Vanuatu

[Twoflower]

I worked my ass off on this paper so now you guys get to read it. Or not, it's pretty boring.
Download it if you would rather http://rationalia.com/gawdzilla/ANT324re-write.doc

Geography
Vanuatu is made up of 83 islands in Melanesia, they are located between New Caledonia and Fiji. The largest of the islands is Espiritu Santo, which is 875 sq mi. (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108132.html) The islands are made up of mostly volcanic mountains and coastline. The climate of Vanuatu is tropical due to the southeast trade winds. Espiritu Santo is made up of wooded area and a mountain range and the highest peak is Tabwémasana, at 6,165 feet. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/top ... ritu-Santo) The capital of Vanuatu is Port Vila, which is located on the island of Efate.

Population demographics
There are 234,023 people who currently live on the islands that make up Vanuatu. According to the 2009 census Vanuatu is experiencing a 2.3% population growth each year. The population of Vanuatu is broken down as 94% of the people on Vanuatu are natives, who call themselves Ni-Vanuatu, 4% of the populations are made up of Europeans, while the last 2% of the population is made up of Pacific Islanders and Asians.
Early History
Very early history of Vanuatu is difficult to find. Evidence from archeological digs supports the theory that people first came to Vanuatu around 4,000 years ago. There have also been artifacts found that date back to 1300-1100 BC.
In the 1600s European explorers discovered Vanuatu’s largest island Espiritu Santo by Pedro Fernandez De Quiros, though the Europeans did not return until 1768 when Louis Antoine de Bougainville re-discovered the islands. While Vanuatu was under control of both England and France it was called New Hebrides, which was the name Captain Cook gave the islands in 1774. The islands remained New Hebrides until independents in 1980.
The discovery of sandalwood in 1838 is what put Vanuatu on the map. Although the trade started in 1838, it didn’t pick up until 1849 then continued until sandalwood was no longer found in Vanuatu in 1865. While the sandalwood trade was going on there was conflict between the natives of Vanuatu and the immigrant workers from Polynesia and cases of black birding, or enslaving the natives and forcing them to work for the Europeans. Blackbirding is when Europeans would kidnap the natives either by force or trickery and enslave them. Some examples of tricking them include inviting the natives to come and take a tour of the Europeans ships then sailing away with them, or sinking the native’s canoes then “rescuing” them from the ocean.
The conditions of the natives who were kidnapped were atrocious. The natives were either paid very little to no money at all, made to live in poor housing conditions and there was also a high mortality rate among the workers. (Philibert 318) Because all the natives could offer the Europeans was their labor they were often taken advantage of as there were no official regulations or laws on how to treat the native workers.
During the same time that the sandalwood trade was happening missionaries came to Vanuatu. The missionaries “made a poor start in Vanuatu with the martyrdom of the well-known John Williams on Erromango within a few days of him coming ashore in 1839.” (Philibert 318) John Williams was a missionary from England who came to Vanuatu in November 1839 to try and convert the natives. While there he and another missionary, James Harris were killed and eaten by cannibals who lived on the island. This was a bleak start to establishing missionaries on the islands; it took until the 1860s for there to be any sort of established mission.
After the sandalwood trade died off the natives were left with diseases that they had not built up any immunization to. They also had acquired new weapons that “made warfare more deadly, and thus, as a consequence of revenge requirements, probably more frequent.” (Bruton 366) The population in Futuna dropped by 70% between the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. In Erromange and Aneityum the population decreased by 90% and 95% respectively after the traders left. (Bruton 366) Cotton planters started to settle on the island of Efate in the 1870s. When the cotton trade collapsed due to the American Civil War in the late 1870s planters started to focus on other crops like coffee, cacao, and coconuts. (Philibert 318) The planters had mostly left Efate by1880 however “driven away by a combination of poor markets, hurricanes, drought and malaria.” (Philibert 318)
Political Status
Vanuatu has a Parliamentary democracy, and claimed independence from France and the United Kingdom on July 30th 1980, which is the same day they made their constitution public. Both a president and a prime minister run the government. As of 2009 the president is Iolu Johnson Abbil, and the prime minister is Edward Natapei. The president has a term of five years and can be removed from office for gross misconduct or not being able to carry out the duties of president. The prime minister is elected by the majority vote of 3/4th of parliament. (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2815.htm)

Family System
On the islands of Vanuatu there are both matrilineal and patrilineal decent groups depending on which island and which part of that island you are on. For example on the western half of Ambae, patrilineal descent is observed, while on the eastern side of the island descent is traced through the mothers side (Rodman 69). Marriage in Vanuatu is often guided by tradition and customs that differ from village to village.
Families are made up of parents and children; the siblings treat each other with a lot of respect and formality, with most formality between siblings given to the oldest son or daughter. The eldest are more like second parents than siblings in most ni-vanautu families. On most islands in Vanuatu when the children reach adolescents they are not allowed to communicate or be around their siblings or peers of the opposite sex unless with certain family members.
When a couple gets married the grooms family gives the bride’s family food and gifts as a type of bride price for taking the bride and the labor and companionship of the bride away from her family. On Ambrym the people will give both money and food in exchange for a bride. All the food and money are divided among brides family and once enough has been given the bride is said to be covered and the exchange is over, this is called fofoan. (Rio194) In most villages the bride moves to live with the family of her husband and becomes a member of her husband’s family.

