involve some land restituted by ADRAF. These will be issues
that all New Caledonians have to address over coming
decades.

10.4 Case Study: Claims, Conflicts and Land Allocation in the Municipality of Poum

We now illustrate some of the practical complexities sur-
rounding land allocation in and around Poum, an isolated
municipality in the extreme north of Grande Terre. In 2019,
Poum had 1435 inhabitants of whom 85% are Kanak, with a
density of only three inhabitants/km² (ISEE 2019). The
Kanak communities are part of two customary districts,
Arama and Nénémas, which form – together with 11 other
districts – the Hoot Ma Whaap customary area. Poum has a
unique colonial history, and complex relations exist between
small inhabited islands (Baaba, Yande, Taanlô and
Yenghébane, all now with less than 20 inhabitants over the
year, and Tie) (see Fig. 10.3). The capital Nouméa is more
than 400 km to the south and connected by the national high-
way. There is a small administrative centre established in the
colonial period, which houses a school, a post office, a police
station, a church, a clinic, a new petrol station and store and
the municipal offices. Economic activity is limited, although
a nickel mine has increased production in recent years and
there is limited fishing and tourism (Kowasch et al. 2015).
The Boaouva clan in Titch have been affected by dirty runoff
from nickel mine holding ponds, creating freshwater scarcity
and conflict with the mine.

In Poum, a particular feature of land reform was that
Guillain's historical misunderstanding of social relations
was avoided (Rocheteau 1968). The pro-independence party
Union Calédonienne (UC) is dominant in the region, and it
advocated since its creation under the slogan Deux couleurs,
un people (two colours, one people) the return of customary
land directly to the clans and not to the more numerous com-
munities (or tribu, the colonial legal construction). This was
unlike other municipalities where clan and community
claims were juxtaposed. The region formerly had several
reserves located on the mainland and the islands. Under land
reform, customary land in the municipality increased from
4,250 ha in 1978 to 8,040 ha in 2019 – 17% of the total land
in Poum compared to 14% for private property. The rest is
(New Caledonian) state land. In 2019, ADRAF's stock
amounted to 680 hectares. These lands, most of which were
acquired in the 1980s, are the subject of tensions between
clans, each defending their legitimacy as “first occupants” or
land owners. The itinerary of settlement history, disrupted
during the colonial period, is very important in Kanak cul-
ture. Legitimacy conflicts often hide political, economic and

even religious differences that disrupt discussions and nego-
tiations. In this case, conflicts still exist in terms of gover-
nance and management of land.

Figure 10.3 reveals that the largest customary land is located in the south of the Arama customary district. There was also a large ADRAF stock. Since the re-establishment of the great chieftaincy of Arama, customary leaders have clarified the place of their clans in the region, resulting in sizeable allocations of land being agreed over the last few years. By 2021, some 70% of the 680 ha in stock was allocated to GDPLs designated by the customary leaders. The appeasement of economic conflicts has encouraged the solution of customary land questions. Out of three conflicts areas in the region (Fig. 10.3), there is one that is appeased (Titch – Mouac). The two other ones still continue: while one opposes two clans (conflict area Dahote – Dahma), the other concerns economic activities in the Boatpass area.

10.5 Case Study: Economic Development on Customary Lands of the Baco Community

The Baco community is located about four kilometres from
the town of Koné, the capital of the North Province. Located
on the west coast, the three neighbouring municipalities of
Voh, Koné and Pouembout (VKP) include a growing urban
area fuelled by mining and the administrative and service
functions of the small conurbation. The proximity to Koné
gives Baco a peri-urban character (Kowasch 2012a). Baco
has approximately 600 inhabitants, belonging to 22 clans
(Poady 2021; Kowasch 2010). Since the beginning of the
twentieth century, the 22 clans have grouped themselves into
4 larger ones (Wabealo, Baco, Poawidapthia and Poaxu) to
restructure the customary organisation in the former reserve
and to help create an amalgamated community that did not
exist before the colonial era (see also Naepels (1998)). This
grouping into four bigger clans also helps to cope better with
administrative requirements, facilitating various develop-
ment projects situated on customary land (Kowasch 2010).

The land situation of the community is particularly inter-
esting. Customary land covers a total area of 4739 ha, of
which 230 ha represents the former reserve. Reserve exten-
sions during the land reform were made in 1980 (5 ha) and in
1984, 1990 and 2014 (560 ha). In addition, there are 1980 ha
for the four clan-based GDPLs, 1510 ha for the community
GDPL of Tiaoué-Pouembout and 480 ha for the community
GDPL Vai-Koohnê (Fig. 10.4). There are four clan-based
GDPLs: the Wabealo GDPL for the Wabealo clan, the Babo
GDPL for the Baco clan, the Poavidapthia GDPL for the
Poavidapthia clan and the Poadjane GDPL for the Poaxu
clan. Because of its relatively abundant landholding and its
<figure><img src="image_46.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 10.3** Land distribution and conflicts in Poum municipality. (Sources: ADRAF 2012/2014, DITTT 2007, in: Kowasch et al. 2015)</figcaption></figure>

location close to the provincial capital, the Baco community enjoys good conditions for the integration of customary lands into the socio-economic development of the area.

The Baco community has engaged, as the architects of the first Dijoud land reforms in the 1970s had hoped Kanak communities would, in several urban and economic development projects. One is on the lands of the GDPL Baco clan, where a development plan exists for a 48 ha section of the GDPL area comprising three zones: housing, other facilities and socio-economic activities. According to Patricia Goa, a member of the North Province Assembly and member of the GDPL Baco clan, “the cultural notion is as important as the economic notion” (Communication at a meeting on 26 September 2008), which means that the cultural heritage and current cultural elements should be represented in the design of the development plan. By the end of 2020, a three-screen cinema, a school of arts, a branch of the University of New Caledonia, a petrol station, a bank, a shopping centre and several restaurants and cafés had already been opened, in addition to rental housing (see Fig. 10.5a, b). For each of the facilities, a lease has been signed between the developer and the real estate civil company, including the GDPL members and the president of the clan council of Baco. The land is

leased for a fixed period of time, except for the school of arts and a future Lapita museum. As these are projects representing Kanak culture, the Baco clan ceded the land free of charge for these two projects. In return, the clan demanded that the GDPL should be consulted concerning the maintenance of the buildings. In addition, the clan asked for local craftsmen to be prioritised for construction.

Economic development on customary land such as this is supported by the North Province government. At the beginning, a public body, the SAEML Grand Projet VKP, was mandated to oversee management and to support the GDPL in creating real estate entities. The projects themselves are part of the “rebalancing” policy determined by the Matignon-Oudinot Accords in 1988 and renewed by the Nouméa Accord in 1998, as other Chaps. 14, 18, 20 in this book describe (Wadrawane; Fisher; Robertson). The political authorities of the North Province believe it is important to involve Kanak communities in the broader urban development of the VKP area, seeing this as lying between clan and national priorities in terms of scale, as well as being of mutual benefit (Kowasch 2012b). Back in 1995, Winslow explained that Kanak leaders were “opposed to the idea of individual profit” (Winslow 1995, p. 9). Social-economic
<figure><img src="image_47.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 10.4** Map of customary lands of Baco community (Sources: ADRAF 2021, https://georep.nc/. Cartography: Kowasch & Arroyas 2022. See also Kowasch 2012b)</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_48.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 10.5** (a, b) Economic projects on customary land in Baco: rental housing and shopping centre. (Credit: Kowasch 2011, 2017)</figcaption></figure>
projects on customary land in Baco straddle the line between collective and individual profit, as business managers benefit individually while paying rent to the GDPL, a collective clan entity. The sheer scale of the multiple projects on customary lands in Baco have made it a “flagship” project for New Caledonian political authorities, as communicated in the media (Kowasch 2010, 2012b).

In sum, clear clan structures of the community, and its situation next to a growing urban area, have facilitated these modern development activities, very much in accord with the economic designs of the North Province, which wants to increase economic activity in the VKP area to provide local jobs and services for Kanak even if full independence is never achieved from France. Governance structures have been put in place to manage the appearance of “historic dualism” at the local scale.

## 10.6 Discussion: What Future for the Land Reform?

### 10.6.1 Recognising Land Legitimacy without Land Allocation?

Today, as an overall balance has been achieved between customary land and private property, the land reform process seems to be winding down viewed against its objectives as set over 40 years ago. Political actors, especially anti-independence leaders, are less and less inclined to pursue land reform in its current form. However, the land claims that emerged in the 1960s and that were the origin of the reform process could not be concluded abruptly. New responses are now being sought, involving cases of economic development on customary land and the extensive involvement of Kanak clans in the mining industry (through subcontracting, employment, shareholding, etc.).

To return to our first question, has the establishment of economic projects managed or co-managed by Kanak clans or communities now recognised and validated their legitimacy? As the case of Baco shows, this can happen.

More broadly, however, the question of legitimacy refers to the clans' historical itinerary. The social identity and legitimacy of clans are established through an itinerary, as a series of places through which they have passed (Naepels 1998, 2006). This history is often disputed, and “official” land restitution though ADRAF has found addressing the complexities of historical claims and counter-claims to be difficult (ADRAF 2000). The identity of a clan is constantly constructed through social change, as on Mouac Island in the case above. The histories of occupation are transmitted orally to younger generations and at customary ceremonies

(speeches and dances at marriages, funerals, etc.). Land can also be given or exchanged with another clan for cultivation or housing, creating mutual customary relations – the host clan and the clan that is welcomed. Traditionally, social ascent takes place in a consensual way through the recognition of a clan in a certain place and the consequent modification of territorial boundaries (Herrenschmidt 2003). In this way, land claims are part of a game of influence: power relations that aim to change the territory for the benefit of one's own group (Kowasch 2012a). Amin (2004) identifies this process as a “politics of place”.

A recognition of the clan and a reshaping of the territory can thus take place without (legalised) allocation but through customary agreements. An active participation in, or a joint decision on, the implementation of a cultural or social-economic project on a plot of customary land can also represent, for the clan concerned, a certain recognition of its land legitimacy.

It is also important to remember that an allocation of land and property rights does not necessarily mean that people have the capacity to derive any material benefit from them. The quality of (customary) land impacts the ability to valence or benefit from it, and varies across the different municipalities. Here, Lund and Sikor (2009) distinguish between “property” and “access”. “Property” is about land claims considered to be legitimate, according to the Western definition linked to ownership, while access is about the ability to benefit from land and property. For the Boaouva clan access to land, clean water and the economic benefits from a mine situated above the Titch community next to the Poum administrative centre are still pressing issues, despite their rights to the land (Kowasch et al. 2015).

### 10.6.2 Conflict Appeasement or the Emergence of Conflicts?

Before land reform began, tensions were localised at the interface between the customary and the European or Western world. Such tensions were rendered more visible through land claims, which had to be publicly adjudicated. Today, many of the remaining conflicts have reverted to the customary sphere, requiring the redefinition of clan rights and legitimacies over newly allocated spaces.

The beginning of GDPL allocations resulted in the creation of new customary authorities in parallel to the existing community authorities (the clan council and chieftaincy arrangements). Decision-making power in these cases was transferred from the clan council of Kanak communities to the representatives of the clans constituting a GDPL. By allocating land to clans and families, some GDPLs have deviated from their community chieftaincy roles. A more
developmental vision of land, particularly in the VKP area and illustrated by Baco, has emerged. Socio-economic development actions have temporarily supplanted customary social organisational activities, although there are checks and balances to legitimate these decisions locally.

Several cases in New Caledonia-Kanaky have shown that starting a project with economic gain on customary land can lead to different kinds of conflict: financial, customary or land based, as seen in Poum. The majority of socio-economic projects are not individual ones but with the clan, or tribal. A financial conflict can easily emerge in the distribution of project benefits to the members of the GDPL or the village. The GDPL's proxy is often the only person with access to the bank account. This can lead to tensions between GDPL members. Different ideas and visions regarding the implementation of the project and the distribution of benefits can in some cases reawaken old customary conflicts between families or clans, as occurred in the distribution of benefits from tourism on Mouac island. These conflicts, which we should stress are not unique to Melanesian societies, are then juxtaposed with the sharing of financial benefits. Finally, the land conflict reveals tensions around land legitimacies, with remnants of “reserves” now existing alongside newly founded territories with different legal status.

### 10.6.3 Assessment of Socio-economic Development on Customary Land

In 1993, the influential Kanak independence leader Paul Néaoutyne stated that the land may change its function over time, to support activities that guarantee a fulfilling life for those who live on it (Néaoutyne 1993). According to ADRAF (2014), the future of development projects on customary land will rely on using the rights acquired by Kanak clans and communities to secure external investment: an economic consideration.

Development projects on customary land are certainly an opportunity for the integration of Kanak clans into the market economy, should they wish it. Baco's "flagship" status has shown that socio-economic development on customary lands is possible, including decision-making by clan members and financial benefits that are accruing for future generations. Cultural functions and ceremonies are still practised in the community despite the leasing of land and several "modern" development projects.

Another “dualist” transition concerns the opening up of the country to renewable energy as part of the NC Energy Transition Scheme,<fnref n="1" /> established by the territorial govern-

ment in 2016. The Energy Transition Scheme offers development prospects on customary land through the establishment of solar energy.<fnref n="2" /> Kanak clans contribute to the capital of the operating companies by providing land for the installations. They are integrated as shareholders. These economic associations were widely supported by the provincial administration as the regional capital of the North, Koné, has expanded linked to the construction of the Koniambo smelter and mine.

Our assessment is that despite 40 years of land reform, the establishment of a specific legal structure, the GDPL and positive examples such as the projects realised in Baco, the integration of customary land into economic development remains marginal. There are several aspects to this. First, the former reserves, in which the Kanak clans were displaced and grouped at the end of the nineteenth century, were naturally the locations not deemed useful to Europeans: often mountainous, far from urban centres and often with less fertile soils. Bouard et al. (2020, p. 8) note that before 1988, "European cattle farming on large farms occupied over 90% of the UAA (Useful Agricultural Area), leaving the Kanaks with a food production agriculture that was, at best 'improved'".

This situation has barely changed. Figure 10.6 shows the agronomic quality of customary land in the South Province in 2015 (the most recent data) and reveals that only Yaté in the south has good quality soils on customary land. Except for Yaté, Païta and Boulouparis (good or moderate quality), the agronomic quality of soils is mostly poor in the 12 municipalities of the province examined. In the North Province (Fig. 10.7), the situation is slightly better, even if only three municipalities have a majority of good soil quality on customary land. In 8 out of 17 municipalities, moderate or good agronomic quality is predominant or characterises at least the half of customary lands in 2012. However, a general census of agriculture in 2012 showed that 62% of farms in New Caledonia-Kanaky are located on customary land, and they concern barely 18% of the useful agricultural area (Bouard et al. 2020).

