Canoes, Kava, Kastom, and the Politics of Culture on Aneityum

This dissertation explores questions concerning contemporary socio-political formations on Aneityum—the southernmost island of the Republic of Vanuatu—as Aneityum firmly establishes itself on the tourism world stage. “Mystery Island”—the islet just south of Aneityum, receives over one-hundred cruise-ship calls a year, and tourism is the primary way the Anejom population—of approximately 1,400 people— participate in the global market economy. In Anejom—the vernacular of Aneityum island, “cruise ship” is signified as nelcau—“canoe”, but the word “nelcau” signifies more than just the marine vessel, it is also a metaphor for socio-political groups on the island, and the geographical places those groups currently reside or once resided. These geographical and social “canoes” have become the focus of Aneityum’s “traditionalist”—kastom movement. The Anejom signifier “nelcau” is pivotal to both national as well as global economic and political processes on Aneityum, while also being central to local understandings of kinship. Analogous to the way “kava”—the ancestral drink of Vanuatu —is being commoditized for both national and global sensibilities alike, the commoditization of “culture” innovates the way people think about themselves in relation to things and the world. In sum, this work interweaves understandings of global processes with indigenous perspectives, life-worlds, and kinship—to contribute to critical understandings of post- colonial socio-political movements, and the politics of “culture” in a global political economy.