Plaiting the Pandanus Mat of Change in Vanuatu

Abstract

Solid Sistas (Dorras 2004), a play by the Vanuatu-based NGO and theatre group Wan Smolbag, questions and subverts hierarchical and patriarchal legacies of colonialism deeply ingrained in Vanuatu kastom. To challenge this tradition, the play imagines and practises a dialogic plaiting together of conflicting voices that creates a space for feminist and anti-colonial togetherness. As urban postcolonial community theatre written in the local Bislama language for local actors and audiences, performances of the play do not satisfy escapist colonial fantasies of the island but collectively address ever-urgent social and political community issues. In the course of dismantling the illusion of monophonic patriarchal voices, a polyphonic space of dialogue across genders and differences is imagined through the practice of wivim (weaving) or plaiting. Analysing Solid Sistas through the lenses of polyphony, postcolonialism and Oceanic feminism, this essay demonstrates a specific example of Pacific Island persistence and resistance through a close study of the pan-Oceanic art of plaiting and cultural form of community theatre.