Land reform has improved the overall situation of customary land, except in the south of the west coast where large agricultural plains have been excluded from redistribution, because of high land costs. But, apart from some local shops and farming projects supported by communities, few individual initiatives have developed on customary land. The lack of security of land tenure (in terms of land claims and conflicts) and the impossibility of securing finance (loans, mortgages, etc.) are issues, justifying the poor representation

<footnote n="1">¹https://gouv.nc/sites/default/files/atoms/files/2016.06.23_schema_traktion_energetique_stenc.pdf</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/nouvellecaledonie/province-sud/paita/ferme-solaire-kotabore-ete-inauguree-746353.html</footnote>

<footnote>https://www.afd.fr/fr/la-premiere-centrale-solaire-en-terre-coutumiere</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_49.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 10.7** Agronomic quality of customary land in the North Province. (Source: ADRAF 2012)</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_50.png" /></figure>

of activities on customary land to market-oriented economic development. In Baco, this problem was solved by long-term leases and by creating a real estate company managed by clan members supported by the provincial government that co-financed (up to 70%) the establishment of business parks (an industrial zone, rental housing, a shopping mall, a small university branch campus, etc.). In general, customary lands are inalienable, unseizable, incommutable and non-transferable.

Second, beneficiaries can be hard to identify, given the complex history of land seizures, displacements and upheavals associated with colonisation. Customary authorities empowered to enunciate land rights and legitimacy are sometimes lacking or inefficient, and their members come and go. There are also legal ambiguities between customary and common rights.

Lastly, customary authorities that manage land rights sometimes show limited efficiency, according to ADRAF (2014). These are not problems unique to New Caledonia-Kanaky. Family or clan obligations can cut across the reinvestment of profits (Purcell and Scheyvens 2015). This means that customary practices appear as a constraint to economic development based on property ownership. Duncan (2018, p. 1) using the example of Papua New Guinea notes: "Around 95% of land in PNG is held by clans under custom-

ary ownership [meaning] that individuals from within the clan or outside entities could not gain secure title to portions of clan land. Thus, there was no scope for individuals to express their innovative abilities and entrepreneurship through having complete control over the use of the land... Hence, customary land, which provides a livelihood for around 85% of the PNG population of approximately eight million, has been much less productive than it could be".

Of course, this is a Western interpretation of the requirements for entrepreneurship: individualised development is considered “modern” viewed against customary norms (Jayaraman 1999, p. 9). The contemporary efforts of ADRAF, and provincial governments, try to step around pure neoliberal paradigms of economic growth and capital accumulation, recognising the chequered environmental and labour history of mining, in particular. Ecosystems and reef quality fared badly in the mining boom, before more controls were put in place. Epeli Hau’ofa (1993, p. 16) claims that the peoples of the South Pacific must “overturn all hegemonic views that aim ultimately to confine us again, physically and psychologically. It is time to create things for ourselves, to create established standards of excellence that match those of our ancestors”. This argument is in line with more distributive economies, partly based on the efficient use of common
goods and natural and social resources that people manage themselves. Local communities take care that natural resources and ecosystems are not degraded, in a form of “inclusive development”, rather than leaving these to be controlled by governments or market forces (Raworth 2017, p. 82).

Scheyvens et al. (2020) demonstrated, using examples from PNG, Fiji and Samoa, that projects on customary land can be more viable and environmentally friendly and contribute to development adapted to the needs of populations: “Customary land ownership is not necessarily a barrier to economic development but, rather, an asset that can support culture, the environment and socio-economic needs of Indigenous people”. Local development could indeed better meet the needs of Kanak families and clans than neoliberal economic projects set up by foreign investors who exist within an economic growth dynamic.

Fishing or agricultural projects, for example, have the advantage that they can combine commercial and non-commercial (subsistence) dimensions (Bouard et al. 2020; see also Chap. 6 by Bouard et al. in this book). Producers thus have the possibility of selling part of their harvest on local markets or in Nouméa but can also keep part for their own consumption or for cultural and customary ceremonies. A large survey of 1786 Kanak households representing 12.5% of the population living in Kanak communities conducted in 2011 (Bouard et al. 2020; Guyard et al. 2013) revealed that almost all families have at least one field and that 12% of the products are being sold. In this way, more “traditional” tubers and vegetables are planted, which supports greater biodiversity threatened by industrial agriculture and monocultures. The embeddedness of economic activities into the social life of the clan and the community seems to be an important aspect for the success of a project. Participatory communication and distribution of benefits, if agreed, can help to meet expectations and obligations towards the clan and the community.

Socio-economic development on customary land in Baco involves projects that are often seen as a means of generating financial income through rents by combining collective (clan) management and individualised investment (e.g. the petrol station operated by the Dutch company Shell). However, the economic zone is generally perceived as a “business corner” (Interview, 4 December 2008), even if it has transformed the habits and behaviours of the community. The result is an overlapping and amalgamation of different approaches and perspectives to “economic development”. Most of the community’s inhabitants do not want major changes to land use on customary areas. The “business corner” is perceived as “elsewhere”, on GDPL land. The mes-

sage here is that culture of sharing, and harmony with, and preservation of, the natural world, can come into conflict with increasing accumulation and production. Decisions have to be made after wide debate and agreement. Not all projects on customary land in Baco are commercial, but these shared perceptions of human-environment relations could partly explain why economic projects such as petrol stations, banks, etc. are always located outside the community living space.

## 10.7 Conclusion

Land reform was one of the main claims made by political independence leaders at the beginning of the decolonisation process in New Caledonia-Kanaky. The reform that was undertaken was extensive, and the attribution of land back to Kanak clans supports many elements of the “material” decolonisation agenda famously called for by Tuck and Yang (2012) involving the actual return of stolen land, as well as mental and symbolic decolonisation (Batterbury et al. 2020). In New Caledonia-Kanaky, priorities have gradually changed over time from a simple restitution of land to following development priorities, with partial economic integration of some customary land into an economy that still remains “dualist” in many ways. We have identified some of the challenges that remain, particularly around the extent to which customary arrangements can allow property to form a basis for investment, and a guarantee of that investment.

New Caledonia has many unique features given its un-decolonised status, but we know that alternative economic models are already applied elsewhere in the South Pacific where economic projects on customary land are integrated into the social environment of the clan and the community (Scheyvens et al. 2020). Alternative approaches distribute benefits, for example, from fishing or agricultural sales across the community, sometimes through sports clubs or religious institutions. This can be done where commercial profit is not the (main) objective but rather community well-being.

Land reallocation has played a major role in economic change in the archipelago, particularly on Grande Terre, where land was taken from its original inhabitants. Land grabbing without discussion or compensation for mining or for settlement no longer occurs. But since decolonisation has not been achieved as of 2024 (Kowasch et al. 2022) and “historic dualism” remains across much of the territory, we argue that both economic models described here – an individualised profit-oriented neoliberal paradigm and a collec-
tive, more "inclusive" economy approach – will continue to
endure and overlap on customary land in New Caledonia-
Kanaky. New forms of economic models are evolving as
socio-economic projects are established on customary lands
involving different clans and families. But we should not for-
get Jean-Marie Tjibaou's reminder that land is more than
material wealth or property.

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<figure><img src="image_51.png" /></figure>
## Abstract

During the entire period of the “Code de l'Indigénat” (Indigenous Code applied between 1887 and 1946), the Indigenous Kanak people were excluded from the capital city of the New Caledonian archipelago. With this city ban, the colonial administration contributed to the long-term marginalisation of the Kanak presence in Nouméa. In the aftermath of World War II and after the departure of American troops from the territory (1946), Nouméa resembled a small French regional town, without any real Pacific identity, and was thus nicknamed “White Nouméa” (in French “Nouméa la Blanche”). There was no sign at that time of the extraordinary demographic shift that would be underway in New Caledonia, and more specifically in the city of Nouméa, throughout the second half of the twentieth century.

This urban expansion was accompanied by ethnic redistribution in the city. After the institutional process of decolonisation that lasted for almost 20 years, the Kanak presence in the city (one inhabitant in four) became indisputable from a demographic point of view. Yet, the continuing urban marginalisation of Kanak people shows the limits of the framework that was extolled on signing the Nouméa Accord (1998) for living together and sharing a “common destiny”. The persistence of acute spatial, social and political inequalities raises the question of the place of the Indigenous people in Nouméa today.

## Keywords

Urbanisation · Nouméa · Kanak · Decolonisation · Inequalities

## 11.1 Introduction

At the end of the Second World War, New Caledonia was a predominantly rural archipelago. Its capital, Nouméa, was a small town in this French overseas territory in the southern hemisphere. Created in 1854 under the name of Port-de-France to serve as an administrative and military centre for the French presence in New Caledonia, it took the name “Nouméa” on 2 June 1866. It developed with colonisation, notably due to the presence of the Bagne (prison), but also thanks to mining activity since the 1870s. The town population was essentially made up of Europeans and of a small diverse minority (Kanaks, Asians, other Pacific people, foreigners, etc.), and it had been stagnating at around 11,000 inhabitants since the start of the twentieth century (1901–1936) (Dussy 2005). Several factors may explain the slow demographic growth in that period. The policy of land grants encouraged people to relocate to rural areas (the “bush”). At the same time, the difficult economic situation observed from the end of the 1920s made many people return to mainland France (Dussy 2005).

After the withdrawal of American troops stationed there during the Second World War in 1945, Nouméa was again a small regional French town with no real and visible Pacific identity and was labelled “White Nouméa” (in French “Nouméa la Blanche”), in reference to the ethnic composition of its population. There was no sign of the extraordinary demographic shift that New Caledonia, and more specifically the city of Nouméa, was to go through in the second half of the twentieth century. The population of New Caledonia increased fourfold in more or less 70 years (1946–2019), rising from 62,700 in 1946 to 271,407 in 2019. Nouméa absorbed a large part of this population growth. Nouméa alone increased its population tenfold over the same period, which grew from 10,605 inhabitants in 1946 to 94,285 in 2019 (INSEE-ISEE 2020).

<footnote>P.-C. Pantz (✉)
University of New Caledonia (UNC), Nouméa, New Caledonia
e-mail: pierrepantz@gmail.com</footnote>
Nouméa's strong demographic growth has contributed to the lasting transformation of the New Caledonian population. Indeed, New Caledonia has shifted from a predominantly rural society to a mainly urban one. This urban expansion has been accompanied by a large ethnic redistribution, in favour of Kanak people and other Pacific communities (Wallisian, Tahitian, Ni-Vanuatu, etc.). From 1887 to 1946, Kanak people had been subject to the “*Code de l'Indigénat*” (Indigenous Code), which forbade them from travelling outside Indigenous reserves and staying in Nouméa. Kanak people were granted freedom of movement and residence when that Code was abolished in 1946. While Kanak people represented approximately less than 10% of Nouméa's population in 1946 (Terrier and Defrance 2012), one in four inhabitants declared to be of Kanak origin in 2019 (48,071 people, i.e. 26.4% of the population of the Greater Nouméa comprising the municipalities of Nouméa, Dumbéa, Païta and Mont-Dore) (INSEE-ISEE 2020). Was this significant increase in urban population among Kanak people a homogeneous phenomenon? What is the place of the Kanak people in Nouméa today? In order to answer these questions, I will first analyse the population growth that has contributed to the ethnic composition of the urban population in Nouméa. I will then argue that although this ethnic composition has fostered the emergence of a Kanak presence in the city, it has also been characterised by significant social-economic disparities.

## 11.2 From a Rural Archipelago to the Hyper-Centralisation of Nouméa

The second half of the twentieth century profoundly transformed the population distribution in New Caledonia, by changing the country from an essentially rural population into a territory hyper-centralised around Nouméa within a few decades. In that respect, a particularly significant social-demographic reorientation took place during the three decades that followed Second World War.

### 11.2.1 The Population Redistribution of Nouméa in the Context of the Post-war Boom and the Nickel Boom (1946–1976)

The demographic growth of the city of Nouméa was, first of all, part of a global post-war boom, characterised by economic wealth (especially in the tertiary sector), urban growth, and a population upswing. Thus, in the aftermath of the war, Nouméa benefited from an exodus from rural

areas by settlers of European origin, Asians (Indochinese and Javanese) and Indigenous Kanak people. The abolition of the Indigenous Code in 1946 granted Kanak people freedom of movement and residence. Nouméa's economic rise in the post-war period and its growing need for labour encouraged significant population growth from 10,605 inhabitants in 1946 to 56,078 inhabitants in 1976 (Fig. 11.2). This trend was based on two major components: natural increase (the difference between the numbers of births and deaths) and the net inflow in migration (both domestic and international).

After a decline in the average annual population growth rate between 1963 and 1969 (3.03% in this period compared to 6.63% in 1956–1963 period), Nouméa experienced a second period of demographic growth during the “nickel boom” (1968–1972) (Terrier and Defrance 2012) (see Fig. 11.2).

Internationally, the demand for nickel doubled in less than 10 years, and so did nickel prices. This led to the opening of new mining centres, the expansion of the Doniambo processing plant (SLN) and the immigration of an overseas workforce, estimated at 20,000 people during that period (Guiart 1996, p. 245). Prosperity spread to all sectors in New Caledonia (construction, trade and services) and promoted full employment. The 1976 census recorded 56,078 people living in Nouméa, that is, five times more than 30 years earlier (INSEE 1976). The average annual rate of population growth in the period 1969–1976 rose to 4.29% for the city of Nouméa alone. By way of comparison, in the rural areas, this rate was about half as high (2.34% per year) over that same period.<fnref n="1" /> It is therefore estimated that during that period Nouméa attracted most of the international migration growth, which led to rapid demographic growth.

### 11.2.2 Natural Increase and Demographic Transition

While domestic and international migration was a determining factor in Nouméa's demographic growth between 1946 and 1976, the natural increase (the difference between the numbers of births and deaths) of the city was also paramount.

During that period, the number of births in Nouméa increased 12-fold (202 births in 1945, compared to 2412 births in 1971), while the number of deaths increased too but in much smaller proportions (131 in 1945 compared to

<footnote n="1">¹ https://www.isee.nc/component/phocadownload/category/195-donnees?download=764:la-population-aux-differents-recensements</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_52.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.2** Population trend in Nouméa (1946–1976). (Source: INSEE-ISEE 2020. The results of the censuses between 1956 and 2019 are fully detailed on the ISEE website: https://www.isee.nc/population/recensement/structure-de-la-population-et-evolutions)</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_53.png" /></figure>

539 in 1971). The increase in the death rate does not mean an increase in mortality. It merely reflects the consequence of the sharp increase of Nouméa's population (Fig. 11.3).

This graph (Fig. 11.3) shows that the discrepancy between the increase in the number of births and deaths has contributed to a significant increase in the natural population surplus. Thus, the natural increase in Nouméa rose from 71 persons in 1945 to 1873 in 1975. This rapid growth of Nouméa's natural population surplus is similar to the process of “demographic transition” that most countries have already been through. It is a historical process by which a population moves from a high death rate and birth rate to a low death rate (due to medical progress and life expectancy) and then a low birth rate.

