Malekula

By Joan C. Larcom and John Beierle

Laus, Mewun, Seniang, Small Nambas

The summary focuses on South West Bay, the home of several culturally similar ethnic groups, including the Laus (or Small Nambas), Mewun, and Seniang.

The island of Malekula, at 167° E and 165°S, is the second largest in Vanuatu. About 55 miles long and 30 miles at its widest, Malekula has few mineral resources aside from its fertile volcanic soil. Although there are no active volcanoes on the island, earthquakes are common. The southwestern part of Malekula is quite mountainous and covered with rainforest vegetation. The climate provides a year-round growing season, divided into wet and dry periods, with most rainfall occurring between November and March, while drier, cooler weather dominates the region from April-October. Hurricanes are likely in January and February.

A detailed census of Mewun in 1974 recorded 482 people; the population of Seniang was about the same, while that of Laus was estimated at 125. In all three groups there is a surplus of bachelors, which seems to occur spontaneously but has had an impact on social organization.

All three groups speak Austronesian languages of the Malekula Coastal Sub-Group. The languages (referred to locally as Ninde [Mewun], Nahava [Seniang], and Mbotegate [Laus]) are not mutually intelligible, but some residents are bi- or even tri-lingual.

The first sustained contact between South West Bay inhabitants and Europeans began in 1896 when a Presbyterian missionary settled there. As the missionary's power and following grew, the incidence of interethnic and inter-village warfare, previously an integral part of life, declined and by 1960, all people from Mewun and Seniang had moved into mission villages. Laus has remained, for the most part, unconverted, although a few people from this region have moved into Mewun and Seniang villages on the bay in the last decade or so. Colonization followed missionization as religious representatives inspired political interest in the region and the islands became the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides in 1906. For 74 years the country had two colonial governments and three official languages (English, French, and Melanesian Pidgin). There were also dual or parallel systems in nearly every domain-judicial, educational, monetary, and medical. This political arrangement, sometimes called the "Pandemonium," often ran roughly or ineptly, thereby leaving local people much autonomy. In 1980, after electing a government, the Condominium became the nation of Vanuatu.

Prior to the twentieth century most people lived in the foothills surrounding South West Bay, but missionization was the main catalyst for resettlement along the shores of the six-mile-long harbor. Today the Mewun live on the northern half of the Bay, the Seniang to the south, and the unmissionized people of Laus remain farther inland in a number of small settlements. Traditionally all three groups lived in small settlements of fewer than 50 people, with separate residences for men and women arranged around a central clearing where dances and other ceremonies could take place. Children initially lived with their mothers, with boys moving into the men's house when they reached the ages of 5-6. Since missionization, the Mewun and Seniang have settled in larger villages of 100-300 residents. Missionized villagers were required to have two houses, one for sleeping and the other for cooking, because it was considered unhealthy for residents to sleep in smoky areas. Although men and women were expected to live and sleep together, many Mewun used their two-house residences to preserve their traditional custom of sleeping apart; while women and children slept in the official sleeping houses, their husbands often slept in the family kitchens. This separation of the sexes has remained common up to the present. Traditional house styles with walls of black palm and thatched roofs made of TANGURA palm have given way in mission villages to walls and elevated floors of woven bamboo; nowadays, some families prefer corrugated tin roofs because they last longer and can be used to catch supplies of rain water.

Swidden horticulture provides the subsistence base, and either yams, taro, cassava, bananas, or sweet potatoes are usually eaten daily. Yams are probably the preferred form of carbohydrates, but they can be harvested only in the dry season. Yams store well for several months but the local supply is usually exhausted halfway through the rainy season. The traditional food remains the LAPLAP or "pudding." This is made of one of the staple foods flavored with coconut cream and either protein or local greens. The protein supply is varied, including pork, fish, shellfish, turtle, chicken, or tinned meat or fish, but is of limited quantity. Boiled rice is an increasingly common component of the diet. Cash crops include copra, cocoa, and a small coffee crop. There is little else in terms of commercial activity, but a local bakery operation and the sale of handicrafts to a cooperative in the capital city are two small enterprises that have endured.

Women weave mats and baskets of coconut and pandanus leaves. Nowadays men make canoes, but this is a new art. When the first missionary arrived, local people were still using rafts for ocean travel, but through mission influence they soon learned to carve outrigger canoes.

Trade among the three ethnic groups has rarely focused on essential items. In early colonial days, Mewun and Seniang people would hold "markets" to exchange yams with one another. Cultural artifacts, including special dances and unintelligible songs in foreign languages, are still traded within and between the groups.

