UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation and Promotion of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Traditional Money Bank Project
Kirk W. Huffman
Research Associate, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia.
Honorary Associate, Macleay Museum, University of Sydney, Australia.
Honorary Curator, Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Member, Scientific Committee, Museum of Tahiti and the Islands, Punaauia, Tahiti,
French Polynesia.
The writer of this brief preliminary report was in Port Vila, Vanuatu, from the evening of Friday,
18th May 2007, until the early afternoon of Saturday, 26th May 2007, to conduct the discussions
leading to this report. Unavoidable administrative work made it impossible for him to get to
Vanuatu on the 12th May as originally planned. Mali Voi (the highly respected and widelyknown throughout the Pacific) Cultural Advisor from UNESCO Apia office was in Port Vila for
part of this time and we were able to have discussions and a joint meeting with the new director
of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and relevant staff related to this project. Briefly, one should say
that UNESCO and the donors (Japanese Funds-in-Trust) should be immensely pleased and, in
fact, proud, of the way the Vanuatu Cultural Centre has developed this project, implemented it,
and has now been able to expand it into the Vanuatu government’s decision to declare 2007 as
‘The Year of the Traditional Economy’. As this growth has potential major beneficial
implications in many fields, not just within Vanuatu but also further afield, this writer felt it more
useful to attempt a slightly fuller evaluation in written form than the normal short ‘mission
report’ format so that such information can possibly be of use to those in various UNESCO
divisions and also as a small traditional gift of gratitude to the donors. This will also serve to be a
brief historical record of the ways in which one particular UNESCO project took a life of its own
and expanded into a nation’s consciousness.
Note: K.W.Huffman pursued studies in anthropology, prehistoric archaeology and ethnology at
the universities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford, and Cambridge in the UK from 1966 – 1977.
Since beginning anthropological fieldwork on the island of Malakula (Vanuatu), in 1973, he has
so far spent a total of 18 years pursuing cultural work in Vanuatu. He made three cultural visits to
Vanuatu in 2006, speaks 8 languages and resides in Sydney where he is based within the
Collections and Research Division at the Australian Museum.
Required background reading for this short report is this writer’s ‘Traditional Money Banks in
Vanuatu: Project Survey Report’, kindly published by the Vanuatu National Cultural Council in
2005, 71pp, ISBN 982-9032-12-4. This publication is subtitled ‘A Status Report on the
Production and use of Traditional Wealth Items in Northern Vanuatu’ as well as ‘The Argument
for Revitalizing Vanuatu’s Traditional Economy’. Also essential are Ralph Regenvanu’s articles,
‘The Year of the Traditional Economy – What is it all about? Part 1: Justification’ and ‘Part 2:
Objectives and Activities’ published in The Independent (Port Vila newspaper) of 11th February
and 11th March 2007 respectively.
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What is also required, moreover, is a deep understanding of and/or respect for ni-Vanuatu (an
indigenous person from Vanuatu) traditional attitudes to their land, their ancestors, their
languages and their cultures, whilst also having a highly developed awareness of relevant recent
events not only within the island nation but also worldwide. This goes as far as to even include
aspects of climate change/global warming, the looming ‘End of the Age of Cheap Oil’,
environmental awareness, and criticisms of certain types of modern economic theory. At the
same time one should keep in mind the real ethical and moral standards upon which one should
base one’s attitudes to all our cultural projects in our rapidly changing and increasingly unstable
world; i.e, that all our endeavors should be geared towards supporting the continuity and
development of the richness of multicultural diversity, thought, and action possessed by such
nations as Vanuatu. Moreover, what one should also be concerned with is linguistic, social, and
cultural sustainability, serious respect for diversity, and, to put it bluntly, human contentment –
which is usually now called ‘happiness’. In this vein I would recommend readers to look at the
London-based New Economics Foundation (Nef)’s ‘The Happy Planet Index: An index of
human well-being and environmental impact’, released in July 2006. Produced by a team of
newer, more human-focused economists, the survey looked at 178 nations to produce an ‘index
combining environmental impact with well-being to measure the environmental efficiency with
which countries provide long and happy lives’. Vanuatu came out at the top of the world list –
and this was basically the first time that most economists had ever heard of the country. It will
not be the last: what is going on culturally in Vanuatu at the moment (and this is related to
developments in and from the UNESCO project) has potential positive relevance not only for the
other Melanesian nations of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon islands, but (in a more modified
form) certain other areas of the world as well.
From ‘Pig Bank’ to the ‘Year of the Traditional Economy 2007: Vanuatu takes a UNESCO
project one step further.
‘Kastom Ekonomi hemi Laef blong Yumi (‘the Traditional Economy is our Life’)’.
As the sun rose on Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, on the morning of Saturday, 18th November,
2006, hundreds of ni-Vanuatu men and women, around half of them in traditional costume, began
gathering at Fatumaru Bay, just outside the capital. Many carried examples of traditional food
and wealth: yams, taros, bunches of bananas, kava roots, woven pandanus baskets bulging with
traditional items, woven and dyed pandanus money-mats, and so on. A number of those from the
northern islands (including the wives of both the President and Prime Minister, high-status
women in their own right) wore circular pigs-tusks in their appropriate way, a valuable symbol
denoting accomplishment of arduous and expensive status rituals. The most stunning pigs tusk
ritual adornment, a chest piece, was worn by Chief John Tarilama Ala Hangavulu of Ambae, a
member of the Malvatumauri (National Council of Chiefs). Most of those from northern
Pentecost wore the ‘bari memea’ (small red-dyed woven pandanus money-mats) in the traditional
modified form worn in different fashion by males and females, and some carried large ‘bwan
memea’ (the similar but larger and more valuable money-mats) [for illustrations and information
regarding aspects of these, see this writers 2005 report, photo pages C, D & F, and pp 55-56 &
58]. Beaded shell money, one in the form of a high status ritual armband, another in the form of a
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high status ritual headpiece, and differing forms as status neckpieces, were worn by a number of
high-ranking individuals. One could say that considerable traditional wealth was due to be on the
move.
The crowds easily sorted themselves into a thick line of six groups representing the six provinces
they came from in this complex island nation. Each group stood behind a banner and waited.
Then arrived the dignitaries, all in full traditional costume from their respective cultures, to lead
the massed groups – Chief Paul Tahi Hubwehubwenvanua (the President of Malavatumauri, the
National Council of Chiefs) and his wife; His Excellency Kalkot Mataskelekele Mauliliu (the
President and Head of State of Vanuatu) and wife, and the Honourable Ham Lini Vanuaroroa
(Prime Minister of Vanuatu) and wife. Preceded by a white Isuzu open-backed truck full of
traditional drummers (and their large horizontal wooden slit-drums) from the Raga-speaking area
of northern Pentecost, the President of the National Council of Chiefs led the massed groups.Off
the procession went, singing, chanting, drumming, blowing shell trumpets, and dancing (in their
relative traditional styles) through the capital to slowly wend their way through the town’s main
street. Periodically, one of the Smol Bag Theatre’s most famous players would shout into a
loudspeaker “Wanem nao hemi Kastom Ekonomi!?”(‘trans. “What is the Kastom/Traditonal
Economy!?”), to which the roaring reply was “Hemi Rod blong Self-Relians!”(“It is the Road to
Self-Reliance!”). Ni-Vanuatu crowds lined the highway, many joining their relevant province
groups in the procession whilst a few bleary-eyed tourists gawped and wondered what was
happening – none of the few ‘tourism companies’ knew of or had told anyone of this rather
spectacular occurrence (which was not done for tourists anyway).This was not a ‘tourism event’,
it was a real happening of major importance in this young nation’s history.
The march was held to mark the Vanuatu government’s official decision to declare 2007 the ‘Yia
blong Kastom Ekonomi’ (in Bislama, the country’s form of Pidgin English and the national
language: the English translation would be ‘the Year of the Kastom [Traditional] Economy’).
This important decision had already been decided upon during a meeting of the government’s
Council of Ministers on the previous 18th May (2006) but the official procession had waited until
the following National Cultural Day (November 17th). In 2006 this fell on a Friday, so it was held
the following day, as many of those in the procession worked in the capital – in the government,
or whatever – during the week.
Why is this particularly relevant for a short UNESCO report? Simple: the Vanuatu government’s
decision to make 2007 the Year of the Traditional Economy is a direct outcome of the impetus
from the Vanuatu Cultural Centre’s ( VKS [Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta] hereafter) Traditional
Money Banks project, a project supported by UNESCO with Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the
Preservation and Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is, moreover, an extremely
sophisticated, visionary, logical, normal and positive outgrowth and development from that
project and has major relevance not only for neighbouring Pacific nations but also for ‘modern
western economic development theory’ as well – and more.
Very briefly, the government’s declaration places the topic of traditional economics, in its
broadest sense and in both its intangible (eg beliefs, ritual and knowledge techniques related to
traditional agriculture [and the land from which this produce comes], pig-raising, traditional trade
and wealth items) and tangible (eg production of traditional money-mats, shell monies, tusker
pigs, ritual items and their ritual shifting back and forth) forms at the forefront of national
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consciousness and government policy. This is to support the well-being of the majority of the
population and to the benefit of the nation as a whole. More on this below, but back to the march:
this will reveal some of the main points with which this report will eventually deal. Continue
bearing in mind that all this grew from a UNESCO-sponsored project.
At the head of each province group in the parade, large painted banners proclaimed (in Bislama)
the name of that province, the title ‘Kastom Ekonomi’( hereafter KE) and then a phrase/slogan
about it. The slogans on the banners were as follows:
TORBA Province (Banks and Torres Islands in the far north): ‘KE: The Source of Happiness’.
SANMA Province (Santo, Malo): ‘K.E.: The Source of Life’.
PENAMA Province (Pentecost, Ambae, Maewo): ‘KE: It is Land, our Foundation. Do Not Sell It
Away’.
MALAMPA Province (Malakula, Ambrym, Paama): ‘KE: It is Identity’.
SHEFA Province (Shepherds Group, Efate): ‘KE: It Protects our Land’.
TAFEA Province (Tanna, Aniwa, Futuna, Erromango, Aneityum): ‘KE: It Protects Life’.
Halfway through the procession groups and at the back of the MALAMPA delegation strode a
tall young ni-Vanuatu wearing a pig’s tusk necklace, a woven pandanus basket, and the recentlyproduced bright yellow ‘2007 Yia blong Kastom Ekonomi’ t-shirt emblazoned with a circular
pigs tusk on the chest: Ralph Regenvanu. As Director of the VKS, Ralph’s dedication, vision, and
brilliance, had been the prime factor in getting the Traditional Money Banks project off the
ground and in coordinating and melding together the myriad topics and aspects that eventually
led to official government recognition of the importance of the Traditional Economy in all its
broadest aspects. The previous afternoon, up at the National Museum/VKS complex had been the
official ceremonies/rituals (both traditional and modern) held to mark his retirement from the post
of Director of the VKS and to thank him for his hard work (at the time of writing this report, late
May 2007, he was Director of the Vanuatu National Cultural Council and had just returned to the
capital after representing the Pacific at the UNESCO Expert Meeting ‘Towards Mainstreaming
Principles of Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue in Policies for Sustainable
Development’ held at the UNESCO HQ in Paris). His retirement ceremony, attended by a large
number of VKS Fieldworkers (many of the men, some chiefs themselves, were in full traditional
costume), chiefs, and dignitaries (including the Australian High Commissioner, New Zealand
High Commissioner, and the French Ambassador), also included a major traditional ritual in
which he was given the customary title ‘Liber’r Gamel Taha Tamate’ (‘Custodian of Peace in the
Men’s hut’) by Chief Matthias Batick Dalar’rbangke, a Ninde-speaker from the area of
Southwest Bay, Malakula. A fine tusker pig featured prominently in the rituals, as did some fine
yams, woven materials, and some spectacular traditional rituals given by Chief Alben Reuben
Sarawoh’bahap, also from southwestern Malakula. Traditional dance and panpipe salutations
from northern Pentecost were provided under the guidance of Chief Edgar Hinge Virarere. And
there was some mind-boggling kava! This all happened exactly 12 years after his father, the Hon.
Sethy Regenvanu, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Culture in the then government
had opened the new National Museum building and declared 17th November to be the National
Day of Culture to mark that event.
Eventually, the living, moving, chanting parade had wended its way up to the ritual ground
outside the vast thatched Malvatumauri (National Council of Chiefs) meeting house and just a
stone’s throw from the National Museum/Vanuatu Cultural Centre complex. Here awaited
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another crowd and, under a temporary shelter to protect them from the then blazingly hot sun and
strong winds, stood members of the foreign diplomatic corps: the French and Chinese
ambassadors, the representative of the EU, and the New Zealand High Commissioner. These
were then joined by the Australian High Commissioner who was the only one amongst them to
have joined fully in the march (whilst carrying a heavy basket of taro as well!).
Here took place a series of events directly related to certain intangible aspects of respect, wealth,
and prestige outlined in the ‘Traditional Money Banks in Vanuatu: Project Survey Report’, 2005,
pp31-32: the circulation of wealth, chiefly re-distribution, and chiefly self-impoverishment on
behalf of one’s people. For people brought up in the myriad cultures of the outer islands, these
modalities were familiar and part of normal life. However, what was to be done was really a large
open-air ‘teaching by example’ process for those young ni-Vanuatu present who may possibly
have suffered culturally from being only brought up in the capital – and for the diplomatic corps.
Chief Selwyn Garu Vira Tabe (Assistant to the President of the Malvatumauri) was the
coordinator for the rituals, and explained to the crowds what was to happen. People from each
province – those that took part in the march and those watching – were to bring and heap up in
front of their provincial chiefly representative(s) the traditional food (‘wealth from the ground’including kava roots) and other items (bundles of woven pandanus mats, mat skirts, baskets, etc)
they had been carrying or had been asked to bring. Once done, each provincial chief would
ritually present his area’s heap to the President of the Malvatumauri , who would then assess
everyone’s needs, add his own addition, then re-distribute so that no-one there that day would go
away hungry or wanting. “Hemia nao survivol blong Kastom Ekonomi we hemi strong, stamba
blong rispekt long Vanuatu istanap long fasin ia; yumi putem igo, yumi tekem ikambak. Yumi
statem daon yumi go antap an den antap i tekem ikambak daon” (trans: “This is how the
traditional economy has survived strongly; the fundamental aspects of respect are played out in
this way: we give it and we receive back. We start from the grassroots and we give upwards and
then it comes back down to us from high up”).
Each provincial chief then began his presentation, a speech followed by the offering of the
heaped food. At the conclusion of each presentation, Chief Paul Tahi Hubwehubwenvanua (the
President of the Malavatumauri) ritually dance-circled the heap (thereby accepting it) at the same
time as chanting out ritual thanks.
The chief of TORBA Province said the kinds of currency used in their province were pigs, shell
money and food. “We give you our food to give back to the people of Vanuatu”.
Next followed the chiefly representative from PENAMA Province, who called also for an
increase in traditional agricultural production to be reviewed for progress every two years.
The representative from SHEFA Province, that nearest to and containing the capital, spoke in
Nakanamanga language and bemoaned the fact that his province was that which had lost the most
(because of ‘modern’ influence).
The Tanna chiefly representative of TAFEA Province offered a traditional dance group as that
area’s first gift upwards (‘intangibles’ can also be used as gifts or even payments, a powerful
5
form of spiritual currency). His speech was typical Tannese, powerful and to the point. “Fram se
igat graon, kastom blong yumi hemi eksist. Fram se igat olgeta kaikai, kastom blong yumi hemi
eksist. Nomata wanem samting isave kam long laef blong yumi, yu skul gud haomas yu go, bat
plis, yu no fogetem kastom blong yumi. Fram kastom hemi laev istap, kastom hemi mekem se
pipol tudei oli laekem yumi oli gat rispekt ia thru long kastom blong yumi” ( trans.“Because
there is Land, our Kastom exists. Because there is food [given by the Land], our Kastom exists.
Whatever happens to you in life, however highly you are educated, please, do not forget our
Kastom. As Kastom is alive, it enables us today to relate well through [the systems of] Respect in
our Kastom”).
The chiefly representative of SANMA province, a son of the late leader of the Nagriamel
movement, Moli Jimmy Stevens, stated that part of their food and wealth prestation was due to
arrive soon by plane from Santo, and he spoke of ‘Kastom Tred Ekonomik’ ( the traditional
economic trade sytems within and between islands).
The chiefly spokesman from MALAMPA Province, a son of the late Chief Tofor Kon [Rengreng
Mal] of Fanla village, north Ambrym, in full traditional costume including penis-wrapper and
bark belt, spoke of ‘Tred Ekonomik’( ‘Economic [traditional] Trade’) and Kastom: ‘Kastom hemi
rus blong yumi…Kastom hemi wan samting we hemi gaedem pipol…an yumi presem Big Man
fram yumi stil mentenem Kastom blong yumi…”(trans. “Our roots are in Kastom…Kastom is
something that guides the people…and we praise God because we still maintain our Kastom…”).
(Placed in text in the order in which the chiefly representatives spoke. Speech excerpts from this
writer’s tape-recordings of events).
Chief Selwyn Garu Vira Tabe then announced that the food heaps from the six provinces had
now been presented to the President of the National Council of Chiefs: heaps of yams, taros,
sweet potato, bananas, etc. This was all to be given back to the people the same day in the
traditional cooked forms (the earth ovens were already being prepared not far away). But, he said,
where is the meat to be put with the food? The government, through the Prime Minister, would
provide the meat (pigs) and would present these to the President of the Malvatumauri, who would
then provide them to his people, Chief Selwyn continued. This was all to be done in a traditional
way, following traditional ‘bisnes pig’ (‘pig business’) modalities. Remember that all of this was
being done also as a ‘teaching’. Chief Selwyn said that (hypothetically) at the moment, the Prime
Minister does not have enough pigs, so he will start ‘bisnes pig’, “hemi lukaot ol fren blong
hem…hemi luk araon hemi lukluk ol membas blong diplomatic koa we oli stap olsem ol big chifs
we oli representem ol big kantris…oli redi blong asistem gavman thru long Praem Minista…”
(trans. “ he [ the PM] looks for his friends…he looks around and sees the members of the
diplomatic corps, who are like big chiefs representing the big countries…they are ready to assist
the government through the Prime Minister…”).
This was the signal for certain representatives of the awaiting foreign diplomatic corps to begin
presenting the pigs that some of them had brought to give to the Prime Minister. By arranging
things in this way, the Vanuatu Government had deftly linked these nations into the traditional
Vanuatu pig exchange system. There were eight pigs awaiting (with another three due to come
in), some given by the diplomats of foreign nations, some provided by the President of the
National Council of Chiefs and other linked chiefs.
