Edvard Hviding (PhD, Bergen 1993) is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University
of Bergen, Norway and an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at James Cook University,
Australia. Since 1986, he has been engaged in long-term anthropological research in Solomon
Islands, where he has carried out more than three years of fieldwork mainly in the Marovo
Lagoon area of Western Province, from bases in the villages of Chea and Tamaneke.
Hviding’s research interests cover a range of interrelated topics such as fishing, agroforestry
and the customary tenure of sea and land; kinship and social organization; language, local
knowledge and indigenous epistemology; leadership and customary law; and the local
manifestations and consequences of globalization (including the development initiatives of
the Christian Fellowship Church). Hviding also carries out activities that connect his
anthropological work with rural educational needs in Marovo Lagoon, as shown by the three
multilingual books he has published in Marovo and other New Georgian languages (as well as
English) and distributed to schools and villages around Marovo and northern New Georgia
and at Gizo. Currently this aspect of his work takes place in the context of UNESCO/Solomon
Islands Government projects on vernacular education. With professional film producers and
in cooperation with the Solomon Islands National Museum, Hviding has co-directed and coproduced several anthropological documentary films based on his research in Marovo,
including Chea’s Great Kuarao, which has been widely screened in the Solomons. Hviding
leads a Pacific Studies research group at his university and coordinates the international
research initiative ”Pacific Alternatives: Cultural Heritage and Political Innovation in
Oceania” with institutional partners in the Pacific (including national museums of Solomon
Islands and Vanuatu), Australia, the United States and Europe.
Books
2005. Reef and Rainforest: An Environmental Encyclopedia of Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands /
Kiladi oro vivineidi ria tingitonga pa idere oro pa goana pa Marovo. Knowledges of Nature
Series, No. 1. Paris: UNESCO. 252pp. ISBN 92-990041-0-2
2000. Islands of Rainforest: Agroforestry, Logging and Ecotourism in Solomon Islands. Aldershot:
Ashgate. xvii + 371pp. ISBN 0-7546-1233-3 (Edvard Hviding & Tim Bayliss-Smith)
1996. Guardians of Marovo Lagoon: Practice, Place, and Politics in Maritime Melanesia. Pacific
Islands Monograph Series, 14. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 473p. ISBN 0-8248-1664-1
1995. Of Reef and Rainforest: A Dictionary of Environment and Resources in Marovo Lagoon.
Bergen: Centre for Development Studies, University of Bergen, in collaboration with Western
Province Division of Culture. 208pp. ISBN 82-7453-012-8
1995. Vivinei tuari pa Ulusaghe: Stories and legends from Marovo, New Georgia, in four New
Georgian languages and with English translations. Recorded, translated and edited by Edvard
Hviding, with assistance from V. Vaguni and others. Bergen: Centre for Development Studies,
University of Bergen, in collaboration with Western Province Division of Culture. 88pp. ISBN 827453-013-6
1
1993. The Rural Context of Giant Clam Mariculture in Solomon Islands: An Anthropological Study.
ICLARM Technical Report 39. Manila: International Center for Living Aquatic Resources
Management. 93pp. ISBN 971-8709-39-8
Journal articles
2006. ”Knowing and managing biodiversity in the Pacific Islands: challenges of conservation in the
Marovo Lagoon.” International Social Science Journal , 58(1) Issue 187: 69-85. ISSN 0020-8701
2003. ”CA* Comment” on S. Aswani & P. Sheppard, “The archaeology and ethnohistory of exchange
in precolonial and colonial Roviana”. Current Anthropology 2003, 44 (5 Supplement Dec 03): S72S73. ISSN 0011-3204.
2003.“Between Knowledges: Pacific Studies and Academic Disciplines”. The Contemporary Pacific,
15:43-73. ISSN 1043-898X.
2003. “Contested rainforests, NGOs and projects of desire in Solomon Islands”. International Social
Science Journal 55 (4) Issue 178: 439-453. ISSN 0020-8701
2003. “Rainforest composition and histories of human disturbance in Solomon Islands”. Ambio, 32:
346-352. ISSN 0044-7447 (T. Bayliss-Smith, E. Hviding & T.C. Whitmore)
2003. “Fieldwork with Bob: ‘The first man to dive all night’ ”. Traditional Marine Resource
Managemnent and Knowledge Bulletin, Special Edition (March 2003): 19-21. ISSN 1025-7497
2002. “Le savoir traditionnel des pêcheurs du lagon de Marovo (Îles Salomon) concernant le
comportement grégaire des poissons.” Ressources Marines et Traditions, Bulletin d’Information, No.
12:24-31. ISSN 1025-7497 (R.E. Johannes & Edvard Hviding)
2000. “Traditional knowledge possessed by the fishers of Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands,
concerning fish aggregating behavior.” Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge
Bulletin, No.12: 22-29. ISSN 1025-7497 (R.E. Johannes & Edvard Hviding)
1998. “Contextual flexibility: present status and future of customary marine tenure in Solomon
Islands.” Ocean & Coastal Management, 40:253-269. ISSN 0964-5691
1998. “Western movements in non-Western worlds: towards an anthropology of uncertain
encounters.” Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society, 23(3):30-51. ISSN 0355-3930
1994. “Community-based fisheries management, tradition and the challenges of development in
Marovo, Solomon Islands”. Development and Change, 25(1):13-39. ISSN 0012-155X (Edvard
Hviding & Graham B.K. Baines)
1993. “Indigenous essentialism? ‘Simplifying’ customary land ownership in New Georgia, Solomon
Islands.” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 149: 802-824. ISSN 006-2294
1992. “Marine resources management in the context of customary tenure.” Marine Resource
Economics, 7:249-273. ISSN 0738-1360 (Kenneth Ruddle, Edvard Hviding & R.E. Johannes)
1991. “Traditional institutions and their role in contemporary coastal resource management in the
Pacific Islands.” NAGA, The ICLARM Quarterly, 14(4):3-6. ISSN 00116-290X
2
Book chapters
2006. ”Foreword”, in Babata: Our Land, Our Tribe, Our People, by Wilson Gia Liligeto. IPS
Publications. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific. ISBN 978-982-020382-2
2005. “Christian Fellowship Church”, in Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Bron Taylor (ed.), 306307. London: Continuum Books. ISBN 1-84371-138-9
2003. “Both Sides of the Beach: Knowledges of Nature in Oceania”, in Nature Across Cultures: NonWestern Views of the Environment and Nature, Helaine Selin (ed.), 243-275. Science Across Cultures:
The History of Non-Western Sciences, Volume 4. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 14020-1235-7.
