96 research outputs found
The Vanuatu Labor Corps Experience
Conference paper for the Cultural Encounters in the Pacific War conference, sponsored by the East-West Center, UH-Manoa Center for Pacific Islands Studies, and the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities, May 198
Tanna Times
"Anthropologists like to tell other peopleâs stories but local experts tell them even better.
This book introduces the vibrant living culture and fascinating history of Tanna, an island in Vanuatu, Melanesia, through the stories of a dozen interconnected Tanna Islanders. Tracing the past 250 years of island experiences that cross the globe, each of these distinctly extraordinary lives tells larger human narratives of cultural continuity and change. In following Tannaâs times, we find that all of us, even those living on seemingly out-of-the-way Pacific Islands, are firmly linked into the worldâs networks.
Each chapter opens with a telling life story then contextualizes that biography with pertinent ethnographic explanation and archival research. Since 1774, Tanna Islanders have participated in events that have captured global anthropological and popular attention. These include receiving British explorer James Cook; a nineteenth-century voyage to London; troubled relations with early Christian missionaries; overseas emigration for plantation labor; the innovation of the John Frum Movement, a so-called Melanesian âcargo cultâ; service in American military labor corps during the Pacific War; agitation in the 1970s for an independent Vanuatu; urban migration to seek work in Port Vila (Vanuatuâs capital); the international kava business; juggling arranged versus love marriages; and modern dealings with social media and swelling numbers of tourists. Yet, partly as a consequence of their experience abroad, Islanders fiercely protect their cultural identity and continue to maintain resilient bonds with their Tanna homes.
Drawing on forty years of fieldwork in Vanuatu, author Lamont Lindstrom offers rich insights into the culture of Tanna. His close relationship with the islandâs people is reflected in his choice to feature their voices; he celebrates and recounts their stories here in accessible, engaging prose. An ethnographic case study written for students of anthropology, the author has included a concise list of key sources and essential further readings suggestions at the end of each chapter. Tanna Times complements classroom and scholarly interests in kinship and marriage, economics, politics, religion, history, linguistics, gender and personhood, and social transformation in Melanesia and beyond.
ASAO Special Publications and Distinguished Lectures
The Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO)âs Distinguished Lectures, an annual custom that took shape from earlier occasional special talks, sparked its Special Publications series with the publication of Marshall Sahlinsâs lecture, Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities: Structure in the Early History of the Sandwich Islands Kingdom in 1981. Special Publications have been edited by Ivan Brady, Deborah Gewertz, and Lamont Lindstrom. Lectures and Special Publications were married more firmly when an ASAO Board decision limited the series to publishing only Distinguished Lectures. This arrangement decayed after a number of years when no Distinguished Lecture came available for publication. The journal Oceania instead agreed to publish ASAOâs Distinguished Lectures as feature articles in its November issues, and the Special Publication series was discontinued. In this paper I review the history, highlights and lowlights, of these two ASAO enterprises
Respek et autres mots-clés du Port-Vila urbain
Dans leurs histoires de migration urbaine, les habitants de Tanna qui vivent dans les quartiers informels de Port-Vila emploient souvent un certain nombre de mots-clĂ©s pour dĂ©crire la vie en ville. Jâutilise la mĂ©thode dâanalyse culturelle dite par âmots-clĂ©sâ afin dâaborder la perception insulaire de lâexpĂ©rience urbaine. Respek (le respect) est un terme qui revient trĂšs frĂ©quemment dans les entretiens que jâai enregistrĂ©s. Ailleurs dans le monde, ce mot, souvent liĂ© Ă des manĆuvres politiques basĂ©es sur lâethnicitĂ© et sur le genre, a contribuĂ© de façon importante Ă la prĂ©dominance de ce terme. Les migrants de Tanna dĂ©plorent lâabsence de respect mais lâĂ©voquent constamment pour expliquer les conflits et les dĂ©ceptions. Je mâintĂ©resse aussi aux autres mots-clĂ©s communs en bislama qui apparaissent dans les discussions sur la rĂ©alitĂ© urbaine : sikiuriti (la sĂ©curitĂ©), mobael (Ă la fois le tĂ©lĂ©phone et les forces militaires du Vanuatu), noes (le bruit), jalus (la jalousie) et fri (gratuitĂ©, libertĂ©). Ces mots-clĂ©s rĂ©vĂšlent des perspectives instructives sur lâurbanisation mĂ©lanĂ©sienne Ă©mergeante.Telling urban migration stories, Tanna island residents of Port Vilaâs settlements commonly use a number of keywords to describe life in town. I follow the âkeywordâ method of cultural analysis to approach island appreciation of urban experience. In recorded interviews, respek (respect) was one notably frequent term. Sharpening ethnic and gender identity politicking nearly everywhere has significantly boosted the termâs prominence, including in socially complex post-colonial Melanesian towns. Tanna migrants bemoan respectâs absence but they evoke it constantly to explain conflict and disappointment. I also consider other common urban Bislama keywords that circulate in talk about urban reality including sekiuriti (security), mobael (both telephones and Vanuatuâs military force), noes (noise), jalus (jealousy), and fri (free, freedom). Keywords unlock instructive views of emergent Melanesian urbanism