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The first foreign representative to present a pig was the Chinese Ambassador, who presented a
fine black-haired male pig with advanced tusk curvature. This pig had originally been presented
several years previously from the Vanuatu government to the then Chinese Ambassador as part of
a reconciliation process after a minor ‘hiccup’ in relations between the two nations. As the
Chinese Embassy had no-one who could properly look after the pig, it was arranged that the
President of Vanuatu and his wife would look after it until it was needed again. By then its tusk
curvature (and therefore value) had increased markedly. When the Chinese Ambassador needed
to use this pig for this ceremony, he needed to traditionally pay (in pigs or money-mats, etc) those
who had looked after his pig for whatever period of time. As he did not have the required
traditional wealth, he was assisted to present and display in the ceremony a special sacred leaf
marker, tied in a special way, which he handed over to the President and his wife. This tied leaf
marker, a traditional northern Vanuatu form of cheque or promissory note, indicated that
traditional payment would be forthcoming (one could call it a sort of ‘your pig is in the post’
note). Once this pig was ceremonially presented to the Prime Minister, he dance-circled it,
indicating acceptance (this he did one by one, for all the pigs as they were presented to him). The
second pig came, I think, from the representative of the EU, and the third from the New Zealand
High Commissioner. The fourth pig created a bit of a stir and produced some wry smiles. It was
from the French Ambassador and was a massive white pig (without tusks) of a type that would be
highly valued in the southern islands for ritual exchange. There was a delightfully charming
typical French addition to the presentation: the pig wore a beautiful ribbon around its neck in the
colours of the French tricolor; good-natured smiles rippled around those watching. Permission
had not yet arrived from Canberra for the Australian High Commissioner to give a pig, but as he
had been the only diplomat to share the heat of ‘the long march’ (whilst carrying a heavy basket
of taros as well), he was well into the participation. Of course the Prime Minister/Vanuatu
government now owes pigs to these overseas nations but although these nations may forget that,
Vanuatu will not. Such debts are never forgotten. This writer smilingly remembers a situation in
1978 where a group of chiefs on the island of Tanna called in the pig debt owed to them by the
British Government: their predecessors had given a pig to the British District Agent on Tanna in
the 1930s and they had been politely waiting for the return prestation ever since then.
Once the pigs had been presented to and ritually accepted by Prime Minister Ham Lini
Vanuaroroa, it was now for him to ‘pass them upwards’ by presenting them to Chief Paul Tahi
Hubwehubwenvanua, the President of the National Council of Chiefs (who of course is now in
pig debt to the Prime Minister, a ‘bisnes pig’ situation that is normal in the lively interplay of
relationships between high-status individuals). Although the debts are important, what is really of
paramount importance are the social and ritual links that these debts represent. Such ritual debts
crisscross Vanuatu rather like a ‘pig internet’, linking individuals and clans, villages and islands,
the past with the present and the present with the future.
[One of the paradoxes – and blessings – of modern politics in Vanuatu is that even if one is a
high government minister or prime minister or president, there is always a chief/traditional leader
of higher status than oneself back in one’s own island. This system, along with the
constitutionally-formed Malvatumauri, serves, to some extent, to keep certain modern politicians
and the government ‘on the straight and narrow’, or at least they/it can step in if things get a bit
too much beyond the boundaries of normality, something that governments all around the world
may have a tendency to do periodically. The system actually works very well in general and, in
7
spite of the fact that it involves ‘chiefs' (of which there are many different types in Vanuatu), is
very democratic. It is a bit like a mild and wise nationwide version of the British House of Lords
without the eccentricities. As traditional chiefs and leaders in the outer islands receive no pay, no
government really has any stranglehold over them – and, moreover, chiefs are around for a long
time, whilst governments come and go rather frequently. It’s a type of system that certain
‘developed’ countries might actually benefit from (with suitable modifications); but one of the
difficulties in the modern world might be that of finding wise old people actually willing to
provide these services fulltime and life-long for free].
Both the actual Prime Minister and President of the National Council of Chiefs happen at the
moment to be from the Raga-speaking area of northern Pentecost, as is Chief Selwyn Garu Vira
Tabe, so the traditional intricacies of the ritual ‘passing upwards’ of these pigs was
straightforward. Both individuals faced off at differing ends of the ritual ground. The Prime
Minister, in full traditional costume including a massive chest-piece of shell wealth, high status
beaded armband, bow and arrows in his left hand and the correct sacred leaf clenched between
his teeth, began the ritual dance display for each pig to donate it up the system to the chief higher
than him standing at the other end of the ground, Chief Paul. As he gently shot each pig with an
arrow (not killing it, but to mark it as a gift), he or a Raga-speaking assistant shouted out the pig
type and tusk curvature (and therefore value) of each one: ‘Livoala’ (from the Chinese
ambassador), ‘Bogani’( I think that was the one from the French Ambassador), ‘Tavsiri’,
‘(Bov)taga’, etc. (for the meanings of these terms, see Huffman, 2005, pp 56-58). After the
marking of each pig, Chief Paul Tahi ritually dance-circled it, with arms outstretched in the form
of the sacred hawk whilst emitting verbally the traditional forms of acceptance joy. After the
arduous exercise of doing this, whilst chant-speaking, for each pig, he finished off “…mi no save
long pipol blong Vanuatu…fram wanem nao yu fraet, hemi nasara blong yumi…joen hans tugeta
blong yumi save fidem pipol…” (trans. “…I wonder about you people from Vanuatu…why are
you afraid, this is our ritual ground…let us join hands together so we can feed the people…”).
Chief Paul had already assessed the food needs of the hundreds of people gathered there plus the
food required for other groups not present but that needed to be fed. Traditional leaders are expert
at such rapid mental calculations as it is something that is a perpetual part of one’s life and any
chief has gifted assistants and ‘counters’. He had added in some pigs of his own plus others so
that there would be a total of 11 pigs. These were all due to be ritually dispatched by Chief Paul,
each one being led and attached to a line of 11 sacred namwele branches that had been planted
leading up from the entrance gate to the Malvaumauri’s area. These pigs were then carefully cut
up and the leaf-wrapped portions distributed according to strict traditional regulations for
distribution to their awaiting earth ovens. Food and pig meat had been allotted in 10 different
batches for the representatives and peoples of the six provinces. Other batches were prepared
specifically to be delivered to the sick in the hospital, to the prisoners in the prison (not many), to
the Police and VMF (Vanuatu Mobile Force), the Disabled Society and then one batch went to
the foreign diplomatic corps. ‘The chief thinks of everyone, no-one is forgotten’.
Everyone had cooked food that day. That is the work of chiefs: food, relationships, stability,
peace, protection, and contentment. Through tradition and cooperation, vast crowds can be fed.
Two north Pentecost proverbs outline aspects of this: “Wan hanred man i kaikai wan nelaklak; i
smol tumas (be) kaikai i fulap” (trans. “A hundred people eat one nelaklak [the small ‘White Eye’
bird – zosterops flavirons sp]: it is very small but there is lots of food”). Also “Tsif i holem
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namwele i brekem namwele fram ol pipol blong hem, i no mistem wan man” (trans. “The chief
holds the namwele [a sacred prehistoric type of palm leaf with dozens of leaf divisions on each
branch; it represents chiefly power and duty and the words of power], he breaks it [into its many
mini-leaves] to help his people, he forgets no-one”). Here is exemplified one of the great
traditions of Vanuatu – and much of island Melanesia – how hundreds of people, many with
minimal modern wealth, can co-operate together, through chiefly leadership, to provide food and
security for all. It was a very very hot and windy day, but as Chief Selwyn joyfully shouted out to
all “San i hot, win i blu, yumi gud nomo…!” (trans. “The sun burns (us), the wind blows (us), but
we are (better than) fine…!!” – but a better translation, said with full vehemence and joy, would
be “Sun and wind, do your worst: we are just fine..!!”). There are quite a few so-called
‘developed’ nations who could beneficially learn quite a bit from an event like this. Days like this
in Vanuatu are many. Days like this in the worlds overseas are few, it is said.
A Brilliant New Vision of an Old Vision
As readers can see from the above account, the activities of November 18th 2006 encompassed
just about every major element of an intangible and tangible nature related to traditional wealth in
Vanuatu that can be imagined (see Huffman, 2005). On the intangible side: traditional songs,
chants, dances, drumming, shell trumpet playing, chiefly speeches, chants and rituals related to
wealth exchange/trade and chiefly duty and the importance of relationships between individuals
and groups. On the tangible side: pigs and tusker pigs, pigs tusk ritual decorations, shell bead
armbands and chest pieces, woven and dyed pandanus money-mats and related traditional
costumes, traditional foods (yam, taro, etc – and kava roots – ‘wealth from the ground’). The
sponsors (UNESCO) and donors (Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation and Promotion of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage) for the VKS’s ‘Traditional Money Banks in Vanuatu’ project
should be pleased and proud that the dedicated and successful (and still ongoing) implementation
of the project has led to this official recognition, at the highest government level, of its
importance to the nation and people, and to the need for its continuation and expansion. From the
reading of the banners and the speeches of the representative chiefs to the range of ritual and
material exchanges and presentations one can see the general topics of importance to ni-Vanuatu
that have been emphasized and supported by this project and its outgrowth: land, traditional
foods, security and happiness, traditional wealth and trade, traditional respect, leadership and
duties, ‘Kastom’ (the traditional way of life), sustainability, and self-reliance. Bear in mind also
that the attendance and participation of the foreign diplomatic representatives at this all-important
ceremony indicates, to a ni-Vanuatu audience accustomed to the traditional belief that ‘if one
attends a ritual, one supports it and what it stands for’ (a normal supposition worldwide, one
would assume), general acceptance of the ideals of the ceremony by the islands/nations that these
‘foreign chiefs’ represent.
The history of the VKS’s request for support of the Traditional Money Bank project is outlined in
this writer’s VKS/UNESCO report (Huffman, 2005), pp 27-28; the preliminary recommendations
on pp 12-13; and the refined recommendations for local, provincial, and national levels on pp 1820. The refined recommendations were based upon detailed readings and discussions of the
above report (text available to the VKS by late October 2004) by over 40 ni-Vanuatu participants
9
at the VKS-organised ‘Workshop to Recognise and Promote the Traditional Economy as the
Basis for Achieving National Self-Reliance”. The meeting was held 14th-18th March 2005 on the
small island of Uripiv off northeastern Malakula, Ralph Regenvanu’s home island. This was all
part of the normal progress of the report and part of its momentum. The final recommendation at
this workshop was that the government should declare 2007 as the ‘Year of Customary Wealth’,
which is what has come about in a slightly expanded, all-inclusive, concept. Almost all sections
of the two sets of recommendations (both have the same major emphases) have now been started,
implemented, completed, planned for, are in the process of starting or being done, are just about
to kick off, or have been incorporated into the proposed Activity Matrix of the official ‘Year of
the Traditional Economy 2007’ programme (which is also housed within and coordinated from
the VKS). Examples will follow below after the section dealing with the history of the project.
There are, of course, as in all such major projects which grow like this, certain aspects for which
funding assistance may still be sought in the future, and brief preliminary recommendations will
be listed towards the end of this report.
In Vanuatu, major movements traditionally have a spiritual/visionary origin which is then built
upon through numerous meetings and much profound discussion over an extended period of time.
Finally comes a point when practical decisions are made and then things begin to move quickly.
The vision and dedication of particular individuals, tapping into a deep river of cultural water fed
by innumerable tributaries (the country’s many different cultures) enable a unified plan to emerge
as the river reaches the sea. The Traditional Money Banks project was no exception.
The spiritual origin of this project was literally from the World of the Ancestral Spirits. The last
major group of the Botgate-speaking peoples in the mountainous interior of southern Malakula
had finally converted to Christianity in 1989. Mountain agriculturalists and renowned jungle
warriors (amongst whom this writer conducted anthropological fieldwork in 1973, 1974 and
1976), the Botgate-speakers and neighbouring ‘Nabwol’ peoples led a highly complex spiritual
and artistic life focused around the ritual activities ensuring smooth relationships between the
World of the Living and the World of the Dead (Ancestral Spirits). Conversion to Christianity did
not negate the need for tusker pigs in the essential rituals and payments for male initiation,
marriage, ritual social status ceremonies, and funerary obligations. Unsurprisingly, the ancestral
spirits refused to disappear with the conversion to Christianity and also refused their ritual dues in
‘modern money’, upon which, of course, they place no value. In 1990 the VKS had conducted its
annual Cultural Centre Fieldworkers workshop on the topic of pigs in traditional life. In 1992, the
VKS Fieldworker from the Botgate-speaking peoples, James Teslo (Christian name), during that
year’s workshop, requested assistance for what later came to be nicknamed a ‘pig bank’ (or
‘James’ pig bank’) so that he and his clan could assist his peoples by raising larger numbers of
tusker pigs to assist them in necessary ritual payments (others converting to Christianity often
tend, unfortunately, to believe that Christianity frowns upon traditional pig raising) [see Huffman,
2005, p.28, left column]. It was from this small seed that this current vast project, through many
steps, has grown. Although various early unsuccessful attempts were made to find support for
James’ ‘pig bank’, there arose the growing realization that similar sorts of assistance were needed
more widely throughout the nation to support related aspects of intangible and tangible cultural
heritage.
Eventually there arose that special linkage of events, individuals and visions that really got the
idea going at a more practical level. Ralph Regenvanu, Director of the VKS from the mid-1990s,
10
saw the close links between the safeguarding of the vast intangible cultural heritage of the
country and the absolutely essential availability of the traditional wealth items required for almost
every event, ceremony and ritual. Male tusker pigs, the major traditional form of wealth, sacred
currency, and exchange item throughout the central and northern parts of the country (see
Huffman, 2005, pp 37-45), were just the starting point, albeit a critical one. Anthropologist Tim
Curtis ( now with UNESCO Dar es Salaam office), pursuing his fieldwork amongst the Nahaispeaking peoples of southern coastal Malakula 1995-1997, saw the essential connection between
such pigs and the intangible and tangible cultural aspects. Noe Saksak, Director of the Vanuatu
Credit Union League (a grass-roots micro-savings organization with links throughout the islands)
studying the causes and events of the 1997 Southeast Asian financial crisis realized, along with
Ralph Regenvanu, that one of the reasons that such traumatic occurrences did not affect Vanuatu
was that most of Vanuatu’s population (nearly 80%) were still essentially self-sufficient, not
strongly linked in with the ‘modern’ economy, and more closely involved in their traditional
economies. The country was ‘rich’ in traditional terms, but ‘poor’ from the point of view of
modern economists following neo-liberal free market trade economic theory.
It became very obvious that the latter theory, or series of theories, has/have major faults and
potential problems inherent in it/them if imposed upon and accepted by certain Pacific island
nations. Such may result in the introduction to and imposition of ‘poverty’ onto populations and
cultures where none existed previously. Most current economists, being only trained in a cultural
background (one could almost say ‘vacuum’) emphasizing modern money as the main item to be
counted, seem to have no idea whatsoever that other highly successful and traditional economic
systems exist – and may have existed for thousands of years – that actually supply their followers
with better benefits, security, and contentment (‘happiness’), whilst also respecting the
environment and cultural identity (Huffman, 2005, pp31-34). This narrow attitude amongst
economists is coming under increasing criticism from outside and inside the discipline (viz the
recent work of the New Economics Foundation in London [www.neweconomics.org] and the
Post-Autistic Economics Network [www.paecon.net ]). Lack of modern money does not
necessarily make one ‘poor’: it only does so if one happens to be living in a society/culture which
values modern money or is linked in to the modern economic world where unfortunately such
trivialities seem in some cultures to be over-valued to such an extent that they have almost
become religious icons. This reminds me of a comment made in the early 1980s by an elderly
chief (and a Christian) from Vanuatu after returning from his first ever visit overseas: “The White
People don’t believe in one God like we do, they have two of them: one of them they call
‘Money’ and worship it more than anything; the other they call ‘Time’, and they put it on their
wrists”.
Extensive discussions between such individuals, other concerned well-educated ni-Vanuatu,
along with chiefs, and with critical input from the VKS Fieldworkers throughout the islands,
underlined and confirmed their growing concern that successive governments since Independence
in 1980 had been essentially following certain ‘development’ policies originating from overseas
that were not necessarily in the best long-term interests of the majority of the population. Such
policies, it was felt, would bequeath a poorer nation to future generations of ni-Vanuatu and
would result in a massive loss of intangible and tangible cultural heritage. They were correct in
their analysis. Worst of all, if nothing was done, it looked as if they might end up losing their
land (again).
11
The government had inadvertently passed the Strata Title Act in 2000, an act supposed to deal
only with vertical multiple ownerships of a multi-storied building (of which there was really only
one in the capital and the act was really put through just to deal with that building).
Unfortunately, the act may have been copied too much from an Australian model which was
slightly broader in scope. This enabled certain expatriate real estate agents, who probably should
have known better [but ‘who saw their chance for some fast money before people realized the
implications’, some say], to apply it to horizontal subdivisions of land. If this possibility had been
known from the beginning, the act, as it stood, would probably never have gotten through
Parliament . The result was a gradually accelerating ‘land rush’ for expatriates (mostly
Australians) to lease/’buy’ land around the coastal areas of Efate, the island where the capital,
Port Vila, is situated. This ‘land rush’ sparked off alarm bells around the nation.
Land is everything to ni-Vanuatu: Land is the Mother (Huffman, 2005, p.34) and there is a
special spiritual relationship between the Land, as a living entity, and the traditional custodians of
that Land. Although traditional land holding systems vary throughout the nation, one might in
general say that land custodians (what modern economists might call land ‘owners’, but in
Vanuatu the situation is much more complex and profound than that simple term) look after the
land on behalf of the spirits of the ancestors of their particular clan from the past and on behalf of
the forthcoming spirits of all of the descendents of that clan in the future ‘until the end of time’.
On some islands (eg Erromango), certain human clans are believed to have emerged from
particular holes in the ground, whilst in certain others (eg Malo), some of the original pig
lineages also appeared from similar holes (‘nambambae boe’ in Auta language from western and
northern Malo) that ‘gave birth’ to pigs only. Although there are traditional ways of leasing land,
the concept of actually ‘selling’ it, ie, permanently, doesn’t really enter into the equation.
Moreover, there is land and then there is Land. In many languages the basic word for
ground/earth/land is ‘tana’, or variations of that. Another word, ‘vanua’, also denotes the same,
but it is Land, ie land that has been worked spiritually and physically by the intangible spirit
world and by the tangible human world over many many centuries. That is why the nation is
called ‘Vanua/tu’- literally ‘spiritually and physically-worked land that stands up/exists’. Anyone
with a knowledge of the islands knows that almost anywhere one goes one can find evidence of
earlier human activity. Even in parts where such physical marks may not be apparent, a closer
look at the vegetation will usually reveal that the pattern of trees and vegetation reveals such to
be not completely natural but to be influenced by previous human activity. Basically, almost the
whole archipelago is a vast, and in places overgrown, agricultural ‘garden’. Before the arrival of
the White Man, the islands supported a much larger population (Huffman, 2005, p 29) than today
(now hovering around the 200,000 mark).This was possibly around 6-800,000 (although
estimates have, in the past, ranged from as low as 150,000 up to as high as 1,500,000). Contact
with the outside world from the 1820s onwards devastated the population. With the introduction
of European diseases, alcohol, firearms, the ‘Blackbirding’ days, spiritual denigration caused by
certain (but not all) early Christian missionaries, and depression caused by land alienation, the
effects were such that by the late 1920s the whole ni-Vanuatu population was down to only
approximately 40,000 individuals (ibid. p.30). But from that small number have survived today
over 100 different languages (and many of those languages will have dialects and sub-dialects)
and an amazingly complex array of spectacular cultures. It is one of the world’s greatest
cornucopiae of vast intangible and tangible cultural heritage. The linguistic and cultural density
variation rate, compared to population, is three times that of Papua New Guinea. Bear in mind
that Vanuatu even today, with the population of, say, a small Japanese or European town,
12
possesses twice as many languages and cultures as the whole of the (expanded) EU. The rapid
population growth rate (around 2.6%), particularly since Independence, can be looked upon as
‘making up for lost time and lost ancestors’.
