Geographies of New Caledonia-Kanaky: Environments, Politics and Cultures

Acknowledgements
Contents
Editors and Contributors
About the Editors
Contributors
Acronyms
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Introduction: Geographical Understanding and “Listening” in New Caledonia-Kanaky
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Book Contents
1.3 Discussion
1.4 Conclusion
References
Part I: Environmental Protection and Biodiversity
2: Which Environmental Policies for New Caledonia?
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Divided We Feel
2.3 Three Provinces and One Territory
2.4 The Island
2.5 Their Sea of Islands
2.6 France at the End?
References
3: What Makes New Caledonia’s Flora So Outstanding?
3.1 Introduction
3.2 A Complex Geological and Biota History
3.3 Phylogenetic Originalities of the Flora
3.3.1 The Emblematic Conifers
3.3.2 Basal Angiosperm and Relictual Lineages
3.4 Major Radiations and Diversification
3.5 Functional and Taxonomic Disharmony
3.6 Principal Vegetation Types
3.6.1 The Modified Vegetation
3.6.2 Natural Vegetation
3.6.2.1 Low- to Mid-Elevation Rainforests on Various Substrates
3.6.2.2 Montane Forests and Altitudinal Maquis
3.6.2.3 Tropical Dry Forest
3.6.2.4 Maquis
3.6.2.5 Mangroves
3.7 Conclusion
References
4: Marine Biodiversity in New Caledonia and Contemporary Conservation Challenges
4.1 The Marine Components of the New Caledonian Archipelago
4.1.1 The Oceanic Ecosystems in the Coral Sea
4.2 What Comprises Marine Biodiversity in New Caledonia?
4.3 Benthic Habitats
4.4 Fishes and Other Exploited Species
4.5 Iconic Species
4.6 Conservation Challenges and Current Management Measures
4.7 Conclusion
References
Part II: Fisheries and Agriculture
5: Small-Scale Fisheries in New Caledonia: Towards a Fishers’ Perspective
5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 Fishing and Fishers
5.1.2 Fisheries Studies in New Caledonia and Their Fields of Application
5.1.3 Empirical Bases
5.2 The Fishers’ Dilemma: To Fish and How to Fish, That Is the Question
5.2.1 Who Are the Fishers?
5.2.2 Where and What Do They Fish?
5.3 What Are the Underlying Reasons for Fishing?
5.3.1 Why Do People Go Fishing?
5.3.2 What Do the Distribution Patterns of Fish Catch Reveal?
5.3.3 What Are the Motivations to Become a Fisher?
5.4 Institutional Considerations and Integration of the Multiple Dimensions of Fishing
5.5 Conclusion
References
6: “Fortunately, I Have My Field”: Changes and Permanencies in Kanak Family Farming
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Recent History of Kanak Family Farming
6.2.1 From Segregation by Confiscation of Land and Confinement…
6.2.2 … to Current Kanak Family Farming
6.3 Rural Activities in Kanak Communities: A Way to Understand Recent Economic and Social Recompositions?
6.4 Kanak Farming Systems: Still Complex and Responsive to Innovation
6.5 Conclusion
References
Part III: Extractive Industries, Mining Development and Waste Management
7: Waste Level Rise? Scales, Spaces and Policies of Waste in New Caledonia
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The Rising Tide of Waste in New Caledonia
