Abstract
Islands have been described in terms of their 'nervous duality'. This statement aptly describes Pitcairn Island, the last remaining British Overseas Territory and smallest jurisdiction in the Pacific. By its very existence as 'colonial confetti' Pitcairn denotes the concept of cultural realignment as it relates to relationships of power. Geographically isolated, accessible only by sea and with a population of less than fifty, Pitcairn is famous as the refuge of Bounty mutineers and Polynesians who settled the island in 1790. But Pitcairn's more contemporary notoriety stems from 'Operation Unique', the United Kingdom's investigation of sexual abuse against women and subsequent trials held on the island in 2004. The court case became a battle over the island's way of life and a contested case of imperial domination over a tiny, vulnerable community. The trials were a critical point of (dis) juncture that threatened permanence of island place, while global media negatively branded Pitcairn as an island dystopia. The latter has prompted this article's examination of current plans to grow tourism and attract new immigrants to Pitcairn. As a tool of analysis cultural realignment facilitates an understanding of the dynamics leading to community resilience, the restoration and re-imaging of island place/space, and the changing significances of Pitcairn's sociopolitical and cultural landscape.