It was the Land question that sparked off the move to Independence in Vanuatu. Expatriate land
alienation during (and before) the days of the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides
(1906-1980) had created sullen, passive, resistance. This broke out into the open on Santo in
1965 with the founding of the Nagriamel Movement, led by Jimmy Stevens and Chief Bulluk,
who opposed expatriate expansion (for cattle grazing) into so-far unused (but claimed by
expatriates) areas of the island. By 1970 Nagriamel was said to have 20,000 followers in the
northern islands, and began calls for Independence. The movement that really led to
Independence, however, was what was originally called the New Hebrides Cultural Association.
This was founded in 1971 by a small group of visionary anglophone-educated ni-Vanuatu and
included Father Walter Lini, Donald Kalpokas, and Peter Taurakoto amongst its early members.
This association, as its name implies, was culturally inspired. Its aim was to obtain independence
from France and Britain to enable the return of alienated land to its traditional owners and to
protect the archipelago’s languages and cultures. Within a year the movement had become a
political party, had changed its name to the New Hebrides National Party, which eventually
became the Vanua’aku (‘Our Land’) Party. It quickly organized major demonstrations against
expatriate land subdivisions which were then taking place around the capital. This eventually
forced the Condominium government, in a rare act of unity, to declare subdivisions illegal and to
make that decision retroactive. In the national elections of 1979 the Vanua’aku Party gained an
almost exact two-thirds majority and the country achieved Independence on July 30th 1980, upon
which date all alienated land in the country returned to its traditional custodians.
The late Father Walter Lini, the first Prime Minister (until 1991), had a vision for his nation:
“The future of Vanuatu will also very much depend on what approach the Government decides to
take. If Vanuatu decides to imitate other countries of the world, there can be no freedom in terms
of being one’s own master with one’s own individual identity. But in deciding to be truly
independent from any other country, whether within the region or afar, we shall have to work
even harder to achieve this. The main effort will then be to really polish up our own very Pacific
and Melanesian ideas, to make them the basis of unity in our own country and within our region
and to give us the necessary strength and direction to choose wisely what we want and do not
want for the future” (from ‘Vanuatu; Twenti wan tingting long team blong independens’, Suva,
1980, p.291, and reprinted in Huffman, 2005, p3). Very much a part of this vision was an
emphasis on being as self-sufficient as possible, of maintaining and developing sustainable
lifestyles and cultures. It was felt, and rightly so, that one would never achieve real independence
if one depended too much on overseas input (and advice). Vanuatu was then, and is still today,
one of the only nations on earth seriously able to consider this, as the majority of the population
is still mostly self-sufficient and living, because of the extremely fertile soils, in a situation of
‘subsistence affluence’.
History repeats itself though, as, some say, ‘the White Man has no memory as he has made the
mistake of taking his memory out of his head and placing it on paper (in books – and even more
so now by taking it out of books and putting it in computers): if he then doesn’t read the paper(s)
he has no way of remembering things’. In the early 1970s the land subdivisions were fuelled by a
small group of American individual interests. In the early 2000’s the land subdivisions seem to be
13
benefiting mainly Australians. Ni-Vanuatu concern about the repeat of the land alienation
situation today is as strongly felt as in the early 1970s.The VKS’s UNESCO/Japanese Funds-intrust – sponsored Sandrawing and Traditional Money Banks projects, by highlighting the
intangible and tangible links nationwide to cultural aspects that really go to the foundation of
what it means to be ni-Vanuatu (identity), have been able to tap into this deep well of national
desire. These projects have also, because of their extremely positive implementation and the
massive local publicity associated with them, been able to re-awaken it. The government’s
decision to declare 2007 as the ‘Year of the Traditional Economy’ is a reflection of the success of
these two interlinked projects, their spin-offs, and recommendations, and is extremely positive.
Bear in mind also that the current Prime Minister, the Honourable Ham Lini Vanuaroroa, is the
younger brother of the late and greatly respected Father Walter Lini Livustaliure, the country’s
first Prime Minister also known as the ‘Father of the Nation’.
Bear in mind also that Vanuatu is the only independent Pacific island nation that did not have
independence given to it on a platter. Not only is/was it the only nation in the world to be
simultaneously, and rather briefly (74 years) under the rule of two different colonial powers at the
same time, but, according to the way that the Condominium had been set up, during these years
ni-Vanuatu were actually classed as ‘stateless persons’- legally, they didn’t really exist.
Moreover, one of these colonial powers (France) was definitely not in favour of granting
independence. This, unfortunately, was not the greatest period in French colonial history, to put it
mildly (but since the 1990s there has been a general ‘sea-change’ in certain aspects of French
Pacific policies and the French Embassy in Port Vila has generously assisted some cultural
projects of major importance and has become a sympathetic cultural participant in many local
activities). An anti-Independence rebellion began on the island of Santo, the largest island, in
April 1980, and this rebellion joined together Santo bush peoples plus a few other groups in the
northern islands and some overseas links; the now-messianic Nagriamel movement leader Jimmy
Stevens (who by this time had rapidly accumulated 27 wives, established and appointed himself
head of the Royal Nagriamel Church, and declared that children born of his unions with wives
were to be the Princes and Princesses of the Royal Nagriamel lineage); rightwing American
libertarians who wanted to turn Santo into the Independent Republic of Vemarana ( and who had
already had passports printed and coins minted); French colonial plantation ‘owners’, and so on.
Arms were smuggled into the island from New Caledonia and it was rumoured that the French
government, behind the scenes, was either sympathetic to or supportive of the rebellion, or at
least was ‘turning an official blind eye’ to it. The Nagriamel Movement, which had started so
well and with such good intentions in 1965, had, by the late 1970s, become one in which the
official leader was being manipulated by outside influences (as well as doing quite a bit of
manipulation himself). The Americans involved thought they were assisting a fight against
communism (hardly anyone in Vanuatu had even heard about communism in those days); the
French involved thought they were fighting a devious plot devised by its centuries-old enemy,
‘Perfidious Albion’ (England); many Santo bush peoples thought they were fighting against
conversion to Christianity, and many Francophone Catholics thought they were fighting against
Protestantism. Of those involved in the rebellion, basically the White People wanted land, and
most ni-Vanuatu involved just wanted to be left alone, keep the status quo, or have a different
type of independence. The rebellion was finally put down in September of 1980 by troops from
Papua New Guinea. There can be few conflicts worldwide where tensions ran so high, where
there was outside involvement and where yet, casualties were so low: two fatalities in six months.
It is very much a tribute to ni-Vanuatu respect for traditions and chiefly authority that this ended
14
up being, to a certain extent, a ‘Pacific rebellion’. Throughout the 1980s traditional peace-making
ceremonies were made between various groups throughout the country (eg, those for the island of
Pentecost were done in December 1982). This reminds this writer of a conversation he had in
1981 with a very elderly chief on the island of Ambrym: “Did you White People have a big fight
called World War II”? he asked. “Yes”, I replied. “How many people were killed”? he continued.
“About 20 or 40 million”, I replied. “How many is that”? he queried. “Can you count the pieces
of sand on the beach down there”? I said, pointing to a black volcanic sand beach far below us.
“No’, he replied. “Well, that’s about 20 or 40 million”, I continued. He paused for a while, taking
it all in. Finally, he shook his head in astonishment and said “You White People are very
primitive and savage, aren’t you”!! “Yes”, I shamefully replied.
Through this labyrinthine maze of linguistic and cultural complexity and a unique Pacific history,
the VKS has managed, through its UNESCO-sponsored projects now ‘nationalised’ as the ‘Year
of the Traditional Economy’, to bring together innumerable strands to produce ‘one rope’ which
helps to bind the country together and has caught the national imagination. They have helped
develop a new and extremely relevant vision of the country’s original independence vision. What
follows is what has been done.
UNESCO’s Footprints in Vanuatu
Besides the Traditional Money Banks and Sandrawing UNESCO-supported projects, there have
been other UNESCO- connected initiatives that have greatly helped the country from the point of
view of both intangible and tangible cultural heritage.
Recording of Oral Traditions
The first was in 1976 when UNESCO kindly donated $1500 to the then New Hebrides Cultural
Centre (Vanuatu Cultural Centre after independence in 1980) as an assistance to its proposed
‘Oral Traditions Collecting Programme’). These funds were used to purchase 10 Sony TC 800B
tape recorders which served as the material starting point for the immensely successful, ongoing,
and still expanding, VKS Fieldworkers programme. This indigenous cultural network, all
volunteers (ie, unpaid), now consists of nearly 140 ni-Vanuatu men and women spread
throughout the nation, each based in their own villages. This network is the cultural envy of the
Pacific. Since 1981 their essential annual workshop meetings have kindly been made possible by
Australian funding, originally from the Australian Government’s South Pacific Cultures Fund
and more recently from AusAID. Going and growing for just over 30 years, the VKS
Fieldworkers network is now an accepted part of the fabric of the nation. Their role is not only
documentation of their own societies (through tape recordings, photographs and video film), but
more importantly is to be cultural ‘animators’ working through the traditional systems to
emphasize the importance of protecting, promoting and developing traditional languages and
traditional social and cultural activities. This latter emphasis is closely linked to the Vanuatu
belief that one of the best ways to preserve and promote these complex cultures is to ensure that
they are passed on to the next generation in traditional, oral form, as part of a living, functioning,
and respected whole. Although the emphasis is on cultural life as a lived, normal, activity, the
VKS, through its efforts, those of its Fieldworkers, and its National Film and Sound Unit (NFSU
– part of the VKS) has amassed (since the 1970s) possibly the Pacific’s largest audio-visual
15
collection of material related to the intangible heritage of the nation. These collections, stored
within the NFSU at the VKS, now consist of approximately 4000 hours of audio (‘myths’,
‘legends’, songs, stories, rituals, etc) and 6000 hours of video of traditional and historical ritual
and events. These collections are now being digitalized. The NFSU/VKS acts as the caretaker of
this material on behalf of the traditional owners of this knowledge and these activities in the outer
islands. This now permanent programme shows Vanuatu’s ability, from an early stage, to use a
little bit of outside assistance and stretch it to the maximum benefit as part of ongoing and
developing cultural projects of national importance.
Education
UNESCO’s involvement in Vanuatu shifted into high gear after the new millennium. The
Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Ralph Regenvanu, had become extremely concerned
that the ‘modern’ educational systems (anglophone and francophone) available for ni-Vanuatu
youth were in fact largely detrimental to young Pacific islanders in that the systems emphasized
training that would eventually force one, if one went through the whole system, to having to work
in the capital, at the same time as eroding traditional knowledge and cultural identity. His views
were pivotal in getting the Ministry of Education to organize the National Education Conference
held in Port Vila October 14th-16th 2002. In this conference, he presented his ground-breaking
and important paper ‘A New Vision of Education’. He called for a complete re-think of the
educational system to make it relevant to Vanuatu; to empower individuals with critical thinking;
to produce good citizens; to contribute to sustainable development; to emphasize the use of
indigenous languages during stages of education and to emphasize local indigenous cultural and
historical identity. To the shock of certain teachers there, he said “The educational system is
therefore not only NOT meeting the needs of the country, but it is actively undermining the very
basis of the sustainability of our society, both by eroding the tradition-based social systems which
are the basis of the high level of sustainability that this country still enjoys and by continuing to
instill our young people with a feeling that they and their society and traditions are not of value. It
is not meeting the objectives of education…” He was absolutely correct, and he outlined a series
of important initiatives; one of which was the proposed UNESCO/LINKS (Local and Indigenous
Knowledge Systems – from UNESCO’s Environment and Development in Coastal Regions and
Small Islands division), Ministry of Education,
Environment Unit and VKS project
‘Strengthening indigenous knowledge and traditional resource management through schools: a
pilot partnership involving local communities, teachers, resource managers and culture
specialists’.
This project – which closely involved the dynamic Tim Curtis (see above) from
UNESCO/LINKS, Paris, and wise interest from Mali Voi of the UNESCO Apia office – was
aimed towards, in Ralph’s words, “…the incorporation of traditional resource management
knowledge into the formal school curriculum. The long-term aim is to move towards a balance
between local knowledge and outside knowledge, by developing mechanisms for the inclusion of
traditional knowledge within the schooling process”. This process is still ongoing in various VKS
projects – eg the setting up of ‘Kastom Skul’/’Traditional schools (see below). A part of this
project was also to be VKS involvement in the development of a national history curriculum for
schools at the junior secondary level. This was desperately needed, and this part of the project got
off the ground in 2003. In December 2003, as part of the ‘Rethinking Vanuatu Education ‘
initiative, sponsored by UNESCO, a workshop was held at the VKS, with representatives from
the Ministry of Education, VKS, Environment Unit, the French CNRS and Tim Curtis from
16
UNESCO/LINKS. This developed an educational action plan to forge an interactive relationship
between schools and local communities relating to indigenous knowledge and also to begin the
joint project to develop textbooks for the National History Curriculum Project and the production
of a teacher’s guide. This latter project fell to the VKS to implement, and was done so superbly.
By 2005 the VKS/Vanuatu National Cultural Council had produced and published a first-rate
three-volume illustrated ‘Histri Blong Yumi Long Vanuatu’: an educational resource” ( ‘Our
History in Vanuatu’) with an accompanying teacher’s guide volume to it. Co-authors Sara
Lightner and Anna Naupa, based from the VKs, consulted the VKS’s large cultural holdings,
spoke with VKS staff and Fieldworkers, and worked also with academic publications and
overseas academics to produce the first educational curriculum which is actually directly relevant
for the country. Graphic designer Nick Howlett sorted out the complex array of text and
illustrations in such a way that it is easy and enjoyable for students to follow. Printing of the
volumes was funded by the New Zealand High Commission’s Small Projects Scheme: 5000
copies of each volume were printed, and the 5000 sets distributed to schools throughout the
country.
ICH: Sand Drawing
By 2002 the VKS was preparing another submission to UNESCO relating to a request that the
ancient Vanuatu tradition of ‘Sand Drawing’ be recognized as one of mankind’s masterpieces of
intangible cultural heritage (these intricate techniques are actually more properly called ‘ground
drawings’ a more direct translation of some of the linguistic terms for them, but the term ‘sand
drawing’ has been used in academic publications since the 1930s, and it has caught on). This
request was developed by the VKS with input from Stephen Zagala, an anthropologist from ANU
(Australian National University, Canberra) pursuing fieldwork on these complex art forms in
northern Vanuatu at the time. A short documentary video (in which the writer of this report was
one of those interviewed) accompanying this request was made through the VKS/ANU link, and
the request was strongly supported by Mali Voi of the UNESCO Apia office. On 7th November
2003 UNESCO officially proclaimed Vanuatu ‘Sand Drawing’ to be a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral
and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’ in the relevant official World Heritage list of such items
considered of ‘universal value’ for mankind. A special evening ceremony was held at the VKS
shortly after this in which Ralph Regenvanu announced the proclamation to a large crowd of
invited dignitaries, both ni-Vanuatu and foreign. Accompanying UNESCO’s proclamation was
financial assistance in recognition of Sand Drawing’s outstanding cultural value. This assistance
was used by the VKS to fund an action plan ‘to encourage practitioners to sustain and foster this
unique practice’. The first meeting of this project steering committee, comprised largely of
Sandrawing experts, met at the VKS at the end of November 2003 to finalize the action plan and
begin its implementation. This was held at the same time as a major VKS exhibition (22-29
November) on Sand Drawing, its cultural importance, and the reasons for and implications of
UNESCO’s proclamation.
Readers should bear in mind that such events in Vanuatu receive a much higher media profile in
Vanuatu than they do in almost any other nation in the Pacific – or the rest of the world, for that
matter. For decades the VKS has regularly supplied the national radio (Radio Vanuatu) with news
items, usually several times a week, and has had its own regular weekly 30-minute cultural
programme on this radio since the early 1980s. The VKS now employs its own full-time radio
officer to produce these regular programmes. This officer, Ambong Thompson, from a
traditionally-oriented area of southwestern Malakula, originally began work as a news
17
broadcaster on the radio’s predecessors, Radio Vila and (then) Radio New Hebrides, in the 1970s.
His voice is probably amongst the widest known, most familiar, and most respected throughout
the whole country. When Ambong talks, the country listens. Likewise with television. Television
only began in Vanuatu in 1992 (for the first decade after independence its implantation was
rightly considered to be not a high priority – as access to television implies access to electricity
this would mean wasting vast sums on just a small percentage of the population – and electricity
is extremely expensive, the company running the generator for the capital charging, it is said, the
third highest rate per unit in the world) and still only broadcasts for a certain number of hours per
day. The VKS has its own regular weekly/bi-weekly 30-minute cultural programme on ‘Televisin
Blong Vanauatu’ and it is extremely popular. These programmes are produced by the National
Film and Sound Unit (of the VKS), whose director/curator/head is the wise and gifted Chief
Jacob Kapere who began work as the Film officer of the VKS in 1986 and is widely known and
respected throughout the islands. Regarding newspapers, there are only two main regular ones in
the country; the ‘Vanuatu Daily Post’ (which has only been ‘daily’ since about 2003: before then
it was called ‘The Vanuatu Trading Post’ and came out two or three times a week) and ‘The
Vanuatu Independent’, which is a weekly. The VKS has an extremely high and regular profile in
both newspapers. Just to give examples, the ‘Vanuatu Daily Post’ issue for 19th May, 2007 (issue
no. 2030) contained two news articles (one with photograph on the front page) about Vanuatu
Sand Drawings plus the regular weekly VKS full-page ‘Kastom mo Kalja: Vanuatu’s history and
culture by the Vanuatu Cultural Centre’ article. The 20-26th May 2007 issue of ‘The Vanuatu
Independent’ (issue no. 180) contained three relevant articles (two of them with colour
photographs): one on Ralph Regenvanu’s attendance at the UNESCO Expert Meeting ‘Towards
Mainstreaming Principles of Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue in Policies for
Sustainable Development’ in Paris; one on Sand Drawing as a means of communication, and one
on the more general work of UNESCO in Vanuatu. As an institution, the VKS has the highest
media profile in the country. However, for the nearly 80% of the population in the rural areas, the
most effective media is still the normal ‘kokonas redio’ (‘coconut radio’) – word of mouth. In this
more traditional media, the VKS also excels, through its network of VKS Fieldworkers spread
throughout the nation, reaching even into the most remote areas of the archipelago where even
neither the churches/missionary organizations nor the government have representatives.
