Pages 201-222 | Published online: 09 Apr 2025
ABSTRACT
What happens to the Melanesian Way as a shared identity across scale, from people to nation and sub-region? I explore ideas of ‘Melanesian-ness’, drawing on the early ideas of Kanak independence leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Bernard Narokobi’s 1980 conceptualization of ‘the Melanesian Way’, and institutional interpretations by the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). I examine MSG-led Melanesian arts and cultural festivals (MACFESTs) as state-curated spaces celebrating Melanesian identity and self-representation, reflecting on the 2023 MACFEST held in Vanuatu. I argue that contemporary official ‘bounded’ Melanesian identity has political utility but retains a strategic flexibility by maintaining an ‘unbounded, open’ Melanesianism, as characterized by Narokobi and Tjibaou. Recognition of cultural promotion as an expression of sub-regional identity, autonomy, and statecraft aids an understanding of the role MACFESTs play within MSG politics, and the embodiment of the Melanesian Way.
Melanesian arts and cultural festivals (MACFESTs) have been held every four years since the inaugural festival in Honiara, Solomon Islands, in 1998. With the purpose of celebrating expressions of diverse cultural identities, the MACFESTs have also provided a platform for political statements about common Melanesian identity. The four-year cycle was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with Vanuatu hosting the 7th MACFEST in Port Vila from 19–30 July 2023. This article explores the inter-relationship between culture and politics, and the implications for Melanesian identity as demonstrated by the 7th MACFEST as a key case study.
As a ni-Vanuatu professional with connections to the MACFEST organizers, I collaborated with friends within a small community of Melanesian writers and poetsFootnote1 to find avenues to celebrate Melanesian literary arts at the 7th MACFEST. Prior to the festival, over months of Zoom and emails, we brainstormed ideas between Port Vila and Suva, Honiara, Noumea, and Port Moresby, drawing in writers in the Melanesian diaspora in Brisbane and Seattle. We envisioned a community-organized Haus StorianFootnote2 to provide a shared, open space for Melanesian writers and poets to showcase their writing and experiences of life and identity across the breadth of Melanesian communities today.Footnote3 We soon discovered that the way in which contemporary Melanesian cultural identities and communities were allowed to be represented via the MACFEST platform was subject to political nuance: government approval was required to participate in a festival dominated by an official preference for traditional expressions of culture. Independent writers were required to be part of an official state delegation, even if self-funded, which limited self-representation of Melanesian literary voices.
Also during 2023, and in parallel to our Haus Storian planning, political discussions were underway about a request by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) to become a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG),Footnote4 a political bloc comprising the states of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS). West Papuan advocates for independence from Indonesia, as the colonizing state, had made various attempts since 2013 to obtain formal recognition by the MSG, commencing with Observer status in 2015.Footnote5 The ULMWP’s desire to progress to full MSG membership status has been many years in the making; it was counting on the 22nd MSG Leaders’ Summit in Port Vila to grant political recognition of MSG Leaders’ cultural solidarity with West Papuans. ULMWP President Benny WendaFootnote6 said in a statement dated 21 June 2023:
The Melanesian way has been shown in full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) being extended to the FLNKS, despite them representing a Melanesian people rather than a Melanesian state …
… As West Papuans we are also committed to Melanesian values. This is why we have turned to our Melanesian family in seeking full membership of the MSG.
The Vanuatu government invited a West Papuan delegation as a special guest to the 7th MACFEST, with Indonesia also sending a delegation as an associate member of the MSG. In providing ‘special guest’ status to formally participate in the MACFEST, despite not yet having any form of MSG membership status, a legitimate avenue for participation had been created for the ULMWP. Similar to the message conveyed to our Haus Storian collective regarding participant affiliation to an official delegation, state-sanctioned avenues for Melanesian identity representation were paramount.
Identity politics is not new and cultural festivals are fertile ground for positive expressions of identity. In the context of Pacific-centred festivals, expressions of both local identities and national statecraft are often on display, with careful crafting of representation.Footnote7 Both the Haus Storian collective and the ULMWP MSG membership application had to navigate bureaucracy in the margins of the MACFEST to assert shared cultural identity. Despite tackling the idea of ‘Melanesian-ness’ from different angles – the former from a contemporary artistic perspective and the latter calling on political values and solidarity – we were all participating in forms of identity construction.
In this article, I consider what happens to the Melanesian Way – as articulated by Papua New Guinean philosopher Bernard Narokobi in 1980 – as a shared identity across scale, from people to nation to sub-region. I explore the intersection between popular cultural understandings of contemporary Melanesian identity and official political applications of this identity through the lens of Melanesian arts and cultural festivals. In exploring the inter-relationship between culture and politics and the implications for identity, reflecting on my own experience and observations at the 7th MACFEST, I argue that the use of strategic flexibility in Melanesian identities – whether ‘bounded’ by hard, exclusionary definitions, including what is ‘not Melanesian’, or ‘unbounded and open’ by inclusive characterizations – is fundamental to the Melanesian Way in the 21st century. I also consider how state co-option of culture in political affairs has exploited this dynamic via MACFESTs. I propose that MACFESTs allow for a more nuanced understanding of the multiple processes that shape Melanesian identities, reflecting a contemporary complexity in relation to the legacy of the Melanesian Way philosophy.
Foundations of ‘The Melanesian Way’
Contemporary understanding of a Melanesian sub-regional identity in the anglophone Pacific is attributed to Papua New Guinean lawyer–philosopher Bernard Mullu Narokobi who published the foundational book of the same title in 1980.Footnote8 The Melanesian Way contained a compilation of Narokobi’s Post Courier newspaper columns and elaborated a range of ideas about race and decolonization, to conflict resolution, modern Melanesia, and development models.Footnote9 For the purposes of this article, I focus primarily on Narokobi’s ideas of Melanesian identity. NarokobiFootnote10 referred to ‘the village as the university of Melanesia’, projecting village-level social relations to the modern PNG state, and urged Melanesian leadership to draw from traditional wisdom to lead in a modern context.Footnote11 What came to be known as Narokobi’s articulation of ‘the Melanesian Way’ is a philosophy that is not rigid in its traditionalism, but grounded in a culturalism that navigates modern life in all its complexities. The Melanesian Way philosophyFootnote12 resonated with other newly independent Melanesian states, such as Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and, seeking to craft post-colonial national identities, became political currency in forging inter-state relations.
Narokobi’s contemporary in French-speaking Melanesia, Kanak independence leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, was also an advocate of empowered Melanesian cultural identities as essential to processes that were both decolonizing and self-determining. Tjibaou was concerned that French colonization was rendering Kanaky ‘anonymous’Footnote13 and advocated for a firm Melanesian cultural identity distinct from foreign entities.Footnote14 At the same time, however, he recognized an inevitable layering of contemporary identitiesFootnote15 and advocated for a Melanesian renaissance that also reflected the adaptations imposed on traditional Melanesian culture through the inter-related processes of Christian conversion, colonization, decolonization, and globalization.Footnote16 Tjibaou curated the first anti-colonial event celebrating Kanak culture in 1975 at the Melanesia 2000 festival in New Caledonia.
