Anderson and Anderson

Australian Folklore 32, 2017 125 Conflicting Identities and the Search for the Post-Colonial State in New Caledonia1 Alan B. Anderson and Kjell Anderson2 ABSTRACT: Through an extensive historical review and political analysis, the authors emphasize that in the search for the post-colonial state in New Caledonia, there have been three conflicting views of national identity: the ethnonationalism of the indigenous Melanesian Kanaks, the perpetuation, yet reinterpretation, of French colonialism, and, increasingly, a more accommodating pluralistic view. An updated demographic profile indicates that no one particular ethnic category is predominant; New Caledonia is clearly multicultural, although politics have focused around bipolar competition between the colonial French and the indigenous Kanaks. In pondering the future of New Caledonia, the authors conclude that both indigenous ethnonationalism and French neo-colonialism could in fact be accommodated within a pluralistic model; an effective pluralism policy can be formulated and promulgated, moving New Caledonia more purposefully towards full independence. KEYWORDS: New Caledonia; Nouvelle Calédonie; Ethnic Conflict; Ethnic Relations; Kanak; Indigenous Nationalism; French Colonialism; Colonialism; Nationalism Introduction National identity in the South Pacific island state of New Caledonia (Nouvelle Calédonie) has evolved into three distinct forms. First, the ethnonationalism of the indigenous Kanak population is aimed at establishing a completely independent state with Kanak culture and identity central to national identity. Thus Kanaky (Kanaké) would become a fifth independent Melanesian state; Kanak cultural symbolism would become national symbolism; and Kanak languages would be regarded as equivalent to French.3 Second, French neo-colonialism is opposed to complete independence, although it may assume movement toward partial 1 This article has been revised and updated from an earlier co-authored article: ‘Nationalism in New Caledonia’, Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism, Fall 2004, pp. 91-106. 2 Alan B. Anderson is a professor emeritus of Sociology at the University of Saskatchewan, and has been a visiting professor in the School of Social and Economic Development, University of the South Pacific. Kjell Anderson is an affiliated research fellow of the Centre for International Criminal Justice, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; he was formerly a visiting researcher at the Department of Sociology of the University of the South Pacific, during which time he conducted field research on the politicisation of identity in Fiji and New Caledonia. 3 Fiji gained independence in 1970, followed by Papua-New Guinea in 1975, the Solomon Islands in 1978, and Vanuatu in 1980. 126 Alan B. Anderson and Kjell Anderson independence in the form of autonomy, while emphasizing retention of political ties to France. New Caledonia would cease to be officially colonial. Third, between these polarities there is a pluralist alternative, based on the emergence of a new identité calédonienne reflecting the actual ethnic diversity of the New Caledonia population. This alternative aims at an independent New Caledonia (but not Kanaky) possibly retaining some level of cultural, political, or economic affiliation with France. Kanak identity would be emphasized along with other ethnic identities; in other words, the main emphasis would be on multiculturalism. French would be retained as the national language; however, Kanak and other languages and cultures would be taught. In this paper we will describe these three types of nationalism, and we will discuss how they are grounded in the ethnic divisions of the population. But first it is essential to comprehend the ethnic demographics and historical evolution of identity in New Caledonia. Demographic Profile New Caledonia’s population has steadily grown to 277,148 (census data: Oct. 1, 2017). More than 40% of the total population is estimated to be under 20 years of age. Despite markedly different estimates of the Kanak population back in the early colonial period, clearly the proportion of Kanaks declined rapidly through to the 1920s, then gradually increased and stabilized just short of a majority of the total population.4 Yet in recent years the Kanak proportion has steadily declined from almost half the population (48.8% in 1974) to 39.1% in 2014; so, these indigenous Melanesians constitute a minority in their own homeland. ‘Europeans’ (almost all French) include Caldoches (descendants of early French settlers), ‘Métros’ (immigrants and temporary workers from metropolitan France), ‘Calédoniens’ (ethnic French born in New Caledonia but from more recently-settled families), and ‘Pieds Noirs’ (around 2,000 French from North Africa). The European population has proportionately fluctuated, with the most rapid proportionate increase from the 1950s through the 1970s; now Europeans constitute little more than a quarter of the total population.5 In 2009, of 71,721 Europeans, 45.1% were born in New Caledonia, 46.7% in France, and 8.7% ‘abroad’—outside New Caledonia or France. 