Ol man kam: Emerging governance in the urban South Pacific

Abstract

This paper describes emerging, non-state, grass-roots governance initiatives that could challenge – or at least complement and compel – the state-led strategies currently being implemented in Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu in the South Pacific. I argue that new state-led governance processes are not representative enough of a significant and growing proportion of urban dwellers living in ol man kam communities, where people without a historical claim to urban places settle in diverse communities and attempt to establish places of belonging. Using a modernity/coloniality framework, I point out some of the governance features that reproduce existing power relations – and I describe a grass-roots initiative that has created spaces for inclusiveness. The people of Vanuatu have deliberations ahead of them about how to expand urban governance, which may require them to consider the feasibility of inclusiveness against the traditions that founded the nation. These deliberations may be shared in common with other countries where custom combines with historical accident to produce urban landscapes that are both indigenous and exclusive. The findings of the paper are structured in three sections, on area councils, communities, and chiefs.