Taken together across anglophone, francophone, post-colonial, and still-colonized Melanesia, both Narokobi and Tjibaou urged a cultural renaissance, articulating an independent, anti-colonial Melanesian identity, enriched by traditions and cultures but without being bound to the past. Together, their ideas have been particularly influential in shaping contemporary understanding of the Melanesian Way as an intersection of culture, politics, and the state.Footnote17 It is noteworthy that the early characterization by Narokobi and Tjibaou of unbounded, open, innovative, and adaptive Melanesian identities has itself at times encountered hard boundaries of exclusion for political objectives.Footnote18 This dynamic has been purposefully deployed in independence processes, and, as this article will focus on, at arts and culture festivals.
Advancing a shared philosophy of ‘Melanesian-ness’, at a conference in Australia in 1982, Vanuatu Prime Minister Walter LiniFootnote19 asked, ‘Is the Melanesian renaissance going to be viewed as a festival of spirit, or a collection of hostile acts?’ As newly independent Melanesian countries strived to move beyond colonial legacies, he urged Western-oriented audiences to avoid any misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the intent to reawaken ‘Melanesian values, principles and expectations’.Footnote20 At the same conference, Lini shared a vision for an association of Melanesian nations. Lini’s hopes were shared by Solomon Islands Prime Minister Solomon Mamaloni who had originally proposed a ‘Melanesian Alliance’ for the three states of PNG, Solomons, and Vanuatu.Footnote21 Indeed, beyond the domestic cultural focus of Narokobi’s original philosophy, the Melanesian Way began to find broader application in inter-state relations.
Embedding the Melanesian Way in the Political Sphere: The Melanesian Spearhead Group
Following the official formation of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in 1988,Footnote22 the centrality of cultural solidarity to cooperation was embedded in the founding documents (see Box 1). As the first sub-regional political bloc,Footnote23 the MSG pioneered the first free trade agreement in the Pacific region and developed a cycle of MACFESTs to strategically celebrate Melanesianism as a unifying sub-regional identity. For Kanaky independence groups to become members, Vanuatu’s Walter Lini ‘insisted that they unite in one way or another’. Accordingly, the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) was formed as an umbrella organization in 1984, and then admitted as an MSG member.Footnote24 Fiji joined in 1996 following the conclusion of the MSG Trade Agreement.Footnote25 The MSG’s political commitment to Melanesian cultural and diplomatic solidarity has shifted in tandem with changing foreign and trade policies, driven by key political actors with diverse interpretations of what is considered Melanesian. Political associations have expanded to include the West Papuan ULMWP as an observer and, rather controversially, a colonial power, Indonesia, as an associate member in 2015.Footnote26 Members have weathered political disagreement and institutional financing constraints,Footnote27 and by 2024 the West Papua question remained unresolved for the MSG membership. Despite this, a ‘Melanesian renaissance’Footnote28 progresses. The MSG’s origins in a shared, nation-centric Melanesian Way of political cooperation based on cultural solidarityFootnote29 has found the means and the determination to persist.Footnote30
Box 1. MSG Agreed Principles of Cooperation, signed 14 March 1988.
Table
An Official Approach to Cultural Solidarity: Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festivals
The contribution of regional arts and cultural festivals to the Pacific’s cultural diplomacy, and the spaces they create to showcase cultural identities under national flags, have been widely studiedFootnote31 and formalized through regional institutions such as the Pacific Community (SPC) and the MSG. The SPC-facilitated Festival of Pacific Arts began in 1972; two decades later in 1998 the Melanesian Arts and Cultural festivals began under the MSG umbrella. Both festivals operate on a four-year cycle and share broad objectives to foster and promote a greater sense of unity, awareness, and celebration of the Pacific’s diverse cultures, languages, and peoples,Footnote32 with MACFESTs held two years into the Pacific festival’s four-year cycle to maximize opportunity for Melanesian arts and cultures to be showcased.Footnote33
The earliest explicitly Melanesian arts festival was the Melanesia 2000 arts festival held in Noumea in 1975, which focused on New Caledonian Kanaky. Scholar Caroline Graille’s carefully recorded history of the Kanak cultural renaissance documents Kanak debates about the relative merits of using a festival model to restore cultural dignity and pride, noting Kanak concerns at the time that it was tantamount to ‘cultural prostitution’, belying the genuine struggle of Kanaks under French colonial rule.Footnote34 When Jean-Marie Tjibaou was appointed to run Melanesia 2000, he faced fierce criticism about the commercialization of Kanak cultural performances and dress, diminishing its traditional significance,Footnote35 as well as concerns that by focusing on the cultural, the festivalFootnote36 diminished the growing Kanak political stance on decolonization.Footnote37 However, as previously stated, Tjibaou’s insistence on a ‘firm cultural identity’ in the face of the foreign was also an act to create a political conversation about common identity. Scholars of New Caledonian political history agree that Melanesia 2000 was a defining political moment in shaping a unifying Melanesian identity among Kanaks.Footnote38 The political utility of a ‘bound’ Melanesian identity at the festival conversely ‘unbound’ and created new parameters from which to advance a self-determined Melanesian identity.
By the 1990s, concerned at the growing influence of external ideologies and rapid loss of traditional knowledge, the 7th MSG Leaders’ Summit, held in Auki, PNG, in July 1994, agreed to ‘institute a Melanesian Festival of Arts to promote the cultures and traditions of the MSG region’.Footnote39 The MSG Council of Arts and Culture Meeting (CACM) was subsequently formed, formalizing attention to culture and the arts. In July 1995, MSG culture officials met in Honiara, Solomon Islands, and declared:Footnote40
That Melanesia constitutes a culture area;
That Melanesian cultures are under threat from cultural influences from outside of the area;
That unlike other parts of the world, a very large part of traditional Melanesian cultures are very much intact;
That there is a need to preserve, protect and promote the traditional cultures of Melanesia; and
That there is a need for Melanesian countries to look to each other for support and assurance to maintain and promote their traditional arts and cultures.
The inaugural Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival was held in Honiara in 1998 and has since been hosted rotationally by the five MSG members every four years, with a selection of themes that reflect Melanesian identity and advance ideas of ‘Melanesian-ness’ (see Table 1
). Solomon Islands scholar Gordon Nanau emphasizes that:
Table 1. MSG-led Melanesian Arts and Culture Festivals, 1998–2023.
Promoting Melanesian cultural identity is critical, as it gives the Melanesian countries a sense of homogeneity at the regional level. Moreover, art and culture are important to promote nationalist feelings and solidarity to push for the independence of West Papua and Kanaky from Indonesia and France, respectively.Footnote41
The potential for states to leverage a cultural platform such as the MACFEST for political purposes through festival themes has been spotlighted on several occasions, reflecting a broad, open conceptualization of the Melanesian community. For example, the inaugural 1998 MACFEST in Solomon Islands included a delegation from Taiwan,Footnote42 the 3rd MACFEST in Fiji in 2006 initiated the inclusion of a small group of Torres Strait Islanders from Australia,Footnote43 and, in 2014, PNG also included Timor Leste.Footnote44 However, while the MSG has declared in principle support for West Papua on several occasions, notwithstanding diverse political positions of member states, official inclusion of West Papuan-led delegations at MACFESTs has been irregular. In 2014, PNG invited Indonesia to bring representation from its Papuan provincesFootnote45 and, in 2018, an Indonesian government-led delegation participated in the Solomon Islands-hosted MACFEST, causing tensions between community-based supporters of West Papuan representation, and Indonesian and Solomons officials.Footnote46 In 2023, the Vanuatu government formally invited an Indonesian delegation,Footnote47 consistent with Indonesia’s associate member status, as well as inviting West Papuan representation to perform in the inaugural Melanesian Music Festival. The distinction made between Indonesian government-led delegations and West Papuan ULMWP independence advocates has at times been a cause of contention,Footnote48 highlighting how the MSG has danced between state-based interpretations of Melanesian community and non-state advancement of Melanesian identity.
