Oceania Publications, University of Sydney

Afterword: Vanuatu Perspectives on Research

Author(s): Ralph Regenvanu
Source: Oceania, Vol. 70, No. 1, Fieldwork, Fieldworkers Developments in Vanuatu Research
(Sep., 1999), pp. 98-100
Published by: Wiley on behalf of Oceania Publications, University of Sydney
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Afterword: Vanuatu Perspectives on Research

Ralph Regenvanu
Vanuatu Cultural Centre

The lifting of the moratorium on 'cultural' research in Vanuatu in 1994 was made possible by
the Council of Ministers' endorsement of a new national cultural research policy, the Vanuatu
Cultural Research Policy (VCRP).l1 The Policy itself was drafted at the Vanuatu Cultural
Centre in 1992, and then circulated for comment to the Cultural Centre's fieldworkers, the

eleven regional chiefs' councils, relevant government departments (Womens' Affairs,

Curriculum Development, Archives), and statutory and non-government organisations
(National Council of Chiefs, National Council of Women). It was also sent for comment to

locally-based research bodies (ORSTOM, University of the South Pacific) and a selected
number of researchers based in overseas research institutions. In its objective of ensuring collaboration between foreign researchers and ni- Vanuatu to their mutual benefit, the policy did
not negate the concerns that had prompted the imposition of the research moratorium a decade

earlier. In fact, these concerns - that kastom belongs to ni- Vanuatu and that this must be
respected by outsiders - have become significantly more pertinent today.
The initiative to develop the VCRP and to lift the moratorium was, rather, the result of
a number of practical concerns. By the early- 1990s, the post-Independence state-sponsored
discourse of an indigenous or Melanesian form of development for Vanuatu was in the final
stages of being replaced by a more orthodox and globally-sanctioned approach to national
development. The push to adopt more Western conceptions of social improvement dovetailed with the passing away of the last generation of ni- Vanuatu able to claim to have been
born into kastom (prior to conversion to Christianity). For the Cultural Centre, the fulfilment of its mandate to preserve, protect and develop kastom was becoming ever more
pressing and urgent. The need to record aspects of traditional cultures now known by only
the oldest generation, to foster an interest in learning these customs in the younger generation and to raise awareness at all levels of the importance and value of kastom, were tasks
increasingly beyond the capacities of the predominantly Vila-based staff of the Cultural
Centre and its volunteer fieldworker network.
Moreover, some changes had occurred in attitudes towards foreign researchers. During
the period of the moratorium a number of foreign researchers were invited to assist in the
development of Cultural Centre programs. These included Darrell Tryon, who has conducted the annual men fieldworkers workshops since 1981; Lissant Bolton, who was invited to
initiate the Women's Culture Project in collaboration with the head of that project, Jean

Tarisesei; and David Roe and Jean-Christophe Galipaud's management of the Vanuatu
Cultural and Historic Sites Survey (VCHSS). Roe and Galipaud collaborated extensively

with fieldworkers in registering cultural sites between 1990 and 1995. The experience of
working with these people sustained the belief in the cultural administration in Vanuatu from Government to the Cultural Centre to the fieldworkers - that it was indeed possible
for non-indigenes to conduct cultural research in a manner that involved, respected and
acknowledged their informants and was of benefit to the people and communities which it
involved. The provision of opportunities for the further training of Cultural Centre staff and
fieldworkers and increased access to funding for this training and additional programs of
research (factors stressed by the researcher lobby) were also instrumental in motivating the
institution of the VCRP.

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Regenvanu

The lifting of the research moratorium, then, was not effected for the purpose of
encouraging a rejuvenation of academic discourse about Vanuatu's cultures and societies,
although as this volume attests, this has been one of its outcomes. It remains a fact that the
great majority of ni- Vanuatu will never read this collection or other publications produced
by professional researchers. The body of knowledge currently being generated will augment
the academic discourse about Vanuatu which has always been conducted and constructed

outside it in the metropolitan countries: earlier this century this may have been in
Cambridge or Sydney, today it is centred at the Australian National University. While this
discourse may only ever affect the lives of the subjects of research to a limited extent (if at
all), it is the objective of the VCRP to ensure that, at other levels more directly relevant to
their own lives, ni- Vanuatu can perceive research as an exercise over which they have some
control, in which they can meaningfully participate, and from which they can benefit.
In according itself a central role in the implementation of the VCRP, the Cultural

Centre has also been able to effect its own objectives through the work of foreign

researchers. The first of these is to ensure the central role of fieldworkers and local counter-

parts in social and cultural research in Vanuatu. As this volume demonstrates, the development of individuals based in their own communities who are conversant with the method-

ologies, concepts and rationales of academic research enhances both academic discourse
and the maintenance of strong cultural identities at a local level. The Vanuatu Cultural
Centre priority is that ni-Vanuatu should be the ones researching their own culture and society, and fieldworkers working alongside non-indigenous researchers indeed feel that this is
what they are doing. The discourse on kastom that exists in Vanuatu, principally constructed
and contested by the fieldworkers, the various chiefs' councils and the Cultural Centre, has
been and continues to be enhanced by fieldworkers' experiences in working alongside their
expatriate counterparts.
The researchers represented in this collection have all demonstrated a commitment to
the ethics and principles of the VCRP and are endorsed as good examples of the kinds of
research and research collaborations the Cultural Centre wishes to encourage in Vanuatu.

