UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The good lake, the possible sea : ethics and environment in Northern Vanuatu Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7hw7b2kq Author Wescott, Jeffrey Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The Good Lake, the Possible Sea: Ethics and Environment in Northern Vanuatu A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Jeffrey Wescott Committee in charge: Professor Joel Robbins, Chair Professor Paul K. Dayton Professor Richard Madsen Professor Steven M. Parish Professor Rupert Stasch 2012 Copyright Jeffrey Wescott, 2012 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Jeffrey Wescott is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2012 iii DEDICATION For Melody, tawa namuk tabe wun iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ............................................................................................... iii Dedication ..................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................... v List of Figures ............................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... viii Vita ................................................................................................................ xii Abstract of the Dissertation ........................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Terra Moralis ................................................................................ 44 Chapter 3: Imagining the Other: Moral Experience ...................................... 83 Chapter 4: Imagining Many Others: Kinship and Community ...................... 134 Chapter 5: Subsistence and the Possible Present ........................................... 179 Chapter 6: Conservation’s Big Talk .............................................................. 223 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 263 Appendices ..................................................................................................... 267 References ...................................................................................................... 276 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: The Erédia Map (ca. 1613) ......................................................... 26 Figure 1.2: Organization of Werere kastom nakamal ................................... 36 Figure 1.3: Werere with his kastom nakamal ............................................... 37 Figure 2.1: Baker’s map of Gaua (1927) ...................................................... 48 Figure 2.2: Lake Letes .................................................................................. 52 Figure 2.3: Conceptual organization of space ............................................... 70 Figure 2.4: Qat’s petrified canoe at Lesara ................................................... 76 Figure 2.5: American fighter plane debris in northwest Gaua ...................... 78 Figure 3.1: East Gauan girl giving food to other children ............................ 113 Figure 4.1: Configurations of commonality and otherness ........................... 139 Figure 4.2: Gaua’s Paramount Chief at a kastom ceremony ........................ 166 Figure 5.1: Taboo marker in East Gaua ........................................................ 205 Figure 5.2: East Gauan fisher ........................................................................ 220 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Comparative population histories ................................................ 34 Table 3.1: Situations and indexes of vulnerability in moral accounts .......... 93 Table 4.1: Tivönö thoughts about gardening and fishing ............................. 175 Table 5.1: General free-listing and resource sort ranking of fishes .............. 207 Table 5.2: Time allocations for subsistence labor ........................................ 214 Table 6.1: Observations of environmental change ....................................... 250 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The material presented in this dissertation is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #0903551 and Grant #0333444. I want to thank Scripps Institution of Oceanography for administering the grants through the IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) program. It’s hard to imagine this dissertation ever reaching the finish line without the encouragement, wisdom, and patience of my advisor, mentor, and friend, Joel Robbins. Every graduate career has its obstacles; mine were much easier to overcome thanks to a mentor who reminded me of the potential value of the research I pursued. Joel was there to offer guidance when this value wasn’t yet clear to me. The ancient Poughkeepsie- Syracuse bond endures. By happy coincidence, my ethnographic turn toward ideas of the other emerged at the time Rupert Stasch joined the faculty at UCSD. In addition to his supportive and instructive words, Rupert has made the anthropological concept of strangeness a little less, well, strange. Kathy Creely has been an invaluable resource for Melanesian literature and a supportive friend. Kathy was instrumental to my connecting with the world of Vanuatu researchers, including the Cultural Centre. I also wish to thank Steve Parish, Richard Madsen, and Paul Dayton for their participation on my dissertation committee and for their extraordinary insights. I observe with great sadness the fact that my research, today and going forward, is without the extraordinary insight of Professor Donald Tuzin, a valued mentor and friend who passed away while I was in the field. During my very last day in San Diego before departing to the field, Don and I discussed fieldwork, Margaret Mead, and film at Bongiorno’s in Solana Beach. Among the many words of advice he offered to me that viii day, there was one thing about which he was most insistent: “Never lose your sense of wonder.” I won’t ever forget that. My experience as a fellow in the IGERT program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography will always inform my conceptions of what is possible in interdisciplinary research. I am grateful to Sarah Mesnick at Southwest Fisheries Science Center for her guidance in the application phase, and to Dr. Nancy Knowlton for selecting me as the program’s anthropological “guinea pig.” Without the extraordinary support and advice of Penny Dockry Houston, the IGERT program’s Administrative Manager, I would still be hatching an ill-advised scheme to kayak my way from San Diego to Vanuatu. Penny found room for me in the program beyond my initial two-year stint, and it was through her kind assistance that I was able to complete my research. My undergraduate mentors at SUNY Buffalo provided invaluable assistance in paving the road to graduate study. Professor Charles Frake introduced me to the extraordinary literature of Melanesianist anthropology, and offered the wisdom of a long and respected career of thinking anthropologically about a variety of questions. Professor Phillips Stevens, Jr ably guided my undergraduate career as a respected advisor and instructor, and Professor Gail Mauner continuously challenged me to pursue the questions that interested me, rather than to follow the research trends of the moment. Ralph Regenvanu served as Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre during the early phase of my fieldwork. The road to Gaua would have been unthinkably difficult were it not for Ralph’s advice and clear guidance with respect to research procedures. It ix was Kirk Huffman at the Australian Museum, Sydney who first alerted me to the possibility of Gaua, not only as a viable research site but as a community of kind and remarkable people. Professor Thorgeir Storesund Kolshus at the University of Oslo helped to set the Banks Islands context for my own work, and linguist extraordinaire Hans Schmidt provided me with his field materials on the Nume language, so essential to my entry into the East Gaua community. Mrs. Anne Naupa, Chief Librarian at Vanuatu’s National Library, helpfully uncovered Gaua’s presence in print for me on many occasions. Chief Victor Wetias aided my transition into the Gauan community, and was a valued collaborator and cultural mentor. As my mind worked to learn about this remarkable place, the rest of me was well cared for by my family in the village of Aver. Papa John-Nape and Veve Rosion transformed me from stranger to kin before my first Gaua sunset, and Fred Mala, Filé Bruno, and Rina Rovot looked after me like a brother. My house in Aver stood about 30 meters from the