Marine conservation in Vanuatu: Local conceptualisation and 'assemblage'

This article deals with the local conceptualisation of 'conservation' in the village Siviri in Vanuatu where villagers have established and maintain a small marine conservation area. Looking at villagers' motivations, the aim is to carve out the local conceptualisation and practice of 'conservation', to show what conservation is for the villagers. The theoretical framework is a combination of two approaches, namely 'assemblage' and 'world-making'. Conservation in Siviri is ontologically different from the concept of conservation used in Vanuatu national policy. It can be regarded as a creative engagement of villagers with their environment(s) to preserve the specific world-making assemblage consisting of humans and marine life for future generations

Klaemet jenj worlds. Approaching climate change and knowledge creation in Vanuatu

This article deals with ni-Vanuatu’s representations of climate change (klaemet jenj). After a discussion of theoretical concepts related to ‘knowledge’ and encounters of ideas, villagers’ perspectives about klaemet jenj in Siviri, North-Efate, are presented. These perspectives differ considerably from the information disseminated by media and by the staff of both governmental and non-governmental organizations. This contribution argues that these differences are so fundamental that it is not sufficient to conceive local assumptions about klaemet jenj as a form of hybridized knowledge. Instead, klaemet jenj should be conceived as (part of) a reality or world that people generate by interacting with their material, non-material and social environments, in various local and social contexts.Cet article porte sur les représentations des ni-Vanuatu relatives au changement climatique (klaemet jenj). Après une discussion des concepts théoriques relatifs aux « savoirs » et aux rencontres entre diverses idées, les perspectives du changement climatique (klaemet jenj) véhiculées par les villageois de Siviri, dans le nord d’Efate, sont présentées. Ces perspectives diffèrent considérablement des informations diffusées par les médias ainsi que par le personnel des organisations gouvernementales et non gouvernementales. Cette contribution soutient que ces différences sont si fondamentales qu’il n’est pas pertinent de concevoir les idées locales concernant le klaemet jenj en tant que forme de savoirs hybrides. Le klaemet jenj doit plutôt être considéré comme (faisant partie d’)une réalité ou (d’)un monde que les villageois créent au travers de leurs interactions avec leurs environnements matériels, non matériels et sociaux, et ce, dans divers contextes locaux et sociaux

Preservation or Diversification? Ideas and Practices Connected with Sustainability in Vanuatu

The aim of this article is to explore anthropology’s potential to contribute to reflections on the definition of sustainability. It draws on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork in the South Pacific island state of Vanuatu, using as its main methods semi-structured interviews, participant observation and freelisting. This article presents decisions and acts of the inhabitants of the rural village of Siviri regarding both the cultivation of food crops and fishing. It relates findings to a recent anthropological working definition of ‘sustainability’ that emphasises facilitating the necessary conditions for change by building and supporting diversity to address the unpredictability of the future. This definition is opposed to other current definitions that stress the preservation of existing norms. The research results presented here show that, with their decidedly future-oriented ideas and practices, the villagers of Siviri engaged with climate change adaptation projects and workshops regarding conservation and subsequently created new cultivation methods and established a marine conservation area. Additionally, they reduced their engagement in cultivation and diversified their livelihood practices. Referring to theoretical approaches connected with the ‘ontological turn’ in anthropology, it is argued that asking ontological questions reveals fundamental differences between the inhabitants of the village of Siviri and international and national governments and organisations in terms of their conceptualisations connected with sustainability. The article concludes that anthropology can make important contributions to discussions about sustainability that have the potential to improve the dialogue between different stakeholders by showing the alterity of conceptualisations. This may lead to new, localised and contextualised definitions of sustainability

Translating Climate Change Anthropology and the Travelling Idea of Climate Change - Introduction

In the prairies of Alberta, Canada, winters are cold, wood is scarce. This place is home to Native Americans - many of them are highly educated nowadays. One summer, a young Native American Chief, college-educated and incapable of reading the signs of Mother Nature, was asked by his people how cold the next winter will be. Embarrassed of not mastering the traditional skills for predicting the weather, and to be on the safe side, he said to his people: 'Well, I think this will be a pretty cold winter this year.' He then sought help from his college friend, a meteorologist at the local Weather Channel station. 'Tell me, Joshua, don't you think we are facing a cold winter this year?' Equally unable to predict the weather so far ahead, and also to be on the safe side, Joshua the meteorologist confirmed the Chief's opinion: 'Oh, I think this will be a really cold winter', was his answer. So the Chief went back to his people and announced: 'Folks, this year, I know, the winter will be particularly cold - let's all join forces to collect as much wood as we can'. A few weeks later the Chief asked Joshua for a more accurate prediction of the winter. The meteorologist answered: 'I am certain this will be an extremely cold winter!' Back with his people, the Chief announced: 'People - I have signs that this winter will be so cold that none of our ancestors, as long as our memory reaches, have encountered. Let's collect all the wood we can find!' Just before the winter, the Chief consulted his meteorologist friend again, and we the meteorologist told him: 'This is going to be a record-breaking winter!' Curious about his certainty, the Chief asked: 'Joshua, tell me, how can you be so certain about this?' To which the meteorologist replied: 'You know, my friend, I have never seen this before in my entire life: all the Native Americans have been collecting wood like crazy this year' (adopted from Huang 2013, 415-416, in de Wit 2017, 151)

Marine social sciences for the ocean we want

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