At the 4th MACFEST in New Caledonia in 2010, the selected theme (‘Notre identité, elle est devant nous/Our Identity Lies Ahead of Us’) echoed a phrase by Jean-Marie Tjibaou, which festival organizer Emmanuel Kasarhérou described as an invitation to:
reformulate the boundaries of identity and make them more porous than they usually are in an island environment. The idea is to create a melting pot and recognize the cultural diversity that also exists on our islands. It has existed for a very long time and is almost endemic … . It’s a human peculiarity that people have lived in great cultural diversity for thousands of years.Footnote49
This exploration of Melanesian identity, through both traditional and contemporary conceptualizations, has continued throughout MACFESTs. When a West Papuan group unofficially presented at the 2004 Festival of Pacific Arts in Palau,Footnote50 MACFESTs began to more regularly invite representation from Indonesia’s Papuan region,Footnote51 commencing with PNG in 2014.
An inaugural Customary Symposium was held at the 4th MACFEST in New Caledonia, convening chiefs and customary leaders, alongside senior government officials from all MSG members.Footnote52 In addition to recognizing the importance of customary institutions and representatives in national affairs and the need to promote linguistic and traditional heritage and its inter-generational importance, the symposium significantly agreed on ‘the need and viability for the formation of an “MSG Customary Council”Footnote53 to deliberate on customary issues facing MSG members’. At the 6th Council of Arts and Culture Meeting (CACM), held in Honiara from 23–4 May 2017, a decision was taken to establish an MSG Customary Council. By 2024, this had not yet progressed significantly, with focus being given to Members’ request to the Secretariat to develop an MSG Culture Strategy.Footnote54 Other than continued support for MACFESTs, another cultural milestone for the MSG was the 2011 adoption of the ‘Treaty on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expression of Cultures’, described as the ‘glue that holds us together’ by the MSG Secretariat.Footnote55
By 2023, the host Government of Vanuatu selected a theme that was anticipated to ignite a celebration of Melanesian identity while dealing with a range of political affairs, not least the ULMWP’s membership bid. The festival is often a backdrop or precursor to senior officials’ meetings and high-level political meetings in the host country, and, therefore, the potential to shape diplomatic discussions is considerable, particularly in the intellectual spaces of the festival, which officials often attend. As MSG Director General Leonard Louma expressed in his speech at the opening of the 7th MACFEST in Vanuatu in July 2023, ‘Culture and custom can be leveraged to address many of the political, economic and social challenges we are facing. Solutions may be found in culture and customs’.Footnote56 Louma also urged for a continued, expansive conceptualization of Melanesian identity and communities:
In my statement at the launch of the 7th MACFEST preparations, I challenged the Organisers NOT to dial down on the coverage of the Melanesian representation at this MACFEST. You certainly have not disappointed me there and I commend you for it … Let me emphasize that the size and geographical spread of the Melanesian communities existent today must be allowed to be manifested in the 7th MACFEST. From the West to the East, Melanesians must be embraced. We must dispel the notion that Melanesia communities only live in Fiji, New Caledonia, PNG, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Let us continue to acknowledge and include our other Melanesians that live elsewhere. In the past, Timor Leste, Indonesia, Australia and Taiwan were invited to attend … Let us continue to build on these blocks to make this flagship cultural event of ours even bigger and better in the years to come.
Louma also referred to festival participation from the ‘Papuan Provinces of Indonesia’, reflecting the MSG Secretariat’s language, which, in turn, mirrored the Indonesian government’s official usage. This, despite the sea of West Papuan Morning Star flags waving throughout the festival.
A Melanesian Way Forward? The 7th MACFEST
Opened on 19 July 2023 by Vanuatu Prime Minister Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau Maau‘koro on his home island, the 7th Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival (MACFEST) commenced with an official customary welcome to national and guest delegations,Footnote57 by Chief Teriki Paunimanu Mantoi Kalsakau III of Ifira IslandFootnote58 and the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, who, as the emplaced customary authority, granted permission to all visiting delegations and communities ‘the liberty to display and celebrate [their] Melanesian customs, traditions and culture’. Footnote59 The significance of the traditional protocol was recounted by MSG Director General Leonard Louma in his opening remarks at the 7th MACFEST on 19 July 2023: ‘I feel proud and good that we did this customary gesture. This is the Melanesian way. This is the Melanesian sign of respect. And this is the right and correct way’.
The festival programme comprised traditional arts and cultural performances, as well as the first Melanesian Music Festival and Haus StorianFootnote60 programme, both community-driven, and a symposium hosted by the National University of Vanuatu.Footnote61 The latter two events provided the intellectual components of the 7th MACFEST and provided space to reflect on the festival theme, ‘Rebuilding my Melanesia for Our Common Destiny’, delving into contemporary perspectives on what a Melanesian Way looks like in the 21st century (see Figure 1). These latter events are the focus of the remainder of this article.
Figure 1. The 7th MACFEST theme, ‘Rebuilding my Melanesia for Our Common Destiny’.
Opening the MACFEST Symposium at the National University of Vanuatu on 25 July 2023, Vanuatu Minister Ralph RegenvanuFootnote62 said: ‘This Festival, and similar events which “valorise” our intangible cultural heritage, are becoming increasingly essential as globalization increasingly alienates us from our traditional cultural heritage’. He called on participants to think about redefining development as ‘the Melanesian Way forward’, which respects and preserves traditional practices and knowledge (see Box 2).
Box 2. Elements of ‘A Melanesian Way Forward’.
Table
Over the course of two days of livestreamed presentations, symposium participants shared experiences of cultural and linguistic revival and preservation, with an emphasis on maintaining a sense of cultural identity while navigating a modern world. The symposium highlighted ‘the vital role that arts and culture play in shaping the contemporary Melanesian identity and how these expressions can contribute to a vibrant and resilient Melanesian Way’.Footnote63 With 30 formal presentations from writers, poets, and academics, the symposium drew a crowd of over 100 each day, including an impromptu presentation by PNG’s MACFEST country delegation led by Minister for Tourism, Arts, and Culture, Isi Henry Leonard, who presented PNG’s first ‘National Cultural Policy 2022–32’.