### 11.2.3 Unprecedented Growth in the School Population

From a historical viewpoint, the demographic growth of a municipality is usually accompanied by the opening of many new schools. Conversely, a municipality with a decreasing population is often forced to close certain classes or even entire schools.

In the context of the aforementioned demographic transition (cf. above), Nouméa was no exception. From the end of Second World War, several primary schools opened in the outer suburbs of Nouméa, for instance: in the Orphelinat district in 1948 (Marguerite Lefrançois school), in Nouville in 1952 (Amélie Cosnier school) and in Faubourg Blanchot in 1953 (Paul Boyer
<figure><img src="image_54.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.3** Trends in the number of births and deaths recorded in Nouméa (1945–1971). (Source: Archives de l'État civil, City of Nouméa 1957 and 1971)</figcaption></figure>

school) (Fig. 11.1). Altogether, 29 public schools opened (or reopened) between 1945 and 1975. This contrasts with the few schools that existed up to 1945 (Fig. 11.4). In fact, 70% of the primary schools currently opened in Nouméa (for a total number of 41 primary schools, kindergarten excepted, according to the city of Nouméa's archives) opened or reopened during the period spanning the years 1945–1975 (archives of Nouméa city hall, 1957 and 1971).

The map shows that the emergence of schools progressively accompanied the population densification of the outer suburbs. The distribution of the number of new schools gradually accelerated in a concentric circle, reaching the northern margins of the city between 1965 and 1975, which clearly corresponds to the demographic “spike” of the nickel boom (see map above).

### 11.2.4 “Greater Nouméa”<fnref n="2" />: The Birth of the Hyper-Centralisation of New Caledonia

The strong population growth of the city of Nouméa has contributed to a lasting change in the characteristics of the New Caledonian population, by concentrating the bulk of it in the capital, Nouméa. Similarly, to the well-known expression of Jean-François Gravier “Paris and the French Desert” (1976), the distribution of the New Caledonian population and the high concentration of activities and services in Nouméa has contributed to reproduce, little by little, a certain form of

hyper-centralisation in New Caledonia, in the same manner as the Paris conurbation has vis-à-vis mainland France (Gay 2014).

During the periods of massive population influx, Nouméa was faced with a housing shortage and rent inflation. In the city, that period (particularly that of the “nickel boom”) coincided with a redistribution of the population towards residential suburbs in the north and south of the city. Faced with escalating prices, some people decided to settle in the outskirts of Greater Nouméa, in the municipalities of Païta, Dumbéa and Mont-Dore, feeding new migratory flows from the centre to the periphery. Indeed, in 1976, three out of four inhabitants of Greater Nouméa lived in the municipality of Nouméa, whereas in 1956, this ratio was nine out of ten (INSEE 1956, 1976). By way of comparison, in 2019, one out of every two inhabitants (51.7%, source: INSEE-ISEE 2020) of Greater Nouméa lives in Nouméa. This dual movement (rural neighbouring areas to Nouméa and Nouméa to the rural neighbourhood) marked the beginnings of what would later become the Greater Nouméa conurbation. The shift is quite clear across the archipelago (Fig. 11.5). Greater Nouméa – particularly with the fast-increasing population in the outlying municipalities of Dumbéa and Mont-Dore – accounted for the majority of the population in 1976 (74,335 people representing 55.8% of the total population; INSEE 1976).

Figure 11.5 shows that the proportion of the population of Nouméa alone tended to remain at around 42% between 1963 and 1983, while the proportion of the Greater Nouméa population continued to increase. Concomitantly, the proportion of the population living in the bush and on the Islands has been declining since 1945. The average annual variation

<footnote n="2">²The agglomeration of Greater Nouméa includes the municipalities of Nouméa, Païta, Dumbéa and Mont-Dore.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_55.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.4** Map of public primary schools in Nouméa from 1945 to 1975. (Source: Archives of Nouméa city hall 1957 and 1971)</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_56.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.5** Evolution of the proportion of the population of Nouméa, Greater Nouméa, the bush and the islands between 1956 and 2014. (Source: INSEE-ISEE 2021)</figcaption></figure>

rates (see Fig. 11.6) show a very strong increase in Dumbéa (+14.4% per year between 1956 and 1976) and in Mont-Dore (+11.1% per year between 1956 and 1976), while the rates recorded at the archipelago level are smaller (+3.4% per year between 1956 and 1976) (INSEE-ISEE 2021).

Between 1976 and 1996, the population growth of Greater Nouméa continued at a sustained rate (+2.37% per year between 1976 and 1996), mainly due to the outer municipalities (+6.17% per year for Dumbéa, +4.27% per year for Païta and + 3.4% per year for Mont-Dore) (INSEE 1976, INSEE-
<figure><img src="image_57.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.6** Comparison of average annual variation rates of the population of Greater Nouméa between 1956 and 2014. (Source: INSEE-ISEE 2021). (The annual rate of change is the average population change per year. This is the population growth rate divided by the number of years between two censuses)</figcaption></figure>

ITSEE 1996). Complex movements explain this increase over that period. The period after the economic boom (1976–1984) was first characterised by a short population decrease, followed by an upsurge. This increase of Nouméa's population was partly due to workers from mining settlements moving back to the city once their contract had ended. From a demographic point of view, the subsequent period of the civil war, euphemistically called “Events” by the French state (1984–1988), was nuanced: on the one hand, the influx of refugees from the “bush” and the Islands, who concentrated mainly in Greater Nouméa, was counterbalanced by a negative international migration rate. On the other hand, the signing of the Matignon-Oudinot Accords (1988) and the restoration of peace helped to revitalise the population of Greater Nouméa, particularly in the outer municipalities.

Finally, between 1996 and 2014, the population growth continued thanks to a positive natural population increase and significant migration flows. It should be noted that within Greater Nouméa, Païta – the farthest and most northerly municipality of the conurbation – had the greatest population growth over that period (+5.5%/year) (INSEE-ITSEE 1996, INSEE-ISEE 2014). If Nouméa remains the central city of the conurbation (51.7% of the population of Greater Nouméa in 2019; INSEE-ISEE 2020), the development of the other municipalities is significant. In 60 years, the combined population of the three outer municipalities (Païta, Dumbéa and Mont-Dore) rose from 11.8% of the total population of Greater Nouméa in 1956 to 48.3% in 2019 (INSEE 1956, INSEE-ISEE, 2020). In addition, the statistical data highlight significant migration flows from Nouméa city centre to the inner suburbs. It is also worth highlighting the recent population growth of another “conurbation” in the North: the Voh-Koné-Pouembout (VKP) area, with an average population growth of 6.2% per year over the 2009–2014 period and a total population of 13,752 (INSEE-ISEE 2020).

The three municipalities of Voh, Koné and Pouembout (VKP) are located in the North Province, on the west coast, and include two mines, Kopéto in the south and Koniambo in the north. Following the example of Greater Nouméa, the strengthening of inter-communal collaboration in the VKP area is being sought on the basis of a common development and urban planning master plan. However, the VKP entity is recent, having emerged only in the last 20 years, with the “usine du Nord” (North smelter) project driving the development of the municipalities. The development of this agglomeration highlights a double challenge: not only that of rebalancing north/south on a territorial scale but also that of the west/east imbalance within the North Province (Kowasch 2012).

## 11.3 Kanak People and the City: Between Reconfiguration and Marginalisation

Since the end of Second World War, Nouméa has been profoundly transformed by “demographic booms”. This unprecedented urban expansion has been accompanied by a profound ethnic reconfiguration, giving rise to a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. From the founding of the city in 1854 to the end of the colonial period in 1946, the Kanak presence in Nouméa remained very marginal. Throughout that period, non-Europeans could only move around the city if they held a work contract, and they had to abide by a curfew. Kanak people were not counted in the population census until 1946, the year when they began to access French citizenship. Nevertheless, it was not until 1956, 10 years later, that all Kanak became French citizens. They represented less than 10% of the city’s population in 1945 (Terrier and Defrance 2012).
### 11.3.1 Kanak People: From the Indigenous Code to the Nickel Boom

It should be noted that, prior to 1946, in spite of the restrictions and prohibitions put in place by the Indigenous Code, the Kanak presence was fluctuating: between 6% and 13% of the Nouméa population during the first half of the twentieth century (Roux 1981) depending on the need for the workforce. The proportion of Kanak people in the Nouméa conurbation increased steadily from the 1950s onwards. From 10% in 1956, it grew significantly during the nickel boom of the 1960s (reaching 18% in 1969) and again in the years following the 1988 Matignon Accords. By 2019, the Kanak population accounted for one-fourth of the population of the four municipalities of Greater Nouméa (26,4%; INSEE-ISEE 2020).

The proportion of Kanak people living in urban areas to the total Kanak population has increased sharply over the last 60 years. It rose from 10% in 1956 to 43% in 2019 (INSEE-ISEE 2020). If one takes into account Kanak people living in Greater Nouméa but who declared in the census their usual residence in other municipalities, it is likely that half of the Kanak population now lives in urban and peri-urban areas (which can be defined simply as an area with a densely populated human settlement with an urban infrastructure, such as the municipalities of Greater Nouméa and/or the towns of certain rural municipalities (VKP, Bourail, Koumac, etc.) (Fig. 11.7).

Initially, at the end of the 1940s and in the 1950s, only individuals moved to Nouméa (Guiart 1996). Afterwards, family reunions gradually took place. In the 1960s, there was a noticeable concentration of Kanak people, forming pockets of population in which several individuals from the same extended family, clan or tribe stayed under the same roof. It was not uncommon in the 1960s and 1970s to see Kanak

households of 20 or even 30 people, reflecting a form of solidarity between Kanak people in their efforts to settle in the city. At the time, there were still few Kanak people in Nouméa and renting an apartment or a villa necessitated holding a work contract. Kanak people who managed to get hired and who could have access to property rentals became gateways for other Kanak people – family, relatives and those they were connected to in the Kanak kinship system. The settlement of Kanak people in the city during that period was therefore supported by the dynamic of the Kanak customary kinship system (Guiart 1996) (Fig. 11.8).

Kanak people, mostly from the Loyalty Islands (Roux 1981), thus benefited from the emergence of paid employment and the job opportunities available in urban areas (particularly in the nickel and construction industries) in particular during the two economic booms: the post-war boom and the nickel boom (but not only, there have also been employment opportunities “outside” these booms). Nevertheless, it should be noted that in the 1970s, the first oil crisis and the nickel crisis led to a temporary reduction in Kanak migration to the city, and some, who were unemployed, returned to their tribes.

### 11.3.2 The Marginalisation of Kanak People in Greater Nouméa: The Failure of the “Closing the Gap” Policy?

In the aftermath of the civil war and the Matignon-Oudinot Accords (1988), the Kanak presence in the city is indisputable from demographic and land tenure points of view (Dussy 1998; Freyss 1995; Gravier 1976). However, it remains highly marginalised. In 1989, Kanak represented one out of five inhabitants (22%) of Greater Nouméa population and about 28% of the total Kanak population (INSEE-ITSEE 1989).

<figure><img src="image_58.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.7** Evolution of the proportion of the Kanak population in Greater Nouméa in percent between 1956 and 2019. (Sources: INSEE 1956; INSEE-ISEE 2020)</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_59.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.8** Postcard from 1950 to 1960. Kanak women's sports event near Bir Hakeim Square, in front of the French military barracks Gally-Passebosc. (Source: Nouméa City Museum 2010)</figcaption></figure>

As previously mentioned, in 2019, 26.4% of the population of Greater Nouméa was Kanak. This is 43% of the total Kanak population (source: INSEE-ISEE 2020).

From a demographic point of view, the Kanak urban population was young (2/3 were under 20 years of age; INSEE-ITSEE 1989), had a low level of school education and a high unemployment rate (Freyss 1995, p. 255) and lived mainly in the poor and working-class districts of the city (Montravel, Kaméré, etc.) (Fig. 11.1). To this day, and in spite of a desire for ethnic rebalancing policies<fnref n="3" /> (in education as well as in social and economic aspects) and of affirmative action in favour of Kanak people, their marginalisation is still particularly visible in the space of Greater Nouméa for two main reasons: social and political.

### 11.3.3 Spatial Marginalisation

First of all, from a spatial point of view, while the increase of the Kanak urban population has been significant (see above),

especially since the Matignon-Oudinot Accords (1988), it has not been uniform. In the city of Nouméa, an ethnic contrast has grown between the northern and the southern districts of the Nouméa peninsula.

In all of the north-western districts of the city of Nouméa, from the Nouville peninsula to the Kaméré peninsula, one inhabitant out of three is Kanak (Fig. 11.9). On the other hand, the southern districts of Nouméa (from the Quartier Latin and Trianon and south) appeared to have been deserted by the Kanak population (less than 5% of the population and less than 150 Kanak live in these suburbs). Between these two ends, the districts in the centre-east of the peninsula (Haut-Magenta, Aérodrome, PK4) record intermediate proportions of Kanak (the Kanak presence is between 20% and 30%) (INSEE-ISEE 2009). Beyond the boundaries of the city of Nouméa, the south of the municipality of Dumbéa appears to be the extension of the north-western suburbs of Nouméa, in which the Kanak population is very large. Apart from this, the Kanak presence still seems marginal in the other suburbs of Greater Nouméa. Indeed, the city of Nouméa alone concentrates more than two thirds of the Kanak population of the conurbation. Kanak populations are also concentrated in the peripheral communities in Mont-Dore (Saint-Louis, La Conception) and Païta (Bangou, Saint-Laurent, Naniouni and N’dé) (Fig. 11.9). Besides, except for

<footnote n="3">³In the preamble of the Nouméa Accord (1998), it is stated that "(...) *The past was the time of colonization. The present is the time of sharing, through rebalancing. The future must be the time of identity, in a common destiny*".</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_60.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.9** Map of the distribution of the Kanak population in Nouméa in 2009. (Source: INSEE-ISEE 2009)</figcaption></figure>

the districts where the proportion of the Kanak population is significant, it still shows great spatial polarisation. In fact, in 2009 (INSEE-ISEE 2009), one in four Kanak people (about 10,000 Kanak people) of the conurbation (26.5%) lives in one of these four districts (out of the 66 administrative districts that make up the conurbation): Rivière-Salée, Koutio, Montravel and Normandie (Figs. 11.1 and 11.9).

This spatial distribution of the Kanak people in Greater Nouméa is a consequence of their double social and political marginalisation. This distribution corresponds to the stigmatised districts, which have elevated levels of juvenile delinquency. In fact, even if there is no "ethnic" data for the police and gendarmerie areas, there is a consensus on the prevalence of young Kanak in individuals apprehended for delinquency. Despite the policy of economic and ethnic rebalancing implemented since the Matignon-Oudinot (1988) and Nouméa (1998) agreements, the Customary Senate proposed in 2016 a "Marshall Plan to save Kanak society" (p. 4): "... [Kanak] people have been affected. Its youth and vital forces are victims of globalization and economic liberalism, which has been exacerbated over the past fifteen years, of the mode of consumption, of an unsuitable

education system and of individualism ..." (2016, p. 1) "... In the East Camp prison, more than 90% of the inmates are Kanak, 20% are illiterate and live below the poverty line, and there is massive school dropout" (2016, p. 2).

