to africans who have dark skin and curly hair.

[makona10]

The traditional way of cooking uses stones that are burned until hot. Bakar batu/Barapen. - peace for my life - 📍 Port Numbay, Jayapura - Papua. #papuansphoto #humaninterest #humaninterestphotography #street #streetphotos #traditionalcooking #bakarbatu #barapen #wamekina #wamena #paniai #portnumbay #jayapuracity #westpapua #mobilephotography #mobilephotographypapua #smartphonephotography #smartphonephoto #papuacooking #melanesian #pacific (di Port Numbay) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpu7c3NgJIm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[impermanent-art]

Work by Dale Grimshaw in Greensboro, NC, painted in 2019.

[melanesian-girl]

[sosefinamovie]

#sosefinamovie #explorepage #poly #pacificislander #pacific #southpacific #polynesiandance #islandlife #culture #dance #micronesian #explore #faarapu #melanesian #travel #hula #polynesianart #love #fijian #pasifika #samoantattoo #vahine #island #paradise #photography #disney #polynesiantribal #islandstyle #maui https://www.instagram.com/p/Co_93j6Ocro/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[tyrannoninja]

Kong Defends His Bride

Having just acquired his sacrificial bride, the mighty Kong must now defend her from the predators of his island domain, not least of which is the terrible giant land crocodile!

This is of course my adaptation of the scene from the classic movie in which King Kong wrestles a tyrannosaur. As much as I love the dinosaurs in both the original movie and the 2005 remake, I always did feel that Kong appeared less impressive compared to them, being simply a giant version of a modern animal. Therefore, I decided to make Kong’s nemesis a giant relative of the extinct terrestrial crocodilian Quinkana, which prowled Australia until around 10,000 years ago.