Moreover, because of its close links with the Malvatumauri (National Council of Chiefs) – whose
HQ is on the same plot of land – the VKS is a part and parcel of that network as well.
It is thus easy to see why the VKS has such a high profile in the nation, undoubtedly the highest
local profile of any cultural institution in the Pacific. Moreover, what it does is of great interest
and relevance to the majority of the population: if one steps back and looks at the general trend
and implications of the VKS’s work, it becomes clear that it is striving, in an extremely
successful way, to mainstream culture into the processes of human development (and this, of
course, is basically what UNESCO strives for). Thus when it was announced that UNESCO had
recognized the tradition of Sand Drawing as one of mankind’s masterpieces, this news spread
rapidly and positively throughout the northern and northern central islands where this tradition
exists. These are also the areas of the country that possess extremely ancient and complex
systems of traditional copyright – and there are archaeological hints that cultural aspects related
to these systems had already been established over 1300 years ago. It is quite probable, therefore,
that the notion of ‘copyright’, long thought by many to be a ‘Western invention’, had been
developed by traditional cultures in northern Vanuatu long before its development in Europe.
This just shows that a culture does not necessarily have to possess a written language to develop
18
complex concepts that for too long have been thought to be restricted to certain European or
Asian cultures – although at certain normal and sacred levels certain types of Sand Drawings can
be seen as a form of writing or ‘sacred messaging’. The Vanuatu traditions of Sand Drawing
have many levels, some ‘free for all’ and of easy access for almost anyone. Others can be
area/language group/clan/lineage/ritual status-specific and are therefore much more restricted in
the ways that they can be shown/used/disseminated: in some cultures knowledge of a specific
sand drawing is absolutely critical in assisting the voyage of the spirit of a recently-deceased
person to the World of the Dead. Aspects of some of the traditional restrictions and copyrights
systems did possibly pose certain ‘logistical’ problems (normal in Vanuatu) for certain parts of
the VKS’s National Action Plan for Safeguarding Vanuatu Sand Drawing, funded by UNESCO
(activity financing contract #05/054), but what the VKS has been able to do, and is still doing, in
this project, is of great importance, extremely positive and beneficial, and successful.
The first major step in this project was the organizing of the First National Sand Drawing Festival
which was held in Atanbwalo village in northern Pentecost, beginning on the 19th May 2004.
This week-long festival brought together 130 traditional sand drawing specialists from the
northern islands. The Second National Sand Drawing Festival was held on the small island of
Akhamb, off the southern coast of Malakula, from 27-31 August 2006. This important festival
attracted 370 participants from seven different islands: Malakula, Epi, Paama, Ambrym,
Pentecost, Ambae and Maewo. As part of this project, and to emphasize the inter-island links
expressed through the traditions of Sand Drawing, seven traditional sailing canoes were made to
help bring participants to the festival, to help re-awaken these links, and to eventually then be
used in traditional trading as part of the TMBV project (see below). Five of these seven canoes
(from Pellongk village in the Maskelynes; from Wujunmel village in central Pentecost; from
Meltueyon village in western Ambrym; from Lamenu [Lamen island] off northern Epi and from
Mafilau village in southwestern Epi) made it to the festival. The two other canoes, from Uripiv
off northeastern Malakula and that from the Atanbwalo community of northern Pentecost, were
not finished in time but were done in time to go to the island of Epi in May 2007 for the opening
there of the Yam Bank (part of the TMBV project, see below). Two commercial boats hired to
bring other participants failed to pick up two different groups due to come to the festival. But that
is life in Vanuatu, and those reading this report in Paris or wherever should in no way whatsoever
consider judging events in island Vanuatu in the same way as they would, say, in Japan or
Switzerland. Vanuatu is a very different part of the ‘real’ world, and life continues to be very
much life ‘on the edge’, so to speak, very susceptible to events in the natural and cultural/spiritual
world and to the problems of modern technology in a world where very little of it exists (or if it
does, it does not usually last very long – all it takes is one cyclone to end the functioning life of
some new modern technological ‘miracle’ construction). If, say, a group of men under the
instructions of a traditional sponsor/chief, begin the construction of a large traditional sailing
canoe, all sorts of cultural considerations come into force. In certain cultures these canoes can be
looked upon as living, high-ranking men and particular taboos and rituals must be undertaken to
follow the traditional laws of respect. If one of the men participating in the construction suddenly
becomes ill, or even dies, this can be looked upon as a warning sign from the World of the
Ancestors that proper procedures were not being followed. At this point all work will stop, until
one can find out the spiritual cause of the illness and its spiritual remedy. In the case of a death,
all work may stop for (depending upon the culture) a month, or 100 days, or a full year, or
whatever. Just to give an example, the Australian Museum in Sydney, where this writer is based,
has been involved, through the VKS and its fieldworkers, in an important cultural documentation
19
and cultural re-awakening project concerning the island of Erromango in southern Vanuatu.
There was to have been an important cultural festival on Erromango in September 2006 in which
the Sydney museum was to have given some requested assistance, and there was an important
ongoing cultural project with one area of the island. The sudden and unexpected death in May
2006 of Chief Tom Kiri from Umponilongi in southern Erromango meant that all this had to be
put on hold for a year to respect the traditional mourning period. A bit difficult to explain to one’s
Board of Trustees, or whatever, in the White Man’s world, but, in this case, there was respectful
understanding. Organizers of such activities in Vanuatu just have to learn to live with these
important cultural differences, there is no way around them and as one is working to support
these well-founded cultural systems one should not consider ‘modernizing’ the whole process to
try and make them ‘simpler and more effective’. Various attempts over decades by the
Condominium colonial government to enforce what were thought to be straightforward
‘solutions’ were often found to be not solutions at all, but sometimes just ended up making
matters worse or more complex. Modern transport ships might be thought to be an easy solution
for much such travel, but a significant percentage of such vessels are rather cyclone-worn, have
regular engine problems, periodically run short of diesel fuel and also have to take into account
possible adverse weather conditions.
Similar cultural considerations had to be taken into account by the VKS when they were
organizing the First National Women’s Sand Drawing Festival. This was held in the village of
Kerebei on the island of Maewo 21st-25th August 2005. There were 98 female participants from
25 different areas of nine different islands at this important festival. There would have been more,
but as there are, amongst many of the cultures of Vanuatu – as amongst many cultures worldwide
– strong traditional tendencies against permitting women, or a wife, traveling to another cultural
area without male guardians or husbands traveling with them. This was worked out as well as
possible, but it would have been prohibitively expensive to bring everyone’s
uncle/husband/brother or whatever, for all those who wanted to take part.
Sand Drawing competitions have been put in as a normal part of the many island and inter-island
Traditional Arts Festivals in the northern islands that the VKS is perpetually involved in helping
to organize (these have nothing to do with tourism, they are purely for local and national cultural
promotion). This writer saw some superb examples being drawn as part of a local festival in
coastal southwestern Malakula in August 2004. More will come out at another such festival to be
held on the eastern coast of Malakula at the end of July 2007. The VKS was involved in the
setting up of the ‘Save our Sand Drawings Komiti (SOSAK)’, many of whose members are VKS
Fieldworkers. This committee is involved in trying to choose which drawings are ‘general’
enough to be able to be put into general promotional material (some designs have already been
approved and printed on promotional t-shirts) and into schools. Traditional copyright aspects are
extremely important to bear in mind in this endeavor, and their hard work may be assisted by the
VKS actually deciding which designs it might like to see used and then asking SOSAK to follow
up the traditional restrictions (if any) on the use of these particular designs.
Such work links in with the possible need for the drafting of a National Law for the Protection of
Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Culture: in 2006 the VKS instructed a respected niVanuatu law firm in the capital to provide the legal opinion on the drafting of such an act, which
received a positive and sympathetic 12-page detailed reply, ‘Draft Legal Opinion on the Drafting
of a Traditional Knowledge Bill for Vanuatu’. This paper has already been discussed in depth by
20
the VNCC (Vanuatu National Cultural Council), VKS, VKS Fieldworkers, SOSAK, and other
relevant individuals and groups, and this information has been fed back to the legal group. Once a
final legal opinion is obtained, this can then be circulated for more comments. A recent
nationwide Sand Drawing competition (well, restricted to those areas in the north with rights to
them) in schools resulted in the Secondary School at Melsisi, in central Pentecost, winning the
‘first prize’. The Vanuatu postal service brought out a special set of postage stamps featuring
sand drawings. Certain areas of the northern islands have a tradition of body tattoo decoration,
and the upsurge of in interest in, and promotion of sand drawings have led to the incorporation of
some of these designs into body tattoos, another re-enforcement of traditional local identity. Cocommittent with the massive growth in ‘prestige’ of Sand Drawing has been the rise in interest in
and re-awakening of another linked Vanuatu intangible tradition, that of ‘String Figures’
(although these are not usually made with string but with split pandanus or thin-split bark, etc):
certain cultural items can appear both in a string figure form or a sand drawing form, with the
same associated stories and songs. A French academic, Eric Vandendriessche, an ethnomathematical specialist, has been appointed as a consultant by the Department of Education to
work with the VKS to develop three units of teaching material on the mathematical intricacies of
string figures and sand drawings for use in the national teaching curriculum. Two male sand
drawers from northern Pentecost, Edgar Hinge Virarere and Ricky Lini, were sent as
representatives to the Third Melanesian Arts Festival held in Suva, Fiji, 1-12th October 2006.
Vanuatu Sand Drawing was also represented at the First China Festival of International NonMaterial Culture Heritage held in Shengdu in central China beginning on the 23 rd May 2007: a
young female sand drawer from northern Pentecost, Rosnet Lowenbu (about 10 years old) was
accompanied to Shengdu by Marcelin Abong (the new Director of the VKS) to demonstrate this
beautiful intangible Vanuatu art during the first two days of the festival. The VKS National
Museum has, since 2005, employed a full-time Museum Guide available to all visitors: Edgar
Hinge Virarere, from northern Pentecost, one of the nations best-known Sand Drawers. There is a
special moveable sandbox in the museum in which Edgar is continually giving live Sand
Drawing demonstrations, with accompanying explanations, to visitors – both tourists and, more
importantly, visiting ni-Vanuatu school groups and ni-Vanuatu visitors. He has also recently
produced a short DVD on his work, ‘Eddie Hinge Virarere: Kastom Sandrawings’, filmed in the
VKS, which was shown on Vanuatu TV on 26th May 2007.
Thus one can see easily see that the UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation and
Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage-sponsored project to Safeguard and promote
Vanuatu Sand Drawing has been, and is, immensely successful and continues, and will continue,
unabated. Through this project this intangible tradition, previously almost unknown to the outside
world, has become internationally recognized and has now become one of the many traditions
that the nation is pleased to claim as a part of its national identity. Vanuatu can now proudly say
to the World, ‘Most of the other islands of the World write on paper. Vanuatu is different: “Su
tuh netan’monbwei” (“We write on the ground”- in the language spoken at the western point of
Ambrym island, one of the most important Sand Drawing islands. viz. Huffman, 1996 )’.
Traditional Money Banks in Vanuatu (TMBV) Project
21
This project, begun in June 2004, is actually the most ambitious undertaken by the VKS and is
that with the most profound and favourable benefits to the nation, not only in terms of support for
major intangible and tangible aspects of the country’s cultural heritage but also in terms of
support for real quality of life, identity, contentment, the traditional economy, health, and selfsufficiency. The way that the project has developed has enthralled the nation and the general
themes, as these have developed, have now been officially recognized by the National Council of
Chiefs and the Vanuatu Government (i.e.at the highest level) in the latter’s official decision
(Vanuatu Council of Ministers, 8th Ordinary Meeting of 2006, 18th May 2006, Decision 45/ 2006)
to declare 2007 as the ‘Yia Blong Kastom Eknomi’ (‘Year of the Traditional Economy’). This
decision was a direct result of one of the recommendations coming out of the project after its
important VKS-organised/UNESCO-sponsored 14th-18th March 2005 meeting on the island of
Uripiv, the ‘Workshop to Recognise and Promote the Traditional Economy as the basis for
Achieving National Self-Reliance’( see above and Huffman, 2005, pp 18-20). For nearly 150
years the ‘white man’s world’ has seemed to be attempting to destroy not only the traditional
religions, belief systems, languages, rituals and cultures of this complex and sophisticated series
of worlds, but their population had been decimated, much of their land had been stolen, their
identity (‘stateless persons’) ignored and, worst of all, their whole existence and ways of life
denigrated (for more detail on this background see Huffman, 2005, pp 28-30 & p37). This
process did not actually cease with independence in 1980, as the outside world, often with the
best of intentions, has continually tried to persuade or force the nation into a situation where it
would become a completely ‘modern cash-based economy’ in the belief that this would alleviate
‘poverty’ in a country classed by most modern economists as one of the world’s ‘poorest’. As
well-intentioned as such attempts may have been, they actually ignored the real situation within
the archipelago and based their assumptions on rather ‘Euro-centric’ models of ‘development’
and economic theory which may be relevant for some parts of the world but not necessarily
suitable for others. Intelligent and more profound observers can actually see that just about the
only place in Vanuatu where the first signs of real poverty are beginning to appear is in the
capital, Port Vila, and the other small town of Luganville on Santo, which are also just about the
only places in the country where one really needs modern money to survive (Huffman 2005,
p31).The capital happens to be the one place in the country where the influence of the ‘modern
world’ is the greatest and so a ‘modern economist’, just looking at money figures, might assume
the reverse to be the case. He/she would be wrong. Around 90% of the modern cash money
available at any one time in the country circulates only within the capital (Regenvanu, 2007a, p
18) and yet 80% of the population lives in rural areas. The latter, however, are only ‘poor’ in that
they lack modern money; and yet they live contented, well-fed lives on their rich and fertile
traditional lands supported by the strength and depth of their ancient cultures. In general, they are
very content, and what foreign visitors to the outer islands always note after their first forays into
such ‘poverty-stricken’ areas is the great amount of laughter and general good-feeling that exists.
It is not for nothing that the July 2006 New Economics Foundation (London) ‘Happy Planet
Index’ report survey of 178 nations worldwide put Vanuatu at the top of the world list as ‘the
world’s happiest nation’( see the beginning of this report above, p2). According to most modern
economists this should not be the case, but what most economists would ignore (because it
cannot be ‘counted’) is the fact that the traditional economy is actually the ‘biggest’ economy in
the country and looks after (and looks after well) most of the population with only minimal need
of access to modern cash. Most ni-Vanuatu are actually ‘rich’ in traditional terms, and this is
really the most important; it is just that most of them are not necessarily ‘rich’ in that thing which
22
economists think is important, ie modern money. It is quite easy to see that recognition of the
importance of the traditional economy actually has major implications for modern economic
theory, which has until now ignored its importance around the world. The VKS TMBV project,
however, has begun to change these attitudes even amongst modern overseas economists.
In 2006, an ‘economic opportunities fact-finding mission’ to Vanuatu conducted by Australia and
New Zealand through the auspices of NZAID and AusAID came up with radically new
perceptions and recommendations different from any other previous ‘economic mission’ from
any other overseas nation or agency (eg IMF, World Bank, etc, etc). The specialists conducting
this mission had the benefit of visiting the country after the TMBV project had begun and after
the intense discussions around and development of this project into a wider-more embracing
concept relating to the traditional economy had made the topic more widely known locally. In
agreement with what was found, the mission report recognized that “…many of the functions of
modern growth –well-being, stability, equity, social cohesion and sustainable livelihoods for an
expanded population – are also well provided for through Vanuatu’s strong and deeply held
customary values including its custom economy”, going on to state that such an economy “should
be supported”. Moreover, this report went on to note that “(Vanuatu’s) most understated
productive-sector is the massive response within its traditional (island) economy to a rapidly
growing population…Although growth of Vanuatu’s GDP has not been spectacular, its
traditional, largely non-monetarised, rural economy has successfully supported a 90% increase in
the rural population in the 26 years since independence…”(from Bazely, P. and B.Mullen,
Vanuatu; Economic Opportunities Fact-finding Mission , UK and Australia, 2006; quoted in
Regenvanu, R., 2007a, p18). Such a mission report done by overseas specialists would have been
almost unthinkable only five years ago as it would have been denigrated by modern economists
too beholden to ‘neoliberal economic free market economy’ theory. But ideas, perceptions,
understanding – and the world – are changing rapidly. The TMBV project may have ‘deviated’
slightly from its original concepts, but it has done so in a way that has involved intense
discussion and consultation at all levels within Vanuatu at the same time as not losing the original
precepts of the mission (to safeguard and promote aspects of the intangible cultural heritage
associated with traditional wealth items); this growth of the project has not only received
government approval but has also meaningfully come to the attention of intelligent economists
overseas and looks set to eventually become a major influence on necessary international
economic re-thinking of the topics of ‘poverty and development in the Third World’. The
concepts and actions coming out of this project in Vanuatu are considered so important and
particularly relevant for neighboring Melanesian countries, that it is now agreed that it will be put
up for consideration at the next MSG (Melanesian Spearhead Group – an intergovernmental
group of the highest level [Prime Ministers, etc] linking Papua New Guinea, the Solomons, and
Vanuatu) meeting which is to be held in Port Vila 10-14th September 2007. UNESCO and the
kind Japanese Funds-in-Trust donors can be pleased and proud that the growing project that they
had the wisdom to assist has developed in such a brilliant way.
There are many levels at which the TMBV project can be viewed, at the local, national and
international levels as well as the practical, basic, and more theoretical, policy or strategical
levels. This is/was a joint project undertaken in Vanuatu by the VKS, the VCUL (Vanuatu Credit
Union League) and the Malvatumauri (National Council of Chiefs), sponsored by UNESCO and
the Government of Japan (through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation and
Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage).
23
The stated objectives of the project are/were (taken from Ralph Regenvanu’s TMBV project
summary posted 28th November 2005 on the VKS website [http://www.vanuatuculture.org]):
1) ‘To survey and understand the production processes and investment and banking
mechanisms for traditional wealth items in Vanuatu;
2) To raise awareness of the significance of traditional monies and the need to preserve and
continue to transmit the intangible knowledge relating to skills and techniques for the
production of these monies;
3) To develop a strategy for promoting the use of traditional wealth items in Vanuatu;
4) To develop strategies to facilitate the use of traditional wealth items to pay for services
currently paid for in cash (eg, school and medical fees), especially in rural areas;
5) To establish laws and policies at provincial and national level to support the use of
traditional wealth items as part of the formal economy of the country;
6) To strengthen the foundations of the traditional economy within culturally appropriate
frameworks with a view to stimulating income-generation within local populations;
7) To provide infrastructure resources needed to establish effective and viable ‘traditional
money banks;
8) To establish the viability of extending this concept to other areas of Melanesia.’
