ABSTRACT
In my writings I use hyphens a lot, and long phrases, such as Pacific IslanderGermans, or people of New Guinean and German heritage. It is a thoughtful, difficult and careful searching for words. I sometimes oscillate when assigning identity, calling German-Samoans a German Diaspora in Samoa, or a Pacific Islander Diaspora in Germany. My former supervisor, Hank Nelson, in his laconic Australian way, where jokingly serious issues get raised, once reminded me that really, I am dealing with an artificial identity when I use the term ‘Papua New Guinean’, for people feel strongly about being, Enga or Tolai or Bouganvillean. I responded that in Germany people insist that they are Frankonian, Swebian, Fresian or Hanseatic. Is it thus an outsider’s imposition to write about German-New Guineans, when people might be Frankonian-Tolai or Swebian-Highlanders?