7.2.1 Development, Consumption and Waste
7.2.2 Waste Legacies
7.2.3 The Troublesome Governance of Waste
7.3 A Central Question: Who Is in Charge of Waste?
7.3.1 Domestic Waste Management: Municipalities in Charge
7.3.2 Legal Leadership and Planning Responsibility in the Provinces
7.3.3 At the National Level: An Ambiguous Scale of Action
7.4 Devising an Autonomous Pathway for the Future of Waste Governance
7.4.1 Better Understanding Social Practices and Waste Practices
7.4.2 Re-politicising Waste Governance
7.4.3 Waste Beyond the Borders of New Caledonia
7.5 Conclusion
References
8: Conflicts and Legitimacy of Environmental Organisations Facing Mining Projects in New Caledonia-Kanaky
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Resource Governance and Conflicts
8.3 Environmental Justice and Management
8.4 Methods and Engagement
8.5 Contextualisation of Two Major Nickel Projects: Goro Nickel and Koniambo
8.5.1 Goro Nickel
8.5.2 Koniambo
8.6 Environmental Monitoring at Goro Nickel and Koniambo
8.6.1 Goro Nickel
8.6.2 Koniambo
8.7 Discussion: Positioning and Legitimacy
8.7.1 Colonialism and Postcolonialism
8.7.2 Legitimacy and Critical Voices
8.8 Conclusion
References
9: The Decolonisation Process Without Independence in the Light of Changes in the Nickel Sector in New Caledonia
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Economic Nationalism as a Response to State Developmentalism
9.3 The Stages of Mining Nationalism, Focused on Companies in the Nickel Sector
9.4 A Changing Nickel Sector
9.5 Searching for a “National” Mining Policy
9.6 The Difficulty of Imposing a Kanak Nationalist Strategy
9.7 Unfinished Decolonisation
9.8 Conclusion
References
Part IV: Land Reform and Urban Development
10: Land Reform, Conflict and Local Development on “Grande Terre”
10.1 Introduction
10.2 The History of Land Reform
10.3 Enter Land Reform
10.4 Case Study: Claims, Conflicts and Land Allocation in the Municipality of Poum
10.5 Case Study: Economic Development on Customary Lands of the Baco Community
10.6 Discussion: What Future for the Land Reform?
10.6.1 Recognising Land Legitimacy without Land Allocation?
10.6.2 Conflict Appeasement or the Emergence of Conflicts?
10.6.3 Assessment of Socio-economic Development on Customary Land
10.7 Conclusion
References
11: Has “White Nouméa” Become More Kanak?
11.1 Introduction
11.2 From a Rural Archipelago to the Hyper-Centralisation of Nouméa
11.2.1 The Population Redistribution of Nouméa in the Context of the Post-war Boom and the Nickel Boom (1946–1976)
11.2.2 Natural Increase and Demographic Transition
11.2.3 Unprecedented Growth in the School Population
11.2.4 “Greater Nouméa”: The Birth of the Hyper-Centralisation of New Caledonia
11.3 Kanak People and the City: Between Reconfiguration and Marginalisation
11.3.1 Kanak People: From the Indigenous Code to the Nickel Boom
11.3.2 The Marginalisation of Kanak People in Greater Nouméa: The Failure of the “Closing the Gap” Policy?
11.3.3 Spatial Marginalisation
11.3.4 Social Marginalisation
11.3.5 Political Marginalisation
11.4 Conclusion
References
Part V: Cultural Heritage, Languages and Education
12: Kanak Cultural Heritage on Colonised and Damaged Lands
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Kanak Lands and Languages: The Substance of Kanak Cultural Practices, the Key Target of Colonial Policies
12.2.1 Colonised, Damaged Lands
12.2.2 Contested and Competing Spaces of Education and the Transmission of Culture
12.3 Resilient and Resurgent Spaces of Kanak Languages and Cultural Heritage
12.3.1 Haeke Language and Culture: The Kanak Oral Heritage Collection
12.3.2 Nââ numèè Language and Culture: Humaa-gué and Kaneka Music
12.4 Conclusion
References
13: What Future for Kanak Languages? Size and Geographic Distribution
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Recognition of Kanak Languages and Pro-independence Demands
13.3 Linguistic Diversity and a Remarkable Geographic Spread
13.4 Comparative Analysis of Data Contained in the General Population Census (from 1996 to 2019)
13.5 The Use of Kanak Languages in Teaching
13.6 Conclusion
References
14: Transforming Kanak Knowledge to Teach Students and Train Teachers in New Caledonia