‘At the most basic level, the principle objective of the project – to maintain and revitalize living
traditional cultural practices whilst stimulating income generation in Vanuatu – will be achieved
by:
a) encouraging people who are involved in the production of various forms of traditional
wealth (tusked pigs, mats, shell money, etc) to continue producing such wealth;
b) encouraging people who are primarily involved in the cash economy to access the
traditional valuables and use them for ceremonial activities;
c) facilitating the exchange of cash and traditional wealth items between the informal and
formal economic sectors to both generate income for people involved in the traditional
sphere of economic life and encourage the revival of traditional practices amongst those
primarily involved in the cash economy.’
‘At a much more ambitious level, this project aims to establish legal, policy and infrastructural
frameworks to support its objectives through producing a new strategy for development in
Vanuatu that recognizes the significant economic resources and ‘wealth’ that already exists at the
community level in the rural areas of the country, embodied in the traditional economic structures
that have sustained these communities for thousands of years’.
At almost all these above levels, the project has succeeded admirably – and more. Certain
aims/objectives are still to be completed or are in process. Others; such as actual ‘income
generation’, have been found to be actually less important or relevant as associated developments
have, to a certain extent, lessened the need for an emphasis on this.
The first major activity of the project, a general survey of traditional wealth items and traditional
economic practices, particularly in the northern islands, was written up by the writer of this
current report by late October/early November 2004 and published by the Vanuatu National
cultural Council in July 2005 (Huffman, 2005). The VKS circulated copies of the unpublished
24
report widely in late 2004 and hundreds of copies of the published report were distributed to
relevant local, provincial and national authorities from July 2005.
The unpublished report served as a starting point for the second major activity of the project, a
VKS-organized meeting to develop project objective strategies at a community level which was
held on the island of Uripiv, off northeast Malakula, 14th-18th March 2005. Entitled ‘Workshop to
recognize and promote the traditional economy as the basis for achieving national self-reliance’,
it was officially opened by the president of the National Council of Chiefs and closed by the
Deputy Prime Minister (who was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs). The Minister of
Education was one of the speakers. This indicates support at the highest levels. At the meeting
also were representatives and chiefs and provincial officers from the nation’s six provinces as
well as representatives from NGOs. The workshop produced a large set of recommendations,
‘The Strategy to Recognize and Promote the Traditional Economy as the Basis for National Self
–Reliance’ (see Huffman, 2005, pp 18-20), many based upon basic ideas from the project report
and then refined and expanded at various levels, one of the major ones being a request that the
government declare 2007 as ‘The Year of the Traditional Economy’.
Many of these recommendations were followed up almost immediately. The workshop had
recommended that the Malvatumauri (National Council of Chiefs) ban the use of modern money
for traditional payments associated with marriage, social status change/grade-taking ceremonies,
mortuary payments, and so on. The use of modern money in these exchanges had gradually crept
into the islands over the last few decades and was one of the main pressures on people forcing
them to obtain modern cash as, at least with marriage and death payments, such pressures
affected everyone ‘at one time or other during their lives’. Recognizing the importance of this
recommendation, the National Council of Chiefs, at their annual general meeting held in the
capital only three weeks later, in early April 2005, made a decision to change its policy regarding
marriage payments (‘bride price’ – a slight misnomer, as a husband’s clan is actually making a
respect payment to the wife’s clan to compensate them for all the hard work and love involved in
bringing her up [ the wife usually goes to live with the husband and his clan]). In the early
1980s, in mistaken recognition of the ‘importance’ of cash, the Malvatumauri had accepted ‘bride
price’ paid in modern money and in 1998 had set this at an upper limit of 80,000vatu [about
$1000]), announcing that from now on, only traditional wealth items ( eg pigs, mat monies, shell
monies, ‘wealth from the ground’ [yams, kava, etc]) could be used for such payments, and this
decision was extended to cover social status/grade-taking ceremonies and mortuary payments as
well. Thus in one fell swoop an accepted and implemented recommendation from the TMBV
project did away with one of the major ‘modern financial headaches’ of the nation: using
traditional wealth, everyone can now afford to marry and die! By this proclamation, the chiefs
also alleviated certain potential land inheritance problems as in some of the cultures (eg, on the
island of Malo) it is only a traditional wedding with the traditional payments that legitimizes the
children of that union and their right to inherit land. This decision was broadcast over radio and
in the media, and a colourful poster was printed up and distributed throughout the islands. The
poster, printed on behalf of the Malvatumauri and designed by Jamie Tanguay in the VKS,
contained nine colour photos showing the use of traditional wealth items in recent ceremonies.
The wording of this widely distributed poster goes as follows (translated from Bislama, the
national language):
25
“ The Malvatumauri National Council of Traditional Chiefs wants to announce to all Island
Councils (of chiefs), all Area Councils, all Sub-or Ward Councils and to all Village Councils of
Chiefs throughout Vanuatu that Malvatumauri policy is now:
The 80,000vt bride price policy of 14th November 1998 is now finished and chiefs and people are
no longer to follow it.
Vatu currency (ie, modern money) is no longer to be used for other traditional ceremonies such as
grade-taking or name-taking, death ceremonies or any other (traditional) ceremonies. Every
traditional ceremony must follow Kastom (Tradition) and use only Kastom money.
++ Each Council of Chiefs must make a decision on the correct Kastom payment for each
ceremony in their area in line with this new policy++.
WHY HAS THE POLICY CHANGED?
The traditional way of marriage builds up and strengthens (the links between) the family and the
community and recognizes the importance and status of women in traditional life.
If we pay (‘bride price’) with vatu (modern money) it lessens respect for women and we (men)
become in danger of looking upon them as if they were nothing (ie just ‘commodities’).
++All of us must understand that Vatu (modern money) has no place in our traditions. Marry and
pursue traditional ceremonies following your (proper) traditions, do not use Vatu++”.
The above makes it all very clear (although the text flows much better and is much more effective
in the original Bislama!).
Around the same time, the Ministry of Education began seriously considering the proposal
coming out of the TMBV project that, where possible, school fees in the rural areas might be paid
in either traditional wealth items, food, or services. This recommendation was received
positively and sympathetically by the Ministry (this is natural, as most people working within
government ministries and departments are from rural backgrounds themselves) which well
realized the pressures that cash payment for school fees put upon rural families. The Ministry of
Education therefore, after a certain amount of debate, stated their understanding of this
recommendation and had asked (by the time of this writer’s visit in May 2007) all schools in the
country to develop a policy permitting this that can work for them (ie, each particular school,
bearing in mind that schools are situated in many greatly differing linguistic and cultural areas –
almost as if they are situated in different countries!). This process has already started informally
in every one of the six Provinces, where the local school administrations have seen the value of
and need for this approach, and it is very much welcomed. Progress is slightly slow, but by May
2007 the Walter Lini Memorial College in northern Pentecost (one of the largest colleges in the
country) was well on its way to implementing this completely, as was, for example, the Primary
School on Uripiv island. The large Seventh Day Adventist School on Aore Island is also way
ahead in implementing this, but as SDA’s they cannot accept pigs as payment. At the moment,
aside from pig and money-mat school payments in areas of Pentecost, the most common form of
payment is in traditional food stocks –yam, taro, vegetables, chickens, and so on. This is
excellent as it improves the students’ diets and gradually moves that away from a ‘rice-andtinned fish’ diet which doesn’t really do anyone any good. This dietary change is also a follow-on
from one of the points raised in the original TMBV report, ie the health dangers to local
populations of changing to a ‘western-type’ diet and life-style which can very rapidly affect niVanuatu, particularly in rapidly increasing the susceptibility to development of Diabetes Mellitus
(Type II), to which Pacific islanders have been shown to have a genetic pre-disposition if they
26
change from healthy traditional diets and active lifestyles to ‘foreign foods and a cash-economy
lazy lifestyle’ (Huffman, 2005, p35). Diabetes, the dreaded ‘sik blong suga’, has become a real
killer in the capital, Port Vila, and it is greatly feared, almost like an infectious disease of
‘modernization’ (which it effectively is). Diabetes rates are very low in rural areas.
One sort of has to now leave it up, to a certain extent, to the wisdom of the Ministry of Education
and the various local school authorities to come up with a series of solutions that can balance the
need for a certain amount of cash (to run things) with the fact that by admitting the possibility of
paying school fees without cash (or with a much smaller amount of it combined with, say,
traditional wealth) has now opened up, for the first time, the opportunity for almost every child in
Vanuatu to go to school, at least for a certain period of time. This is a very positive development
of the TMBV project and links well into one of UNESCO’s main interests, education.
Education and thought processes
Of course this does sort of pre-suppose that the education is worth having, and it is now rather
widely recognized that certain emphases in the Vanuatu educational system do need changing, to
make it more relevant and useful for this particular Pacific island nation. The VKS/VNCC is
aware of this and working towards it (see above, pp 16-18, ‘Education’), and this will be greatly
assisted by information supplied by the VKS Fieldworkers at their annual meeting due in
October/November 2007. The topic of this meeting will be ‘Kastom Edukesen’ (‘Traditional
Education’) and what will be discussed are the traditional ways of education in nearly 100
different cultures. All societies had and have their own traditional ways of educating their youth,
its just they didn’t /don’t do it in a formal ‘away from home’ situation that takes the child from
its family in its most important formative years to concentrate on something called ‘lenem
ebisi’(‘learning ABC’). The most widespread word in Bislama for ‘education’ is ‘skul’
(‘school’): but it can also mean ‘Christianity’ as it was the missionaries who first began ‘modern’
education by establishing small mission schools in the outer islands. The Bislama phrase ‘mi joen
long skul’ (‘I have joined school’) actually means ‘I have converted to Christianity’. All mission
outposts (and therefore schools) were on the coasts of the islands, the missionaries obligingly
thinking that their message would attract the mountain peoples from the interiors of the larger
islands down to their stations: the fact that malarial mosquitoes were decidedly rarer in the cooler
highlands than on the humid coasts meant, very often, that converting to Christianity meant
changing your habitat from a minimal-malarial one to a maximal-malarial one. Thus there is also
the phrase ‘Mi go daon long skul’ (‘I have gone down to/converted to Christianity’), with all that
that phrase entails. The first mission schools were set up on the island of Aneityum in the late
1840s/early 1850s and all ‘modern’ education was in the hands of the missionaries for over 100
years. It was not until 1959 that the British government set up the first non-missionary secondary
school (Malapoa College on Efate) and then the French, worried that there would be an
Anglophone ‘elite’, set up their francophone equivalent, the Lycée
Antoine de Bougainville (also on Efate), in 1960. So it is no wonder that, for many ni-Vanuatu,
‘education= Christianity’. Certain Christian missionaries, especially some of the Catholics and
the Anglicans, were relatively relaxed in their attitudes to the traditional belief systems, but
others (eg the Presbyterians and the Seventh Day Adventists) saw themselves as literally in a
‘war against darkness’. The latter, more used to the European idea that religion had specific times
set apart for its rituals (eg, church on Sundays) had difficulty understanding cultures whose
almost every waking activity has some sort of spiritual purpose. Thus it is, unfortunately, true to
say that some of the early missionaries (and even some of the more ‘fundamentalist’ churches
27
today) were not necessarily the most benign humans one could hope to meet, some being
extremely strict and dour. In some areas the churches even seriously antagonized the local
populations. On the island of Tanna, the power of the Presbyterian Church became so despotic
that Christianity, historically the ‘religion of the oppressed’ in certain parts of the world, became
the oppressor, setting up its own ‘police’ to enforce prohibitions on traditional activities and
rituals. This period, for nearly three decades from about 1910, is remembered by many Tannese
today as the time of ‘Tanna Law’ and is looked back upon as a time of fear and overwhelming
repression. The growth of different millennial beliefs systems (eg, that which later became known
as the ‘Jon Frum Movement’) and return to Kastom movements on Tanna from the late 1930s are
very much a reaction to this form of ‘Christianity gone wrong’. In 2003, one of the young VKS
indigenous Fieldworkers, himself from the island of Santo, penetrated into a distant series of
isolated mountain valleys in one part of the interior of this vast island and found a rather large
chain of villages in an area long thought to be uninhabited. He was met by chiefly representatives
who, waving their hands vigorously, said ‘No skul!’ (‘No ‘School’/missionaries!’), which
indicated that if the visitor was a missionary representative he would not be permitted entry. Such
peoples have, of course, a perfect right to be left alone and continue their traditional way of life
(the VKS Fieldworker was very impressed with their vitality, state of health, and level of
contentment) and a perfect right to refuse missionaries or modern education. These groups will
also have their own traditional ways of education and their own belief systems, and these are to
be respected. One does not want readers to get the wrong impression, however. Vanuatu is today
a ‘Christian nation based on Melanesian values’. Most of the population is Christian and the
percentage of regular church goers is higher than in Australia, Europe and the UK, and even the
US. The majority Christian population, however, retains aspects of the traditional belief systems
and combine them with Christianity, a good approach which enriches life for all.
Such ‘extremely isolated’ (but everything is relative: they themselves, of course, do not see
themselves as isolated, they are at the centres of their worlds) populations as those the interior of
Santo in Vanuatu may today be in a relative minority, but their attitudes and ways of life would
be familiar to, and respected by, the majority of the population. Most ni-Vanuatu are glad that
such groups still exist, looking upon them as important reservoirs of traditional knowledge of
great importance to the country as a whole. .Although modern education in Vanuatu is not
compulsory, the great majority (well over 70%) of children of school age do go to school, even if
for some it may only be for a few years. Obligatory modern education for all in a nation of such
great geographical dispersion would be impossible and, because of the great traditional cultural
differences, greatly differing histories of influence from the ‘outside world’, and greatly differing
attitudes to those influences, unenforceable and unadvisable. With ‘modern education’ as it is at
the moment, if everyone went to school for all the years possible and to the level theoretically
available, they would all eventually have to end up in the capital desperately trying to find a job.
No young people would be left back in the rural areas. This situation would be impossible and
would definitely not be advisable. Moreover, readers should also bear in mind the fact that all the
great number of different traditional cultures in Vanuatu are oral cultures; ie, they do not
traditionally have written forms of their languages. This does not mean that their languages or
cultures are ‘primitive’, ‘savage’, or ‘backward’. The same goes for other areas of Melanesia
such as the vast island of New Guinea and the neighbouring Solomon Islands, whose biogeography and cultures share many similarities with Vanuatu. With New Caledonia , these
islands of Melanesia contain between a quarter and a third of all the languages and cultures on the
face of the earth today, so ideas and concepts coming from them are definitely not ‘minority
28
viewpoints’ and should be listened to very seriously. At this point a particularly relevant and
prescient quote is in order: it is from Mali Voi’s (UNESCO Apia ) ‘Foreward’ to the 2001
‘Artists in Development’ publication which came out of the UNESCO-sponsored workshop of
the same name held in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. Mali Voi is one of the Pacific’s most
respected elderly statesmen, wise in the ways of Oceania and the world (and by mid-2007 he will
have served UNESCO in many ways for 30 years). Here is what he says: “The process of
‘globalisation’ may have brought together peoples of the world like never before, but it has come
at a great price. Cultural traditions that have evolved over thousands of years are being
systematically eroded, fragmented and diluted, often to the tune of big business. In the Pacific
particularly, western-style capitalism is wrecking havoc amongst many island communities.
Simply not enough people are being offered the opportunity to participate. Less than one third of
work-aged Pacific people are engaged in any sort of formal employment, yet Pacific learning
institutions continue to emphasise academic achievement as they turn out an ever increasing
number of school leavers that have little hope of meaningful employment. I believe education
systems in the Pacific have to be reformed. We need to explore ways to empower young people
to participate fully in the life of their communities…” This is what the VKS and Vanuatu is
trying to do, and doing it well.
The many ideas coming out of Vanuatu, be it to do with land, languages or cultures, should also
be considered relevant for neighboring regions of Melanesia and beyond, with, of course, the
appropriate modifications for each different area and culture. There are particular reasons,
though, why ‘new’ ideas relevant to Melanesian intangible and tangible cultural heritage,
languages and cultures and ‘attitudes to the world’ tend to come out of Vanuatu today rather than
from the other nations. These may be largely due to the fact that Vanuatu was the last area to be
‘colonized’, had a rather ineffectual colonial government, and was colonized by two European
nations (England and France) at the same time. This accident of ‘double colonization’ enabled niVanuatu to grow up with a very different attitude to ‘the White Man’s World’( as France and
Britain in the New Hebrides rarely agreed on anything and had a tradition of contradicting each
other), to therefore perfectly rightly question everything and often refuse to accept new ideas
from the outside at face value. If one has been brought up in a double-headed colonial situation
that tends to indicate that ‘the White Man’s World’ may be rather schizophrenic and confusing,
obsessed with minor questions of prestige that have no relevance in the Pacific, apt to ‘not tell the
truth’, and so on, then of course one is correct to be slightly wary in adopting blindly everything
that this particular world tells you to do. And rightly so. It may be going too far to say that such a
historical background tends to give one the impression that ‘all white people are liars’ but it is
actually not too far from that, just that this impression is tinged with the subtle understanding that
maybe the White Man’s World itself may not be too well organized and may be rather avaricious,
bickering, and jealous in the way that young children may sometimes be. This is not to denigrate
the great amount of good that contact with the modern world has brought and is bringing to the
Pacific, but just to point out that it is not necessarily all good.
Thus in some areas in Vanuatu there is a worry that ‘modern education shortens the mind’ (see
Huffman, 2005, p.30), destroying or modifying the very different and more complex thought and
memory systems that can possibly be learned through traditional education. ‘European’ cultures
and educational systems follow straightforward linear processes: peoples from traditional cultures
in northern Vanuatu tend to be ‘spirally circular lateral thinkers’, those in southern Vanuatu
‘linear lateral thinkers’. These systems come from a very different way of looking at the world
29
and often involve different brain processes. Because these differing systems of thought, analysis
and action have enabled the development of such complex cultures in a sustainable and selfsufficient form in a series of rather difficult environments over an extremely long period of time,
one can say that they may not be wrong. They are just different (from the European way) and
ideally suited for their part of the world (as they have had to be). Although there is a tendency in
Vanuatu for certain families to send their children to anglophone schools, and others to send
theirs to francophone schools, some will retain one child to be ‘brought up in Kastom’ (the
traditional way). Of course the really smart ones may send one child to an English-speaking
school, one to a French-speaking one, and bring another up in Kastom. This way one hedges
one’s bets, takes advantage of the links into both the anglophone and francophone worlds whilst
at the same time assuring a link into the one world that one knows is tried and trustworthy:
Kastom. And this ensures that relevant knowledge will be retained and passed on in the
traditional way (at least to the children of the ‘Kastom-educated’ child). Interestingly enough, the
child brought up in Kastom, when adult, very often seems to be much more content than those
brothers or sisters who have ‘gone too far’ in the modern educational systems. Certain cultures in
Vanuatu have tried different approaches by, for example, trying to integrate a certain amount of
Kastom knowledge into the curriculum by regularly bringing in respected elders (local versions
of what might be called ‘Living Human Treasures’) to teach in the schools. A good example is in
the small school of Nabangahake village in western Ambae where old Emmanuel Viralalao has
been giving traditional story classes almost weekly since 1978, in conjunction with (now retired)
VKS Fieldworker James Gwero. Other areas have tried other approaches: in the mid-1970s, the
non-missionized ‘ful kastom’ (fully traditional) Naüvhal/Nivhaal language-speakers in the hills
of southwestern Tanna themselves set up their own ‘Kastom Skul’ (traditional school) at the
lower southwestern reaches of their territory. Interestingly enough, this was part of their attempt
to prevent missionary or church penetration into their region. The Condominium government had
been trying to pressurize certain villages in the area to send some of their children to school, but
for these traditionally-oriented peoples such schools available were just seen as fronts for
missionization. So to avoid these pressures, they set up their own school, with a former teacher
who had ‘gone back to kastom’. Normal traditional dress was worn by both students and teacher,
the curriculum was basic ‘ABC’ and useful general education, and the school timetable followed
the traditional agricultural and ritual cycles of the communities. Students were not taken away
from their families and were educated in an extremely warm, and profoundly content, situation. It
is interesting to note that some of the students coming out of this school have actually gone
further into ‘modern education’ and done extremely well. Others have remained in ‘ful
kastom’(out of choice) but seem to have an ability to regularly bounce in and out of their
traditional world and the ‘modern world’ extremely easily, whilst keeping their strong traditional
identities and without losing their customary ways of thought and still retaining their amazing
traditional memories and multilingual abilities. Other areas of the country – eg in parts of
southern Malakula – have noted that individuals coming into a modified form of
‘modern’education for the first time (after a good grounding in the traditional form), from a
completely fully traditional background, often come out of it with many of their traditional
faculties intact and this really enhances their ‘modern education’. Ni-Vanuatu often say these
students arrive with ‘completely fresh’ brains that have not already been modified with thoughts
from different overseas cultures. Because many of these students have already begun learning in
the traditional systems, their ability to memorize material with very little effort is usually way
ahead of those brought up in a modern system only. As one VKS Fieldworker from southern
30
Malakula told me years ago, “Their eyes are like cameras and their ears are like tape recorders;
they don’t forget anything”.
