Publication
The Australian Journal of Anthropology, Special Issue : Making the City ‘Home’: Practices of Belonging in Pacific Cities
Présentation
Daniela Kraemer
Ce numéro spécial du journal australien d'anthropologie présente neuf articles où les auteurs décrivent des pratiques urbaines situées dans différentes villes des îles du Pacifique. Ils rendent compte de la manière dont ces pratiques permettent aux habitants de créer un "chez soi" dans l'espace urbain. Ces pratiques sont par exemple des graffitis, le partage de la musique, la pratique du reggae, le rôle des artistes et des expositions dans les institutions, ainsi que l'utilisation des téléphones portables. Le volume participe à montrer comment ces citadins du Pacifique imaginent leurs identités spécifiques, contestant ainsi les stéréotypes essentialisants, qui nient leur légitimité et rejettent leurs expériences urbaines.
Sommaire
• Daniela Kraemer and Monika Stern
An introduction to ‘Making the city “home”: Practices of belonging in Pacific cities’
It is estimated that by 2050, 50% of Pacific peoples will be living out their full lives in cities and towns throughout Oceania and around the world. Over the last 35 years, previous patterns of circular migration have been giving way to permanent urban settlers and to generations born and raised in urban places. These ‘urbanites’ demonstrate a firm commitment to urban living in both the present and the future. In the cities, Pacific people have been building roots and making the city ‘home’. This special issue focuses on some of the diverse practices Pacific urbanites employ in creating ‘home’, which we define as the context where they centre their social, cultural and economic worlds and the place in which they see themselves living out their aspirations and future life course. Practices range from the use of graffiti, sharing music, playing reggae, the role of artists and exhibitions, and mobile phone use. In doing so, this special issue contributes to a growing body of work focused on the ways urban-based Pacific peoples contest essentialising stereotypes that deny their legitimacy and dismiss their urban experiences as less authentic. The collection of papers demonstrates how Pacific peoples are imagining and demonstrating their identities as Pacific urbanites reflecting their commitment to an urban Pacific, national, cultural and political belonging.
• Rodolfo Maggio
Hom and Honiara: Interpreting, importing, and adapting “home” in Solomon Islands
• Rachel Emerine Hicks
Performing difference, longing for ‘home’: Claiming ethnic identities to build national unity among urban Solomon Islands youth
• Géraldine Le Roux
Pacific artistic communities in Australia: Gaining visibility in the art world
• Estelle Castro-Koshy and Tokainiua Devatine
Polynesianising and regenerating urban spaces: An analysis of the artworks and interventions of the Centre des Métiers d'Art de Polynésie française and of its artists
• Stéphanie Geneix-Rabault
What graffiti arts and tags tell us about urban identity in Nouméa (New Caledonia)
• Daniela Kraemer and Monika Stern
Re-territorializing the city: Youth and the productive role of reggae music in Vanuatu
In Vanuatu, the popularity of reggae music has been on the rise since the late 1980s. Today, reggae music and reggae culture is ubiquitous. For many young people in Port Vila, Vanuatu's capital city, it is a fundamental component of their sense of belonging to the city. Their attraction to reggae derives from its messages of camaraderie, equality and justice. This paper argues that for many urban youth, playing, consuming and sharing reggae music and culture instrumentalises their urban place-making activities and helps reterritorialise themselves in urban spaces. Drawing on ethnographic research, we demonstrate the extent to which its lyrics and messages resonate with youth who feel they are unable to express their social, economic and political discontent through other mediums. Furthermore, we show how for many youth, reggae conveys a sense of hopefulness that emboldens them to build a new life or ‘father land’ for themselves and their children.
• Fiona Willans, Jim Gure, Tereise Vaifale and ' Elenoa Veikune
Digicel! Topap long ples ia! An international telecommunications company making itself at home in the urban landscapes of Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga
• Denis Crowdy and Heather A. Horst
We just ‘ SHAREit ’: Smartphones, data and music sharing in urban Papua New Guinea