Traditionally, and still true among the Laus, house-building was a male task; in mission villages it is a cooperative task involving both sexes. So, too, yam gardens are now the exclusive province of men only in Laus; in Mewun and Seniang today, women will work in yam gardens unless they are menstruating. Men and women share other agricultural tasks, and, while men do some hunting, both men and women fish and gather shellfish. Although both sexes can be involved in cooking, men usually supervise ceremonial cooking for feasts and funerals, etc.

Land is inherited patrilineally. Married women retain usufruct rights to their brothers' coconut land and may gather the nuts without asking permission. In the past few decades, some men have found themselves with few heirs but much land. To prevent encroachment by Europeans, some men in this situation have given parcels of land to their sisters' sons. However, this new practice has led to a plethora of court cases, so men reportedly are moving away from this innovation in land inheritance. Although women do not usually hold or inherit land, there are instances where women are the sole heirs of a patrimony, and these women sometimes hold and control family land until their sons mature.

In all three groups the community is divided into a number of localized, patrilineal, exogamous descent groups called clans by their first ethnographer, A.B. Deacon. Each "clan" member can trace descent from a village or locality. Place membership appears to be a stronger factor in unity than "clan" membership per se. Children belong to the place of their father, but can be adopted into other places on occasion. Members of a "clan" or place share a specific totem and a sacred place where group rituals were performed in pre-contact times. The descent group is the land-holding unit, and members frequently share food and other valued items.

All three ethnic groups use Crow kinship terms in a patrilineal descent system. This combination is unusual, found in only two other Oceanic ethnic groups.

Polygyny is still found in Laus and was common in Mewun and Seniang before they were completely missionized. Polyandry also occurred in traditional times among the Mewun. Members of the three groups occasionally intermarry. Substantial bridewealth is required; in all three groups this can consist of a combination of pigs and cash, though a Laus brideprice is likely to include more pigs than are those in Mewun and Seniang. With the current surplus of bachelors, older married men seek to control younger bachelors through their control of marriage choices for young women. In order to marry, most young men must obtain the approval of older men and use either bridewealth or sister exchange to contract engagements. Post-marital residence is patrilocal. Although women move to their husbands' land when they marry, a widowed woman is almost always required to return to her patrilocality, leaving her children behind with her deceased spouse's relatives. This move, however, may not always involve a change in villages for her. Since mission villages in Mewun and Seniang are composed of several different patrilines, she may simply relocate to a different quadrant of the village and begin to farm the land of her patrilineal relatives. Divorce is illegal and almost absent in South West Bay. The few people who have separated from their spouses have left the Bay for either Vila or Santo (Vanuatu's only two cities) where they can form liaisons with new spouses.

The basic domestic unit is composed of relatives who share food and eat from a common fire. This may or may not coincide with a dwelling unit or household.

Inheritance is patrilineal. Daughters are given pieces of their fathers' territory to use before marriage and after they become widows. However, this is usually not inherited by their sons.

Children are raised to interact with one another peaceably, so it is extremely rare to see children fighting or a parent striking a child. The threat of shame is often employed to ensure correct behavior. Most Mewun and Seniang children go to school until the third grade. While a large percentage finish primary school, only a few progress to secondary school. The resident Presbyterian missionary established the district schools in the early 1900s. Before Independence, a few children from Mewun and a larger group from Seniang went to a French boarding school in southeastern Malekula. Laus children, for the most part, are not formally educated, although a few attend the mission schools in Mewun.

The basic organizing principle is that of a common "place." Ancestral "place" commonly coincides with patrilineality, but there is plenty of room for ascription when suitable. Rights to "place" can be gained by adoption and long-term contiguity and commensality. Mission villages in Mewun and Seniang usually include residents from several "places." Members of a "place" are exogamous and cooperate on work teams; they also pool their resources for bridewealth and funerary contributions. Members of a "place" will also share rights to unique artistic creations (dances, artifacts, songs, etc.), said to be given to members as gifts from the spirit world. These cultural artifacts can be bought and sold between "places." The emphasis on "place" seen in South West Bay apparently is significant throughout Vanuatu; not only is it noted by anthropologists in other parts of the archipelago, but the newly invented (post-Independence) pidgin word for 'citizen' is "man PLES" (or "woman PLES").

