Property and Ownership in Vanuatu

TheLengnangulongSacred Stone from North Ambrym at the Pavillon des Sessions of the Musée du Louvre

Bibliographic Data

ID2289433
AuthorsHugo Deblock (Goethe University, University College Ghent, and Ghent University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume40
Issue2
Pages111-127
Publication date2017-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMuseum Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0892-8339 • E-ISSN: 1548-1379
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/muan.12138
OpenAlexW2756859349
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited38

TheLengnangulongsacred stone from the village of Magam, North Ambrym, which was collected in 1949 and has been exhibited at the Pavillon des Sessions of the Musée du Louvre in Paris since 2000, is at the forefront of discussions among local people in Vanuatu. Their concerns center on issues of meaning and ownership as well as on the value of intellectual and material cultural property. Since 1997, the stone's original owners in Magam have been appealing for its repatriation; they wish to either own it again or at least have a connection to it by being recognized as the proper owners. Based on fieldwork in the archipelago, primarily on Ambrym in 2009-10, I position these discussions within the contemporary context of the ongoing revival ofkastomas well as the development of tourism. In addition, I situate them within the specific context of museums in the West and ongoing practices of production and sale in Vanuatu. The complex life history of theLengnangulongsacred stone is entwined with history as well as contemporary society in Vanuatu. Objects that were collected over time still belong to local communities. I show how local people are active agents in property claims over their contested objects

Archaeology · Archipelago · Context (archaeology · Cultural heritage · Cultural property · Ethnology · Meaning (existential · Property (philosophy · Repatriation · Sociology · The Republic · Theology · Tourism · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Philosophy

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