Thus a modified form of education, with an increased traditional input, is possibly more relevant
and useful for ni-Vanuatu in the outer islands (and will also have the benefit of empowering local
identity, lessening a certain ‘urban drift to the capital’ amongst some of the youth), and the
forthcoming VKS Fieldworkers workshop in October/November 2007, with the theme of
‘Kastom Education’ will be extremely relevant for this. One of the VKS’s most dynamic
Fieldworkers, Chief Alben Reuben Sarawoh’bahap, from the northern part of the Ninde-speaking
area of Southwest Bay, Malakula, already has plans to try and set up a ‘Kastom Skul’ in his base
village of Lawa, to complement the well-established ‘normal’ school in that village. This writer
believes this is the beginning of a major trend (and see above, pages 17-19 of this report), is
something very relevant for UNESCO, and an approach that UNESCO should look upon
seriously with interest, sympathy, and possibly support.
The third major activity of the TMBV project, again coordinated through the VKS, was the
organizing and holding of a national forum, the ‘National Summit for Self-Reliance and
Sustainability’. This was held 4th-8th July 2005 in the vast, thatched, National Council of Chiefs
meeting hall – just a few minutes walk from the VKS. This meeting was held at the highest level
to recognize, empower, and protect the rural stakeholders of traditional wealth items (tusker pigs,
money mats, ‘wealth from the ground’ [yams, taro, traditional foods, etc]) and the intangible
knowledge associated with them. It was a bigger and wider follow-on and development from the
preliminary workshop held on the island of Uripiv the previous March (see above, pp 27-28): the
weekly newspaper ‘The Independent’, in its issue of 3rd July 2005, stated “The summit follows on
from a workshop in (March) on traditional money banks which was held at Uripiv, Malakula,
through UNESCO funding and with the assistance of the Vanuatu cultural Centre, Credit Union
League and Malvatumauri”. The July 2005 meeting grouped together representatives from this
previous workshop, members of the targeted communities, VKS staff and Fieldworkers, chiefs,
and local and national Government representatives and NGOs (including the national Reserve
Bank, the Supreme Court, the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce, the Vanuatu Tourism Office, etc)
and received much publicity. The summit opened with a traditional welcome from the President
of the National Council of Chiefs and a speech by the Prime Minister. Based upon ideas arising
from concerns around protection and promotion of the intangible and tangible aspects of
traditional wealth and the traditional economy, the summit centred around four main themes:
food security, social security, environmental security, and governance. One of the most
important points to come out of the conclave was the recognition at the highest level that the
traditional economy, linked with the traditional chiefly governance systems, was really the major
source of stability and social harmony in the country. Over one hundred recommendations were
received from those present at the summit, and these were finally summarized into just over 30
main recommendations which were then read out at the end of the meeting to the Head of State,
President Kalkot Mataskelekele Mauliliu, the Minister of Finance, and other relevant dignitaries.
Ralph Regenvanu, the then Director of the VKS (and now Director of the Vanuatu National
Cultural Council), was one of the leading forces behind this extremely successful summit. The
recommendations were distributed widely to all relevant authorities and then taken for
endorsement to a special meeting of the Malvatumauri, the National Council of Chiefs on 26 th
July 2005, which endorsed the recommendations as the key ingredients in the ‘Vanuatu National
31
Self Reliance Strategy 2020’. Starting from the basic elements of the TMBV project, the
recommendations branched out into the areas of governance, national vision, land and land use,
education, economy, food security energy, health, social security and maintenance of culture (list
taken from Ralph Regenvanu’s summary).‘The Independent’ newspaper, in its glowing full-page
summary of the summit and the recommendations on 17th July had, as its headline, “From Little
Things Big Things Grow: It all began with a ‘pig bank’- Teslo’s pig bank”, referring back to the
history of the origin of the TMBV project (see above, pp.11-12, this report). As this all
commenced with the VKS TMBV project, and its outgrowth, this can be seen, as Mali Voi
(UNESCO Apia) has pointed out, as a prime example of a way in which a Pacific museum can
really serve their communities as well as providing an outreach throughout the nation and further
afield, something which UNESCO Paris should well take note of. A major recommendation of
the meeting was for a National Land Summit to be held in 2006 ‘to address all issues of concern
about land raised at this summit’ (see below). Such an important gathering greatly empowered
stakeholders in the traditional wealth economy of the nation. As well as normal proposals coming
out of such a meeting were other far-seeing decisions that were intimately linked not only to
ideas of economic self-sufficiency but also to global events. A case in point is the world’s
looming petrol crisis (variously known as ‘Peak Oil’/’The End of the Age of [cheap] Oil’, etc)
and one of the many recommendations was concerning that (see Huffman, 2005, p.35). Out of
that came the rapid government decision that all government vehicles were to have their engines
modified by October 2005 to be able to run on coconut oil/cocofuel. Combined with this was the
recommendation to immediately promote mass replanting of the coconut plantations. Vanuatu,
since independence in 1980, has had a tendency to be very much the Pacific ‘forehead/prow’ of
the canoe in terms of latching on to new ideas and approaches This is another good example of
that and is something that maybe some of the world’s more developed nations might take up
more seriously. As usual, Vanuatu is just about ‘the first in the queue’ with some of these ideas.
At the same time as such major events were being organized, carried out, and others being
planned, the VKS was forging ahead with more immediate practical aspects of the TMBV
project. Readers should bear in mind that the driving force behind all these major events above
was and is the VKS (particularly its then director, Ralph Regenvanu) and its small number of
extremely dedicated staff maximizing to the utmost sympathetic links to institutions, individuals,
VKS Fieldworkers and groups throughout the nation. Close collaboration between the VKS, the
Vanuatu National Cultural Council, the National Council of Chiefs and the support of Noe
Saksak Atutur, the wise director of the Vanuatu Credit Union League (motto: ‘Pipol i helpem
Pipol’[‘People helping People’]), and a realization by the government that what was going on
was really of major importance, enabled these committed individuals and groups to achieve much
and to plan for more. Remember that all this was going on at the same time as the UNESCOsponsored promotion of Sand Drawing project as well.
‘Rebuilding Rowa’( September 2005): Shell monies
Reggie Kaimbang, the then Coordinator of the UNESCO TMBV Project, from his desk in the
VKS, was swamped with things to do, in the capital and in the outer islands. Besides the
promotion of tusker pigs and money-mats, one of the major recommendations of the TMBV
project had been to re-awaken traditional production of shell money in the Banks Islands in the
distant far north of the country, particularly that focused around the small island of Ro/Rowa
(see Huffman, 2005, p.19, bottom of left column; and pp.47-50) in the isolated Reef islands. The
small island of Rowa had for centuries been rather like the ‘royal mint’ of the far north of
32
Vanuatu, its inhabitants concentrating on the production of ‘som’, stringed shell bead money for
eventual distribution throughout the areas in which it was used. After a disastrous cyclone
swamped the Reef Islands in the late 1940s/early 1950s, the Condominium government
evacuated the population to the distant but neighboring islands of Ureparapara, Vanua Lava and
Motalava. Most of the Rowa descendants settled in the villages of Lehali and Lesereplag on
Ureparapara, whilst others reside in Vetop and Vetuboso villages on Vanua Lava, with a small
number settling on Mota Lava. They are still there today. Vividly retaining the intangible
knowledge related to the production of shell money, they are keen to begin a partial resettlement
of Rowa to restart production. After surmounting a great number of communications hurdles (the
distances between the far northern islands are great, and permanently functioning telephones are
few and far between), Reggie Kaimbang finally managed to get representatives of almost all of
the Rowa survivors and descendants together for a major meeting ( see recommendation 4,
‘Torba Province’, Huffman, 2005, p.19) held at Dives (Lorup)Bay on Ureparapara from the 2nd22nd September 2005. This was the first time that almost all the Rowa people had met together at
one time for nearly 60 years, so the situation was very emotional. The meeting was very
successful and all the traditional Rowa landowners agreed on a project to re-commence the
production of shell money on the island (if assistance could be found to enable some sort of resettlement there) once a proper survey could be done on Rowa to delineate the traditional
boundaries on land, reef and sea. A cultural and historical site survey of Rowa had just been done
(see below). At the same time as the meeting smaller awareness meetings were held on the
importance of setting up rural savings facilities (which comes under the aegis of the Vanuatu
Credit Union League), a means to encourage rural communities who do not have access to
banking services to do their cash savings, and expressions of interest were received from the
villages of Lehali and Lesereplag on Ureparapara and from the island of Motalava: these will be
followed up by the VCUL. A ‘Rebuilding Rowa’ project plan has been developed by the VKS
and put to the EU-Non State Actors for possible assistance; a reply is expected in the very near
future. Included in this is a request for assistance to enable construction of six traditional sailing
canoes plus assistance to hold a traditional navigation workshop (maybe on Ureparapara) to
elaborate and pass on the intricate intangible knowledge associated with sea travel in this large
area. The canoes are essential as, when one produces shell monies, one does need to distribute
them. Reggie Kaimbang produced a 12-page report (in Bislama) of the September 2005 meeting
entitled ‘Traditional Money Banks Project: Phase II Funded by Japanese Funds-in Trust through
UNESCO and implemented by the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and Vanuatu Credit Union League:
Report and Memorandum of working Agreement: Rowa Islanders Workshop on Rebuilding
Rowa Island, at Dives Bay, Ureparapapra Island, September 2-22nd 2005”. The logos of the
Vanuatu National Cultural Council/VKS, UNESCO, the Credit Union League and CUSO
(Canadian overseas volunteers organization) appear at the bottom of the cover page. A survey of
the historical and sacred sites of Rowa (see recommendation 3i, ‘Torba Province’, Huffman,
2005, p.19) was done by archaeologist Andrew Hoffman from the VKS: this report still requires
validation and acceptance by the Rowa Islanders and will need another meeting or workshop to
finalise this. A preliminary survey of the surviving shell population stocks off Rowa (see
recommendation 3ii, ‘Torba Province’, Huffman, 2005, p.19) by Francis Hickey, the marine and
traditional canoe specialist linked with the VKS and CUSO, indicates the shell population to be
‘healthy-ish’, but he wants to have a closer, more extensive, look at them and then write up a
resource management plan. He indicates that there are also stocks of the same shells off one area
of Efate (the island where the capital, Port Vila, is). This bodes well for the future.
33
2006: Consolidation and Expansion: the National Land Summit
Most of 2006 was not covered by any UNESCO funding for TMBV, although the VKS continued
with many of the local aspects of the project as well as major activities which reflected a slightly
different and enlarged focus of TMBV which had come about largely because of the intense and
profound positive discussions at all levels throughout the country generated by the project. It
should be pointed out that this change in focus was completely normal, beneficial, and
constructive, and the VKS would have been remiss not to have followed (and lead) along in this
way.
There were two outstanding events of 2006 which were literally direct outcomes of sections of
the VKS/UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust TMBV project. The first was the Vanuatu
government’s declaration of 2007 as ‘The Year of the Traditional Economy’, a direct and positive
response to one of the major recommendations coming out of the March 2005 VKS/UNESCOsponsored meeting on Uripiv Island (see above, pp.27-28, this report). The government’s Council
of Ministers had agreed to this request on 18th May 2006 and the decision, after much media
publicity, became manifest with the big march through the capital on 18 th November 2006 (see
above, pp.2-10, this report). The second outcome was the holding of the National Land Summit
in the capital at the end of September 2006, itself a recommendation that came out of the
‘National Summit on Self-Reliance and Sustainability’ (see above, pp.34-35, this report) held in
the capital in July 2005 (which itself was a result of one of the recommendations of the Uripiv
March 2005 meeting). These activities, both a result of TMBV, demonstrated the development of
an increasingly skilled approach in attending to the protection and promotion of traditional wealth
items by successfully endeavouring to influence the government’s approach to development and
national development strategies themselves by making them relevant to, and conveyances for, the
safeguarding of traditional intangible and tangible cultural principles and heritage.
The government’s inadvertent passing of the Strata Title Act in 2000 and the resulting expatriate
rush for land around the coasts of the Island of Efate (see above, pp.13, this report) led to a
growing concern amongst ni-Vanuatu that their main resource, security net, Mother, and hope for
the future, their Land, would be stolen from them again (see above, pp.13-15, this report; and
Huffman, 2005, pp.33-34). By 2004 one was already beginning to hear mutterings in the kava
nakamals (‘nakamal’: ‘men’s hut’, but a ‘kava nakamal’, since the late 1970s, has meant a hut
where one can go and drink freshly made kava in the evenings) around the capital that one might
have to ‘struggle for independence again’. The VKS, being the National Museum as well as the
National Cultural Centre was extremely concerned, as its work, which should be clear by now to
readers, encompasses Vanuatu societies as a whole, and therefore extremely concerned for social
and cultural welfare to ensure the stability of the traditional systems which guide and transmit the
nations rich intangible and tangible cultural heritage. The VKS and Vanuatu National Cultural
Council asked Joel Simo, one of the nation’s brightest younger ni-Vanuatu thinkers, to
investigate aspects of the traditional land systems and what was happening today. Funding was
found from the Canadian organization, CUSO, and Joel and his team surveyed the country from
the end of 2003 through 2004. Joel Simo’s resulting survey text, published by the VKS/Vanuatu
National Cultural Council, ‘Report of the National Review of the Customary Land Tribunal
Programme in Vanuatu’ (trans. from Bislama), although listed as being published in 2005, was
launched at a special ceremony in the Malvatumauri/National Council of Chiefs Nakamal on 19th
April 2006. This excellent and very timely report outlined a number of the traditional landholding systems in the nation which, although often differing greatly, all emphasize the special
34
spiritual relationship between the Land and its peoples and the reciprocal duties and obligations
between them. It summarized the benefits to the inhabitants of these systems and pointed out the
difficulties and misunderstandings related to different systems entering the country from outside,
as well as dealing with the intricacies of traditional land disputes. Funding for the publication
came from the Small projects Scheme of nzaid, through the New Zealand High Commission in
the capital, so a large number of copies were available for wide distribution. This survey,
publication, and ensuing discussions, were extremely important during the lead-up to and
preparations for the National Land Summit.
The National Land summit was held in the vast Malvatumauri/National Council of Chiefs
Nakamal/meeting house 25-29th September 2006 to a packed and sometimes agitated audience. It
was possibly the most important general meeting in the nation’s history since independence in
1980. The summit was essentially a confrontation between two widely differing systems of
thought regarding ‘land’: an intrusive Euro-centric system which regards land purely as a
commodity that can be bought, sold and re-sold like loaves of bread for something as
meaningless as ‘money’ as opposed to Vanuatu’s extremely complex, ancient, and spiritual
community/clan/family-based systems which often view land as a living entity closely linked to
human entities that share a common purpose. The latter systems, in Vanuatu and in differing
forms throughout much of the Pacific, have sustained well the people for untold generations.
Although slight modifications may be needed to help deal with certain necessary aspects of
‘modern’ life and ‘development’, they should be retained as much as possible. The retention of
these traditional aspects is Vanuatu’s best guarantee for harmony, stability, security and safety for
future generations. As ni-Vanuatu indigenous population is growing extremely rapidly (but is still
a very, very, long way from its original size before its contact with the ‘White Man’s World), it is
therefore also in the interests of neighbouring large nations such as Australia and New Zealand
(and international organizations such as the ADB, IMF, World Bank, WTO, EU, etc), to support
the retention of these traditions as opposed to supporting ‘newer’, less-appropriate, Euro-centric
land systems. Introduction of the latter systems into such Pacific island states will only lead, in
the long run, to destruction, social disruption, dis-harmony, instability, and real poverty for the
majority of the population. ‘Land for Sale’ is not really the kind of advertisement which is in the
best interests of Pacific island peoples.
A well-known (but often miss-referenced) saying from another traditional cultural area of the
world may be in order here: “…only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned
and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money”. This particular quotation,
often described as ‘a 19th century Cree Indian saying/proverb’, etc, was actually a June 1909
profound statement from a respected elder of the Eeyou (Cree) peoples in north America, Wolf
Robe, referring to the eventual outcome of similar pressures on his peoples at that time in history.
Traditional land-resource systems are geared towards long-term stability; modern Euro-centric
land-resource systems are not (as the latter are usually geared to some sort of monetary profit
motive). It is actually rather easy to see which type of system is the more intelligent approach for
island-based societies. One of the difficulties, however, of trying to explain the more intelligent
traditional approach to peoples of a European background is that many of the latter often lack the
mental tools capable of comprehending such an attitude, it being so far out of their normal mode
of thought so as to be almost ‘unbelievable’. As so often happens in these sorts of things in
Oceania, one can actually say that what really needs to be done is not so much ‘educating the
Pacific islanders’, but ‘educating some of the expatriate advisors’, etc, to Pacific realities. Ni35
Vanuatu understand, as well, the crucial intangible aspects of their culture that are associated
with their Land and recognize that one of the safest ways to protect one’s language and intangible
cultural heritage is also to protect one’s Land. Land, as a living force, can encapsulate within it
certain features that are an absolutely essential part of the intangible heritage. ‘Living
stones/stone men’ on Malakula are an example, as is the small hilly knoll called ‘Arag’ in
northern Pentecost which is the flowing origin point and source of the widely-spoken Raga
language (Huffman, 2005, p.51). There are hundreds or thousands of examples that can be given.