### 11.3.4 Social Marginalisation

From a social point of view, we can compare the distribution of the districts where the majority of Kanak people live and the socially marginalised districts of Greater Nouméa. Two social criteria illustrate this comparison: the unemployment rate and the level of qualifications. In 2009, the north-western part of Nouméa had the highest number of unemployed people (as did the Saint-Louis community) with rates above 15%, while the south of the Nouméa peninsula, where Kanak people have little presence, never exceeded 5%. This "geographical" correlation is confirmed when we focus on the data relating to the Kanak community specifically. Among the 6,800 people who were registered as unemployed in 2009 (the most recent year with data on ethnic distribution at the municipality level), 45% were Kanak (i.e. slightly more than
3,000). The unemployment rate among Kanak people living in Greater Nouméa was 10.6% (higher than the average of 8.6% for Greater Nouméa). It should be noted that the unemployment rate among Kanak people has declined, since it had been at 14.1% in the 1996 census (INSEE-ITSEE 1996, INSEE-ISEE 2009).

Moreover, the unemployment rate among Kanak varies according to where they live. Indeed, from a general point of view, Kanak who settle around the east or the centre of Nouméa (such as Rivière Salée, PK4, Aérodrome, Magenta, Ngéa and Vallée des Colons) are less likely to be unemployed (with unemployment rates of less than 10%, which is on par with the average unemployment rate amongst Kanak people in the conurbation) than those in the North-West. Other social indicators (such as qualifications, social-professional categories, household size) confirm this trend: the social advancement of Kanak people is likely to go hand in hand with a move to another district to live in. However, this spatial distribution can also be interpreted in different ways. Indeed, if someone has a job, then he/she can afford to settle around the east or the centre of Nouméa.

The level of school education is also indicative of the marginalisation of Kanak people. In 2009, 33,500 people in Greater Nouméa (about 30% of the total population; INSEE-ISEE 2009) did not have any qualifications. As with the unemployment rate, there is a dichotomy between the north-western suburbs of Nouméa and the rest of the peninsula. For example, the proportion of unqualified people (no qualification and/or in the process of obtaining one) exceeds 50% of the population in the largely Kanak-populated districts (inner-city, Ducos, Tindu, Nouville and Saint-Louis) (see Fig. 11.10). The percentage of people without qualification amongst the Kanak people of Greater Nouméa decreased from 59% in 1996 to 42% in 2009 (INSEE-ISEE 2009). Therefore, Kanak people represent 30% of the unqualified population of Greater Nouméa, which seems to be one of the causes of high unemployment rates (Gay 2014, p. 127).

In 2009, only 15.3% of Kanak people had, at minimum, the Baccalaureate (high school diploma), which is far from European standards (more than one in three Europeans in Greater Nouméa had, at minimum, that diploma). Despite such disparities, it is nevertheless worth noting the significant increase in the number of Kanak who passed their baccalaureate: it increased fivefold in 13 years (only 4.7% of the Kanak population in Greater Nouméa had a baccalaureate in 1996).

Ethnic inequalities in educational achievement persist and are accentuated at the extremes: non-graduates and vocational education graduates are overwhelmingly Kanak, and higher education graduates are overwhelmingly non-Kanak. The functioning of the New Caledonian school system implies that the vast majority of young Kanak are ori-

ented towards technological and professional training as soon as they leave secondary school (Hadj et al. 2012).

### 11.3.5 Political Marginalisation

Finally, marginalisation of the Kanak people is also political and electoral. The last referendum on self-determination (held on 4 October 2020), like all other elections, confirmed the existence of a strong relationship between the distribution of the vote for independence in rural and urban municipalities and the distribution of the Kanak population.

While there is a real electoral distinction between Kanak and European settlements in rural areas, there are also significant disparities between polling places in the Greater Nouméa area. At the 2020 referendum, the ballots in favour of independence represented 23.3% of the votes in the city of Nouméa, half of which were cast in polling stations located in the north-western suburbs of the city (Fig. 11.11).

The pro-independence political movement thus obtained its best scores within a triangle connecting the tip of the Kaméré peninsula to the Rivière Salée district and to the Vallée-du-Tir (Vdt) district to the south (Fig. 11.1). These are the districts where Kanak people have settled. On the other hand, the entire southern part of Nouméa, south of the Artillery district, where few Kanak people live, gather less than 10% of the votes in favour of independence (see above).

Moreover, while Kanak people are in the majority in the Congress, the Government of New Caledonia, and in the assemblies of the North Province and the Province of the Loyalty Islands, they are very little represented in the assembly of the South Province and in the city councils of Greater Nouméa (Fig. 11.12).

This inequality of political representation seems to be explained by the growing weight of votes by proxy, election after election, amongst Kanak people from the Loyalty Islands and the north-east of the main island Grande Terre. In these almost exclusively Kanak municipalities, there are sometimes more people registered on the electoral rolls than the number of residents on the census (Pantz 2019, p. 13). In spite of migrating to the city, Kanak city-dwellers have not changed their registration on the electoral rolls and remain registered as residing in their tribe. One could understand this maintenance of their registered residence on the electoral roll of the Loyalty Islands as the real and symbolic anchoring to the tribe to which they belong. Nevertheless, such practice contributes to the political marginalisation of the Kanak people in Nouméa. This can also be partly explained by the voting system (the majority system), which over-represents the lists that come first in the election at the expense of the losing lists, which are consequently underrepresented, and that includes pro-independence lists with a Kanak majority.
<figure><img src="image_61.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.10** Map of the distribution of “unqualified” people in Greater Nouméa in 2014. (Source: INSEE-ISEE 2014)</figcaption></figure>

The political marginalisation of Kanak people in Greater Nouméa is striking since only 27 (16.7%) out of 162 seats (in cumulative terms in the different municipal councils) are held by Kanak. This under-representation of Kanak and pro-independence people in city and town councils prevents a better consideration of Kanak identity in development and urban planning projects and especially in the choice of oronyms and toponyms for public places (Pantz 2015, p. 380–381). Political marginalisation is thus partly responsible for the lack of Kanak markers across the city’s urban landscape.

## 11.4 Conclusion

At the end of the Second World War and for the last 70 years, Nouméa has changed its status from a small regional town in the French overseas territories to that of a diverse and cosmopolitan agglomeration in the New Caledonian archipelago. The contemporary makeup of the Nouméan population has been progressively shaped by successive demographic booms and by an ethnic redistribution, notably in favour of

Kanak and other Pacific communities (Wallisian, Tahitian, Ni-Vanuatu, etc.).

Nevertheless, this period of very strong population growth has also been characterised by deepening social and spatial inequalities amongst Nouméa's population. Some authors (Roux 1981; Guiart 1996; Dussy 2005, 2012) have highlighted the fact that, over that period, managerial positions were mainly taken up by European populations (both New Caledonia- and overseas-born), while Pacific and Kanak people (with low levels of qualification) have been competing for low-skilled, menial jobs.

Despite the political will to close the gap since the Matignon-Oudinot Accords (1988), the persistence of major social and ethnic disparities in Nouméa has obliterated the cohabitation between different communities in some districts (Cugola 2017). In the aftermath of the first referendum (4 November 2018) that split the New Caledonian population, the prospect of a Common destiny – although extolled in the Nouméa Accord (1998) – has never seemed so remote in urban areas in the light of the deep social, ethnic and polit-
<figure><img src="image_62.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.11** Map of the votes for independence in the city of Nouméa at the referendum on self-determination held on 4 October 2020. (Source: official results of the High Commission of New Caledonia 2020)</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_63.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 11.12** Percentage of Kanak people in the four city councils of Greater Nouméa. (Source: INSEE-ISEE 2020; LNC 2020)</figcaption></figure>

ical inequalities in Greater Nouméa (cf. above). Regardless of the outcome of the two subsequent referenda that rejected independence, these issues will now need to be addressed.

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**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Abstract

This chapter – co-authored by two Kanak knowledge
holders (a clan chief and a singer-songwriter) and two
European researchers (from political science and geogra-
phy) – discusses how Kanak communities deal with cul-
tural heritage in the present, in a context of colonial
legacies, institutional conservatism and depleting natural
resources. We focus specifically on the communities of
Bako and Touaourou in Paicî Cèmuhi and Drubea-
Kapumë countries, respectively. We first analyse colonial
policies of land dispossession and cultural oppression, as
well as the ongoing inadequate support for Kanak lan-
guages from school institutions. We then discuss the ways
in which grassroots initiatives testify to resilient and
resurgent spaces for Kanak languages and cultural heri-
tage in such contexts, by taking the example of (1) the
work of the Agency for the Development of Kanak
Culture (ADCK) to record oral histories, myths and top-
onyms as important identity markers and (2) Kaneka
music as a contemporary transmitter of Kanak languages
and cultural practices. In addition to the collection of top-
onyms in Kanak communities, Kaneka music is popular
amongst young people and elders. Bands such as Humaa-
gué from Touaourou provide songs engaging with colo-

nial history, Kanak cultural life and practices, the mining
industry and current sociopolitical issues. We draw the
conclusion that the educational institution responds inad-
equately to Kanak needs, and initiatives undertaken by
Kanak people at the grassroots level are key to the con-
tinuance of Kanak languages, cultural heritage and
practices.

Keywords

Kanak cultural heritage · Toponyms · Customary land · Paicî-Cèmuhi · Bako · Kaneka music · Humaa-gué

**12.1 Introduction**

The preamble to the Nouméa Accord signed in 1998 by the French State, loyalist and pro-independence parties declares that, with settler colonisation,

Kanak social organising, even though it was recognised in prin-
ciples, was drastically disrupted. Population displacements
destructured it, ignorance or power strategies too often led to
the denial of legitimate authorities and to the establishment of
authorities bereft of any legitimacy according to Custom, which
exacerbated identity-based trauma.

Simultaneously, Kanak cultural heritage was negated or plun-
dered. Limitations of public liberties and an absence of political
rights added up to this negation of the fundamental elements of
Kanak identity, even as Kanak people had suffered heavy losses
to defend France, especially during the First World War.

This chapter discusses the disruption and devastation of
Kanak culture in the colonial period. We interrogate the per-
sistence and continuing consequences of this period, as well
as the cultural revival initiated by Kanak people in the last
few decades. Based on the examples of Kanak languages
(see Chap. 13 by Leblic in this book) and toponyms, Kaneka
music and the construction of traditional houses (including a
specific example of the tending of straw), we will explain

A. C. Poady
Environmental Association Environord, Nouméa, New Caledonia
e-mail: poady.antoine@gmail.com

C. Ouetcho
Singer-songwriter of Humaa-gué, Nouméa, New Caledonia
e-mail: mylaouetcho@gmail.com

A. Stastny
University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
e-mail: angelique.stastny@gmail.com

M. Kowasch (✉)
University College of Teacher Education Styria, Graz, Austria

Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Hamar, Norway
e-mail: matthias.kowasch@phst.at
how Kanak people deal with cultural heritage in the present. Cultural heritage depends on two core elements to be passed on: land and language. Land is fundamental to Kanak culture and cultural revival and therefore crucial to our testimony and reflection. The question of contemporary Kanak cultural heritage and cultural revival needs to be understood in the context of a lived environment that has been occupied by settler colonists and institutions, industrialised, and in some places deeply damaged ecologically. Access to, and the current condition of, lands and resources impacts the ways in which Kanak clans and communities carry on culture and pass on their heritage to the younger generations. The extent to which Kanak people and clans embrace industrialisation and commodification also influences the continuation or shifts in cultural practices over time. A culture thrives most potently in and through language. Kanak languages have borne the brunt of past policies banning their use and publication across several generations, and a general attitudinal deprecation of their importance. Policies in the last three decades have slowly and partially integrated several Kanak languages in the French school system. However, the continuing challenges that they face and their de facto lesser status (in comparison to French) require amplified mobilisation from Kanak clans and communities.

This chapter is co-authored between the four of us. We each have distinct background and relation to both Kanak cultural heritage and Kanaky more widely. Antoine Cano Poady is a former cultural collector for ADCK (Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture) and president of the environmental association “Environord”. He has great knowledge of the Haeke language, and on clan migration, the history of sacred and cultural places, and cultural heritage in Paicî-Cèmuhi country. Cano lives in the community of Bako,<fnref n="1" /> close to Koohnê (Kone), the capital of the North Province. Chanel Ouetcho is a singer, composer and one of the founding members of the Kaneka band Humaa-gué from Yaté. He lives with his family in the community of Touaourou in the South of Grande Terre. Matthias Kowasch is a professor of geographical education at University College of Teacher Education in Graz (Austria). He grew up in Germany and lived for around 4 years in New Caledonia-Kanaky where he taught at university and did research at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD). He was welcomed by the Poady clan in Bako, where he built close relationships. Angelique Stastny is a postdoctoral researcher in political science. She is from Europe and grew up in France. She lived on Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung Countries in Narrm (Melbourne), Australia, for 7 years, a time during which she regularly went to Kanaky for her research and wove personal relationships. She engages with issues relat-

ing to settler colonialism, whiteness and racism, Indigenous sovereignty and decolonisation.

Our discussion of Kanak cultural heritage – and of two of its constituting elements, land and language – therefore focuses on the communities of Bako and Touaourou in Paicî Cèmuhi and Drubea-Kapumë countries, respectively. While it attends to Kanak cultural heritage and practices of cultural revival that are specific to, or emerged in, these areas, our reflection also draws on the broader settler colonial historical and contemporary contexts in which they have been inscribed. This chapter is organised into two main sections. We will first analyse the ways in which Kanak lands and languages – the substance of Kanak cultural practices – have been the key target of colonial policies and their continuing impact on the practice and transmission of Kanak culture. We will then demonstrate how, in this context, Kanak people have and continue to create resilient and resurgent spaces where languages and cultural heritage can survive and thrive. We focus specifically on Haeke language and culture through the work of the Kanak Oral Heritage Collection in Bako (Paicî Cèmuhi country) and the Nââ numèè language and culture through the art of the Kaneka band Humaa-gué (Drubea-Kapumë country).

