ABSTRACT
Often unnoticed in reports on the persistent and widespread nature of circulation throughout Melanesia is evidence for marked alterations in the pattern of social mobility amongst specific groups of people. Some of these changes involve varied and complex transformations within a continuing circular form, the understanding of which is now a key issue in mobility research (Bedford 1981; Curtain 1980b; Ward 1980). Through rural-urban movement, for instance, Melanesian populations are being redistributed but what remains unclear is the permanence of these changes, their meaning for the people involved, and their implications for rural and urban society. There is increasing evidence about more permanent movement towards urban centres (eg. Garnaut, Wright and Curtain 1977; Morauta 1979) but uncertainty remains about the strength of this trend. Aggregate data show that movers are staying away longer from the village; however such data permit no distinction between extended absence and permanent separation from rural places of origin. Case studies do not usually resolve this difficulty, revealing instead indecisiveness amongst individual movers and ambiguity between behaviour and intent. Simultaneous with extending their involvement in wage employment, many migrants profess the intention to return to the natal community (cf. Strathern, this volume).
