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Abstract
In this article, I look at the reverberations of the global discourse about heritage at the margins of the global system in the Pacific. To this end, I analyse the development of indigenous concepts of cultural heritage on Baluan Island, in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. I discuss how over the past 50 years two different heritage concepts have developed on the island, which have been used to reflect upon and direct cultural and social change. Further I show how the genesis and transformation of this local discourse about heritage is driven by local concerns and politics, as well as national and international developments.
Acknowledgement
I thank the people of Baluan for their hospitality and collaboration over the past 27 years and in particular Soanin Kilangit for inviting me in the beginning of my long-term engagement, for supporting me throughout and for asking me to document the Balopa Cultural Festival in 2006–2007. I am grateful for the pertinent comments and questions from two anonymous reviewers, which helped me to improve my argument substantially, and to Kirsty Gillespie, Ian Lilley and Mads Daugbjerg for their constructive comments and advice. I also thank the participants in the AAS workshop in Brisbane for the lively discussion following on the presentation of the first version of this paper.
Notes
1. My material is based on long-term research on Manus and Baluan Island since 1986, in the form of 11 periods of ethnographic fieldwork amounting to about four years in total. My research has also included oral history and documentary research concerning the island’s history in Papua New Guinea archives and elsewhere.
2. Here is a recent definition (UNESCO Citation2012, 1): ‘Intangible cultural heritage includes practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and know-how that communities recognize as part of their cultural heritage. Passed down from generation to generation, it is constantly recreated by communities in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, providing them with a sense of identity and continuity’.
3. Smith (Citation2006, 3) addresses the problems involved in this distinction more generally and states clearly and provocatively that ‘all heritage is intangible’ because heritage value is created by processes and activities, also when it concerns material objects (tangible cultural heritage).
4. The Preamble begins as follows: WE, THE PEOPLE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA –united in one nation; pay homage to the memory of our ancestors – the source of our strength and origin of our combined heritage; acknowledge the worthy customs and traditional wisdoms of our people – which have come down to us from generation to generation; and pledge ourselves to guard and pass on to those who come after us our noble traditions and the Christian principles that are ours now.
5. In the vernacular these different aspects of kastam can be expressed by different words such as nurunan, aronan and mamarou.
6. I was invited by the main organisers, whom I have known for many years, to participate in the festival and document it on film. One of the results of this is a video film, published by Documentary Educational Resources (Suhr and Otto Citation2011). See also Dalsgaard and Otto (Citation2011).
7. This information is based on several interviews with Soanin and others in 2007 and 2011, as well as on texts written by Soanin. He does not use the English word heritage at all but rather the Tok Pisin work kalsa or the English work culture to refer to matters of cultural heritage.
8. See Lewis (Citation2012) on the Baluan log drum and the Baluan drum music.
9. Quoted from a so-called ‘fact sheet’ prepared by Soanin Kilangit in 2006 as part of an application for funding and repeated in the blog.
10. Compare the following UNESCO (Citation2011, 4) text, which appears to suggest a similar resolution of the tension identified by Daugbjerg and Fibiger: ‘While fragile, intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization. An understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities helps with intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life’.
11. A key actor on the island was Mela Popeu, a returned expatriate worker and Soanin’s brother-in-law.
12. The general name for a dancing beam is sinal, but on Baluan there are two types. One (called sinal) is put on three posts and can carry several men, whereas the mui is thinner and put on only two posts so that the ends of the long beam (10–15 m) begin to swing when danced upon.
13. This information was both given orally to me and was written by Soanin in a report on the Balopa Mini Cultural Festival (12 January 2006).
14. Soanin had also political ambitions to become an elected leader and a successful festival would further build-up his already considerable reputation.
15. Balopa is an acronym for Baluan, Lou and Pam, three islands that together form a district within Manus province and are closely related culturally and linguistically.
16. Membership of Paluai Sooksook is not restricted to people from Baluan, for example.
17. Information from the chairman of the Manus Culture and Tourism Board.
18. But note that the English word culture is used by Baluan people in the same sense as the Tok Pisin word kalsa.