## 12.2 Kanak Lands and Languages: The Substance of Kanak Cultural Practices, the Key Target of Colonial Policies

### 12.2.1 Colonised, Damaged Lands

The French-led colonisation of New Caledonia-Kanaky began in 1853 in Hoot ma Waap country, and invasion spread across the main island (Grande Terre) over the following decades. These invasions were met with resistance. Indigenous-settler relations were often marked by brutal physical violence. Mobile columns (*colonnes mobiles*), composed of colonial troops, European settlers and Kanak auxiliaries, were sent to crush the resistance. Settlers used a scorched-earth military strategy, destroying communities and plantations, to starve out Kanak people on the main island (Foucher 1890). From the 1850s to the 1870s, there were “frequent uprisings” (Dousset-Leenhardt 1998, pp. 127–159) and “constant military expeditions” (Saussol 1988, p. 41). Armed conflicts and wars went on for many decades and continued to occur sporadically in the twentieth century, notably in 1878, 1917 and in 1984–1988. Kanak resistance over the decades has been dealt with by means of imprisonment, massacre, capital punishment, displacement and exile. Deploying Social Darwinist theories for colonial ends, the French administration confiscated Kanak land and seas and attempted to exterminate some Kanak clans.

<footnote n="1">¹In this chapter, we use Kanak place names and toponyms: Bako instead of Baco in French, Koohnê instead of Koné in French.</footnote>
Colonisation led to forms of genocide, land dispossession and loss of languages and cultures. According to Alain Saussol (1985, p. 1616), the extent of lands stolen by the French state and granted to settlers increased from 1000 to 230,000 ha between 1860 and 1878. Later, a land tenure system gave 25 ha freely to European children exclusively when they became of age. European landownership increased from 240,000 ha in 1893 to 400,000 ha in 1978 (Saussol 1985, p. 1618). The pace, intensity and geography of spatial appropriation (and expropriation) varied from place to place and over the course of time. Yet, throughout, colonisation disrupted Kanak societal structures, displaced entire peoples and disempowered existing political organisation.

From the second half of the nineteenth century and following episodes of brutal colonial conflicts and wars, the French administration moved to create Indigenous reserves to “pacify” Kanak people through confinement and control and to facilitate land dispossession. Such procedures were called policies of “cantonment” (cantonnement) (Bensa 1990; Merle 2000; Kowasch 2010). The Indigenous Code (Code de l'Indigénat) applied across the territory from 1887 to 1946 aimed at heavily controlling Kanak people in their movement, work and forms of association. Perceived as “primitive” and “savage”, Kanak people were forced to work on the plantations of European settlers and suffered from discrimination and violence. They were not allowed to leave their reserves without the permission of the colonial administration. Based on the Australian model, France attempted to develop the basis of a new society that welcomed both “sentenced” and “honest” French or francophone migrants (Merle 2000, p. 230).

The reserve system and Indigenous Code led to both land and cultural dispossession for Kanak people. In Kanak cultures, land is not apprehended as an objective reality of property, but as a cultural identification (Kowasch et al. 2015). Jean-Marie Tjibaou, a Kanak pro-independence leader, murdered in 1989, once said that “a clan that loses its land, loses its personality” (Tjibaou and Missotte 1976, p. 60). Geographer Jean-Pierre Doumenge (1982) described land as an identity card, a place where the totem acts, and the ancestors rest in peace. The social identity of Kanak clans is built on the clan's history. It is registered in space, as a series of places where the itinerant group passed through and lived. Therefore, the dispossession of land constitutes a loss of identity.

After unabated demands by Kanak people for the restitution of their lands, the Government launched land reform on the main island “Grande Terre” in 1978. This measure was furthered when Tjibaou, at the head of the Government Council (Conseil de Gouvernement) of New Caledonia between 1982 and 1984, established two institutions that promoted Kanak cultures and political rights: the Kanak Technical and Scientific Cultural Office (Office culturel

scientifique et technique kanak) and the Land Office (Office foncier). In the beginning, the restitution of land was determined by the development of economic projects to take place on it (see, e.g. Leblic 1993). As of 1999, however, returned customary lands (terres coutumières) became inalienable, unseizable, incommutable and non-transferable, based on the model of the customary reserves. The aim was to disconnect the restitution of land from economic development, which the authorities realised does not grasp the importance of land claims by Kanak clans. The proportion of customary land on “Grande Terre” increased from 10% in 1978 to 18% in 2010 and to 19.3% in 2019 (ADRAF 2019a; Kowasch et al. 2015). Considering that the Loyalty Islands Province was always “customary land”, the distribution of the territory’s total land area shows that 15.8% of New Caledonia-Kanaky are private land plots, 27.4% are defined as customary land, 46.9% are territorial public land and the rest is State, provincial and municipality land. Finally, 0.4% are still in the hands of ADRAF, which aims to return this remaining portion (ADRAF 2019b) (see Chap. 10 by Batterbury et al. in this book). Bako is a Kanak community which managed to get large plots of land returned to its clans. While, in 1980, the people of Bako only had 800 ha of customary land, this rose to 5000 ha in 2017 (VKP Infos 2018a). The huge land area, proximity to the capital of the North Province (Koohnê) and to the territorial road No. 1 (which connects Koohnê with Nouméa) have resulted in a multitude of economic projects (e.g. a cinema, rental housing, a shopping mall) on the customary lands of Bako (Kowasch 2010, 2011). Those projects explain why Bako is often described as “flagship” for development on customary land in New Caledonia-Kanaky (Kowasch 2018).

Despite the Bako example, the colonial theft of Kanak lands and the slow and insufficient restitution to date, accompanied by poor management from medium- and large-scale farmers and industrialists over the decades, means that Kanak people on “Grande Terre” hold inadequate, and often low fertility lands and resources to continue ancestral cultural practices in a suitable and a thriving environment. The challenges that people face today in Drubea-Kapumë country to build a Kanak house is a telling example of such issues.

Building Kanak houses is the embodiment of social and political organising and consensus. At the basis is the common ancestor that built the ancestral home, to which all patrilineal descendants belong. Each clan is connected to land, and Kanak houses are built and positioned hierarchically according to their time of occupancy (Boulay et al. 1990, p. 18; Tjibaou 2004, p. 93). In a communal Kanak house, the elders are its foundations; the clans are represented by the surrounding wooden poles and the beams that support the great central pole, which symbolises the chief. All elements are tied together and reflect the relations between distinct groups that gathered to build a unified and stabilised social and political system
(Boulay et al. 1990, p. 19). Architecturally, Kanak houses differ in shape (round, oblong, rectangular) and materials, depending on their purpose and their location. The shape of, and materials used in, Kanak houses have been known for their thermal, aesthetic and architectural qualities, which also make them specifically resistant to cyclones. Yet, in the 1930s, the Department of Indigenous Affairs ordered the destruction of Kanak houses to be replaced by rectangular European-style houses, under the pretext that Kanak houses were unhealthy (ADCK 2007, pp. 62–67). These newly built houses were, however, badly built and insulated. From the 1950s, natural materials were increasingly replaced with cement and corrugated iron (Tjibaou 2004, p. 95). Nowadays, both housing types coexist, and it is common to build a Kanak house along with a European-style rectangular one. Nonetheless, the number of Kanak houses has been on the wane (see Table 12.1). While Kanak houses made up almost one quarter of residential homes in 1989, recent surveys notice that “they have disappeared almost everywhere, except for the Loyalty Islands and the northern part of the Grand Terre’s East Coast” (ISSE-TEC 2016, p. 58). In 2014, only 1% of households lived in “traditional” Kanak houses (Broustet 2014, p. 1).

Traditional housing design, as an expression of Kanak identity, needs to be reaffirmed. Yet, continuing the practise also faces several contemporary challenges. These broader challenges are to do with the ecological destruction that has resulted from colonisation and land exploitation (mining, forestry, etc.). Despite improvements in environmental performance and the restitution of land, traditional (ecological) practices, including construction, are still viewed as backward-looking and ineffective. We see this in school textbooks, for example, as argued by Stastny and Kowasch (2022).

In Bako, Paicî Cèmuhi country, as well as in other customary areas, the building of Kanak house depends on working with and tending straw, and this is also a key element of Kanak identity. The following section describes this in Haeke, a language that is only spoken in the community of Bako (although there are some dialects such as Bwatoo and Haveke in other communities), approximately 4 km away from Koohnê, the capital of the North Province.

## Ni vaa na mwathâng

1. A mwathâng je ta hngia a mau ka mwa koon.

2. Nya thipo lu ma doop, ka je cine ni gomwa koon.

3. Je cabwin a juu xuu ca mwathâng.

4. Fitia a mwathâng pwa bala zhee, cia ngibu ca voxa.

5. Fitia mwathâng pwa e zhee, la na bwoa ci pa go xha hame la ai ma pi bwalike.

6. Je wi moathâng, pulane je xatékéa tchiéne tchixate pulane je bala vaa Koohnê.

7. Thitake ma je wii mwathâng, na bwa cau bweezhila.

8. Thitake ma je wii mwathâng, ce la ma je pi cami a thia.

9. A mwathâng je cine a xu ka je nya ca tââ.

10. Fwa nicin ko a mwathâng, ko hmâine ni vaa ne ân.

## Tending the Straw

1. The straw allows us to cover the roof of the Kanak house and home.

2. To make some cob, we need to mix it with some soil: this allows us to build walls to close the house.

3. We cover the true yams with the straw to preserve them.

4. In the field, we tie a piece of straw on a stick of wood. We then peg it into the ground to signpost a prohibition.

5. We also tie a few twigs on a tree to indicate that we are passing through for the first time.

6. We pull the straw out of the ground, and we dry it for three days. We will then be able to work it.

7. It is forbidden to pull it out if we haven't eaten the new yam yet.

8. It is forbidden to pull it out if we have already planted the yam field.

9. We cover the yam with the straw and we put it into the oven.

10. Straw is precious and has multiple uses. It must therefore be respected.

The word for straw in Numèè language, in Drubea-Kapumë country in the South Province, is “nian”, which also means “custom”. That’s why we say “A nian mën gné réa” (“The straw hasn’t arrived yet”, which means that “the customary gesture hasn’t been made”).

To build a Kanak house, we need a central pole and, depending on the size of the house, between 6 and 12 poles to hold the roof structure. These various poles need to be very hard wood so as not to rot when in contact with the earth. The types of wood we use are, for example, the “wiya” (Alphitonia neocaledonia), the “teu” (gum oak) and other resistant woods. If it is a communal house, the central pole signifies the chief and the clans that make up the community. Because of colonisation and other related factors (land-based conflicts, the displacement of clans and the introduction of “modern” materials), Kanak communal houses are no longer seen in many communities.

<table><caption>**Table 12.1** Number of “traditional” Kanak houses as main residential home according to all types (total), per year</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>1989</th><th>1966</th><th>2004</th><th>2009</th><th>2014</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>“Traditional” Kanak houses</td><td>9554</td><td>6725</td><td>4270</td><td>1449</td><td>940</td></tr><tr><td>All housing types</td><td>40,266</td><td>51,497</td><td>64,45</td><td>72,637</td><td>85,063</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: ISSE-TEC (2016, p. 59)
Likewise, another challenge arises when wanting to build the roof structure of the Kanak house. To build the roof, we use the *wayü* (a pine tree native to the far south of the Grande Terre), the *tchèrètée* and other types such as the kaori and the fir. All the woods that are used to build a Kanak house need to be cut when the moon is right. This is when the sap is no longer in the trunk and branches but in the roots, that is, from three days before the full moon to three days after it. To attach the straw, we need a flexible and very resistant wood. In the Touaourou community, we use the *tan*. Due to deforestation, wildfires and invasive plants, the straw is increasingly rare in many places. This is another reason why fewer Kanak houses are built.

The South Pacific region is a hotspot of biodiversity but also has the world's highest concentration of invasive alien plant species (Lenz et al. 2019). Besides, the geographic isolation of the islands produces evolutionary characteristics, which result in native plants being more vulnerable to competition from invasive plants than mainland species (Dyer et al. 2019; Woinarski 2010). In New Caledonia, 83% of the endemic plant species are considered as threatened (Pouteau and Birnbaum 2016). Invasive species include, for example, the *Miconia calvescens* (the velvet tree), one of the world's most invasive, and the *Sansevieria trifasciata*, also known as “snake plant”.

For people in Bako (Paicî Cèmuhi country), the straw is more abundant than in Touaourou, but there are only about ten traditional houses in the community of approximately 500 inhabitants. The extent to which Kanak people and clans have embraced industrialisation and cash commodities have influenced shifts in cultural and architectural practices. Pulling the straw out of the ground is hard work, and many people prefer to build concrete or corrugated sheet houses today. The material (concrete and corrugated sheet) can be bought at building supply depots, which is more comfortable. In earlier days, the straw “went together” with the yam season as described above, which represents a customary ritual. Yam and straw were planted in September or October, and the harvest was in February or March. Today, people who wish to build a traditional house do not always respect the straw season; they harvest the straw or buy it whenever they need it.

Challenges and shifts in the practice and transmission of Kanak cultures also affect Kanak languages (see Chap. 13 by Leblic in this book). Pre-colonial multilingualism has been contested and disrupted by the forceful enforcement and domination of French and the French school system, even if, nowadays, Kanak languages are taught in schools and at the university and promoted by the state agency ADCK.

### 12.2.2 Contested and Competing Spaces of Education and the Transmission of Culture

In 1863, first governor of New Caledonia Charles Guillain banned schooling in Kanak languages, a measure that was reiterated in 1883 and 1923 (Rivierre 1985, p. 1694). From 1881 to 1886, Member of the French government Jules Ferry designed laws to introduce free, compulsory and secular primary schooling for children aged 6 to 13. From 1885, a segregated, public, secular school system was set up. In parallel, in 1885, non-compulsory secular Indigenous schools (*écoles indigènes*) were opened and existed until the dismantling of the Indigenous Code in 1946 (Salaün 2005). The Indigenous schools were initially under the authority of the Department of Indigenous Affairs (*Affaires Indigènes*) and then from 1919 under the Service of Public Instruction (*Service de l'instruction publique*). Indigenous schools aimed at controlling Kanak people by creating conciliatory elites and “useful” masses for the colony, through their labour. Likewise, missionaries banned Kanak languages within the missions. Fabrice Wacalie (2011) notes that “learners were punished if they spoke in Kanak language, to the extent that a certain number of ‘traumatized’ grandparents still forbid themselves from speaking their own language today. This created a rupture in the dynamic of intergenerational transmission”. In 1921, publications in Kanak languages were banned. Thereafter, the “French monolingual ideology was implanted in a territory traditionally favouring plurilingualism” (Colombel and Fillol 2009, p. 2).

