Abstract
The Kanak experience of French colonial presence in New Caledonia has been far from beneficial. Nevertheless, in this chapter Denis Monnerie describes how, once it becomes evident that he is not the typical French colonialist, the people of Arama village encounter him with sympathy and hospitality. They invite him to partake in various social activities, ranging from bingo games to life cycle rituals and, most significantly, to join the dignitaries in their council meetings of a Kanak Confederation. By transferring the gifts expected from the participants on all such occasions he demonstrates his acknowledgement of the authority of the Kanak and their ancestors, an essential step towards his integration in Kanak society.
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Notes
- 1.
I wish to thank SophieChave-Dartoen and the editors for their suggestions on this chapter and the CREDO laboratory (CNRS UMR 7308/EHESS/Aix Marseille Université) for giving me the opportunity for my 2017 fieldwork and funding it.
- 2.
Since the 1980s, the autochthonous people of New Caledonia have called themselves Kanak, and their country Kanaky; to this day, the official name of the country remains New Caledonia.
- 3.
Tjibaou asked Daniel de Coppet, a French anthropologist, to supervise this programme.
- 4.
He would become, in 1998, the first president of the Sénat coutumier Kanak.
- 5.
- 6.
I have changed the names of all the living people but have kept the names of the dead as a way of honouring them.
- 7.
Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre had introduced me to basic features of the Nyêlâyu language before my departure and I could benefit from a short first version of her dictionary and, especially, from her transcription of the phonology, an invaluable tool for such a complex language. This occurred long before she published her dictionary (Ozanne-Rivierre 1998).
- 8.
Objects become ceremonial when entering ceremonial transfers and circulations. They cease to be when exiting them. Except for traditional “Kanak money”, (to which however in this region banknotes and coins are often substituted), most ceremonial objects can be bought in stores, being substitutes for classic ceremonial objects. Thus, yam and taro (uvi ma kowe) may be replaced by bags of sugar and rice, with apologies for this substitution often being expressed in the accompanying speech (Monnerie 2005, 2012b).
- 9.
The suffix –ja adding a conspicuously inclusive universal and collective dimension that, before their arrival, may have been lacking in relation to the highly valued concept of jâlu-. For jâlû- is usually translated as “spirit”, “soul” and “totem”. The word designates a component of persons and the cosmos; it is a principle referring to transmissions through the generations.
- 10.
Belonging to the Teâ Nelemwâ Great House, see below.
- 11.
Constituting a grand marché; the brief description and analysis presented here concern the 1992–1994 period.
- 12.
The nôôle is a large tree, Anacardiacées—Semecarpus ater/atra. Its fruit is about the size of a chestnut, with a darker colour.
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Monnerie, D. (2019). An Anthropologist in Kanaky. Modulations of Belonging and Otherness. In: Platenkamp, J., Schneider, A. (eds) Integrating Strangers in Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16703-5_5
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