Sometimes the intangible can become tangible in the most interesting way, as in the case in the
early 1970s where an Australian linguist made the first field-recordings of a particular locationbased language in one relatively remote area of Tanna. After leaving the island, the linguist
received a message that the population of that area could no longer speak their language as it had
been taken from them. Copies of the recordings were returned to the area, and this act of giving
back the language in a slightly more material form, enabled the spoken language to be used
again. Such an event may seem illogical to some outsiders, but it is not; it is but an indication of
the strength of attachment to intangible culture felt by many ni-Vanuatu cultures where often the
intangible is more important than the tangible. If you protect your Land you can protect your
intangible cultural heritage – and if you protect your intangible cultural heritage you can better
protect your Land.
All these above ideas, and more, were present at the National Land Summit, which as said above,
was held as a direct result of the TMBV project. The large Malvatumauri meeting house was at
times not big enough to hold everyone that wanted to attend the meeting. At the beginning,
attendance was around 5-600 daily, but this grew rapidly to maybe around 1500 on the last day.
Those involved in presentations and discussions were from all levels of government and civil
society, chiefs, women’s groups, NGOs, as well as invited speakers from overseas and invited
representatives from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Fiji. In view of the
importance of the meeting, local media coverage was intensive, although foreign media
representation was sparse; an Australian newspaper correspondent and an (Australian) ABC TV
correspondent who had hoped to attend the summit were unfortunately stuck in Tonga due to the
extended mourning rituals for the late and lamented King there. (Australian) SBS TV did have a
representative there, though. The main themes of the summit were sustainable land management,
fair dealings in land ‘lease’ matters, and ‘progress with equity and stability’. The expatriate ‘land
rush’, sparked off in 2000 by the Strata Title Act (and a 2003 amendment) had really begun to
bite into the land around the coasts of Efate by 2004. At independence in 1980 all land in the
country was returned to customary ownership and the Constitution stated that only ni-Vanuatu
could own land. To assist in ‘development’ a system of “…75-year leases (the life of a coconut
palm) (had) been established to allow foreign nationals to ‘buy’ land and develop businesses,
generally tourist ventures and holiday homes. The vast majority of investors taking up leases are
from Australia. Many land leases have been undertaken without the full understanding of the
customary owners and, while legal, are often unfair. Some entrepreneurs take advantage of the
lack of knowledge concerning the value of their (ni-Vanuatu) land. One of the greatest gaps in
awareness is around the fact that in 75 years their land will not be returned unless the costs of
developments to the land are paid in full. Most ni-Vanuatu would not be able to cover the cost of
even a small hotel let alone a luxury resort which had been established on their land. There are
serious concerns that ni-Vanuatu are becoming dislocated from their land. Sizeable coastal areas
of the island of Efate where Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila is have already been leased to foreign
interests, much in just the past two years. The most extreme land speculation is the case of
36
Retoka (Hat Island), which was leased to (an Australian expatriate) for an annual fee of A$2500
in 1994, who put it on the market in 2005 for A$9.5 million (from Portegys, M., ‘Vanuatu: The
2006 Land Summit: briefing note, Oxfam NZ [New Zealand], January 2007, pp.2-3 [NB, the
above site, Retoka (Hat Island), a sacred and tabu island since the burial there around 1600 AD of
the extremely respected leader Roy Mata who was so loved that many of his close followers were
buried alive with him – it is the largest ancient one-off mass burial site so far found in the Pacific
– is at the moment being proposed by the VKS to be put on the UNESCO World Heritage Site
List to protect it. This proposal is backed up by an extremely professional academic study done
for VKS/UNESCO by Dr Chris Ballard of ANU. As the site and its history abound in valuable
intangible and tangible heritage, the writer of this report sincerely hopes UNESCO will see fit to
support this nomination)”.
The 2000 Act and 2003 amendment had unfortunately made land sub-dividing possible (see
above, p.13, this report) which fuelled this rather unfair arrangement. As usual, short-sighted
human greed and misunderstandings had quickly led things to a point where this summit was
absolutely timely and necessary. Probably the most powerful speech at this packed summit was
the joint presentation from Ralph Regenvanu and Chief Selwyn Garu Vira Tabe ‘Land is the
Foundation for the Kastom Economy’, in which it was clearly pointed out that the majority of the
population still lives , and lives well, following the traditional economy. In the full front page
article from the ‘Vanuatu Daily Post’ newspaper for 30th September 2006, under the headline
“Vatu (money)-Led Economy creating Poverty…and destroying custom economy”, the editor
said “We believe that it was one of the most important speeches given at the land summit as it
rams home the point that Vanuatu needs to be extremely careful with land development aimed at
expatriate investors destroying custom life which 80% of the population lives under”. Quoting
directly from Ralph Regenvanu’s speech (originally presented in Bislama), the article continues:
“The custom economy ensures that everyone has access to land and (can) look after themselves.
Nobody is hungry and there is food security and the environment is properly managed. Vanuatu
has the lowest national ecological footprint in the world and is No.1 on the (international) Happy
Planet Index. Everyone has a house and nobody sleeps on the road, giving social security to
everyone. Vanuatu is one of the last places in the world where this is available. The family
system looks after everyone. There is no need for the government to give money to anyone who
doesn’t work. There is no need for houses to look after the elderly or the mentally unstable as the
community looks after them. There is equality in the villages. There are no very rich people with
material wealth living with poor people. The identity and values of the communities are very
strong and there is peace and social harmony controlled by the chiefs”. The article continued,
saying that Ralph Regenvanu “warned that the foreign-driven ‘vatu’ (money) economy will
destroy communities, spoil the environment, promote ‘consumerism’, stop food security and
social security and create a divide between rich and poor that will create poverty”. It continues;
“He said “90% of the vatu (money) economy in Vanuatu is in Port Vila only but Port Vila is the
only place in Vanuatu where you see real poverty, homelessness and malnutrition. There is a big
inequality between rich and poor in Port Vila. Expatriates come and have big houses and cars and
money and hardly any ni-Vanuatu business is operating. The gap is growing and the new ‘vatu’
economy is already creating poverty that didn’t exist before in a custom economy. The rich
countries like Australia, New Zealand, USA and Europe have a growing poor population who
have no housing or food and live rough and destroy their environment. Do we want this for
Vanuatu? The more the population grows the more a custom economy is needed ( extracts taken
37
from the English translation of the Bislama original of Ralph Regenvanu’s speech as published in
the ‘Vanuatu Daily Post’, issue 1839, 30th September 2006, front page and p.2)”.
Although certain modern economists and expatriate advisors with a more limited background and
a more restricted ‘world view’ might have disagreed with what he said, he was absolutely correct
in his analysis (and certain expatriates in Port Vila who might have spluttered and said ‘But, but,
but…’, could not really do so for fear of revealing their lack of knowledge about the country).
The paper that probably raised the most hackles amongst ni-Vanuatu at the summit was one
entitled ‘Sustainable Land Management And Fair Dealings to Ensure Equity and Stability’
presented by one of the local expatriate real estate agents representing ‘The Private Sector’. The
paper was the end product of the deliberations of a committee set up specifically for this purpose
representing (mostly local expatriate) ‘developers, real estate, tourism, legal firms, surveyors,
accountants, valuers and the commercial banks’ (although mostly individually very sympathetic
people, as one ni-Vanuatu said ‘they are not usually the people you get a chance to drink kava
with in the evenings…’). Although the topics and tone of the paper are well set out from a ‘White
Man’s World’ point of view, there is no mention of ‘culture’ in the 15-page text and the tone of
the document is slightly set from the first page with the statement: “…our submission is not
simply about land, it is also about the need to create the economic, social and political conditions
necessary to foster confidence in the hearts and minds of investors…”. As Vanuatu, like a
number of small Pacific nations, has been stung a number of times in the past by fly-by-night
individuals or companies/corporations calling themselves by that illustrious title, one would have
politely thought that a different term could be found, the original designation having, by now, lost
a bit of its original ‘shine’. Ralph Regenvanu’s paper and this above paper, although looking at
the same ‘problem’, are literally worlds apart, and look at the topic from different ends of a
telescope – and Ralph’s end of the telescope is actually the appropriate one to be looking through.
Over 1000 (yes, one thousand) submissions for resolutions were submitted to the Land Summit
Committee from ni-Vanuatu, reflecting the overwhelming importance of this meeting. After
much intense debate these were finally compressed down to twenty resolutions to be put to the
government to try and get them accepted as National Land Policy. This process is still ongoing,
but shortly after the meeting the government had already put in place a temporary moratorium on
lease sub-division applications and on applications to change ‘existing agricultural leases into
residential leases for subdivision’ as well as agreeing to one of the recommendations dear to the
VKS’s approach, that individuals no longer be allowed to sign leases, which now must be signed
by all clan/family members plus a chief (as a form of protection). The Oxfam NZ report
continues “At the land summit and in subsequent public statements the Director General of Lands
has made it clear that the development of a national land policy must be controlled by the people
of Vanuatu. Concerns remain, however, that outside players, particularly Australian interests, will
unduly influence the outcome of the process …and legislation. The vast majority of investors,
both small and large-scale, come from Australia and have been the ones to benefit most from the
current system for land dealings (from, ibid., Portegys, M., 2007, p.5)”. One is sure that the
dedicated people in the Australian High Commission in Port Vila, which has continuously had
superb and culturally-aware High Commissioners and high-level officers in place since the first
Australian Consul, the well-remembered and respected Bill Fisher, set up office in the capital in
1978, will keep an attentive eye on the developments. They, through their admirable AusAID
organization, have already kindly funded two relevant publications related to the Land Summit.
The first was ‘Youth and Land in 2015: Selections from Vanuatu’s 2006 National Land Summit
38
Youth Essay and Poster Competition’ (compiled by Anna Naupa, Port Vila, 2006, it consists of
the winning essays and posters related to the Land question done up in a competition organized
by the Australian Government in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, the ANZ Bank and
the Wan Smol Bag Haos theatre group). The second was the publication in early 2007 of the
Bislama version of the Vanuatu government’s final report on the land summit ‘Nasonal Lan
Samit 25-29 Septemba 2006: Faenol Ripot’, compiled by Steven Tahi, for which AusAID kindly
provided the production and printing costs. Readers should again at this point bear in mind that
all this massive discussion, resulting government decisions, media reports and publications, have
all come about because of the UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust-sponsored TMBV project
arising and spreading its wings. Or maybe one should say ‘waggling its ears’, as it really all
started with pigs.
From Land to Pigs and Money-Mats and back to Land
The extremely rapid increase in expatriate land alienation around the capital, particularly since
2004, had necessitated a short delay and a slight change of tactics in the TMBV project, but this
was only normal. Work with the beginning of the setting up of ‘pig banks’ took an expanded turn
beyond the first two targeted areas (north Pentecost and southwest Malakula), as public interest
and support for such projects swept the country. Media coverage and ‘kokonas redio’/word of
mouth publicity had been intense and just about the whole nation wanted to join in. Reggie
Kaimbang, the Project Coordinator, had been trekking around the country – Santo, Malo, Maewo,
Ambae, Pentecost, Malakula, etc, canvassing ideas and promoting awareness of the benefits of
such projects linked in with VCUL outposts. Of course in Vanuatu if one talks about pigs one
immediately has the attention of the whole archipelago, and in fact, if one is an outsider wishing
to pursue activities in the country but does not respect pigs them one might as well forget one’s
potential involvement. Real life in the islands is not possible without pigs: they are the main form
of traditional wealth and the use of various forms of them is not only part of normal daily life but
essential for almost all ritual and spiritual activity ( Huffman, 2005, pp.38-45, and photo pages A,
B, E & G). As with anything of great value and verging on the sacred, there are many different
types of pigs valued in various by the many diverse cultures, ranging from castrated male tusker
pigs (value depending not on the size of the pig but purely upon its tusk curvature) and/or
intersex/ ‘hermaphroditic’(the correct scientific term for the Vanuatu form is ‘male
pseudohermaphroditic’) tusker pigs in certain areas of the central and northern islands to rare
glabrous/ ‘hairless’ pigs in some of the southern islands (whose cultures do not place extra value
on tusker pigs).
An original recommendation (Huffman, 2005, p.45) was to recognize the importance of
traditional pig types as opposed to ‘introduced’ varieties and also particularly to promote the
production of rare intersex ‘naravwe’/ ‘narave’ pigs on Malo island (Huffman, 2005, p.19) and
hairless ‘kapia’ pigs on Tanna (Huffman, 2005, p.19) including a scientific study of them linking
in with previous short studies done by James McIntyre of the Southwest Pacific Research
Foundation (Huffman, 2005, p.12). The VKs coordinated aspects of this with Dr J.Koji Lum from
the Laboratory of Evolutionary Anthropology and Health, Binghampton University,
Binghampton, NY, USA, and preliminary results were published in November 2006 in PNAS
(‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America’), one of the
world’s most respected scientific journals ( see Lum, J., J.McIntyre, D.Greger, K.Huffman &
39
M.Vilar, ‘Recent Southeast Asian domestication and Lapita dispersal of sacred male
pseudohermaphroditic ‘tuskers’ and hairless pigs of Vanuatu’, PNAS, vol.103, no.46, 14th
November 2006, pp.17190-17195; published online 6th November 2006 at
doi:10.1073/pnas.0608220103). One of the concluding paragraphs of this extremely detailed and
widely-read (in the international scientific world, that is) article is of relevance to UNESCO and
the donors:
“Our analyses of the genetic diversity of pigs in Vanuatu should be useful to the ‘Traditional
Money Banks in Vanuatu’ project funded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Japanese Funds-In-Trust for the Preservation and
Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. This project seeks to preserve traditional forms of
wealth, including pure-blood Narave and Kapia, and integrate these into the local economy (Lum
et al, 2006, p. 17194)”.
With the expanded public need and interest, the VKS, VCUL and National Council of Chiefs
correctly decided to enlarge assistance to ‘pig banks’ throughout the country, and the decision
was taken to provide the infrastructure materials (pig wire and barbed wire, staples and transport
assistance – funding from UNESCO and donors under Phase III, September 2006-June 2007,
‘implementation and infrastructure requirements’) primarily to VKS Fieldworkers who requested
such assistance as their network is the most extensive and effective in the whole nation. The
material was to be given out in the form of a traditional-type loan, and the VKS developed the
appropriate loan application, screening, security, approval and agreement procedures. The annual
meeting of the VKS Fieldworkers (funding for transport, etc, to these important meetings in the
capital has kindly regularly been provided by various agencies of the Australian Government
since 1981) was held at the VKS in October/November 2006 and over 100 of them (male and
female, meeting separately) out of nearly 140 were able to attend. It is interesting – and not
surprising - that at the end of this annual meeting (whose topic was ‘Traditional Leadership’,
useful for advising the government on ways of ameliorating governance) nearly 100 applications
for such project assistance were received, from representatives in all the six Provinces.
Appropriately, the first batch of pig fencing and fencing materials was presented to VKS
Fieldworker James Teslo, from the Botgate-speaking peoples of the mountainous interior of
southern Malakula, whose 1992 request had sparked off what has become this massive national
movement ( see Huffman, 2005, p.28; and above, pp.11-12, this report). It was right and proper to
present the first ‘pig bank’ material to James Teslo: respect is probably the most fundamental
universal element in Vanuatu cultures and the modalities of this presentation outlined that, as
respect for and in recognition of his crucial importance in planting the seed from which all the
above has grown. The materials were ceremonially handed over to James by the President of the
National Council of Chiefs and Ralph Regenvanu at a ceremony outside the side entrance of the
VKS on 6th December, 2006, in the presence of Noe Saksak of the VCUL and Chiefs Matthias
Batick Dalar’rbangke of Lorlow/Minduwo and Chief Alben Reuben Sarawoh’bahap of Lawa,
both from the coastal Ninde-speaking area of Southwest Bay, Malakula at the lower slopes of the
mountains that lead up to James’ mountain territory. In keeping with the great public interest in
these events, the short ceremony was the front-page article (with photo) of the main newspaper
the next day, and for the sponsors/donors it is worthwhile quoting from Royson Willie’s article:
“A farmer and Fieldworker in south Malakula has been loaned 13 rolls of 50-metre fencing wire
to begin his piggery project under the Traditional Money Banks Project, which is coordinated in
40
Vanuatu by the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, the Vanuatu Credit Union League and the
Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs. The introduction of this project in 2004 begun through
the sponsorship of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) and the Government of Japan through Japanese Funds-In-Trust for the Preservation
and Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. During the handing over ceremony to Mr
James Teslo of South Malakula, Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre Mr Ralph Regenvanu
stated that the aim of the Traditional Money Project is to assist farmers create infrastructure to
produce more traditional money such as pigs and mats. Regenvanu said…this is the first
presentation of its kind, to Mr Teslo who had initially requested assistance for pig’s fence so he
can raise pigs to supply those who need (them) during custom ceremonies. The Vanuatu Cultural
Centre Director stated that out of (this) small request came initiatives such as the Year of the
Traditional Economy.” The wire for the fence is not a gift but a loan. Its payment will be done in
custom money such as pigs, yams, and mats,” Regenvanu stated. He told Teslo that the whole
idea behind the project is for him to supply those who need pigs for custom ceremonies.” We
want you to look after the pigs according to custom ways and you should also involve your
children in raising the pigs. The pigs are there for your personal consumption, and you can sell
some but most of all you must raise many for use in custom ceremonies,” the Cultural Centre
Director told Teslo…Regenvanu stated that fieldworkers from Aneityum to Torres (NB
southernmost and northernmost inhabited islands in Vanuatu) will be given similar items under
the Traditional Money Banks Project (‘Vanuatu Daily Post’, issue 1897, 7th December 2006,
front page).”
At the same time that this ceremony was taking place in the capital, another connected exchange
was taking place 250 kms to the south and many worlds and cultures away, in the nonmissionized, fully-traditional, Naüvhal/Nivhal-speaking area in the hills of southwestern Tanna.
The writer of this report happened by accident to be there at the time. On this day the VKS
Fieldworker for these hill peoples, Sam Bosen Yarpetung, in the presence of Chief Jacob Kapere,
Head of the VKS National Film and Sound Unit, concluded the arrangements for he and his
people to obtain large amounts of pig fence wire from a completely different source, for their
own ‘pig bank’. Outsiders unaware of the complexities of the many different worlds of Vanuatu
would look upon the timing as a coincidence. At a spiritual level, though, ni-Vanuatu would not;
the coinciding of the two events would be looked upon as a having a deeper meaning indicating
the delicate and harmonious balancing of southern and northern cultures to ensure a balanced and
successful outcome of the projects. Thus the co-timing of the two events was no accident: as
Chief Jacob (from a devout Christian background but with a deep understanding and respect for
the traditional belief systems) might smilingly say; ‘Ating hemia plan blong bigfala Masta antap’
(‘I think this might be God’s plan’). Bosen, from a completely traditional background, would
attribute it to ancestral or other types of spiritual intervention, planning, or assistance. In
Vanuatu, both would be/could be correct.
