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Masters of Tradition

Customary land tenure and new forms of social inequality in a Vanuatu peasantry

Bibliographic Data

ID2982094
AuthorsMargaret Rodman, Margaret Critchlow Rodman (University of Waterloo, corresponding author)
Year1984
Volume11
Issue1
Pages61-80
Publication date1984-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Ethnologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/ae.1984.11.1.02a00040
OpenAlexW2054354176
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited24

The persistence of customary land tenure in a cash-cropping context is giving rise to new forms of social inequality that masquerade as perquisites of traditional preeminence in Longana, Vanuatu. This paper examines the processes through which a few customary landholders were able to create relatively large coconut plantations in the 1930s, and the ways in which some of their heirs have maintained these holdings, emerging as wealthy individuals who are beginning to follow copra production and investment strategies that increasingly differentiate them from smaller landholders. A flexible system of customary land tenure has both legitimized the actions of such individuals and obscured the new consequences of following tradition. [land tenure, social inequality, differentiation in peasantries, copra, Melanesia

Agriculture · Archaeology · Cash · Context (archaeology · Copra · Customary land · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Inequality · Investment (military · Land tenure · Political science · Politics · Finance · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

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Unique citing works15
Citations per year0,36
Citation span1984 - 2026 (43)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 15
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