As we noted above, Kanak languages have been a crucial target of the colonial repression of Kanak people and cultures, and their use and revitalisation is a crucial objective and tool in struggles for freedom and decolonisation. In 1946, the Indigenous code was abolished. Indigenous schools were progressively closed, and Indigenous students relocated to government schools (Bruy-Hebert 2010). In 1951, it was estimated that 50% of school-aged Kanak children attended a public school. In the second part of the twentieth century, the integration of Kanak as citizens within the French Republic and into previously exclusively “white” schools marginalised Kanak languages further (Colombel and Fillol 2009, p. 2). School curricula received increasing criticism and fed the growing Kanak nationalist and liberation movement. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, several activist groups were created (e.g. The Red Scarves [*Les Foulards Rouges*] and the 1878 Group) and organised political meetings and demonstrations. One of the key catalysts of the Kanak movement starting in the late 1960s was the publication of tracts against segregation written in French, Drehu and Nengone (two of the 28 Kanak languages) by members
of The Red Scarves that led to the arrest of some activists for publishing in Indigenous languages and subsequent popular uprisings (Rivierre 1985; Chappell 2003 p. 195). At the beginning of the 1970s, the movement for independence placed the government school system at the centre of their political struggle, in addition to the restitution of lands and cultural recognition. The “colonial school” was perceived as a source of alienation and acculturation for Kanak people. The first official request to recognize Kanak specificities in schools goes back to 1971, when local politicians asked that the Deixonne Law – which had regulated the teaching of regional languages in France since 1951 – be applied to New Caledonia-Kanaky (Salaün 2005, p. 264). On assessing the validity of the request, the Vice-Rector appointed in Nouméa responded in 1975 that “the role of elementary school is to give the children the means for communicating, orally and in writing, which are indispensable if one wants to integrate in a changing society (see Chap. 14 by Wadrawane in this book). In light of the foregoing, one can only stress the need for a place where the French language can be used uninteruptedly. In secondary schools, it does not seem justified to compare [the Kanak languages] with some of the large regional languages of France, which support a literature and in many cases have served as a means of communication for hundreds of thousands of people” (Vice-Rectorat de la Nouvelle-Calédonie 1975, p. 3). The Vice-Rector thus argued that French should remain the dominant language in formal school education.

In 1979, Claude Lercari created the Office for Vernacular Languages (Bureau des langues vernaculaires) to initiate reflection on the teaching of Kanak languages. During the 1984–1988 war, the independence movement’s politics of refusal targeted both the electoral and schooling systems. An active boycott of the school system by Kanak people was put in place across the territory, and Local Kanak Schools (Écoles populaires kanak) were created as an alternative (Gauthier 1996; Nechero-Joredie 1988; Small 1996). Despite the fact that these Local Kanak Schools stopped after several years, or a couple of decades for the longest-lasting ones, the school boycott and the ongoing conflict precipitated changes in the public educational system and in government policies more widely.

More proactive measures were taken when pro-independence Kanak people were in power or had stronger leverage. It is only when politician Jean-Marie Tjibaou became head of the government in 1984 that the laws forbidding instruction and publications in Kanak languages were repealed. The vice-presidency of Jean-Marie Tjibaou at the Government Council (1982–1984) was short-lived. However, a second catalyst was the 1984–1988 war. The political urgency of the period made the recognition of Kanak cultures and languages a question that non-Kanak politicians and people could no longer ignore or postpone. The Agency

for the Development of Kanak Culture (ADCK) was founded in 1989 with the purpose to promote Kanak culture. Its four key directives have been to (1) enhance Kanak linguistic and archaeological heritage; (2) encourage contemporary forms of expression of Kanak culture, especially in the field of handicrafts, broadcasting and the arts; (3) promote cultural exchanges, especially within the South Pacific; and (4) to define and conduct research programmes (ADCK 2019). As for Kanak languages, the 1951 Deixonne Law – which officially recognised regional languages in France, allowing their inclusion in school curricula and exams, allowing teachers to use them in class to facilitate students’ learning – was applied to New Caledonia-Kanaky in 1992, 41 years after it was voted in French parliament. The law included only four of the 28 Kanak languages (Ajië, Drehu, Nengone and Paicî). That same year, the North and Loyalty Islands Provinces implemented the teaching of these languages. The South Province only did so in 2005. The 1998 Nouméa Accord set up the institutional framework for the teaching of Kanak languages and granted the latter “the status of languages of instruction in the same way as French”. In 2012, 19 Kanak languages were taught in primary schools and about ten in secondary schools (Vernaudon 2013, p. 116; see also Chap. 13 by Leblic in this book).

The teaching and status of Kanak languages remain precarious, however public instruction continues to be mostly carried out in the language of colonisation, French. This is despite Kanak people and linguists fighting for many decades to implement schooling in Kanak languages, especially in areas where they continue to be widely spoken. What is at stake is not just the instruction of languages but the languages of instruction. Kanak languages continue to be optional and are only offered by the school if parents express an interest (through a survey) in their children learning them. In a televised debate on the place of Kanak languages in public schools, National Education Inspector and Manager of the Service for the Teaching of Kanak Languages and Cultures, Yves Kartono (2017), explained that Kanak languages continue to be optional and minimally offered in schools because “we don’t force a pupil to choose a language, it’s the pupil [...] who chooses”. The French language, however, does not abide by this rule, and regardless of the choice of the pupil, it is de facto the language of instruction. The current place and status of Kanak languages in the school system therefore does not abide by the 1998 Nouméa Accord that stipulates that Kanak languages are, with French, official languages of instruction. One study (Colombel and Fillol 2009, p. 3) concludes that “even freed from the ‘Parisian’ constraints, the New Caledonian school system continues to disseminate a monolingual ideology” and the non-European epistemologies are “only rarely” taken into account. To date, except for one pilot project at the Kuru raa (Coula) school in Wa Wi
Luu (Houaïlou) where teaching is carried out in both French and Ajië, no policies of bilingual education have been put in place in New Caledonia-Kanaky. Thus, linguistic exclusion was (and remains) common, as Kanak people whose native language is not French continue to be forced, by coercive laws and practices, to learn primarily in the dominant settler language. Writing from another settler colonial society, the United States, Iyengar (2014) demonstrates that colonial language policies have been fundamental to the logic of elimination of Indigenous people in settler colonial societies. The languages of instruction are a crucial tool of settler colonial power and remain, to date, a matter of contention between the settler colonial polity and Kanak advocates of decolonisation.

Such policies contribute to the continuing erosion of Kanak languages. Today, 15 of the 28 Kanak languages are classified as “in danger” by UNESCO (Moseley 2010). Fluency in French, on the contrary, has drastically increased in recent decades. In 2000, 70% of school children spoke French as a first language, while only about 30% of their parents did (Vernaudon 2013, p. 117). Therefore, instruction in/of Kanak languages remains precarious, despite the fact that most political powers concerning the matter have been transferred from mainland France to the territory, which benefits from “unmatched institutional resources” in comparison to France’s other overseas territories (ibid, p. 117). In the face of continuing colonial domination and such institutional reluctance, Kanak people continue to create ways to affirm and pass on Kanak cultural heritage. This “constant reformulation” (Tjibaou 1985, p. 1601) testifies of the flexibility and resilience of Kanak cultural practices (see Chap. 14 by Wadrawane in this book).

## 12.3 Resilient and Resurgent Spaces of Kanak Languages and Cultural Heritage

### 12.3.1 Haeke Language and Culture: The Kanak Oral Heritage Collection

Haeke is part of the Voh-Koohnê linguistic group, which gathers seven dialects and about 1200 speakers in total, recorded in 2009: Bwatoo, Haeke, Haveke, Hmwaeke, Hmwaveke, Vamale et Waamwang (no longer spoken). Haeke was spoken by about 300 people that year (Rivierre and Erhart 2006, p. 13). These seven dialects have strong similarities and interferences between one another. There hasn't been a tradition of written transmission of knowledge in Haeke to date, but the language is still little documented and studied. Some research was conducted by Maurice Leenhardt (1946), G.W. Grace (1955), who published a list of 200 words in Haeke, and then André-Georges Haudricourt

(1963). Jean-Claude Rivierre and Sabine Erhart, who conducted surveys in the region in the 1970s and 1990s, published a dictionary in collaboration with Raymond Diéla (2006). Since 2017, Jean Rohleder (University of Bern) has studied the Vamale language, which counts only around 100 speakers, as part of his PhD thesis in Linguistics. He is currently in the process of writing, together with his research group, a dictionary; 2000 words have already been collected (VKP Infos 2018b).

Urbanisation has intensified the use and domination of French and considering the proximity of the community of Bako to the town of Koohnê, Haeke language is on the wane. Many children do not speak Haeke anymore; they communicate in French. Besides, an increasing number of adults in the community are waged workers, which also results in a loss of customary practices and use of the language (Kowasch 2011, pp. 5–6). It is in this context that the 2006 Bwatoo dictionary (which also includes Haeke) was published so as to provide a teaching material that young people could use to relearn their language (Kowasch 2011, p. 6). According to the clans in Bako, the dictionary is an important source for conserving the language. In the last few years, Haeke has been taught in pre-school and primary school “Les Almandas” in Koohnê. Nevertheless, learning Haeke remains an option, it’s not compulsory. Kanak institutions have also taken the issue in their own hands.

The collection of Kanak oral history has been an important project of the ADCK. Since 2002, partnerships have been gradually established with the Kanak customary areas of Grande Terre, Hoot ma Whaap, Paicî-Cèmuhî, Ajië-Aro, Xârâcùù, and Drubea-Kapumë (Kasarhérou 2007, p. 28). The public institution appointed Kanak oral heritage collectors in each of these customary areas who, since 2002, have recorded ancestral knowledge such as songs, dances, weaving techniques, rituals, and the history of Kanak clans. Conferences and meetings between the collectors have been organised in collaboration with the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, the New Caledonia Museum, the media library of the North Province (Médiathèque du Nord) and the Pomemie Cultural Centre in Koohnê. It must be noted that due to the limited budget of the ADCK, these Kanak cultural collectors work on a voluntary basis and receive monthly compensation in return. In addition to ADCK, the ALK aims to promote and revitalise Kanak linguistic heritage. The public ALK was created in 2007 and works on the transcription of the 40 Kanak languages and dialects. The objective is to determine, for each of the languages, a writing system, that is, a standardized alphabetic code, and graphic correspondences between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (signs) (ALK 2019).

An example is the collection of toponyms in different Kanak languages. In Bako, the cultural office of the North Province commissioned cultural collectors to conduct a short
<figure><img src="image_64.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 12.1** Map of Bako – spatial organisation and toponyms. (Source: Poady 2009 (personal communication), cartography: Kowasch and Arroyas 2023)</figcaption></figure>

survey of Kanak toponyms in Paicî-Cèmuhi country. Collection of Kanak toponyms was further developed in Bako and in Netchaot by Antoine Cano Poady (in Bako), Samuel Goromido (in Netchaot) and Matthias Kowasch in 2009 as part of his doctoral studies. Informed by Antoine Cano Poady's ancestral knowledge and clan history and equipped with mapping equipment, over 20 toponyms were collected in Bako. Samuel Goromido, president of the Clan Council and former president of the New Caledonian Customary Senate, and Matthias Kowasch reported and mapped over 120 toponyms for Netchaot alone. The map of these was later presented at the Clan Council and approved by all clans in Netchaot, a Kanak community in the mountain range around 20 kilometres away from Koohnê.

Figure 12.1 shows the structure of housing and toponyms in Haeke language in Bako.

Bako did not exist before the colonial period, and its 22 clans – which arrived at different times – are assembled in four “bigger” clans: Bako, Poawidapthia, Wabealo and Poaxu (Table 12.2). Each “bigger” clan has a different colour on the map. The former chief house, former houses, and

<table><caption>**Table 12.2** Clans residing in the community of Bako</caption><thead><tr><td>“Bigger” clan</td><td>Clan</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Bako</td><td>Tiaouniane, Poady, Leack, Goa, Vabou-Poithily, Wayaridri</td></tr><tr><td>Poawidapthia</td><td>Poatiba, Poameno, Poadjaré, Ounémoa, Doumi, Oudaré, Nawessa, Wellet, My, Poaraçague</td></tr><tr><td>Wabealo</td><td>Wabealo, Néa</td></tr><tr><td>Poaxu</td><td>Poemate, Nedjiara, Poanima, Poaraoupoepoe</td></tr></tbody></table>

places where sick people were treated are sacred places; they have been named in Haeke on the map. According to the anthropologist Jean Guiart (1963/1992), the Bako clans, formerly settled in Koohnê, were joined by refugees from various repressions and European killings, notably those of Pouembout and Poya. In Haeke language, we call the clans “moatabo”, which means “house where we sit”. The families are named “moau” which means “clan”, “house” or “lineage”. In Bako, the Wabealos are the most numerous clan, followed by the Poawidapthia and the Bako clan (Kowasch 2010). The following table shows the 22 clans residing in the community of Bako:
“Camoadoope”, the former chieftaincy (Fig. 12.1), is a significant cultural place. According to the former clan chief of the Tiaouniane clan (pers. inter., 20 July 2010), the term “Camadoope” means “big land” or “big land plot” in Haeke. At the time, it was the Vabou-Poithily clan who resided there. At the death of the little chief, an old Vabou-Poithily, his adopted son Fidèle (also born Vabou-Poithily) was too young to take on the chieftaincy. His brother, Louis Vabou-Poithily, was sick and drowned in the Koohnê river. The chieftaincy was therefore given to the Poemate clan (part of the larger Poaxu clan, who arrived last in the community of Bako). On the death of old Poemate in 1973, the father of Djessé Tiaouniane (of the larger Bako clan) took the leadership “on a whim” (ibid.), without consulting his family beforehand. However, he died 2 years later, in 1975. Subsequently, the chieftaincy returned to the Poemate. Gabriel Tibotéa, the uncle of the current president of the clan council, acted as an administrative chief between 1975 and 2001. Since then, the chieftaincy has been vacant in Bako, but the clan council has met regularly until recently. The place “Camadoope” is well known by all families who reside in the community, but the notion of “taboo” or “sacred” is being lost. The former chieftaincy used to be respected by everyone, but Djessé Tiaouniane deplores that “it is no longer taboo” today (pers. inter., 20 July 2010).

Efforts and projects to promote cultural heritage put in
place by Kanak institutions and the state are also buttressed
by individuals and local grassroots initiatives. For instance,
the association Mwafinati based in Bako aims at promoting
Haeke language and culture by opening up a cultural class
(music, dance, weaving, sewing cloth) and providing learn-
ing support to the children in Bako. “Mwafinati” means
“house for reading a book/paper” in Haeke, whereby “Mwa”
means “house”, “fina” “read” and also “counting” and “ti”
“book” or “paper”. Besides the work done by Mwafinati,

another cultural association called “Vee Caa” ran initiatives
in education. The latter helped mostly younger school chil-
dren to do their homework. It also promoted Haeke language
and culture. Vee Caa has two meanings in Haeke: the first
refers to the coleus plant that is given to the uterine uncles of
a newborn so that they receive the strength and knowledge of
their uncles; the second means “knowledge” and “learning”.
After the dissolution of the homework support done by Vee
Caa, Mwafinati was founded and set up to restore the former
school building (Fig. 12.2b). The former school in Bako was
a public school, and the planned taking over of the school
building by the Protestant School Alliance is currently being
discussed. To date, Mwafinati has not been able to start work,
because of a customary conflict in Bako: a family of the
Poadjare clan (of the larger Poawidapthia clan) claims the
plot of land where the school building is located. The project
of the association has been put on hold until an amicable
agreement is reached.

