Rove & Beyond,Jan 14, 2020
Our latest travel film "DEAR NEIGHBOUR" takes you on a personal journey through Vanuatu's most remote Islands & tribes in a trip organised by Vanuatu Tourism. Vanuatu had everything we could wish for: beautiful & welcoming locals, stunning & diverse landscapes, amazing adventures and an abundance of emotions. This made for some unique experiences and unforgettable moments, that will forever be cherished and remembered as memories. -snip- Here's one comment from this video's discussion thread:
E L A I Tamani, 2021
"Dear Neighbor,
You've experienced my Vanuatu and loved it for who She is
,and for that we are no longer neighbors ,but Brother and Sister. 💖"
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents information Melanesia and the Melanesian nation of Vanuatu and showcases several videos of ni-Vanuatu (the people of Vanuatu).
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
This is part of an ongoing post about Vanuatu. Click the links found below for previous and subsequent posts on this subject.
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INFORMATION ABOUT MELANESIA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanesia
"Melanesia … is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern
Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to Tonga in the east, and
includes the Arafura Sea and a few thousand islands.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea. It also includes the French colonial collectivity of New Caledonia and parts of Indonesia – notably the provinces of Papua and West Papua. Almost all of the region is in the Southern Hemisphere; only a few small islands that aren't politically considered part of Oceania—specifically the northwestern islands of Western New Guinea—lie in the Northern Hemisphere.
The name Melanesia (in French, Mélanésie) was first used in 1832 by French navigator Jules Dumont d'Urville: he coined the terms Melanesia and Micronesia along the preexisting Polynesia to designate what he viewed as the three main ethnic and geographical regions forming the Pacific.
Etymology and name ambiguity
The name Melanesia, from Greek μÎλας, black, and νῆσος,
island, etymologically means "islands of black [people]", in
reference to the dark skin of the inhabitants.
The concept among Europeans of Melanesia as a distinct region evolved gradually over time as their expeditions mapped and explored the Pacific. Early European explorers noted the physical differences among groups of Pacific Islanders. In 1756, Charles de Brosses theorized that there was an "old black race" in the Pacific who had been conquered or defeated by the peoples of what is now called Polynesia, whom he distinguished as having lighter skin.[1]: 189–190 In the first half of the nineteenth century, Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent and Jules Dumont d'Urville characterized Melanesians as a distinct racial group.[2][3] : 165
Over time, however, Europeans increasingly viewed Melanesians as a distinct cultural, rather than racial, grouping. Scholars and other commentators disagreed on the boundaries of Melanesia, descriptions of which were therefore somewhat fluid. In the nineteenth century, Robert Henry Codrington, a British missionary, produced a series of monographs on "the Melanesians," based on his long-time residence in the region. In his published works on Melanesia, including The Melanesian Languages (1885) and The Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthropology and Folk-lore (1891), Codrington defined Melanesia as including Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and Fiji. He reasoned that the islands of New Guinea should not be included because only some of its people were Melanesians. Also, like Bory de Saint-Vincent, he excluded Australia from Melanesia.[4]: 528 It was in these works that Codrington introduced the Melanesian cultural concept of mana to the West.
Uncertainty about the best way to delineate and define the region continues to this day. The scholarly consensus now includes New Guinea within Melanesia. Ann Chowning wrote in her 1977 textbook on Melanesia that there is no general agreement even among anthropologists about the geographical boundaries of Melanesia. Many apply the term only to the smaller islands, excluding New Guinea; Fiji has frequently been treated as an anomalous border region or even assigned wholly to Polynesia; and the people of the Torres Straits Islands are often simply classified as Australian aborigines.[5]: 1
In 1998, Paul Sillitoe wrote: "It is not easy to define precisely, on geographical, cultural, biological, or any other grounds, where Melanesia ends and the neighbouring regions ... begins".[6]: 1 He ultimately concludes that the region is a historical category which evolved in the nineteenth century from the discoveries made in the Pacific and has been legitimated by use and further research in the region. It covers populations that have a certain linguistic, biological and cultural affinity – a certain ill-defined sameness, which shades off at its margins into difference.[6]: 1
Both Sillitoe and Chowning include the island of New Guinea in the definition of Melanesia, and both exclude Australia. Most of the peoples of Melanesia live either in politically independent countries, or in areas administered by France, or in a country (West Papua) that currently has an active independence movement. Some have recently embraced the term 'Melanesia' as a source of identity and empowerment. Stephanie Lawson writes that the term has "moved from a term of denigration to one of affirmation, providing a positive basis for contemporary subregional identity as well as a formal organisation".[7]: 14 The author Bernard Narokobi has written that the concept of the "Melanesian Way" as a distinct cultural force could give the people of the region a sense of empowerment. This concept has in fact been used as a force in geopolitics. For instance, when the countries of Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji reached a regional preferential trade agreement, they named it the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
Geography
A distinction is often made between the island of New Guinea
and what is known as Island Melanesia, which consists of "the chain of
archipelagos, islands, atolls, and reefs forming the outer bounds of the
sheltered oval-shaped coral sea".[14]: 5 This includes the Louisiade
Archipelago (a part of Papua New Guinea), the Bismarck Archipelago (a part of
Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands), and the Santa Cruz Islands (a part of
the country called Solomon Islands). The country of Vanuatu is composed of the
New Hebrides island chain (and in the past 'New Hebrides' has also been the
name of the political unit located on the islands). New Caledonia is composed
of one large island and several smaller chains, including the Loyalty Islands.