On the first day of symposium discussions on 26 July 2023, participants explored how arts and culture shape a contemporary Melanesian Way. Wide-ranging presentations from the literary, visual, and performing arts were made, spanning speakers from West Papua to Fiji. PNG’s Philimon Yalamu shared how visual arts were used in support of a digital and virtual evolution of the Melanesian Way. New Caledonia’s Elatiana Razafi and hip-hop artists Pablow Bari and Wyka examined contemporary expressions of youth identity mediated by Melanesian hip-hop sub-culture. Fiji’s Kulawai Press and the National Library of AustraliaFootnote64 emphasized the value of documenting and archiving Melanesian cultural practices and living histories, recognizing the evolution of Melanesian identities. The combined exploration of the breadth of modern Melanesian identities highlighted a shared, primarily grass-roots, perspective, open to innovation and transformation. The inclusion of activist poetry and song from Esther Haluk and Ronny Kareni of West Papua underscored efforts to build solidarity with oppressed groups within the Melanesian region in ways that, as the earlier description of official West Papuan representation at the MACFEST demonstrates, are not feasible for Melanesian states because of diplomatic sensitivities.
The second day of the symposium on 27 July 2024 focused on the interface between local cultures and national policies in the areas of language, education,Footnote65 and climate resilience. Themes of climate displacement and traditional land tenure were covered by speakers from across the MSG membership. A Vanuatu official, Kemson Tavdey, presented on the global climate justice case Vanuatu had spearheaded at the International Court of Justice, calling for Melanesian diplomatic allyship. In this second, state-oriented, day of the symposium, the wider Melanesian communities (for example, Australian South Sea Islanders and West Papua) were less prominent in the presentations. However, to purposefully bridge culture and politics within the symposium, a group of Kanak cultural activists led by Emmanuel Tjibaou, son of the late Jean-Marie Tjibaou and then Cultural DirectorFootnote66 of Northern Province, presented on cultural resilience as a political strategy for asserting identity. Unsurprisingly, this presentation was reminiscent of his father’s early thinking on maintaining a ‘firm identity’ in the face of colonial power.
Throughout the symposium, the intellectual energy focused keenly on the ideas and strategies for integrating cultural and artistic practices into the formal state domain.
The Haus StorianFootnote67 activities were held in parallel to the symposium, with cross-over designed in the discussion of Melanesian literary arts as part of a modern Melanesian Way. PNG writer Baka Bina called for Melanesian adults to keep culture and memory alive through storytelling. The value of poetry as documentaries of life in Melanesia was emphasized by West Papuan activist Esther Haluk, who spoke about her poetry collection Nyaniyan Bunig (Songs of Silence) both as a social documentary of contemporary West Papuan Melanesian life and as a tool for sharing this with the world. Millicent Barty of Solomon Islands shared a banana tree analogy of cultural revival and adaptation: as the old skin sheds, it allows the young shoot to emerge. Her analogy was picked up throughout both the symposium and Haus Storian as a reflection on transitioning Melanesian identities and ways. Kanaky writers Isa Qala and Léopold Hnacipan facilitated writing circles to exchange experiences. Australian South Sea Islander Waskam Emelda Davis used spoken word to highlight the legacy of forced labour trade and the inter-cultural Melanesian links between Australia and neighbouring countries (Figure 2).
Figure 2. The community-organized Haus Storian was held during the 7th MACFEST.
The Haus Storian closed on 28 July with a collaborative pan-Melanesian poetry workshop that produced the ‘Melanesian Sisterhood Creed’.Footnote68 The emphasis on Melanesian solidarity throughout the symposium and Haus Storian events, without necessarily essentializing a Melanesian identity (in the manner of the state), was apparent in the words of the co-created Sisterhood Creed:
We all call our Melanesia home.
Our identity like our pandanus trees stands beautiful, and when the leaves are woven together,
We have greater strength and purpose in our solidarity.
The resulting emphasis of both the Haus Storian and symposium on a people-centric, grass-roots perspective of Melanesian identity offers perhaps a contemporary renaissance of Narokobi’s people-driven embodiment of the Melanesian Way, pushing the boundary on cultural innovations and adaptations in the 21st century. Contrasted with a state-driven, political application of ‘The Melanesian Way’ through Melanesian diplomacy within the MSG,Footnote69 the 7th MACFEST activities highlighted the vibrancy and diversity of traditional cultures and communities, as part of a modern Melanesia moving forwards to a common destiny. The collective celebration of Melanesianism throughout the MACFEST was so infectious that even France’s visiting President Emmanuel Macron attempted to speak Bislama, Vanuatu’s lingua franca, to a delighted crowd of several thousand Melanesians saying, ‘My delegation is thrilled to participate in … celebrating the strength and vitality of Melanesia and the spirit of exchange and sharing’.Footnote70 Through his visit with Vanuatu’s PM Kalsakau, it was also agreed to resolve a long-standing maritime boundary dispute between the two countries.Footnote71
As a state-curated ‘political act’ to assert Melanesian identity and rekindle a festival of Melanesian spirit, the 7th MACFEST was hailed a success.
Discussion
Festivals as curated cultural spaces for strategic sub-regional politics
Arts and cultural festivals in the Pacific are widely documented as providing platforms for forms of cultural diplomacy through people-to-people exchange, connection, and asserting national identities, particularly for the young post-colonial states of the Pacific.Footnote72 While these cultural spaces may challenge colonial and post-colonial narratives, they are not immune from state dynamics and politics, nor to an over-emphasis on positive culture, risking an ignorance of cultural abuse, such as where persistent gender inequalities are attributed to cultural practices.Footnote73 At a MACFEST, the state makes the ultimate decision about representation of its national identities, even as cultural groups, performers, and artists reflect diverse local customs.
When the Vanuatu Festival organizing committee accepted our Haus Storian proposal within the festival programme, it conveyed additional requirements from the MSG Council of Arts and Culture for participants to obtain official delegation approval from their respective governments. In conversation, Richard Shing, Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and a key official behind the 7th MACFEST, observed that: ‘There’s a lot of nationalism and patriotism at these festivals, to showcase countries and have pride in indigenous place and identity’. He also noted that participation has been dominated by performers and artists who present visually striking, tangible cultural heritage.Footnote74 MSG governments have thus typically selected national MACFEST delegations according to what is considered and permitted to be representative of the domestic range of cultural diversity. This selection has predominantly comprised traditional culture and artforms.
Contemporary artists, particularly in the literary arts, have only been nominally represented at MACFESTs. Participants outside of official country delegations are usually self-funded and must independently pursue their inclusion in the festival programme, as we experienced with Haus Storian. Questions about distinguishing between delegates (nationally endorsed and funded) and participants (self-funded) came to the fore in discussions about presentations to the Haus Storian and National University of Vanuatu Symposium: could only government delegates participate, or could others living, working, creating in and about Melanesia also participate in the symposium? I was curious as to how an ‘official’ approach to participation in an arts festival can bound ideas of Melanesian identity to states, and how this might in turn narrow the breadth of Melanesia-identifying communities. The influence of national politics in what is essentially a cultural space became evident in the careful curation of delegates by national governments and the Festival Committee. As Richard Shing explained to me: ‘We don’t want politics to taint our cultural celebration. The cultural angle provides access for colonised Melanesians to maintain connections across our region. Culture has deeper roots [than politics] … it is about continuing our expression of identity’.Footnote75
In reality, states made political choices to determine the cultural actors who would represent under national flags. The presence of national flags and cultural symbols was itself a fraught matter at the 7th MACFEST. Cultural flags of Torres Strait Islanders and West Papuans flew alongside flags of MSG official member states and territories and, only briefly, MSG associate member Indonesia’s flag.Footnote76 Inclusion of self-determined cultural symbols and flags was emphasized by the Vanuatu hosts to maintain recognition of all Melanesians everywhere, notwithstanding the official approach to participation via national delegations.Footnote77 This underlaid the targeted invitation to West Papuans to the MACFEST as guests, rather than as official delegates of a colonial power, despite the tensions between Vanuatu and Indonesia on the matter of cultural representation.Footnote78 Similarly, the New Caledonian government’s Ministry of Culture carefully selected its 150 delegates for the 7th MACFEST, signalling key political messaging: acknowledging Kanaks as Melanesians in New Caledonia, while protecting access to the MACFEST platform for Kanak Melanesians over other New Caledonians.Footnote79 The support for cultural self-determination at the MACFEST, beyond that decided by the colonizing state, provided a political lens for the festival, despite Shing’s suggestion that the MACFEST was purely a cultural affair. Culture is not a politically neutral category, which, in the main, state officials and the MSG institution have recognized through their own policies and practice.