The traditional political system operated through a combination of personal and positional power. A man's graded society developed in all three South West Bay ethnic groups. By earning his way up the ladder of ritual position (each one involving payments and bestowing ritual privileges on the aspirant), a man could reach the top grade at which point he became a spiritually powerful and feared person. High-ranking men were likely to have several wives, often obtained from different ethnic groups, and great wealth in pigs. Laus still has a graded society, or NIMANGI. A shadow graded society also exists for Laus women and was described for Mewun and Seniang in traditional times. Since missionization in Seniang and Mewun, official political power in the form of chiefdoms has been rotated every year or two among various members of each "place." Prior to Independence, an assessor, who officiated at the trials of small offenses but called in the British or French District Agents in cases of major disputes or crimes, represented each Mewun and Seniang. Outside the official realm, power is held by "big men" who are empowered by their ability to control large networks of kin and affines and by their speaking talents. In general, post-contact power is much more diffused among the socially prominent, political representatives, and church officials than it reportedly was in earlier times.

The most frequent causes of intra-group conflict are land disputes and adultery. In Mewun and Seniang, such disagreements are settled by long discussions monitored and guided by elected chiefs. Adultery is frequently punished by fines, levied on both parties, or by public service, e.g., caring for communal grounds or repairing public property. In Laus, "big men settle disputes" just as they were in Mewun and Seniang prior to missionization.

Until the arrival of Europeans, warfare was an integral part of life in South West Bay. Members of a descent group usually remained at peace with one another, but war could break out between different kin groups within Mewun, Seniang, or Laus. Aggression between members of these cultural groups was also common before missionization. Disputes between groups nowadays are most commonly over adultery or land. When these do occur, chiefs from the involved communities try them. Very severe crimes, such as assault and battery, are tried by the national court system and guilty parties may serve prison terms. Whenever possible, disputes are settled by reciprocal exchanges of goods or services. The object of all locally-tried court cases is the reduction of ill will between the parties, so all court proceedings tend to involve a great deal of negotiation rather than arbitrary legal sanctions.

Although people of Seniang and Mewun consider themselves good Presbyterians, they nevertheless share certain beliefs with the unmissionized people of Laus. Essentially, all three groups believe the world is inhabited by spirits, some of whom take on human form temporarily until the death of a person sends the spirit loose again.

Certain men are reputed to be especially clever in magic. Their services are sought to resolve human problems or punish grievances. Traditionally, there was said to be one shaman for each patrilocality. Some women also are said to have great powers to dream and thereby enter the spirit world where they can find ways to cure human illnesses and other problems.

Ceremonial dances, usually accompanied by giant slit gongs or drums located on village dance areas, are frequently held in Laus. For example, funerary dances, performed with puppets made from cobwebs and clay, are part of the rituals for the dead. Prior to missionization, all three groups had NIMANGI grading systems. Advancement along the ladder of grades always involved ceremonies, including special dances and pig slaughters, for each level attained. One of the most famous Mewun ceremonies, apparently defunct since missionization, was known as the "Making of Men" ceremony (NOGHO TILABWE). Performed periodically, it was believed to increase fertility and preserve the health and strength of the Mewun population. A South West Bay precontact ceremony that has been reworked into local Presbyterian ritual is a yam harvest festival, followed by exchange of yams in memory of the dead. When the first yams are harvested, families decorate them with colorful flowers and leaves before taking them to the local church where they are blessed. After the ceremony, each yam is given to someone who is unrelated to the dead person commemorated by that yam. Since Independence, when most missionaries left, Mewun and Seniang people have revived a number of old dances and ceremonies, which they researched among local elders with anthropological zeal and precision.

Southern Malekula has been praised as a center for exceptionally fine art. Most famous are the RHAMBERAMB, or life-sized funerary statues of the dead, which are prized by museum collectors. While the people of Laus have continually created these and other art objects for ceremonial use, there has also been a renaissance of traditional art objects in Seniang and Mewun since Independence.

All three ethnic groups believe that the spirits of the dead are dangerous influences on the living for a year after the deceased's funeral. Mewun mourn for twelve hours following a death and then take pains not to anger the deceased's troublesome spirit presence. After a year has passed, spirits pass to the land of the dead, which is under the surface of the earth and referred to as "dark Paradise."

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication and eHRAF document number.

The Malekula file consists of nine English language documents with a geographical focus on south and southwest Malekula (Deacon, 1934, no. 4; Larcom, 1980, 1982, nos. 5 and 7; and Funabiki, 1981, no. 6), and the small island chain off the northeast coast of Malekula (Layard, 1942, 1936, nos. 1 and 2; and Harrison, 1936, no. 3). The major emphasis in this file is on the traditional culture of the Malekulans ranging from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth.