The nation of Fiji is composed of two main islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu,
and smaller islands, including the Lau Islands.
The names of islands in Melanesia can be confusing: they have both indigenous and European names. National boundaries sometimes cut across archipelagos. The names of the political units in the region have changed over time, and sometimes have included geographical terms. For example, the island of Makira was once known as San Cristobal, the name given to it by Spanish explorers. It is in the country Solomon Islands, which is a nation-state and not a contiguous archipelago. The border of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands separates the island of Bougainville from nearby islands like Choiseul, although Bougainville is geographically part of the chain of islands that includes Choiseul and much of the Solomons.
[…]
Genetic studies
[…]
The frequent occurrence of blond hair among these peoples is
due to a specific random mutation, different from the mutation that led to
blond hair in peoples indigenous to northern regions of the globe. This is
evidence that the genotype and phenotype for blond hair arose at least twice in
human history.[16]"...
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INFORMATION ABOUT VANUATU
From https://www.britannica.com/place/Vanuatu
"Vanuatu, country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean,
consisting of a chain of 13 principal and many smaller islands located about
500 miles (800 km) west of Fiji and 1,100 miles (1,770 km) east of Australia.
The islands extend north-south for some 400 miles (650 km) in an irregular Y
shape. The Torres Islands are the northernmost group. Southward from the Torres
group, the main islands are Vanua Lava and Santa Maria (Gaua) in the Banks
Islands group, Espiritu Santo, Aoba (Ambae), Maéwo, Pentecost, Malakula,
Ambrym, Épi, Éfaté, Erromango, Tanna, and Anatom. Some 200 miles (320 km) to
the southeast of Anatom, two uninhabited islands, Hunter and Matthew, are
claimed by both Vanuatu and France (as part of New Caledonia).
[…maps]
Formerly the jointly administered Anglo-French condominium
of the New Hebrides, Vanuatu achieved independence in 1980. The name Vanuatu
means “Our Land Forever” in many of the locally used Melanesian languages. The
capital, largest city, and commercial centre is Port-Vila (Vila), on Éfaté.
[…]
People
The indigenous population, called ni-Vanuatu, is
overwhelmingly Melanesian, though some of the outlying islands have Polynesian
populations. There are also small minorities of Europeans, Micronesians,
Chinese, and Vietnamese. Roughly three-fourths of the population lives in rural
areas, but since independence the urban centres of Luganville and Port-Vila
have drawn a significant number of people attracted by better opportunities.
More than 100 local Melanesian languages and dialects are spoken; Bislama, an
English-based Melanesian pidgin, is the national language and, along with
English and French, is one of three official languages.”…
ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEOS
With the exception of the first embedded video, the videos in this post are given in chronological order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2:
atoll21, Feb 27, 2010
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: The people of Vanuatu
VIPictures, Jan 13, 2017
Meet the welcoming, warm people of Efate, Vanuatu
[...]
Song: Jah Love Is Evermore
Artist: Stan & the Earth Force
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aroundtheentireworld, , July
2018
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #5: Vanuatu's 40th Independence Celebrations at Pacific Adventist University, 2020
ReelNesian, Jan 14, 2021
Music by: Naio Band of Vanuatu - Long God Yumi Stanap
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