Statecraft vs community ‘craft’ in advancing Melanesianism
Statecraft gains political leverage when it can trade on a fixed identity. A ‘firm cultural identity’, as Tjibaou had previously stated, allows for diverse peoples and groups to unite for a common purpose. As one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse regions in the world, Melanesian statecraft leverages these bounded national identities, for example in distinguishing Melanesian nations from Polynesia and Micronesia within the Pacific Islands Forum. In contrast, community ‘craft’ of Melanesian identity tends to be more adaptive and unbounded because of the need for nuanced understanding of local contexts and dynamics. This was evidenced in the meeting of the two ‘scales’ – state and community – at the MACFEST.
In scaling vertically from state to local, there are a few domains in which authority over cultural practice determines the form that is used. While local customary domains are controlled by traditional leaders and artistic communities determine the parameters of practice – both of which appear to allow for innovations (such as use of calico or tinsel in traditional attire or global music and literary forms for expression) – the festival domain remains state-controlled. This dynamic produces layers of cultural identities: at the festival, the state dictates the space, even as participants share their localized and adapted cultures. Recalling Tjibaou’s response at the 1975 Melanesia 2000 festival in New Caledonia:
One always speaks of traditional culture. But what is traditional? It lived before us. But in one hundred years, it will be how we are living today that is traditional, and in one thousand years, what we are living today will perhaps be worth its weight in gold! I believe we always have an overly archaeological conception of culture; the culture of the past is considered authentic, but that which is of contemporary creation must be proven to be authentic, perhaps by time.Footnote80
Beyond an anthropological notion of what is considered traditional or authentic culture in Melanesia,Footnote81 the festival space’s political value in curating Melanesian solidarity suggests that any notion of cultural authenticity is determined by MSG states insofar as it achieves a political purpose. As festivals transfer from host to host, the space continues to be dictated by the hosting state, and the ideas of cultural solidarity travel with the space in concurrently bounded and unbounded forms, reflected in the selected festival themes and the non-MSG member delegations invited by the host.
How the shift in scale from local to state shapes ideas and expressions of Melanesian identity also reflects an increasingly nuanced political shift in cultural identities. Whereas Tjibaou and Narokobi conceived of local cultural identities as connecting an unbounded people across geographies and the universe, the political opportunity of these identities via a Melanesian Way lens under the MSG produces a more bounded conceptualization of Melanesian identity in support of decolonization and collective diplomacy objectives.
The Melanesian Way has been critiqued for reinforcing an elitist and gendered political power differential.Footnote82 However, examined through the lens of the MSG, at an inter-state level, the emphasis on a common political identity trading on shared cultural heritage appears strategic; it certainly advances the idea of a Melanesian political bloc.Footnote83 The type of political identity expressed is a result of local and regional interactions, and an assertion of empowered agency. But does the political emphasis at the (elite) inter-state scale advance (local) Melanesian cultural identities? Local recognition of adaptive and layered cultural identities, where innovation is authorized (and even encouraged) within the community domain, appears to have a greater influence on advancing modern Melanesianism – and by extension, Melanesia’s political communities – through cultural identities. The bridge between traditional storytelling and spaces for written literary arts, such as through the 7th MACFEST’s Haus Storian, provides good examples in this regard. The local artist and storyteller is permitted to be creative and innovative in sharing cultural identities – such as through modern adaptations of kastom stories – even though the festival space ultimately dictates the parameters for being considered ‘Melanesian’ for political purposes.
The state’s co-option of Melanesian identity as a form of cultural diplomacy via the soft power of arts and cultural exchange is recognized as part of a broader diplomatic calculus, such as for Indonesia, whose political objective is to remain dominant in MSG’s relationship with West Papua.Footnote84 Yet at the same time, as remarks quoted earlier by MSG Secretariat leadership and Vanuatu officials have indicated, there remains an active recognition of the wider Melanesian communities beyond states. It is this dynamic between culture and politics that makes MACFESTs a key platform for both Melanesian identity-craft and statecraft.
Conclusion
The role of arts and cultural festivals in promoting Melanesian solidarity is undeniable.
MACFESTs provide valuable platforms for Melanesian states to advance an ‘unbounded, open’ interpretation of Melanesian-ness and engage the breadth of Melanesian communities as part of an accepted diplomatic and political calculus. This resonates with Narokobi and Tjibaou’s earlier ideas about Melanesian ways, and advances the MSG’s founding principles of solidarity, self-determination, and decolonization. However, the variance between localized, community-centred expressions of Melanesian culture and identity at the 7th MACFEST, and statecraft in curating festival representation, reflects a contemporary complexity in relation to the Melanesian Way. In this regard, and as a state-curated ‘political act’ intended to assert Melanesian identity and rekindle a festival of Melanesian spirit, the 7th MACFEST created an important space for culture and politics to converge.
While the MACFEST platform permits states to exercise strategic flexibility in recognizing multiple Melanesian identities, the MSG cooperation during the festival reverts to statist, bounded interpretations of Melanesian identity after the festival. For example, in his closing MACFEST remarks, Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Kalsakau and MSG Chair stated, ‘Melanesia is more than a concept, we have proven it is a reality’.Footnote85 His remarks reflect a strategic recognition of all MSG member and non-member Melanesian communities at MACFEST, including West Papuans and Torres Strait Islanders. However, at the subsequent MSG Leaders’ meeting in Port Vila from 23–4 August 2024, a bureaucratic, statist concept of Melanesian culture prevailed: MSG leaders reaffirmed Indonesian sovereignty over West Papua, denying associate membership for the ULMWP owing to revised membership criteria, despite the cultural embrace of the latter during the MACFEST.Footnote86 The MSG decision on ULMWP membership demonstrates how, despite a labile interpretation of the Melanesian Way during the MACFEST, state co-option of this identity imposes hard, political boundaries on the more open, inclusive, community-centred concept of Melanesian-ness.