The sending out of the materials to establish these pig banks proceeded apace. By the time the
writer of this report was back in Port Vila in May 2007 the VKS had already sent off requested
and measured batches of pig wire and related materials to 45 named individuals in specific
isolated villages around the country on the islands of Malakula, Pentecost, Malo, Ambae,
Maewo, Ambrym, Epi, Tongoa, Emae, and the Banks and Torres islands in the far north. More is
to be sent out soon to other areas. By the end of the year, the VKS TMBV project, now part of
the ‘Year of the Traditional Economy 2007’, will have effectively ‘pig-fenced’ the whole nation!
41
‘Pig returns’ from such pig banks will not necessarily be as rapid as in, say, pig farms in Asia or
Europe. In Vanuatu, the pigs are bred not just for food, but, depending upon the culture, for tusk
curvature, etc. It takes anything from 5-7 years to produce a full-circle tusker pig, lesser
curvatures of course take a shorter time, and greater curvatures a longer time (Huffman, 2005,
pp.41-42), although particular clans have their own secret methods to, say, speed up tusk growth,
to make the tusks whiter, and so on. Moreover, female pigs of traditional blood in Vanuatu tend
to have a smaller litter size, less frequent birthing and a later ‘first birth’ than pigs of introduced
blood (Huffman, 2005, pp.39-40). This is only normal and such differences are a proper species
survival adaptation to differing geographical and climatic conditions. These adaptations should
not be changed; ni-Vanuatu know very well how to deal with pigs, in all senses of the term, for
their own cultural purposes, and do not necessarily need any ‘outside advice’.
As with pigs, so with money-mats (see Huffman, 2005, pp.45-47). In latter half of 2006 the VKS
drew up a project proposal to assist with the increased production of money-mats in northern
Vanuatu, and this has been submitted to a potential donor. The Women’s Cultural Projects
Officer at the VKS, Jean Tarisese, from Ambae, has been put in charge of the carrying out of this
project (as all such woven pandanus material is produced by women). Much traditional
production and use is still carried out on the islands of Ambae, Pentecost and Maewo, and this is
being expanded. In February 2007 the VKS announced that library membership fees to the
National Library and the National Research Library could now be paid in money-mats (children
one mat/year, adults two mats/year). The VKS will then either re-circulate these mats through the
traditional systems or sell them in the VKS National Museum Shop. To facilitate this, the
museum shop has recently established link outlets with the museum shops of the Fiji Museum
(Suva, Fiji), Tchibao Cultural Centre (Nouméa, New Caledonia), the Musée du Quai Branly
(Paris, France), and negociations to establish such links with the museum shops of the Te Papa
Museum (Wellington, New Zealand) and the Australian Museum (Sydney, Australia) are
beginning.
By the end of 2006, Ralph Regenvanu had retired as Director of the VKS (see above, pp.4-5, this
report), had become the President of the Vanuatu National Cultural Council and began a law
degree at the Law Faculty (based in Port Vila) of the University of the South Pacific (‘to be able
to better protect one’s country’). Still very much involved in VKS projects, his place at the VKS
has been taken by Marcelin Abong, the respected and energetic Malakulan long associated with
the VKS Cultural and Historical Site Survey and with a background in archaeology and teaching.
Reggie Kaimbang, the TMBV Project Coordinator, away far too long from his family on the
island of Santo, had gone back there to join them. His place was taken by the wise Noe Saksak
Atutur, Director of VCUL, who shifted full-time to the VKS to also wear the hats of ‘Coordinator
of the Year of Traditional Economy Project’ as well as ‘TMBV Project Coordinator’ at the same
time as still being VCUL Director (he sees also this combination of posts as a good way to ‘bring
more kastom [tradition] into the growing number of VCUL outposts and savings leagues in the
outer islands’). The ‘Land Problem’ had come out into the open (see above, pp. 37-43, this
report) and the table/mat set for the ‘Year of the Traditional Economy 2007’ (see above, pp.2-10,
this report). All in all, it had been an extremely busy year for the VKS, and 2007 was set to be
even busier.
42
The ‘Year of the Traditional Economy 2007’ coordinated from the VKS
Once the Vanuatu government had declared 2007 as the ‘Year of the Traditional Economy’, it
was logical for them to permit the coordinating office of the year’s activities to be in the VKS.
For anything to do with culture, this has been a long tradition: the coordinating office for the First
National Arts Festival (held in December 1979, and seen as one of the steps towards
independence) was set up in the old Cultural Centre building near the centre of the capital. Once
the above festival finished off, the office was immediately re-opened in early 1980 as the official
Independence Celebrations Coordinating Office to organize the activities not just in the capital
but throughout all the islands, a daunting and stupendous task. Independence was believed,
naturally, to be linked to culture, and the traditional economy is also linked to culture, so it is
normal that the building and dedicated staff chosen to run this supremely important project be
that and those of the National Museum/Cultural Centre/VKS. They have all had a lot of
experience.
The first step was the setting up of a National Steering Committee for the Year of the Traditional
Economy Project. This is to be coordinated by Noe Saksak Atutur from within the VKS. Twentyone ni-Vanuatu members of the committee have been appointed, including representatives from
the National Council of Chiefs, Ralph Regenvanu, the Department of Lands, the public Service,
Ministry of Education, National Council of Women, Ministry of Health, the Turaga Nation ( see
Huffman, 2005, p.60, and relevant recommendations, pp. 11 & 19), Agricultural Food Security,
Oxfam NZ, the media, etc. Noe Saksak has a full-time assistant, Jamie Tanguay, a Peace Corps
volunteer, with him in the VKS, as ‘Assistant Coordinator of the Year of the Traditional
Economy Project’. Jamie is fluent in Bislama, having spent three years as a volunteer on the
island of Paama until the end of 2006. In conjunction with the Steering Committee and the
Government, Ralph Regenvanu, Noe Saksak and Jamie Tanguay quickly helped to draw up an
official Activity Matrix for the 2007 activities of the project.
The matrix focuses on 15 major points to be dealt with throughout the country:
Awareness visits throughout the islands.
Promotion of traditional wealth for traditional ceremonies.
Promote the use of traditional wealth to pay ‘government fees’ (school, health, court, etc).
Promote the production of traditional money and wealth items.
Promote the production and consumption of traditional island food.
Promote the traditional trading links between the islands (canoe trade, etc.).
Assist ni-Vanuatu to save modern money (through VCUL, etc).
Develop ways to ‘measure’ the traditional economy not only through quantity but through quality
of life indicators.
Promote the traditional system of governance.
Promote good Land and environmental management.
Promote traditional culture within the modern education system.
Promote the use of traditional medicines.
Promote the use of biofuels to replace diesel and petrol use as much as possible.
Promote evaluation of foreign investor projects from the point of view of the proposed project’s
support for the nation’s views on self-reliance, the environment, proper land use and the
traditional economy.
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Special studies to be done to evaluate and deal with gradually growing community problems in
the capital and the other small town of Luganville.
As can be seen, many of the above topics are continuations of, or expansions from, the TMBV
project, but now being done at an official governmental level as well. There has been much
media coverage of this and much and continuous public discussion throughout the country. The
VKS ‘Kastom Economy’ Awareness Team had already toured the islands of Aneityum, Futuna,
Tanna and Erromango in TAFEA province in southern Vanuatu in March 2007, where they got
an extremely positive reception. In April and May 2007 the Kastom Ekonomi Awareness Team
visited various islands and areas of SHEFA Province in central Vanuatu, visiting 30 communities
or areas on the islands of Emau, Nguna, Pele, Leleppa, Emae, Tongoa, part of Efate and Epi
during the first leg of the tour. In Komerana village on Epi Island, the team attended the official
opening ceremonies on April 29th of the Yam Bank (see recommendation in Huffman, 2005,
p.19, ‘SHEFA Province’, recommendation 2). The Yam Bank has been set up ‘following a
producer-marketing cooperative structure, to generate income for its members in the future as
well as ensure a healthy supply of yams for use in customary practices’. Yams, not only a staple
major food, have a high cultural profile, are often used as a type of currency and can be traded
widely. In some cultures certain types of yam can have a type of human male status. In northern
parts of the island of Ambrym, ‘Yeng’ rituals at the time of the yam harvest display decorated
yams linked to particular young adult males to indicate the spiritual links between the two. In the
Sa-speaking area of southern Pentecost, the annual ‘Naghol’ (the famous ‘Land Dive’ rituals) are
traditionally religious rituals associated with yam (and therefore human) fertility and vitality.
By the end of 2007 the Kastom Economy Awareness team hopes to have been able to visit almost
all areas of this vastly dispersed and complex nation. The VKS has already produced 2000 ‘Yia
Blong Kastom Ekonomi’ T-shirts for distribution. On the chest is portrayed one-and-a-half circle
tusker pig’s jaw atop a tasseled red-dyed money mat from behind which grows a fine kava plant.
On the back is printed (translated from Bislama) ; “We must not think that everything that vatu
(modern money) can buy is better than our things that are free and given by God in our
Traditions: Land, Environment (bush and saltwater), Food from our Gardens, Family,
Community, Chiefs and Community Leaders, Language and Traditions, IDENTITY, RESPECT,
SELF-RELIANCE (80% rural population): MAN PLES (there is no direct translation available in
English, ‘people of the place’ would really mean something like ‘real people’ or ‘indigenous
people’), choose (the type of) development which does not destroy but promotes all these good
things!”. Thousands of colourful and meaningful ‘Kastom Ekonomi’posters and leaflets have also
already been produced and are being taken around the islands. This material, imprinted with the
VNCC/VKS logo, has been designed by Jamie Tanguay of the VKS with Bislama texts taken
from some of Ralph Regenvanu’s speeches and writings. The poster says (translated from
Bislama):
“The Traditional Economy is our biggest economy. More than 90% of all the modern money in
Vanuatu just circulates inside Port Vila. But 80% of the population of Vanuatu lives in the rural
areas outside of the town. Why does this population have almost no social problems – such as
having no place to sleep or going hungry – as in other parts of the world? (Here are the reasons
why) They live in families, clans or tribes on the ground their ancestors had before that has been
kept until today: They obtain most of their food and everything they need in life (house, canoes,
medicine…) from this Land, following traditional ways (traditional garden making and ways of
managing land and sea resources): They still speak their indigenous languages: They are under
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the governance of traditional leaders (chiefs and chiefly councils) – chiefs deal with most of the
disputes according to traditional ways which enable peace and harmony to continue in Vanuatu.
WE ALL DEPEND UPON OUR TRADITIONAL ECONOMY TO PROVIDE A RICH LIFE
FOR EVERYONE IN VANUATU.”
The two colourfull leaflets produced for distribution, also in Bislama, contain much expanded
texts with more details. On the back of one of them is listed the names of the institutions based
within Vanuatu that are supporting the ‘Year of the Traditional Economy’ Project:
the Prime Minister’s Office; VKS; National Council of Chiefs; VCUL; Vanuatu National
Reserve Bank; Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ministry and Department of Agriculture; Ministry
and Department of Land; Ministry and Department of Energy; Ministry and Department of
Education; Ministry and Department of Health; Ministry of ni-Vanuatu Business; Department of
Cooperatives; Ministry and Department of Social and Economic Planning; Department of
Women; Vanuatu National Workers Union; Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce; Judicial Service
Commission; Municipality of Port Vila; Oxfam New Zealand and Australia (Vila reps); All
diplomatic missions in Port Vila; Vanuatu NGO Association; Vanuatu National council of
women; Wan Smol Bag Theatre; the Melanesian Institute; Vanuatu Volunteer Organizations; and
the Provincial governments of TORBA, SANMA, PENAMA, MALAMPA, SHEFA, TAFEA
(the six provinces of the nation). In Vanuatu you can’t really get a more impressive list of
supporters than that!
This national movement will grow and spread throughout this year especially but will then, as is
usual in Vanuatu, become a normally accepted part of everyone’s life (and hopefully with a
permanent office space within the VKS); the very small number of dissenting voices (‘…and we
know who both of them are’, it can be said) will gradually quiet down as the realization sinks in
that, as usual, Vanuatu is leading the way in cultural movements of great importance. As humanaggravated climate change, ‘end of the age of cheap oil’, potential world economic instability and
increasing world social instability scenarios loom over mankind, almost everyone everywhere is
saying we need to reduce ‘consumerism’, to be more self-sufficient, to be more self-reliant.
Vanuatu is just about the last place on earth that is almost just like what these people are saying
one should strive for. Instead of countries or organizations from overseas trying to perpetually
‘change’/’develop’/’modernize’ the nation, Vanuatu should actually be put up as possibly a type
of model for certain other nations to follow in the ways that they see fit. It is, in a way, ‘the way
the world should be’, if only the rest of the world was not seemingly on a roller-coaster ride along
a culturally and environmentally destructive and materialistic bumpy track with no thought for
tomorrow. Protecting one’s Land and natural resources, maintaining one’s intangible heritage and
promoting the traditional economy (along with a respect for pigs) and traditional leadership is
Vanuatu’s best guarantee of a stable, secure, and harmonious future.
UNESCO and the Japanese Government, through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the
Preservation and Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage are to be congratulated and
thanked for their vision in supporting the VKS’s TMBV project. It is a shining light for many
areas of the world if that world does not shut its windows to keep out the light. It shows what a
small, under-funded Pacific museum and cultural organization can do if it has dedicated,
visionary, people and a lot of support. Decades from now, when the rising price of airplane fuel
has made the costs of tourism and air travel to the Pacific too expensive for many people to go
there, a lone Japanese or UNESCO-connected back-packer/explorer may eventually stumble into
an isolated mountain village somewhere in Vanuatu. He or she would be met by a group of
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respectful, content, well-fed, healthy, happy people, who would invite the visitor to a feast of
healthy home-grown food and then regale him/her with stories, songs, kava and good times.
When the visitor finally sadly leaves the village, he/she leaves with gifts of money-mats, yams,
kava roots – and a fine tusker pig. When asked ‘Why all this?’, the chief of the village might
reply: ‘Generations ago we were faced with a critical choice between two roads; the roads of our
ancestors or the roads of foreigners who did not understand or respect our traditions. Your
ancestors helped us to make the right choice, and these gifts are a form of thanks and respect for
that support’. People in Vanuatu never forget, but in the future in the outside world maybe only
someone who had read a dusty copy of this report in some archive would understand what the
chief meant.
Kirk W. Huffman,
Bellevue Hill, Sydney, Australia, 28th June 2007.
Dedication
The author would like to dedicate this short report to the spirits and memories of the following:
Chief Tom Kiri of Umponilongi, southern Erromango, who passed away in May 2006; Chief
Kaising of Nemel Minduwo, Lorlow, Southwest Bay Malakula, who passed away in December
2006; Reece Discombe, O.B.E, Légion de Mérite, of Port Vila, who passed away in Nouméa on
the 1st June 2007; lastly to the ‘spirit and memory’ of the Vanuatu Supreme Court, the old ‘Joint
Court’ building’ (sometimes nicknamed the ‘Joy Court’), which accidentally burnt down in Port
Vila on the night of 6th June 2007; this magnificent early 1900s structure was originally built as
the residence of the aristocratic Conde de Buena Esperanza, who had been appointed by the King
of Spain as the official president of the joint court and intermediary between the British and
French legal systems of the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides. As he was almost
deaf, and spoke little French or English, he was, bien sûr, the ideal mediator.
Acknowledgements
No anthropologist’s work is ever ‘only his/her own work’. It is always a product of information,
ideas, assistance and support given by others which the anthropologist moulds together (along
with his/her own impressions) and then writes up. In Vanuatu giving thanks is a form of respect,
one of the country’s most important traditions, and this short list should be seen as one way of
showing that respect. Thanks go to the following for their kind assistance during the author’s
short 18th-26th May 2007 visit to Port Vila for this project, or during the author’s preparation for
that trip or afterwards during the writing-up period (in alphabetical order):
Marcelin Abong, Alice, Billy Bakeo, Romain Batik, Meredith Blake, Yvonne Carrillo-Huffman,
Doug Cremer, Chief Selwyn Garu (Vira Tabe), Francis Hickey, Edgar Hinge (Virarere), Nick &
Anna Howlett (and Ava Nautong & Doris), Chief Jacob Kapere, Chief Richard Leona, Henline
Mala, Anne Naupa, Sophie Nemban, June Norman, Nifo Onesemo-Simaika, Andrea Pfister,
Ralph Regenvanu ( Liber’r Gamel Taha Tamate), Chief Alben Reuben (Sarawoh’bahap), Saël,
Noe Saksak (Atutur), Joel Simo, Jimmy Takaronga Kuautonga, Jamie Tanguay, Jean Tarisese,
Ambong Thompson, Jennyfer Toa, Mali Voi, Josue Worsets.
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(and to this list should be added those in Huffman, 2005, p.25).
Recommendations
In view of the accumulating and continually increasing success of UNESCO-sponsored projects
done with and through the VKS in Vanuatu, this writer strongly recommends the consideration of
further support to the VKS from UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation and
Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. These recommendations are done just as basic
headings which the writer would be glad to elaborate on if requested, but these points should
really be followed up in detail and maybe added on to in detail by UNESCO Apia office in
conjunction with the VKS.
Further financial support to the VKS would be useful for:
1) Inter-island traveling funds assistance to continue and expand awareness visits and
monitoring of TMBV and general awareness work.
2) Funding for VKS staff position (and maybe also for assistant position) of TMBV Project
Coordinator/Kastom Economy Coordinator (Noe Saksak’s funded position finishes at the
end of 2007).
3) Continue assistance for the ‘Rebuilding Rowa’ shell money production project in the
Banks Islands in the far north.
4) Further assistance to the Naravwe/Narave intersex pigs project on Malo Island (and to
look into the traditional monetary use of smoke-mummified forms of these pigs).
5) Continued assistance to the traditional canoe/traditional trading networks revival being
pursued by the VKS and Francis Hickey (for map of traditional trading networks in the
northern central islands, see Huffman, 2005, p.36).
6) Assistance to provide tape recorders (? cassette, ?digital), cameras, and small video/DVD
cameras to a selected number of VKS Fieldworkers. Also funds to assist the VKS’s
National Film and Sound Unit’s travel and film work associated with TMBV/Kastom
Economy.
7) Sand Drawing – funds for more practitioner/promotion festivals.
8) Extend/consolidate/promote funding for post of VKS Cultural Youth Officer (Young
People’s Project).
9) Assistance to setting up of selected ‘Kastom Schools’ (eg Chief Alben Reuben’s proposed
school in Southwest Bay, Malakula). Emphasis on the use of traditional materials in the
construction of the schools. Similar assistance could be extended to the Nahai’i Cultural
Centre at Leuravuh Bay, SSW Malakula, set up by the VKS and the Nahai’i-speaking
community in 1999. Similar assistance could possibly be extended to the Malakula
Cultural Centre at Lakatoro, northeast Malakula, so far the VKS’s only major permanent
sub-office in the outer islands (NB a third of all of Vanuatu’s languages and cultures are
on the island of Malakula alone).
10) Assistance for a special study and promotion project related to traditional wealth items
and exchange systems in the cultures of southern Vanuatu.
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