First, there is the uniqueness of the perspective on atoll societies. The debate over the Anthropocene is rife everywhere, but the core of the argument is how to improve and overcome this situation, as human activities breached the earth's environmental limits in the mid-20th century and accelerated environmental destruction at a rapid pace, and "previously stable" human life proceeded to collapse at a rapid pace. Atoll societies, characterized by fragility and vulnerability, have been represented as the "front line" or the greatest "victims" of this environmental crisis. However, it has been confirmed that "precarious" lifestyles have been continuously "maintained" on numerous Pacific atolls since well before the Anthropocene. In particular, the people of Pukapuka atoll have secured their survival in the face of multiple vulnerabilities: the extreme remoteness and remoteness of the extreme remoteness of the atoll, the risk of climate change due to El Niño events that have occurred every few years for the past several thousand years, and the increased risk during the Anthropocene. 

In this study, we reposition Pukapuka atoll society as an entity that has continued to construct a living world without stopping by raising the environmental boundaries through the means of environmental functional differentiations. In other words, by redefining the residents as active "suvivors" rather than passive "victims," this study turns the conventional view of atoll society on its head by 180 degrees. By focusing on atolls, an environment where the agency of nature is relatively strong, the project also attempts to learn from the creative practices of the people who live there and fundamentally reexamine the nature of humanity in the Anthropocene, while escaping anthropocentrism.

    Second, it is also worth mentioning that, based on the perspective pointed out in the first section, disciplines across the humanities and sciences are collaborating in the field to redefine atolls from a variety of time spans and research methods. (1)The social anthropological approach will focus microscopically on the last 80 years, conducting interviews with local residents and participatory observation at multiple sites, including Pukapuka, Rarotonga, New Zealand, and Australia. (2)The historical anthropological approach will cover approximately 200 years since the early 19th century, analyzing a wide range of historical materials, including mission records, colonial government administrative documents, and the minutes of island council meetings. (3)The archaeological and geographical approach will cover several thousand years since the formation of the atoll, and will include excavation to examine the history of human settlement, topographic measurement and analysis of sediments and coral rings to assess the physical environment. By summarizing approaches (1) through (3) and comprehensively examining the construction of the living world in the far-remote atoll with a focus on dynamics, it is possible to reconsider its fragility and vulnerability, and at the same time to look at the multilayered nature of resilience, which is highly creative.