2003. “Disentangling the butubutu of New Georgia: cognatic kinship in thought and action”, in
Oceanic Socialities and Cultural Forms: Ethnographies of Experience, I. Hoëm & S. Roalkvam (eds.),
71-113. Oxford: Berghahn Books. ISBN 1-57181-558-9.
2001. “Islands Connected: Making Pacific Worlds (Project Presentation)”, in Migrations and
Exchange in a Historical Perspective, P. Wallin (ed.), 4-9. No Barriers Seminar Papers, Vol. III. Oslo:
The Kon-Tiki Museum, Institute for Pacific Archaeology and Cultural History. ISSN 1501-584X.
(Jonathan Friedman & Edvard Hviding)
1999. “Western movements in non-Western worlds: towards an anthropology of uncertain
encounters”, in Postcolonialism and Cultural Resistance, J. Nyman & J.A. Stotesbury (eds.), 3-23.
Studia Carelica Humanistica, 14. Joensuu: Faculty of Humanities, University of Joensuu. ISBN 951708-778-0. (reprinted from Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society, 23)
1999. “Taro irrigation, arboriculture and stratified polities in coastal Melanesia: evidence from the precolonial agricultural systems of New Georgia”, in Archaeology, Agriculture and Identity, P. Wallin
(ed.), 17-24. No Barriers Seminar Papers, Vol. II. Oslo: The Kon-Tiki Museum, Institute for Pacific
Archaeology and Cultural History. ISSN 1501-584X
1997. “Fisheries and coastal resources: knowledge and development”, in Environment and
Development in the Pacific Islands, B. Burt & C. Clerk (eds.), 123-142. Port Moresby & Canberra:
University of Papua New Guinea Press/NDRC, Australian National University. ISBN 0-7315-2351-2.
1996. “Custom and complexity: marine tenure, fisheries management and conservation in Marovo
Lagoon, Solomon Islands”, in Resources, Nations and Indigenous Peoples: case studies from
Australasia, Melanesia and Southeast Asia, R. Howitt, J. Connell & P Hirsch (eds.), 66-87.
Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-553758-0 (Edvard Hviding & Graham B.K. Baines)
1996. “Nature, culture, magic, science: on meta-languages for comparison in cultural ecology”, in
Nature and Society: Anthropological Perspectives, P. Descola & G. Pálsson (eds.), 165-184. London:
Routledge. ISBN 0-415-13215-0 / 0-415-13216-9
1995. “Maritime travel, present and past, in Marovo, Western Solomon Islands”, in Seafaring in the
Modern Pacific Islands: Studies in Continuity and Change, R. Feinberg (ed.), 90-113. DeKalb, Ill.:
Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-87580-201-X
1994. “Traditional marine tenure and management: challenges, experiences, and prospects”, in
Traditional Marine Tenure and the Sustainable Management of Marine Resources in Asia and the
3
Pacific, G.R. South, D. Goulet, S. Tuqiri & M. Church (eds.), 88-100. Suva: University of the South
Pacific/International Ocean Institute Operational Centre. ISBN 982-01-0241-3
1994. “Community-based fisheries management, tradition and the challenges of development in
Marovo, Solomon Islands”, in Development and Environment: Sustaining People and Nature, Dharam
Ghai (ed.), 13-39. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19394-4. (Edvard Hviding & Graham B.K.
Baines, reprinted from Development and Change, 25).
1993. “Traditional environmental knowledge for resource management in Marovo, Solomon Islands”,
in Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Wisdom for Sustainable Development, N.M. Williams &
G.B.K. Baines (eds.), 56-65. Canberra: Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian
National University. ISBN 0-86740-414-0 (Graham B.K. Baines & Edvard Hviding)
1992. “Traditional Environmental Knowledge from the Marovo Area of the Solomon Islands”, in
LORE: Capturing Traditional Environmental Knowledge, Martha Johnson (ed.), 92-110. Ottawa:
International Development Research Centre. ISBN 0-88936-644-6 (Graham B.K. Baines & Edvard
Hviding)
1990. “Keeping the sea: aspects of marine tenure in Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands”, in Traditional
Coastal Resource Management in the Pacific Basin: An Anthology, K. Ruddle & R.E. Johannes (eds.),
7-44. Jakarta: UNESCO-Regional Office for Science and Technology for Southeast Asia.
Other selected publications
1991. A regional assessment of the potential role of customary marine tenure (CMT) systems in
contemporary fisheries management in the South Pacific. Honiara: South Pacific Forum Fisheries
Agency, FFA Reports 91/71. 22pp. (Edvard Hviding & Kenneth Ruddle)
1989. “All things in our sea”: The dynamics of customary marine tenure, Marovo Lagoon, Solomon
Islands. NRI Special Publication No. 13. Boroko, Papua New Guinea: National Research Institute.
30pp. ISBN 9980-75-021-9.
4