Probably the best single document on this period is that of Deacon (1934, no. 4) which records the author's own field observations during the period of 1925-1927 with much additional information obtained from the memories of his native informants dealing with earlier historical periods. Although this study deals primarily with the southwestern region of Malekula, it does provide comparative data on other regions as well (e.g., northwestern, eastern, northern, central, etc.). Even though much of the work deals with the age-grade rituals of the NIMANGKI and NALAWAN secret societies, there is also abundant information to be found in the text on geography, kinship, marriage, the economy, warfare, birth and initiation, the gongs (which are involved in many aspects of Malekulan life), death practices, totemism, and magic. Though dealing primarily with the islands off the northeast coast of Malekula (e.g., Vao and Achin), the studies by Layard (l942, 1936, nos. 1 and 2), and Harrison (1936, no. 3), do provide some additional ethnographic data on Malekulan society of this traditional period. Other more recent documents (1970s-1980s) dealing with Malekulan ethnography are: Larcom, 1980, no. 5, examining the effects of colonization and missionization on Mewun society, Funabiki (1981, no. 6), dealing with pig management in south Malekula, Simeon (1979, no. 8), describing the ethnomedical practices of Litzlitz village on the east coast of Malekula, and cultural revitalization processes in Tilley, (1997, no. 9).

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this file, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

This culture summary is from the article, "Malekula", by Joan C. Larcom in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 2, 1991, Terence E. Hays, editor. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. The synopsis evaluation and indexing notes were written by John Beierle in September 2000.

• AMEL -- the men's club house -- category 345

• BISLAMA -- a pidgin trade language -- category 198

• clan magician -- categories 791, 614

• IGAH -- the state of being "profane", associated with women and females of all species -- categories 771, 783

• ILEO -- the state of "sacredness" associated with men and all things male -- categories 771, 778

• KABAT -- mythical beings among the Mewun, similar to the AMBAT of Seniang -- categories 773, 776

• KASTOM -- a stable body of traditions, unshared as well as shared, general concepts of -- 183

• LAPAS -- an age-graded society for women--575, 561

• LOGHOR -- a sacred place or thing -- category 778

• MWELNGGIL (MALANGGIL) -- love magic -- category 832

• NAAI SEVE -- a wooden barrier or fence surrounding a ceremonial area -- category 417

• NAHAL AMUT -- the public highway -- category 491

• NALAWAN -- a men's secret society consisting of a number of named clubs or age-grades -- categories 575, 561

• NAMBA -- a turtle shell armlet -- category 301

• NAMBWIR -- the gong rhythm of a clan -- categories 533, 202, 614

• NANGGURANGGUR NEVAT -- a stone wall or partition separating the sacred part of the village from the rest -- category 417

• NEEREW (NAAREW, NOOROW) -- a harvest festival to increase food supply -- categories 796, 789

• NELEMEW -- a formal ceremony involving the transference of pigs in connection with the acquisition of rights or dignities -- categories 796, 432

• NELENG -- a pageant rather than a religious ceremony -- categories 541, 535

• NETAMBW -- the rites of incision -- categories 304, 881

• NEVINBUR -- a secret society, more sacred than the NALAWAN, found in southwest Malekula -- category 575

• NIMANGKI -- an age-graded society -- categories 575, 561

• NIMASIAN --the death feast -- categories 764, 765

• NIMBASAR ISII -- clans--category 614

• NIMBATIN NOWOR -- a specialist in the rites of the harvest festival -- category 791

• NIMBATIN NOWOR -- the clan magician -- categories 614, 791

• NIMBEMBEW -- a large canoe -- category 501

• NIMBINBEN -- an armband -- category 301

• NIMESIAN -- death magic -- category 754

• NIVAAL -- the making of war -- categories 721, 726

• NOGHO -- a ceremony to increase food supplies (in Mewun) similar to the NEEREW -- categories 796, 789

• NU UNENE -- the child's soul -- category 774

• PLES -- an embodiment of land and people involving parent and offspring villages, clans, sacred places, localities, and social relationships -- categories 823, 571, 614, 621, 628, 778

• RAMBARAMP -- an effigy of tree fern made as a commemorative statue of a dead man -- category 5311

• removal of kinship relationships by the payment of a fine -- categories 582, 784, 601

• TEMES -- ghosts, spirits, and fetishes -- categories 775, 776, 778

Deacon, A. Bernard. Malekula: A Vanishing People in the New Hebrides. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1934.

Larcom, Joan C. Place and the Politics of Marriage: The Mewun of Malekula, New Hebrides. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. Stanford University, 1980.

MacClancy, Jeremy. To Kill a Bird with Two Stones: A Short History of Vanuatu. Port Vila, Vanuatu: Vanuatu Cultural Centre Publications, 1981.

Sope, Barak. Land and Politics in the New Hebrides. Suva, Fiji: South Pacific Social Sciences Association, 1976.

Weightman, Barry et al. Vanuatu: Twenti Wan Tingting Long Taem blong Independens. Port Vila, Vanuatu: Institute of Pacific Studies, 1981.