The contemporary complexity of the Melanesian Way, drawn across ideas of bounded and unbounded identities, embodied and deployed across scales, from the local, to the state and regional neighbourhood, underscores the value of the MACFEST platform within the Melanesian world. MACFESTs, and the communities that engage there – in political, cultural, and artistic senses, such as the Haus Storian collective – provide the momentum and impetus for states to engage with unbounded Melanesian identities and deploy their strategic flexibility, despite any diplomatic limitations, such as in relation to West Papua. But what does this mean in terms of advancing Melanesian-ness in the 21st century? How should the dynamic between local and state actors be calibrated to advance the Melanesian Way?
Vanuatu Minister Ralph Regenvanu’sFootnote87 call for a ‘Melanesian Way forward’ offers an opportunity to reconcile Narokobi’s earlier ideas of a fluid Melanesian Way with contemporary state practice. Narokobi refused to bind the Melanesian Way to a single definition in the tradition of scholars, scientists, and missionaries external to Melanesia. Rather, he argued, ‘we know who we are’,Footnote88 so why should articulating a specific identity matter other than for a comparison with Western systems to highlight Melanesia’s cultural and societal deficiencies? In the 21st century, Narokobi’s retort continues to resonate. Regenvanu’s language of Melanesian autonomy and self-determination, and the balance between modernity and kastom through his proposed ‘Melanesian Way forward’, introduces additional nuance through recognizing the relationship between the state and local communities as one of essential consultation and engagement. This nuance was played out in the 7th MACFEST between states and local artistic communities.
Supplemental material
The Melanesian Way in the 21st Century: Culture, Politics, and Festivals
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Acknowledgements
My thanks to key informants for granting permission to be quoted in this article, and to Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, Chris Ballard, Joseph Foukona, Charles Radclyffe, Margaret Jolly, and Stephanie Lawson for feedback on earlier drafts, and to the JPH blind reviewers for constructive input. Any errors are my own. I also extend my appreciation to the Journal of Pacific History Inc. for the JPH publication incentive grant in support of this article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplemental Material
The Bislama summary of this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2025.2467924.
Additional information
Funding
This work was supported by a Journal of Pacific History Publication Incentive Grant.
Notes on contributors
Anna Naupa
Anna Naupa – School of Culture, History & Language, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. anna.naupa@anu.edu.au
Notes
1 I am grateful to Peter Sipeli, Mere Tari-Sovick, Amanda Donigi, Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hassen, Ann Howarth, Georges Cumbo, Foley Pzalgraf, and Niaz Nadeem for the collaboration that gave birth to Haus Storian 2023.
2 Melanesian pidgin term meaning ‘Place for storytelling’.
3 A literary arts stream was supported at the 6th MACFEST in 2018 in Honiara, Solomon Islands; however, participation was reportedly limited to official, government-selected delegates only. Richard Shing (Director, Vanuatu Cultural Centre), pers. comm., June 2023.
4 Asia Pacific Report, ‘West Papua High on Agenda as MSG Leaders set to Convene in Port Vila’, Asia Pacific Report, 19 August 2023, https://asiapacificreport.nz/2023/08/19/west-papua-high-on-agenda-as-msg-leaders-set-to-convene-in-port-vila/ (accessed 21 October 2023).
5 Stephanie Lawson, ‘West Papua, Indonesia and the Melanesian Spearhead Group: Competing Logics in Regional and International Politics’, Australian Journal for International Affairs 70, no. 5 (2016): 506–24.
6 United Liberation Movement for West Papua (henceforth ULMWP), ‘President Wenda: ULMWP Welcomes Vanuatu DPM’s Comments during Indonesia Visit’, 21 June 2023, https://www.ulmwp.org/president-wenda-ulmwp-welcomes-vanuatu-deputy-pms-comments-during-indonesia-visit (accessed 21 October 2023).
7 Rosita Henry and Lawrence Foana‘ota, ‘Heritage Transactions at the Festival of Pacific Arts’, International Journal of Heritage Studies 21, no. 2 (2015): 133–52; Jari Kupiainen, ‘Digital Visuality in Cultural Identity Construction: Notes from the Festival of Pacific Arts’, Journal de la Société des Océanistes 142–3 (2016): 131–42.
8 Bernard Narokobi, The Melanesian Way (Boroko: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies; Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, 1980).
9 For further reading about his life and philosophies see also the special issue, ‘The Legacy of Bernard Narokobi and the Melanesian Way’, ed. Lise M. Dobrin and Alex Golub, Journal of Pacific History (henceforth JPH) 55 no. 2 (2020).
10 Bernard Narokobi, Life and Leadership in Melanesia (Port Moresby: University of Papua New Guinea; Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1983).
11 Gregory Bablis, ‘“Which Way?” Big Man, Road Man, Chief: Bernard Narokobi’s Multifaceted Leadership Career’, JPH 55, no. 2 (2020): 293.
12 For context I provide a selected summary of this widely researched topic. For a detailed reading of the history of the Melanesian Way, see Stephanie Lawson, ‘The Politics of Subregional Identity’, in Regional Politics in Oceania: From Colonialism and Cold War to the Pacific Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024), 172–97, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009427609.009.
13 Jean-Marie Tjibaou, La présence Kanak, compiled by Alban Bensa and Eric Wittersheim (Paris: Editions Odile Jacob, 1996), 158–9.
14 Tjibaou saw the opportunity to build a unified Kanak identity because ‘a foreign system must encounter a “firm” personality, one that is sure of itself, and of its systems of references’. Quoted in David Chappell, The Kanak Awakening: The Rise of Nationalism in New Caledonia (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2013), 138.
15 Stephanie Lawson, ‘Melanesia: The History and Politics of an Idea’, JPH 48, no. 1 (2013): 1–22.
16 On this topic of adaptive cultural identities, Tjibaou said, ‘I believe we always have an overly archaeological conception of culture; the culture of the past is considered authentic, but that which is of contemporary creation must be proven to be authentic, perhaps by time’. Tjibaou, La présence Kanak, 296, quoted in Bensa and Wittersheim, ‘Nationalism and Interdependence: The Political Thought of Jean-Marie Tjibaou’, The Contemporary Pacific 10, no. 2 (1998): 369–90.
17 See also Lawson, Regional Politics in Oceania, who details the historical reach of political discussions about Melanesian ways and anti-colonial national identities.
18 Lawson, Regional Politics in Oceania, 175, describes the Melanesian Way as an ‘oppositional’ concept, ‘defending an imagined “we” against an – equally imagined – “them”’.
19 Walter Lini, ‘Keynote Address to the Australia and the South Pacific Conference in Canberra at the ANU’, Pacific Islands Monthly 53, no. 4 (1982): 25–8.
20 Ibid., 28.
21 Norman MacQueen, ‘Sharpening the Spearhead: Subregionalism in Melanesia’, Pacific Studies 12, no. 2 (1989): 33–52. PNG’s first prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, was not in favour of a sub-regional grouping of Melanesian states, describing it as ‘racist’. When Paias Wingti became PM in 1985, he was in favour of a Melanesian grouping, leading PNG’s involvement. Like Somare, Fiji’s Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was not supportive of sub-regionalism, considering Fiji to be more Polynesian.