Gender and the Status of Women
Women in Vanuatu do not have as much power or statuses as men do. They are unable to own land and often leave their families when married and go to live with their husband family. Even today women are not considered equal to men. On most of the islands the tribes are patriarchal with the women’s role being focused on nurturer and as a protector of the peoples culture and land. (Bowman 20) A women’s identity on the islands of Vanuatu goes hand in hand with the worship of the native goddess. The role women play in everyday life on the islands ranges from caring for children, the sick, elderly and disabled to domestic tasks like cleaning and growing crops. They are also responsible for making mats and other goods to be traded or used by the family.
Even though women have a lot of different and important roles on the islands of Vanuatu, they are still considered second class citizens. This is because of the Kastom, or traditions of the Ni-Vanuatu people which they continue to hold tightly too because of how much their culture is changing due to influences of the modern world. The tradition of bride price is now being used to oppress women instead of celebrating the marriage of a couple. (Bowman 22) Although women are still considered second-class citizens there has been headway in allowing female children to attend school and get the same type of education as a male child.
Women are also unrepresented in both parliament and other parts of the government. According to Women in Vanuatu, only four women have been elected to parliament since the 1980s. Even though there has been a push for women to become more involved in politics and there now being legal requirements for women to be on the council,“ there have been no female councilors in the six provincial councils since 1994.” (Bowman 23) As of 2006 there were only two female members of parliament, which makes Vanuatu one of the worst in gender equality in the world.
Languages
The languages on Vanuatu are varied. The most spoken language is Bislama, a type of pidgin language, but English and French are the two official languages of Vanuatu. There are also over 100 tribal languages spoken.
Economic Activity
Over the past five years the economy of Vanuatu has gone up mostly thanks to foreign investments, although most of the Ni-Vanuatu still make most of their living from farming and small-scale agriculture. About 20% of Vanuatu’s income is from agriculture. Most of the exports are “unprocessed agricultural commodities, especially copra and cocoa, produced mainly by small-holder farmers.” (Bowman 25) Issues facing the economy of Vanuatu include natural disasters, being secluded from other islands, mainland’s, and their dependence on few commodity exports. (http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/vanu ... onomy.html)
Currency
The currency used on Vanuatu is vatu, which has an exchange rate of 1 Vanuatu Vatu (VUV) = 0.01075 US Dollar (USD). (http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic?free=1)
Formal Education/Schooling
The education system in Vanuatu is a mixture of what was in place before gaining independence and what Ni-Vanuatu’s have chosen to use for education. In primary school the lessons and curriculum are the same, and taught in either English or French depending on where and on which island the children are being taught. The official language of Vanuatu, Bislama, is spoken primarily on the playground and in the homes of the children. About 55% of students are taught English and the rest of the students are taught French.
Although 90% of children attend and complete primary education a lot of them do not continue their education. The two main reasons students do not continue their education is because they are unable to afford it, or because they have to help support their families and get jobs. Another reason not as many students continue to secondary education is because the amount of space at secondary schools is limited. (Bennett 21-22) According to Kabini Sanga after children complete or leave school they are unable to show that they have learned anything while at school. Although access to schools is increasing, the quality of schooling in Vanuatu is declining. (Sanga p95-96)

Major Religions
The largest religion practiced on Vanuatu is Christianity at 82% (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2815.htm). Christianity came to Vanuatu in the form of Presbyterian missionaries from England. They arrived in 1839, but after the first two missionaries were killed and then consumed by locals the other missionaries pulled back and took converting the Ni-Vanuatu slowly. One of the missionary’s first plans was to send Polynesian preachers to preach to the natives, but they were either also killed and eaten, or died from malaria. It took the missionaries up to the late 1800s to convert and make an impact on the Ni-Vanuatu. The Presbyterian missionaries did not allow converts to practice cannibalism, polygamy, or worship native gods and goddess. They also banned dancing and drinking kava, which is a native drink consumed during celebrations and religious ceremonies. (Harewood 30)
The most well-known native religion are the Cargo Cults, which started back in the 1940s during world war two. Although most Cargo Cults died out quickly, there is one that is not only well known outside of Vanuatu, but still has followers to this day. This Cargo Cult is called the John Frum movement and although it had the most followers during and right after World War Two there are still people who honor and await John Frum’s return.