4 The Kanak population at the time of original French possession in 1853 has been variously reported as 45,000 (Connell, 1987: 86) or about 60,000 (Kohler, 1987: 1). Ounei, (1985: 3). has commented that Kanaks declined from 200,000 during the 1880s to 26,000 by 1901 through massacres, whereas Connell suggests that they declined to 27,100 in 1921. According to census data, the Kanak population was fairly stable until the 1930s, gradually increased to peak at 48.8% in 1974, but stabilized again at about 42-44%. 5 The proportion of Europeans was declining 1901-21, stabilized until 1951, then increased rapidly to the 1970s, finally stabilized again at about 38%, then more recently has been declining again, from a high of 41% in 1969 to just 27.2% in 2014. Conflicting Identities and the Search for the Post-Colonial State in New Caledonia 127 1996 2009 2014 Kanak 44.1 40.3 39.1 French/European 34.1 29.2 27.2 Other Melanesian - Ni Vanuatu 1.1 0.9 1.0 Polynesian - Wallisian 9.0 8.7 8.2 - Tahitian 2.6 2.0 2.1 East and Southeast Asian - Indonesian 2.5 1.6 1.4 - Vietnamese 1.4 1.0 0.9 -Chinese and other 0.8 0.4 Asian Mixed 8.3 8.6 Undifferentiated 6.0 8.7 Table 1. Demographic Trends in New Caledonia, by Ethnic Group Proportion, 1996-2014 Altogether, people of other ethnicities (mostly Polynesians and Asians) have fluctuated.6 According to the 2014 census data, 13% are other Pacific Islanders, mostly Polynesians: more than 20,000 are Wallisians, who outnumber their relatives back home in the small French colony of Wallis and Futuna, but they have also been decreasing proportionately.7 Tahitians formed 4.8% back in 1976, but had decreased to 2.1% in 2014. Other Pacific Islanders in New Caledonia include a small number of Melanesians who are not Kanaks, such as French-speaking immigrants from Vanuatu (which had been the former Anglo-French condominium of the New Hebrides) as well as Melanesians brought to New Caledonia through the colonial practice of ‘blackbirding’ (forced indenture) (Shineberg, 1999). 6 They were minimal until 1921, then increased rapidly during the 1920s, declined during the early 1930s, were increasing again between 1936-46, declining again to 1962, and steadily increasing proportionately since then (Brou, 1980). 7 These numbers do not include residents of the island of Ouvea/Uvea (pop. 8,302) in the Iles Loyauté, which was likely settled long ago by Polynesian migrants from Wallis/Uvea. Faga Uvea, a Polynesian language, is still spoken, however Iaai, a Melanesian language, is also spoken. The predominantly Catholic Faga Uvea speakers are concentrated in the northern part of the island, whereas the predominantly Protestant Iaai speakers mostly live in the southern part; yet speakers of Faga Uvea have integrated into Kanak society and now tend to regard themselves as Kanak. 128 Alan B. Anderson and Kjell Anderson The remainder of the New Caledonian population consists of various other ethnic groups adding to the considerable diversity of the population: a decreasing proportion are of East and Southeast Asian origins, mostly Indonesians (who decreased substantially from 3.8% back in 1976 to 1.4% in 2014), Vietnamese, Chinese and other Asians (mostly Filipinos). The population also includes Indians, West Indians, Arabs, and others. Arabs and Berbers descended from deportees imprisoned in Algeria during the nineteenth century number around 2,000; they have become intermixed due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of the original deportees were men. Mostly Islamic, they are concentrated around Bourail, especially Nessadiou, which has an Islamic cultural centre and cemetery. The census does not really consider the steady growth of le métissage mélanésien, the mixing of Melanesians with other ethnicities; the growing mixed and ‘undifferentiated Caledonian’ population now comprises at least 17% of the New Caledonia population. Immigrants to New Caledonia were promised abundant land, and (eventually) a high standard of living. The resulting socio-cultural divide between indigenous inhabitants and immigrants is profound. In Nouméa, where two-thirds of the total population of New Caledonia resides, half the population of the city proper is of European origin, the other half consisting not only of Kanaks (who are less than one in five residents here) but also all the other diverse ethnic groups. Much of the ethnic diversity in New Caledonia is found in Nouméa; approximately 90% of those born outside New Caledonia called greater Nouméa home (Connell, 1987: 219). During the colonial era, Kanaks were excluded from la ville blanche by Le Code de l’indigènat, which limited and strictly controlled the stay of Kanaks in Nouméa until 1946 (Dussy, 2000). In just two decades (1956- 76) the proportion of urbanized Kanaks increased from 10.7% to 23.3%; since the late 1980s ‘white Nouméa’ has contained some 80% of the European population of New Caledonia, compared to little more than 20% of Kanaks—now perhaps closer to 30% in Grand Nouméa/Greater Nouméa (Kohler, 1987: 5; Hamelin, 2000: 341-2).

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