22 In 1983, the three Melanesian countries of PNG, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu formed a group to discuss political matters they felt were not getting sufficient attention at the South Pacific Forum, such as independence for New Caledonia (Nikenike Vurobaravu, pers. comm., April 2022). Leaders then met in 1986 in Goroka, with PNG, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu formally establishing sub-regional cooperation in 1988. On the history of the MSG, see Selwyn Arutangai, ‘Post-Independence Developments and Policies’, Melanesian Politics: Stael blong Vanuatu, ed. Howard Van Trease (Christchurch: Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, 1995), 59–71; Ronald May, ‘The Melanesian Spearhead Group: Testing Pacific Island Solidarity’, Policy Analysis 74, 8 February 2011, https://www.aspi.org.au/report/melanesian-spearhead-group-testing-pacific-island-solidarity (accessed 4 June 2023); Lawson, ‘Melanesia: The History and Politics of an Idea’; idem, ‘West Papua, Indonesia and the Melanesian Spearhead Group’, in Regional Politics in Oceania, ed. Lawson; Tess Newton Cain, ‘The Renaissance of the Melanesian Spearhead Group’, in The New Pacific Diplomacy, ed. Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte (Suva: University of the South Pacific Press, 2016), 151–60; Gordon Nanau, ‘The Melanesian Spearhead Group and Pacific Regional Cooperation’, Pacific Studies 39, no. 3 (2016): 282–310.
23 Norman MacQueen noted emerging political cleavages in the South Pacific Forum ‘between the more activist west, represented by the Melanesians, and a more cautious east, composed of Fiji and the Polynesians … highlighted what has increasingly appeared to be a fundamental difference in outlook between the Melanesians and other Forum island countries’. MacQueen, ‘Sharpening the Spearhead’, 34.
24 Lawson, Regional Politics in Oceania, 183.
25 ‘Spearhead Surprise, Fiji’s Interest in Joining the MSG Has Surprised Many’, Pacific Islands Monthly 63, no. 10 (1993): 18–19; Sam Vulum, ‘MSG Welcomes Fiji’s Entry’, Pacific Islands Monthly 66, no. 7 (1996).
26 Twentieth MSG Leaders’ Summit Communique, Honiara, Solomon Islands, 26 June 2015, https://www.msgsec.info/wp-content/uploads/documentsofcooperation/2015-26-Jun-20th-MSG-Leaders-Summit-Communique.pdf.
27 May, ‘The Melanesian Spearhead Group’.
28 Newton Cain, ‘The Renaissance of the Melanesian Spearhead Group’.
29 The MSG operates at four levels with the MSG Leaders’ Summit at the apex, supported by Ministerial and Senior Officials’ Meetings, as well as the Secretariat. Over its 35 years of operations, the Secretariat has expanded since its 1988 establishment to drive trade and economic relations between member states, as well as responding to an ever-evolving political agenda. See Nanau, ‘The Melanesian Spearhead Group’.
30 For example, in August 2024, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka reaffirmed commitment to visit West Papua province in Indonesia as part of the MSG’s effort to engage in relations, noting that a nine-month period of dialogue with the Indonesian government had not yet produced a firm date, in part due to Indonesia’s presidential elections held earlier in the year. See Stephen Dziedic and Lice Movono, ‘Fiji’s PM Sitiveni Rabuka “Will Apologise” to Melanesian Leaders as He Awaits Indonesia’s Agreement to Visit West Papua’, ABC News online, 12 August 2024 (accessed 12 September 2024).
31 Jari Kupiainen, ‘The First Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival Spirit Bilong Melanesia 1998’, Pacific Arts 23/4 (Jul. 2001): 162–4; idem, ‘Digital Visuality in Cultural Identity Construction: Notes from the Festival of Pacific Arts’, Journal de la Société des Océanistes 142/3 (2016): 131–42; Henry and Foana‘ota, ‘Heritage Transactions’.
32 The Pacific Community, ‘Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture’, https://www.spc.int/festival-of-pacific-arts-and-culture (accessed 2 October 2023).
33 Susan Cochrane, ‘Wantok Festival: 3rd Melanesia Arts and Cultural Festival Suva, Fiji 11–16 October 2006’, Pacific Arts 6 (2007): 49–53.
34 Caroline Graille, ‘1975–2015: Retour sur Mélanésia 2000, symbole de la renaissance culturelle kanak’, Journal de la Société des Océanistes 142–3 (2016): 85.
35 Chappell, The Kanak Awakening, 150.
36 Corrine Cumenal and the ACDK-Centre Culturel Tjibaou, ‘The 1975 Melanesia 1975 Festival: A Photo Essay’, Australian Folklore 37 (2017): 161–8.
37 Original reference is Les Nouvelles calédoniennes, 17 December 1974, 8 (translation by author).
38 Bensa and Wittersheim, ‘Nationalism and Interdependence’; Chappell, The Kanak Awakening, 150; Graille, ‘1975–2015: Retour sur Mélanésia 2000’.
39 Seventh MSG Leaders’ Communique (1994).
40 MSG Culture Officials Declaration (1995).
41 Nanau, ‘The Melanesian Spearhead Group’, 285.
42 A.L. Durutalo et al., ‘Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events 1998’, The Contemporary Pacific 11, no. 2 (1999): 427–49.
43 Cochrane, ‘Wantok Festival’, 49–53. Note: The Torres Strait Islander community was included at the following MACFESTs: Fiji (2006), PNG (2014), Solomon Islands (2018), Vanuatu (2023).
44 International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, ‘Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival’, https://ifacca.org/news/2023/07/19/melanesian-arts-and-culture-festival/ (accessed 29 August 2024).
45 The following year, in 2015, Indonesia’s status with MSG changed from Observer to Associate Member.
46 Ronald Toito‘ona, ‘Festival Anger’, Solomon Star, 9 July 2018.
47 Laila Afifa, ‘Indonesia to participate in Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival in Vanuatu’, Tempo.Co (English version), 25 July 2023.
48 Richard Shing, pers. comm., June 2023.
49 English translation by the author. Quoted in François Bensignor, ‘Le Festival des Arts mélanésiens’, Hommes & migrations 1289 (2011): 138–45, https://doi.org/10.4000/hommesmigrations.818.
50 Barbara Glowczewski and Rosita Henry, ‘Dancing with the Flow: Political Undercurrents at the 9th Festival of Pacific Arts’, Journal de la Société des Océanistes 125, no. 2 (2007): 213–19. The author witnessed this event in-person at the Palau-hosted festival.
51 Since Indonesia became an Associate Member of the MSG in 2015, public language used by the MSG Secretariat has often referenced the inclusion of ‘Indonesia’ rather than ‘West Papua’ at MACFESTs, although individual member states like Vanuatu often directly refer to West Papua as distinct from Indonesia. This has not been without political tension among the MSG membership and the Secretariat.
52 Comité organisateur du Festival des arts mélanésiens, ‘Dossier de Presse, 4eme Festival des art mélanésiens’ (Noumea, Nouvelle-Calédonie: Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Caldédonie, 17 March 2010), https://gouv.nc/sites/default/files/atoms/files/10440011.PDF (accessed 25 June 2023).
53 Emphasis in the original. Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat, ‘Agenda 8: Resolutions of the 4th and 5th Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival Symposiums (MACFS)’, CACM 01(17).07 (Honiara, Solomon Islands: 6th Council of Arts and Culture Meeting (CACM), 23–4 May 2017).
54 Agreed at the MSG’s 9th Council of Arts and Culture Meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu, on 21 July 2023.
