Abstract
Under-educated and under-employed young men in Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital city, frequently refer to the “empty saucepan”. This is an idiom they use to reflect some of the social problems experienced in urban Vanuatu today; high cost of living, alienation from access to agricultural land, high rates of unemployment and financial insecurity. Yet the “empty saucepan” also speaks to specific concerns surrounding shifts in family relationships, often produced and maintained through a system of sharing of food. As this paper will show, in Freswota, one of Port Vila’s residential communities, families face difficulties balancing their incomes with obligations to give and receive. As such, some urban families are excluding people, those who are seen as consuming without contributing, from eating their food. This article considers some of the constraints of urban living, and what influence the emic notion of “contribution”, in a context of neo-liberal capitalism, is having on inter-generational relationships. I argue that urban unemployed young men are increasingly experiencing their parents and families as unsupportive, and as such, other relationships in their community are becoming stronger..
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call