14.1 Introduction
14.2 The Current School Context
14.3 Some Worrying Facts About the Current Education System
14.4 Religion in the History of Schooling
14.5 Strong Results, Despite the Ban on Kanak Languages
14.6 From the Refusal of Curricula Modification to the Civil War
14.7 Changes in the New Caledonian Educational Context
14.8 A Rather Disturbing Record Despite a Rebalancing Policy
14.9 The EFCKs for Innovative Perspectives
14.10 For a New Ethics and a Cultural Common Good
14.11 Knowledge from the Communities to Rebalance “Differently”
14.12 The Indigenous Ethnological Conception of Social and Spatial Balance
14.13 Polarization of Spaces and Imbalance
14.14 A New Societal Imaginary for New Caledonian Schools
14.15 Rehabilitating Cultural, Social, and Traditional Cohabitation in Schools
14.16 EFCKs Grasp and Understand Reality: What is their Pedagogical Contribution?
14.17 Language and Speech: Intellectual Development and Learning Strategies
14.18 Space: The Multiplexing of the Aengeni hnameneng
14.19 Culture in the New Caledonian Educational World
14.20 Modes of Transmission: “Doing-Seeing-Saying”
14.21 The Yam Calendar
14.22 Conclusion
References
Part VI: Small-Scale Politics and Gender Questions
15: Gender, Politics and Power in New Caledonia
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Feminisms, Anti-feminisms and Women’s Organising in New Caledonia
15.3 Women in New Caledonian Politics
15.4 Intersecting Identities
15.5 Conclusion
References
16: The Emergence of an Autonomous Political Arena in Ouvéa: An Ethnography of Its Local Council
16.1 Introduction
16.2 From Being “Indigenous” to Becoming a Member of the Local Council (Conseiller Municipal)
16.2.1 Citizenship and Republican Elections
16.2.2 The Municipality of Ouvéa
16.3 The Local Council
16.4 The Institution’s Considerable Role in Ideologies and Practices
16.4.1 The Importance of Protocol
16.4.2 The Mayor’s Authority: Concerning New Elites
16.5 The Influence of Custom
16.5.1 Some Hybrid Files: The Airport Extension
16.5.2 Occupation of Space and Ways of Speaking
16.5.3 Customary “Gifts” and Hierarchy
16.6 Pro-Independence Elected Representatives and Decolonisation
16.7 Conclusion
References
Part VII: Decolonisation and Political Independence
17: Indigenous Rights or National Independence: Paths of Self-Determination in New Caledonia
17.1 Introduction
17.2 “Franconesia” or the Great Colonial Division of Oceania
17.3 The Fabric of the French Nation
17.4 The Consequences of French Metropolitan Settlement Policies
17.5 The Issue of the Electoral Body and the Referendums on Self-Determination
17.6 The New Era of the Nouméa Accord
17.7 Conclusion
References
18: New Caledonia’s Self-Determination Process
18.1 Introduction
18.2 Matignon-Oudinot Accords: A Path to Peace
18.3 The Nouméa Accord: A Common Destiny
18.4 Implementation of the Accord 1999–2018
18.5 The First Referendum: 4 November 2018
18.6 May 2019 Provincial Elections
18.7 The Second Referendum: 4 October 2020
18.8 Preparation for the Third Referendum: 12 December 2021
18.8.1 France’s Role Organising the Referendum
18.8.2 Declaration About the Future
18.8.3 Date of the Referendum
18.8.4 Paper on Consequences of a Yes/No Vote
18.8.5 Earlier Work on Re-shaping New Caledonia’s Post-Accord Future
18.8.6 The July 2021 Yes/No Argument
18.8.7 Reaction of Loyalist and Independence Leaders to the Yes/No Document
18.8.8 The Vote and France’s Security Guarantee
18.8.9 Impact of COVID: Independence Leaders’ Call for Postponement, Then Non-participation
18.8.10 Result of Third Referendum
18.8.11 Reactions to the Referendum Result
18.9 Next Steps
18.10 Some Regional Implications
18.10.1 France in the Region
18.11 Conclusion
References
19: A Critical Reflection of the Notion of “Common Destiny” in Kanaky-New Caledonia
19.1 Introduction
19.2 The Referendum Series
19.3 French Political Parenthood
19.4 The Management of French Pluralism Leaves Something to Be Desired
19.5 A Model of Society Yet to Be Built
19.6 A Reappropriation of the Commons
19.7 Conclusion
References
20: The Citizenship Dilemma in Decolonising New Caledonia
20.1 Introduction
20.2 Theoretical Approaches to Citizenship
20.3 A History of Decolonisation
20.4 The Emergence of Kanak Independence
20.5 Migration and the Victims of History
20.6 The Nouméa Accord
20.7 The Right to Vote
20.8 Employment and Social Rights
20.9 Turning to the Future
References
21: Conclusion: Future Reflections
References
Index