In addition to Vee Caa and Mwafinati, several other
groups have been created to maintain and promote cultural
activities in Bako. There is a youth group performing
activities (such as dances) at the parish and a women's
group called “Ue Been” that organizes sewing and bingo
events, for example. Moreover, there are a market associa-
tion and two sculptors (Kiki and Simon Wabealo;
Fig. 12.2a) in Bako.

12.3.2 Nââ numèè Language and Culture:
Humaa-gué and Kaneka Music

The Drubea-Kapumë customary area encompasses three
Kanak languages: Nââ numèè (in Touaourou, Waho, Goro
and Ouen Island), Nââ kwegni (Île des Pins) and Nââ drubea
(Unia and Païta). Except for Nââ numèè in Yaté, none of the

a

<figure><img src="image_65.png" /><figcaption>Fig. 12.2 (a, b) Sculpture *atelier* and former school building in Bako. (Credit: Kowasch 2007, 2009)</figcaption></figure>

b

<figure><img src="image_66.png" /></figure>
Kanak languages taught in schools is from the Customary area Drubea-Kapumè. Nââ numèè is spoken by about 800 people. Nââ numèè also suffers from the fact that some parents favour French as they consider it necessary for their children to achieve at school. In the last decade, projects have been initiated to promote the Numèè language. In 2012, a bilingual (Numèè-French) edition of the oral story of the wild yam Nyùwâxè was written by Adolphe Ouetcho. A year later, Fabrice Saiqè Wacalie (2013) wrote a PhD thesis on Nââ numèè. In 2015, the Academy for Kanak Languages (Académie des langues kanak) has proposed and codified a written form for Numèè (Ihage 2015).

In addition to these institutional projects and programmes, people also have, at the grassroots level, created new ways and different media to express Kanak cultures and use, and to promote Kanak languages. For example, musical creation, as any artistic activity, is part of a historical process, with its contradictions and its social struggles. In the 1970s, socially and politically engaged musicians such as Jean-Pierre Swan, Kiki Karé and Théo Menango started singing about past and contemporary Kanak resistance. A new musical genre, Kaneka music, was thus born from the history of the national liberation struggle of Kanak people. A founding event was the “Tradition and creation” seminar held in Canala in 1986 (Bensignor 2013). The musicians of Kal, Kiki and Krys performed at it, along with Théo Menango, Lionel Weiri and others. Since then, Radio Djiido, the recording studio Mangrove and many concerts in Kanak communities have popularised Kaneka music. Kaneka – coined from the expression “cadence née des Kanak”, meaning “rhythm born from the Kanak” (Mwà Véé 2006, p. 2) – is inspired by ancestral rhythms (the *aéé* chants for instance) and influenced by genres from overseas. This new cultural expression has promoted Kanak cultures and people and testified of the continued creativity of Kanak contemporary art forms. Humaa-gué, a band from the Touaourou community, is another example of Kaneka music and Kanak cultural resurgence in the last few decades.

In 1991, an association whose aim was to gather young people around cultural practices and crafts was created in Touaourou. Four years later, the Kaneka band Humaa-gué was created and initiated by the Ouetcho family (Louis, Emmanuel, Hubert, Pascal and Chanel). The rhythm is based on *tedra*, an ancestral fast-paced rhythm from the south of Grande Terre, mixing ancestral (ex. pounding bamboo poles) and imported instruments (ex. harmonica) and a cappella chorus (“éaé”). Over the years, the members have changed and the musical influences and instruments varied. Regardless of these evolutions, the songs by Humaa-gué (which means “Our History” in Nââ numèè) addresses a large diversity of topics and discusses political issues: cultural life and practices in the community (“Mode de vie”) as well as aspects of colonial history (ex. “Iaai”), sociopolitical issues and afflic-

tions facing Kanak people (ex. “Alcoolonisé”, meaning Alcoholonised), affirmation of Kanak independence (“Kanakydeal”) and the mining industry (“Terre du sud”).

## Humaa-Gue – Kanakydeal (2014)

<table><tr><td>Cher et en mon cœur tu resteras<br>Mon idéal oh ! Kanaky tant<br>d'ignorance<br>A ton égard mais oh pourquoi</td><td>Dear and in my heart you will<br>remain<br>My ideal, oh! Kanaky so much<br>ignorance<br>Towards you but oh, why</td></tr><tr><td>Même si tu es l'exil de la<br>bourgeoisie<br>Tu resteras mon paradis<br>Tant convoitée due à l'éclat de<br>ce système</td><td>Even if you are the exile of the<br>bourgeoisie<br>You will remain my paradise<br>So desired due to the<br>flamboyance of this system</td></tr><tr><td>On oublie trop souvent nos<br>tribus<br>On oublie bien souvent ces<br>ghettos<br>De la ville<br>Même s'ils sont bien fleuris<br>Kanakydéal Kanaky</td><td>We too often forget our<br>community<br>We too often forget these<br>ghettos<br>Of the city<br>Even if they are full<br>of beautiful flowers<br>Kanakydeal Kanaky</td></tr><tr><td>Même si l'idéologie d'être un<br>jour<br>En Kanaky s'en est allé pour<br>D'autres rêves où le système<br>nous désunis</td><td>Even if the ideology to be<br>one day<br>In Kanaky has been replaced by<br>Other dreams in which the<br>system pulls us apart</td></tr><tr><td>N'avons-nous pas le droit d'être<br>un jour<br>En harmonie dans ce pays où le<br>système<br>Nous désuni pour dominer</td><td>Haven't we got the right to be<br>one day<br>In harmony in this country<br>where the system<br>Pulls us apart to dominate</td></tr><tr><td>On oublie trop souvent nos<br>tribus<br>On oublie bien souvent ces<br>ghettos<br>De la ville<br>Même s'ils sont bien fleuris<br>Kanakydeal Kanaky</td><td>We too often forget our<br>community<br>We too often forget these<br>ghettos<br>Of the city<br>Even if they are full<br>of beautiful flowers<br>Kanakydeal Kanaky</td></tr></table>

The song “Militant” aims at raising awareness among today’s youth to work in hand together for the country. In this country, the respect of traditions and cultural differences are precious gifts. As militants for freedom, Humaa-gué encourages people to live in harmony and in peace: the song should be a light on the path when you are in doubt.

## Militant (2015)

<table><tr><td>Où sont-ils arrivés ces gens-là<br>Avec leurs droits de combattant<br>liés à la cause<br>Les militants de la Kanaky éa<br>Ils ont mené la vie dure<br>Laissant traces et souvenirs<br>liés à la cause<br>L'indépendance de la Kanaky éa</td><td>Where have those people got to<br>With their combatant rights<br>attached to the cause<br>The militants of Kanaky éa<br>They've had a difficult life<br>Leaving marks and memories<br>linked to the cause<br>The independence of Kanaky éa</td></tr></table>

(continued)
<table><tr><td>Eaé éaa éaé<br>Eaé éaa éaé<br>Eaé éaa éaé</td><td>Eaé éaa éaé<br>Eaé éaa éaé<br>Eaé éaa éaé</td></tr><tr><td>Different les uns des autres<br>Les combattants de lutte pour<br>la cause<br>Les militants de la Kanaky éa<br>Garder le moral<br>A l'heure où l'on ne parle que<br>de la cause<br>L'indépendance de la Kanaky éa</td><td>Different one from the other<br>The combatants of the struggle<br>for the cause<br>The militants of Kanaky éa<br>Keeping the spirits up<br>At a time when we only talk<br>about the cause<br>The independence of Kanaky éa</td></tr><tr><td>Eaé éaa éaé<br>Eaé éaa éaé<br>Eaé éaa éaé</td><td>Eaé éaa éaé<br>Eaé éaa éaé<br>Eaé éaa éaé</td></tr><tr><td>Où sont-ils arrivés ces gens-là<br>Avec leurs droits de combattant<br>liés à la cause<br>Les militants de la Kanaky éa<br>Ils ont mené la vie dure<br>Laissant traces et souvenirs liés<br>à la cause<br>L'indépendance de la Kanaky éa</td><td>Where have those people got to<br>With their combatant rights<br>attached to the cause<br>The militants of Kanaky éa<br>They had a difficult life<br>Leaving marks and memories<br>linked to the cause<br>The independence of Kanaky éa</td></tr></table>

Without Title

<table><tr><td>Gué ba va é gön tchotchiri yova,<br>Mön van tchapwé,<br>Më nhgon ba tcha néta vé gue,<br>Kwé aé ön kapé é.</td><td>We ask you, my god, you, our<br>Elders<br>That you always catch one of<br>my feet (you show me the path)<br>Like in the past.</td></tr><tr><td>Gué ba va é gön tchotchiri yova,<br>Mön van tchapwé,<br>Më nhgon ba tcha néta vé gué,<br>Ea on gni rika.</td><td>We ask you, my god, you, our<br>Elders,<br>That you always catch one of<br>my feet (you show me the path)<br>Today</td></tr><tr><td>Gué roe kwan é gön tchotchiri<br>yova,<br>Mön van tchapwé gué,<br>Hgon ba tchané ta vé gué,<br>Ku amán on ta kare.</td><td>We sing to you, my god, you,<br>our Elders,<br>That you always catch one of<br>my feet (you show me the path)<br>For our future</td></tr><tr><td>Na yaro tchan varekin bwé na<br>ni metön Humma-gué,<br>Gou ré tire mwa ré tee<br>moumwar,<br>Kete a man ke a on takare,<br>Na vee bwa mé gnarè ye oe,<br>Vee nare ba tcho ton ön.</td><td>You the young, look far ahead<br>of you, because our Elders<br>are no longer here,<br>One day when you will be<br>overtaken by evolution,<br>The sacred word will bring<br>you back to reason.</td></tr><tr><td>(Refrain)<br>Nuè makaré aé,<br>Gué rö vee nene mi gué.</td><td>(Chorus)<br>The same heart as before<br>Working hand in hand.</td></tr></table>

12.4 Conclusion

After decades of land dispossession, forced labour, oppression and genocides, Kanak people and public institutions have tried to preserve and promote cultural heritage. The ADCK and the ALK work on languages,

knowledge on sacred places, toponyms, myths and dances. Taking the example of the community of Bako, we have demonstrated that knowledge of toponyms and language is still present, but school education, the use of mainstream media and the proximity to Koohnê, the capital of the North Province, leads to a loss of language and cultural skills.

By 2000, 70% of school children spoke French as a first language, and by 2010, 15 out of the 28 Kanak languages were classified as “in danger” by UNESCO (Moseley 2010). Some Kanak languages are taught in schools and at university level as we have shown, but their implementation remains largely inadequate to the needs of Kanak pupils and students. Considering that, unlike other settler colonial societies, no policy of bilingual education has ever been implemented in New Caledonia-Kanaky, this deficiency in language policies is all the more glaring. More efforts should be made to implement the teaching of Kanak languages at all education levels, in a more systematic and proactive way. A loss of language is a loss of cultural diversity. Kanak knowledge systems, cultural heritage and practices should guide formal and non-formal education. That means that the entire education system needs to be rethought. Reform would contribute to the full recognition of Kanak identity required by the Nouméa Accord in 1998: “The past was the time of colonisation. The present is the time of sharing, through balancing” (Faberon and Postic 2004, p. 15). To achieve this sharing, power relations need to shift to ensure a thriving environment for Kanak languages, cultural heritage and practices.

More importantly, this chapter has demonstrated that in a context of colonial legacies, institutional conservatism and depleting natural resources, the initiatives undertaken by Kanak people at the grassroots level are key to the continuance of Kanak cultural heritage and practices. The work and artistic engagement of clans and associations create opportunities for Kanak that are otherwise not, or inadequately, provided by institutions. Music can be a way to (re)learn a language. Kaneka music is popular amongst young people, and bands such as Humaa-gué, from the community of Touaourou, are thus a powerful vehicle for Kanak cultural heritage and knowledge for the new generations. Humaa-gué’s songs are politically engaged and tackle issues that are relevant to today’s youth, from the fight for freedom to heavy drinking of alcohol. Considering the political tug-of-war that continues to characterise the territory and the continuing reluctance and fears of a large part of the population to see Kanak people asserting their rights, Kanak clans, grassroots associations and groups remain important resurgent spaces where languages and cultural heritage may survive and thrive.
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**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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<figure><img src="image_67.png" /></figure>
**Abstract**

New Caledonia has 28 Kanak languages in addition to the languages brought by colonial immigration. There is remarkable linguistic diversity, and the recognition of Kanak languages has always been central to independence claims. Since the mid-2000s, about ten of them have been taught from primary school to university (about ten of them are taught as options in primary schools and only four in universities), and it is important to ask what future Kanak languages have among today's younger generations. The heavy impact of the colonial system, and the Nouméa Accord of 1998, means questions of language are still relevant today. Kanak languages and cultures are at the centre of the decolonisation process.

**Keywords**

Kanak languages · Linguistic diversity · Geographic spread · Decolonisation · Teaching

## 13.1 Introduction

80.3% of Kanak people aged 14 and older indicate that they fluently speak one or several Kanak languages, 12.6% that they do not speak but understand at least one language, and 7.1% that they neither speak nor understand a Kanak language. (Rivoilan 2020, p. 5)

After nearly 170 years of colonisation and domination of Kanak languages, they still exist. What are the reasons for this? And how will they continue to find their place in Kanaky-New Caledonia of tomorrow? This overview of Kanak languages should allow us to answer these questions.

## 13.2 Recognition of Kanak Languages and Pro-independence Demands

The above excerpt from the first available analysis of the latest general population census, in 2019, shows that Kanak languages are still very much alive (92.9% of all Kanak people over the age of 14 have knowledge of at least one language), even though these claims are purely declarative. This shows that Kanak people wish to keep their languages alive and consider them a very strong symbol of their identity, especially as the political debates over self-determination continue. There are indications that the vernacular languages on the whole are vibrant, with 28 languages spoken by over 75,000 people, out of a total of 271,407 inhabitants (2019 Census). In fact, Kanak languages have always been at the heart of pro-independence activism, notably during the last quarter of the twentieth century, and more particularly in the 1980s, during the revolutionary period known as the “Événements” [Events]—which began with the boycott of local elections and the Lemoine status on 18 November 1984. Notably, this led to the boycott of so-called colonial schools and a movement in favor of Local Kanak Schools (EPK, Écoles Populaires Kanak) between February 1985 and 1988, the first real attempt to provide instruction in Kanak languages.