The John Frum movement became well known in the late 1940s when it was reported that secret meetings were taking place with John Frum, a supposed American, telling natives of Tanna and Erromanga that they shouldn’t be working for the government for free and was also acting as a savoir type. His “face was well hidden by a big hat. When he spoke it was in a falsetto voice and he said little. He was said to have told the chiefs they were fools to work for the government for nothing.” (Rice p.5) It was discovered that he was actually a native called Menehewi who was trying to revive the old ways of living and called for a boycott on the churches and missionaries. He then called for his followers to get rid of everything European in order to make the Europeans go away. He was arrested but another John Frum appeared soon after.
This John Frum called himself the king of America and “surrounded himself with armed police and organized large work-forces to build airfields, where the Americans could land.”(Christianson 94) Although he was also arrested, his followers were able to free him. John Frum was able to convince the natives to almost completely abandon the missionaries and wait for the Americans to come with cargo to save them. According to the locals John Frum came to them after they had drank a lot of Kava, which is an alcoholic drink native to the South Pacific. He told them that the Americans would come back and bring them lots of cargo.
Even today there are people who believe in and follow John Frum. On the island of Tanna the natives celebrate John Frum day on February 15th with performances and some of the natives dress in US army uniforms and do different drills. According to an article called “In John They Trust” on the Smithsonian website; “On this holiest of days, devotees have descended on the village of Lamakara from all over the island to honor a ghostly American messiah, John Frum.”
The natives are still convinced that one day John Frum will come back and give them everything they want, including motorcycles, T.V.s, and radios. The chief is one of the only people allowed in the house that is thought to be the one John Frum lived in. Inside the hut are old military artifacts including a flag, army jacket, and green stones thought to be magical and made by the gods.
System of Government
Vanuatu’s system of government is a republic with a parliamentary democracy. The constitution of Vanuatu was made official on July 30 1980, which is the same day Vanuatu became an independent country. The legal system in Vanuatu is an interesting mixture of common law, French law and British law and any customary law that tribes may have. When a law is in question the constitution is the final word. From 1906-1980 the legal system was a mixture of British law, French law and Joint Regulations.
The head of State is the president who is elected by the Electoral College for a five year term. The Electoral College is made up of Parliament, and leaders of the provincial governments. The head of the government is the Prime Minister who, following legislative election is usually the head of the majority party in power. According to tradition ni-Vanuatu chiefs have customary authority within local communities and the Malvatu mauri, which are the national council of chiefs, have a constitutional role at village, island and provincial levels (http://www.paclii.org/vu/government.html)

[FBM]

"The selected attachment does not exist anymore."

[Twoflower]

"The selected attachment does not exist anymore."

I decided to copy and paste instead.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Twofy, you know my theory on "John Frum"?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"The selected attachment does not exist anymore."

I decided to copy and paste instead.

I can park it on the server if you wish.

[Twoflower]

"The selected attachment does not exist anymore."

I decided to copy and paste instead.

I can park it on the server if you wish.

If you want too go ahead. I had to take out some citations cause I had too many url in it for the server.

[Twoflower]

Twofy, you know my theory on "John Frum"?

What is it?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"The selected attachment does not exist anymore."

I decided to copy and paste instead.

I can park it on the server if you wish.

If you want too go ahead. I had to take out some citations cause I had too many url in it for the server.

http://rationalia.com/gawdzilla/ANT324re-write.doc

[Ian]

All that information about Vanuatu will change once the US invades it in 2014.

[Twoflower]

All that information about Vanuatu will change once the US invades it in 2014.

Thats alright, I already finished the class this paper was for.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Twofy, "John Frum", I suspect, is actually "John from _______". John from Philly or something like that. The natives probably couldn't pronounce the place name (which makes me think it was Albuquerque), so they called him John From. Naturally, that would be too simple an explanation for the anthropologists, so they spelled it "Frum".

[redunderthebed]

All that information about Vanuatu will change once the US invades it in 2014.

Or the tribes start killing each other and Australia and NZ land a couple of thousand troops to sort the cunts out disarm the tribes and restore democracy and stability yada yada.

Just google Solomon Islands for example of this.

[Twoflower]

Twofy, "John Frum", I suspect, is actually "John from _______". John from Philly or something like that. The natives probably couldn't pronounce the place name (which makes me think it was Albuquerque), so they called him John From. Naturally, that would be too simple an explanation for the anthropologists, so they spelled it "Frum".

That would make sense but they have found natives who were pretending to be the John Frum persona. It's pretty interesting.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Twofy, "John Frum", I suspect, is actually "John from _______". John from Philly or something like that. The natives probably couldn't pronounce the place name (which makes me think it was Albuquerque), so they called him John From. Naturally, that would be too simple an explanation for the anthropologists, so they spelled it "Frum".

That would make sense but they have found natives who were pretending to be the John Frum persona. It's pretty interesting.

Yeah, but Occam wins this one, I think.

[Twoflower]

Twofy, "John Frum", I suspect, is actually "John from _______". John from Philly or something like that. The natives probably couldn't pronounce the place name (which makes me think it was Albuquerque), so they called him John From. Naturally, that would be too simple an explanation for the anthropologists, so they spelled it "Frum".

That would make sense but they have found natives who were pretending to be the John Frum persona. It's pretty interesting.

Yeah, but Occam wins this one, I think.

Maybe, the natives have said multiple times the only time they see Frum is when they are under the influence of Kava, which is a very potent alcoholic drink.