Migrants vers la ville communautés translocales et le mythe du retour au Vanuatu : le cas de Paama

Abstract

Urbanization in Vanuatu has increased rapidly in recent decades. Circular mobility has gradually given way to urban permanence as second and third generations grow up in urban centres. Migrants from the small outer island of Paama are numerically significant in the capital Port Vila with more Paamese living there than in their ‘home’ island. Few have returned to Paama, despite a substantial proportion of all generations professing intentions to do so, ‘one day’, after other goals had been realised, while maintaining economic and social ties with island residents. Constraints to return included secure urban employment and housing, access to education and health services, the location of kin, fear of sorcery and intermarriage with people from other islands, while few welcomed the challenges of returning to more subsistence–oriented livelihoods and lifestyles. Those who had returned to Paama were mainly individuals with particular social status in island life, rather than people seeking to develop economic opportunities, on an island where employment and other economic activities are scarce, and carrying capacity limited.