Lissant Bolton was instrumental in assisting the establishment of the Women's Culture
Project and the women fieldworkers network of the Cultural Centre, not least through working with and training Jean Tarisesei. She has also conducted the annual women fieldworkers
workshops since their inception in 1994. Darrell Try on, similarly, has been conducting the
annual men fieldworkers workshops since 1981, and has provided substantial training in
writing vernacular dictionaries for the fieldworkers in the course of these workshops.
The ANU- Vanuatu Cultural Centre Archaeology Project, initiated under the direction

of Matthew Spriggs, has seen Spriggs, Stuart Bedford and Meredith Wilson all contribute
significantly to the training of Cultural Centre staff and fieldworkers in archaeological
methodologies. Over the past three years, Spriggs has helped secure funding for and has run

an annual six- week training course in archaeological excavation techniques. Vanuatu

Cultural and Historical Site Survey, National Museum, and Women's Culture Project staff
have benefited from this training, as have at least 15 fieldworkers. Stuart Bedford assisted

in conducting these courses in 1996 and 1997. Meredith Wilson has worked with and
trained staff and fieldworkers in rock art recording and classifying techniques, and assisted

in securing funding for and running a rock art conservation training course for staff and
fieldworkers in 1998.

Catriona Hyslop is now working as an Australian-sponsored volunteer with the

Cultural Centre, travelling in the islands to conduct workshops and otherwise assist fieldworkers and other interested local counterparts in writing their own languages. This project
of intensive and field-based linguistic training was requested by the fieldworkers at a 1997
Cultural Centre dictionary-making workshop which was co-ordinated by linguist Nick
Thieberger, who was a volunteer at the Cultural Centre at that time. Greg Rawlings has pro-

vided substantial assistance to Wilson Kaluat and the Pango Cultural and Language
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Afterword

Committee, undertaking research on archives in Australia and bringing copies of old photographs and manuscripts back to the village as requested by the Committee. Tim Curtis'
work with Longdal Nobel Masingyau in south-west Malakula was the answer to Longdal's
long-standing request that a researcher be found to assist him in the task of documenting the

language and kastom of the Na'hai culture. In the event, Tim was also able to assist
Longdal to establish the Na'hai Cultural Centre, the first language-based cultural centre in
Vanuatu, which was opened in late 1998.
What then is the future of research by foreign researchers in Vanuatu? The Cultural
Centre remains one of the only indigenous research institutions in Vanuatu, and is unique in
the region for the extent to which it has fostered research by local community members into
their own societies. The research represented in this volume has been successful for the
extent to which it has assisted the Cultural Centre, its fieldworkers and other ni- Vanuatu
research counterparts to meet their own objectives through collaboration with outside
researchers. As a new set of circumstances prompted the lifting of the research moratorium,
so new challenges will continue to change the priorities and expectations that the Cultural
Centre has for socio-cultural research by foreigners in the country.
For example, the level of core funding support for staff salaries at the Centre will determine its ability to effectively monitor the conduct and work of researchers in the field, especially in areas without fieldworkers, and may affect the number of research permits granted.
In terms of technical capacity, the dearth of ni- Vanuatu graduates in the field of the social
sciences, and lack of Government support for scholarships in this area, mean that the building of the cultural heritage administration in Vanuatu will continue to occur on an ad-hoc and
semi-professional basis (which nevertheless, as the fieldworker experience has demonstrated,
has been highly effective). Changes in ni- Vanuatu society will also continue to change the
emphases and foci of the Cultural Centre's programs. The institution of the Women's Culture
Project in 1994, the Vanuatu Young People's Project in 1997 and a series of research projects
in the area of traditional resource management since 1996 exemplify this.
The idea that socio-cultural research can be beneficial for both the nation and for rural

communities, and the idea that such research by outsiders, especially non-ni-Vanuatu, can
be conducted in a non-exploitative way, are ideas that are still gaining ground in Vanuatu.

The VCRP, similarly, is still being developed and refined on the basis of the Cultural
Centre's ongoing experiences with foreign researchers. It is hoped that the collaborative tradition demonstrated in this volume will be followed by other researchers interested in working in Vanuatu.
NOTES
1 . The Vanuatu Cultural Research Policy can be viewed at the Cultural Centre's web page:
http://artalpha.anu.edu.au/web/arc/vks/vks.htm

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