Urbane Tannese: Local Perspectives on Settlement Life in Port Vila
Significant rural-urban migration has characterized the postcolonial Melanesian states including Vanuatu. Over the past 30 years, most people who once lived in Samaria village (Tanna Island) have moved to squatter settlements that ring Port Vila, Vanuatuâs capital town. Life history interviewing of migrants now living in Port Vilaâs Blacksands and Ohlen neighbourhoods, and also of those remaining back on Tanna, document peoplesâ participation in urban migration, wage-labor, mobile telephony and other new media, religious organization, leadership and dispute settlement, and other aspects of urban life and how this participation is shaping a new urbanity in Vanuatu.Lâhistoire des Ătats mĂ©lanĂ©siens postcoloniaux, incluant le Vanuatu, fut notamment marquĂ©e par un puissant exode rural. Trente ans aprĂšs lâindĂ©pendance de ce pays, la plupart des personnes originaires du village de Samaria (Ăźle de Tanna) vivent dĂ©sormais dans les « bidonvilles » qui entourent la capitale Port-Vila sur lâĂźle dâEfate. Le  recueil des histoires de vie de ces migrants qui vivent aujourdâhui dans les quartiers de Blacksands et de Ohlen, mais Ă©galement de celles des gens de Samaria restĂ©s dans leur village Ă Tanna, permet dâaborder les thĂšmes de la migration urbaine, du travail salariĂ©, de la tĂ©lĂ©phonie mobile et dâautres nouveaux mĂ©dias, de lâorganisation religieuse, de lâautoritĂ©, du rĂ©glement des conflits et dâautres aspects de la vie Ă Port-Vila qui caractĂ©risent les nouvelles formes dâidentitĂ© urbaine Ă Vanuatu
Respek and Other Urban Vila Keywords
Dans leurs histoires de migration urbaine, les habitants de Tanna qui vivent dans les quartiers informels de Port-Vila emploient souvent un certain nombre de mots-clĂ©s pour dĂ©crire la vie en ville. Jâutilise la mĂ©thode dâanalyse culturelle dite par âmots-clĂ©sâ afin dâaborder la perception insulaire de lâexpĂ©rience urbaine. Respek (le respect) est un terme qui revient trĂšs frĂ©quemment dans les entretiens que jâai enregistrĂ©s. Ailleurs dans le monde, ce mot, souvent liĂ© Ă des manĆuvres politiques basĂ©es sur lâethnicitĂ© et sur le genre, a contribuĂ© de façon importante Ă la prĂ©dominance de ce terme. Les migrants de Tanna dĂ©plorent lâabsence de respect mais lâĂ©voquent constamment pour expliquer les conflits et les dĂ©ceptions. Je mâintĂ©resse aussi aux autres mots-clĂ©s communs en bislama qui apparaissent dans les discussions sur la rĂ©alitĂ© urbaine : sikiuriti (la sĂ©curitĂ©), mobael (Ă la fois le tĂ©lĂ©phone et les forces militaires du Vanuatu), noes (le bruit), jalus (la jalousie) et fri (gratuitĂ©, libertĂ©). Ces mots-clĂ©s rĂ©vĂšlent des perspectives instructives sur lâurbanisation mĂ©lanĂ©sienne Ă©mergeante.Telling urban migration stories, Tanna island residents of Port Vilaâs settlements commonly use a number of keywords to describe life in town. I follow the âkeywordâ method of cultural analysis to approach island appreciation of urban experience. In recorded interviews, respek (respect) was one notably frequent term. Sharpening ethnic and gender identity politicking nearly everywhere has significantly boosted the termâs prominence, including in socially complex post-colonial Melanesian towns. Tanna migrants bemoan respectâs absence but they evoke it constantly to explain conflict and disappointment. I also consider other common urban Bislama keywords that circulate in talk about urban reality including sekiuriti (security), mobael (both telephones and Vanuatuâs military force), noes (noise), jalus (jealousy), and fri (free, freedom). Keywords unlock instructive views of emergent Melanesian urbanism
Lâurbanisation en MĂ©lanĂ©sie
Dans les annĂ©es 1970, les ethnographes Hal et Marlene Levine Ă©crivaient que : « [ils] nâavaient que rarement entendu les NĂ©o-GuinĂ©ens parler favorablement de leurs villes [et que ces derniers] se plaignaient du coĂ»t de la vie dans les villes, de la violence qui y rĂ©gnait et des dangers et difficultĂ©s associĂ©s Ă la vie au milieu de tant dâĂ©trangers » (Levine et Levine, 1979 : 1, notre traduction) Une dĂ©cennie plus tĂŽt, un rĂ©sident de Port Moresby dĂ©crivait, de façon similaire, sa ville comme ..
Lâurbanisation en MĂ©lanĂ©sie
Dans les annĂ©es 1970, les ethnographes Hal et Marlene Levine Ă©crivaient que : « [ils] nâavaient que rarement entendu les NĂ©o-GuinĂ©ens parler favorablement de leurs villes [et que ces derniers] se plaignaient du coĂ»t de la vie dans les villes, de la violence qui y rĂ©gnait et des dangers et difficultĂ©s associĂ©s Ă la vie au milieu de tant dâĂ©trangers » (Levine et Levine, 1979 : 1, notre traduction) Une dĂ©cennie plus tĂŽt, un rĂ©sident de Port Moresby dĂ©crivait, de façon similaire, sa ville comme ..
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