55 Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat, ‘Melanesia, Storian blo Yumi’, Islands Business, 2 May 2023, https://islandsbusiness.com/partner-advertorials/msg-marks-35th-anniversary-melanesia-storian-blo-yumi/ (accessed 7 May 2023).
56 Leonard Louma, ‘Brief Remarks of the Director General of MSG at Opening Ceremony of the 7th MACFEST’ (Port Vila, Vanuatu: MSG Secretariat, 19 July 2023).
57 MSG national delegations: Fiji, New Caledonia, PNG, Solomon Islands, as well as host Vanuatu. Guest delegations: Torres Strait and Australian South Sea Islanders, and the West Papuan delegation.
58 Ifira Island in Port Vila harbour is home to the traditional custodians of the lands on which Port Vila is built.
59 Louma, ‘Brief Remarks’.
60 ‘Haus Storian: Exciting Literary Events at 7th MACFEST’, Vanuatu Daily Post, 26 July 2023, https://www.dailypost.vu/news/haus-storian-exciting-literary-events-at-7th-macfest/article_5a76f0ec-4328-5b07-b772-b3afb0014381.html (accessed 16 October 2023).
61 ‘National University to host 3-day Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival Symposium’, Vanuatu Daily Post, 17 June 2023, https://www.dailypost.vu/news/national-university-of-vanuatu-to-host-3-day-melanesian-arts-and-culture-festival-symposium/article_91c4f4fb-6fd2-513f-bbd9-02efcd622576.html (accessed 16 October 2023). Note: the author drafted the symposium concept, volunteered on the National University of Vanuatu organizing committee, and moderated some sessions.
62 Regenvanu was both acting minister for education and training and sitting minister for climate change at the time. Ralph Regenvanu, ‘A Melanesian Way Forward’ (speech, National University of Vanuatu, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 25 July 2023).
63 Mere Tari-Sovick, ‘MACFEST Symposium Rapporteur’s Report’ (Port Vila, Vanuatu: National University of Vanuatu, August 2023).
64 National Library of Australia, ‘Visiting Vanuatu and the Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival 2023’, https://www.nla.gov.au/stories/blog/visiting-vanuatu-and-melanesian-arts-and-culture-festival-2023 (accessed 31 July 2024).
65 For example, Pierre Metsan, ‘Le recours aux pratiques culturelles dans l’enseignement et l’apprentissage des mathématiques en classe du collège au Vanuatu: Une étude sur la perception des enseignants’ (MACFEST Symposium, Port Vila, 27 July 2024).
66 In July 2024, Emmanuel Tjibaou was elected as one of two New Caledonian délégués to the French National Assembly, see https://pina.com.fj/2024/07/08/tjibaou-and-metzdorf-win-new-caledonias-seats-in-french-national-assembly/ (accessed 31 July 2024).
67 ‘Haus Storian: Exciting Literary Events at 7th MACFEST’.
68 The author was a co-facilitator of the workshop, hosted by the Alliance française de Port-Vila, Melanesian Women Today, and Sista Vanuatu, as part of the Haus Storian programme. The Creed is available in both English and French, see https://www.sista.com.vu/credo-de-la-sororite-melanesienne/.
69 Ilan Kiloe, ‘My Reflections on the 7th Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival’, Pacific Islands News Association, 21 July 2023, https://pina.com.fj/2023/07/21/my-reflections-on-the-7th-melanesian-arts-and-culture-festival/ (accessed 30 August 2023).
70 Doddy Morris, ‘Vanuatu, France Agree to Resolve “Southern Land” Problem’, Vanuatu Daily Post, 28 July 2023, https://www.dailypost.vu/news/vanuatu-france-agree-to-resolve-southern-land-problem/article_ee8817f6-91d1-51f4-a5ca-5a5dbbf87455.html (accessed 10 September 2023).
71 At the time of writing in August 2024, this matter was unresolved.
72 Henry and Foana‘ota, ‘Heritage Transactions’; Kupiainen, ‘Digital Visuality in Cultural Identity Construction’.
73 The author is among those Indigenous Melanesian scholars re-interrogating the Christian-colonial legacies on gender dynamics in the context of kastom – and which contemporary development discourse (and to some degree academic discourse) has perpetuated – to inform a more nuanced understanding of contemporary socio-cultural relations in Melanesia.
74 Richard Shing, pers. comm., 13 June 2023.
75 Ibid.
76 Yamin Kogoya, ‘Rebuilding Our Melanesia for Our Future – Culture and West Papua’, Radio New Zealand, 26 July 2023, https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/494430/rebuilding-our-melanesia-for-our-future-culture-and-west-papua (accessed 30 August 2023).
77 Richard Shing, pers. comm., 13 June 2023.
78 Suksmajati Kumara, ‘Indonesia Joins the Celebration of Melanesian Arts and Culture at MACFEST 2023 in Vanuatu’, Jakarta Daily, 26 July 2023, https://www.jakartadaily.id/culture/1629596096/indonesia-joins-the-celebration-of-melanesian-arts-and-culture-at-macfest-2023-in-vanuatu (accessed 16 October 2023). See also https://macfest2023.com/.
79 Richard Shing, pers. comm., 13 July 2023.
80 Tjibaou, La présence Kanak, 296, quoted in Bensa and Wittersheim, ‘Nationalism and Interdependence’, 380.
81 See, for example, Margaret Jolly, ‘Specters of Inauthenticity’, The Contemporary Pacific 4, no. 2 (1992): 49–72; R.M. Keesing, ed., Reinventing Traditional Culture: The Politics of Kastom in Island Melanesia (Sydney: Anthropological Society of New South Wales, 1982); Robert Tonkinson, ‘National Identity and the Problem of Kastom in Vanuatu’, Mankind 13, no. 4 (1982): 306–51; Lamont Lindstrom, ‘Melanesian Kastom and Its Transformations’, Anthropological Forum 18, no. 2 (1998): 161–78; and Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, ‘Re-Presenting Melanesia: Ignoble Savages and Melanesian Alter-Natives’, The Contemporary Pacific 27, no. 1 (2015): 110–46.
82 Lawson, ‘Melanesia: The History and Politics of an Idea’, 22.
83 Michael Somare, ‘Melanesian Spearhead Group: The Last 25 Years’, in The New Pacific Diplomacy, ed. Fry and Tarte, 291–8.
84 See Muhammad Afif Maulana Roziqi and Mohamad Rosyidin, ‘Diplomasi Soft Power Indonesia dalam Melanesian Spearhead Group terhadap United Liberation Movement for West Papua’, Journal of International Relations Universitas Diponegoro 6, no. 2 (2020): 189–98; Fahmi Farizal, ‘Diplomasi Kebudayaan Indonesia Dalam Melanesian Spearhead Group (Msg) Melalui Penyelenggaraan Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival Periode 2015–2018’ (BS thesis, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, 2022).
85 MACFEST on 30 July 2023 in Port Vila.
86 MSG Leaders’ Communique (2024).
87 Regenvanu’s BA (hons) thesis, Australian National University, on Melanesian socialism, physically stored in the Vanuatu National Library, provides his early thoughts on the topic.
88 Narokobi, The Melanesian Way, 9.
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