No language policy favourable to the Kanak was developed before the colonial order was challenged in modern times. (Rivierre 1985, p. 1691)

If we take up in a few lines the colonial history in connection with Kanak languages, the prohibition of their use at school goes back to the decree of Governor Guillain in 1853. This prefigured “the constant attitude of the authorities: the refusal to grant rights to local languages, their banishment from teaching and public life” (Rivierre 1985, p. 1693). As a result, as early as 1921, a decree forbade all use of indigenous languages, even in school playgrounds. According to Rivierre (1985), these repeated bans (the last one in 1923) had little real effect on the daily life of Kanak

<footnote>I. Leblic (✉)
Lacito, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS),
Paris, France
e-mail: isabelle.leblic@cnrs.fr</footnote>
people, who nevertheless continued to speak their lan-
guages and pass them on to their children. If Kanak chil-
dren have had access to the French language, it was for a
long time only through missionary action, Catholic or
Protestant, and this, only after the first world war (more
than 70 years after colonisation.

In this context the use of vernacular languages as the
first language of instruction for young children was one of
the Kanak demands within the pro-independence move-
ment FI (Front indépendantiste) and then by FLNKS (Front
de libération nationale kanak socialiste) to obtain recogni-
tion of their cultural legitimacy and their right to indepen-
dence. Experiments in Local Kanak Schools (EPK)
beginning in February 1985 made use of the vernacular lan-
guages for teaching the “traditional” and “school” knowl-
edge that all Kanak children should know (see Chap. 14
by Wadrawane in this book). In contrast to so-called “colo-
nial school,” the children learned through participation
rather than observation. Nevertheless, Nechero et al. (2015,
p. 82) note: “The movement quickly started losing steam:
out of the 40 EPK that were set up after school started in
1985, only nine were left 3 years later, following the sign-
ing of the Matignon-Oudinot Accords. Only two schools
remained in the 1990s.”

This demand for local language instruction nonetheless
served to ensure that Kanak languages and cultures were fac-
tored into the political agreements that followed (the
Matignon-Oundinot Accords in 1988, and then the Nouméa
Accord in 1998) and established their importance in the
school curricula in New Caledonia (Salaün 2017). We will
return to this issue after presenting the Kanak languages.

13.3 Linguistic Diversity and a Remarkable
Geographic Spread

The numbers of languages spoken in New Caledonia over
time are difficult to quantify. According to Moyse-Faurie
et al. (2012, p. 119; see also Baudchon 1997), there are cur-
rently upward of 30. In addition to the Kanak languages,
there are those of people who migrated as part of coloniza-
tion or settlement (Wallisian, Futunian, Tahitian, Indonesian,
Javanese, Vietnamese...). There is also Tayo, a Creole lan-
guage spoken in the region of La Conception Saint-Louis, in
Greater Nouméa (including the municipalities of Nouméa,
Mont-Dore, Dumbéa, and Païta), developed by Kanak popu-
lations from various regions attending the Marist Roman
Catholic mission station, mostly from the main island Grande
Terre. French became the only official language upon coloni-
sation, but the diversity of Kanak languages has endured.
These languages are as much a marker of Kanak identity,

reaffirmed to a greater or lesser extent depending on the
period in colonial history, as they are a means of communi-
cation (see also Vernaudon 2013). Across the New Caledonian
archipelago, which includes the main inhabited islands of
Grande Terre (450 km long and 50–70 km wide), the Loyalty
Islands (Lifou, Maré, Ouvéa and Tiga), the Bélep Islands,
Isle of Pines and Ouen Island, about 30 languages were noted
at the beginning of colonisation (Leenhardt 1946a, p. XIV).<fnref n="1" />
According to Ihage (2014), there are currently 40 languages
and dialects spoken in New Caledonia. Among them, 28 lan-
guages are divided into three main groups. Twenty-four lan-
guages on Grande Terre and four in the Loyalty Islands thus
still exist after more than a century and a half of French pres-
ence (see also Rivierre 2003). The number of speakers
remains high: 75,853 speakers in 2019² as compared to
70,428 in 2009, with between 36,309 and 40,115 speakers,
respectively, within their own linguistic area, that is, nearly
half (47.87%) or three fifths (56.96%). Therefore, the pro-
portion of speakers outside the linguistic area of the lan-
guages has increased (see Tables 13.5 and 13.6 and Fig. 13.1).

According to Rivierre (1985, p. 1689), “there are no natu-
ral borders between languages and the linguistic communi-
ties are closely linked through matrimonial and political
alliances. Their social and geographic proximity maintains
multilingualism which is more or less pronounced depend-
ing on the region.” Rivierre (2003, p. 347) specifies: “This
linguistic fragmentation can be explained both by the fact
that settlement took place over 3000 years ago, and by the
structure of traditional Kanak society, broken down into mul-
tiple ‘chiefdoms’ and political configurations striving to be
distinct.”

Rivierre (2003) establishes a finely grained geographic
distribution of the Grande Terre Kanak languages. This
served to inform our ISEE map of Kanak languages based on
the 2014 general population census data (see Fig. 13.1), the
details of which are provided in Table 13.1.

Of remarkable diversity and complexity as compared to
other Oceanic languages, these 28 Kanak languages belong
to the Austronesian language family (Oceanian subgroup of
the eastern Malayo-Polynesian branch). They have grammars

<footnote n="1">¹Based on inquiries carried out before the 1930s, Leenhardt (1946b, p. X-XIV) listed 36 languages, although he notes that forty languages or dialects are currently spoken in the New Caledonian archipelago by 29,000 indigenous people. Four have been set by translating the bible (De'u on Lifou 1890, Iai on Ouvéa 1901, Nengone on Mare, 103, Ajiē on Houaïlou [...] 1923 [...] 1939). I have respected the author's spelling.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²For 2019, a number of people who declared speaking a language did not say which one; thus, in Table 13.6 below, there are only 66,122 speakers, of which 36,309 are located in their own linguistic area and 29,813 outside.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_68.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 13.1** Distribution of the Kanak languages by customary area, municipality and number of speakers. (Based on the ISEE 2014 Census "Les langues kanak," completed by Leblic based on data on the geographical distribution of languages established by Rivierre 2003)</figcaption></figure>

that are almost as differentiated as their phonological
systems.

All [Kanak languages] belong to the “New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands” sub-group, directly stemming from distant Proto-Oceanic, with the exception of Fagauvea which belongs to the “Nuclear Polynesian” sub-group, a language which was introduced to Ouvéa a few centuries ago following east-west Polynesian migrations from various islands, most probably Wallis, Samoa, Futuna, and Tonga according to oral traditions and the comparative study of the Polynesian languages. (Moyse-Faurie et al. 2012, pl. 26, 120)

Generally speaking, Kanak people were multilingual.
Many of them could understand their close neighbours'
languages, and alliances beyond their linguistic area made
it easier for the children of mixed parentage to speak the
languages of both parents and even those of the grandpar-
ents if different. Today, the situation is no longer so clear-
cut, French having become for many the priority language
of communication. The data available from the New
Caledonian census nonetheless attest the ongoing impor-
tance of local languages.

13.4 Comparative Analysis of Data
Contained in the General Population
Census (from 1996 to 2019)

The 1996 general population census totalled 86,788 Kanak people (44.1%) and 67,151 Europeans (34.1%), out of a total population of 196,836. According to this census, New Caledonia had a total of 53,566 speakers of vernacular languages, with slightly more women than men and roughly half belonging to the 15–34 age group. The languages with the highest number of speakers were Drehu (a Lifou language) with 11,338 speakers, Nengone (a Maré language) with 6,377 speakers and Paicî (a central Grande Terre language) with 5,498 speakers.

The data in Table 13.2 show constant growth in the num-
ber of speakers, probably proportionate to demographic
growth,<fnref n="3" /> but with two significant increases, 14.5% between
1996 and 2004 then 10.9% between 2014 and 2019. These

<footnote n="3">³Unfortunately, I do not have information on speaker population changes by age group.</footnote>
<table><caption>**Table 13.1** Geographic language distribution (see Rivierre 2003)</caption><thead><tr><th>Areas<sup>a</sup></th><th>Languages</th><th>Geographic distribution</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="10">Hoot ma Waap</td><td>Nyelâyu</td><td>Balade, Arama, Bélep Islands (dialect)</td></tr><tr><td>Nixumwak</td><td>Koumac</td></tr><tr><td>Nêlêmwa</td><td>Poum</td></tr><tr><td>Caac</td><td>Pouébo</td></tr><tr><td>Yuanga</td><td>Gome, Bondé, Paimboas</td></tr><tr><td>Jawe</td><td>East coast: region between Colnett and Tchambouene; inland: Ouayagette, Pangou</td></tr><tr><td>Nemi</td><td>Variant in the Ouaième valley and the upper Hienghène valley</td></tr><tr><td>Fwâi</td><td>Hienghène</td></tr><tr><td>Pijé</td><td>Tiendanite and Tipindjé valley</td></tr><tr><td>Pwaamei</td><td>Témala</td></tr><tr><td>Pwapwâ</td><td>Boyen</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Voh-Koné: Bwatoo, Haeke, Haveke, Hmwaveke, Hmwaeke, Vamale (Waamwang) dialects</td><td>Voh-Koné region Vamale, a variant of Hmwaveke, is spoken in Téganpaik and Tiouandé, on the East coast</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">Paici-Camuki</td><td>Paicî</td><td>Ponérihoun, Poindimié, villages in the Koné region</td></tr><tr><td>Cèmuhî</td><td>Touho, Tyé and on the West coast a high proportion of Netchaot village</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="5">Ajie-Aro</td><td>Ajië</td><td>Houilou region, Poya, Bourail</td></tr><tr><td>Arhâ</td><td>Poya region</td></tr><tr><td>Arhö</td><td>Poya region</td></tr><tr><td>'Ôrôê</td><td>Bourail region</td></tr><tr><td>Neku (Sîshëë)</td><td>Bourail region</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3">Xaracuu</td><td>Xârâcùù</td><td>Nakéty, Canala, Thio</td></tr><tr><td>Tîrî</td><td>La Foa region</td></tr><tr><td>Xârâgurè</td><td>Thio, Borendi</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="4">Djubea-Kapone</td><td>Drubéa</td><td>Ounia, Paita</td></tr><tr><td>Numèè</td><td>Goro, Touaourou, Ouen Island (dialect)</td></tr><tr><td>Kwênyii</td><td>Isle of Pines</td></tr><tr><td>Nengone</td><td>Maré</td></tr><tr><td>Drehu</td><td>Drehu</td><td>Lifou</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">Iaai</td><td>Iaai</td><td>Central region of Ouvéa</td></tr><tr><td>Fagauvea</td><td>North and south of Ouvéa</td></tr></tbody></table>

("in the official spelling of New Caledonia)

languages continue to be spoken, with variations depending on the language and the year.

Today, according to the 2019 census, the number of speakers varies from a few (ten for Sîchëë (Sishë), a language spoken in the centre of Grande Terre) to several thousand (Drehu with 15,875 speakers is still the most widely spoken Kanak language).

Now that a large number of Kanak people live in Greater Nouméa (see Chap. 11 by Pantz in this book), approximately

one out of three speakers (1996–2009) to approximately two out of five (2014–2019) live in the capital or its suburbs, outside their original linguistic area (see Table 13.3). Indeed, Greater Nouméa is where most jobs are found. Regular trips back to the community for school vacations have prevented language loss in favour of French among children. Some Kanak children don't speak their languages properly, but I have the impression that once they are adults their mastery is sufficient to ensure the future of these vernacular languages. And the fact that for the past 20 years, many Kanak languages have been introduced in school teaching in Greater Nouméa, although for a very few hours (wholesale 1/2 hour per week), means that many children could be introduced to Kanak languages and culture. Is this enough to make them fluent in the mother tongues? Nothing is less certain.

Jacqueline de la Fontinelle (2014, p. 8) notes: “The disinterest of a generation signals the disappearance of a language. Can the disappearance announced for the Sishë language be further postponed?”

This is indeed a question that arises regularly with announcements about the extinction of Kanak languages, but the evidence suggests that it is premature. I have witnessed this on the Isle of Pines and around Goro upon returning 20 years after my first fieldwork, and also in Ponérihouen. It is true, however, that some languages are officially endangered (see the documentation of endangered languages at www.sorosoro.org).

Some 84.6% of Kanak between the ages of 14 and 29 declared, in the 1996 Census, continuing to speak a vernacular language, as compared to 94.9% for those over the age of 30. Certainly, in community areas—there are 341 Kanak communities where 28.7% of the population resides—the language spoken daily at home is usually the vernacular language of the region, even if one of the parents if one comes from a different linguistic area. Even though French is used at school, children nonetheless continue to speak their language outside school. Similarly, in daily life, as I observed in Ponérihouen, Kanak people mainly speak to each other in their local tongue. It is only on occasions bringing together people from different linguistic areas that French is used as a lingua franca.

There were 18,528 Kanak language speakers in 2019 in Nouméa, rising to 33,505 if one takes into account the metropolitan area of (Greater Nouméa). This equates to 44.2% of all the territory's speakers declared in the 2019 general population census. By comparison, back in 2009, Greater Nouméa was already home to 90% of Kanak language speakers living outside their linguistic area. The Loyalty Islands languages (Drehu, Nengone, Iaai, and Fagauvea by number of speakers) are a majority with 12,432 speakers in Greater Nouméa. The high number of speakers of Kanak languages outside their linguistic area is noteworthy, and in the 2019 Census, they still amounted
<table><caption>**Table 13.2** Changes in the number of speakers aged 14 and older per vernacular language</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th>1996</th><th>2004</th><th>2009</th><th>2014</th><th>2019</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td></td><td>Number of speakers per language spoken<sup>a</sup></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td rowspan="4">Extreme Northern group</td><td>Caac</td><td>800</td><td>1,005</td><td>1,165</td><td>1,072</td><td>847</td></tr><tr><td>Nyelâyu</td><td>1,522</td><td>1694</td><td>1,956</td><td>2,005</td><td>1,871</td></tr><tr><td>Nêlêmwa-Nixumwak</td><td>847</td><td>739</td><td>1,090</td><td>946</td><td>798</td></tr><tr><td>Yuanga</td><td>1,992</td><td>2,124</td><td>2,401</td><td>2,504</td><td>1,975</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="8">Northern group</td><td>Jawe</td><td>729</td><td>635</td><td>990</td><td>892</td><td>746</td></tr><tr><td>Nemi</td><td>768</td><td>911</td><td>908</td><td>845</td><td>825</td></tr><tr><td>Pwapwâ</td><td>16</td><td>84</td><td>39</td><td>79</td><td>27</td></tr><tr><td>Fwâi</td><td>1,131</td><td>1,550</td><td>1,859</td><td>1,690</td><td>1,561</td></tr><tr><td>Pwaamei</td><td>219</td><td>210</td><td>292</td><td>299</td><td>223</td></tr><tr><td>Pijé</td><td>161</td><td>184</td><td>183</td><td>160</td><td>114</td></tr><tr><td>Voh-Koné dialects</td><td>993</td><td>980</td><td>1,212</td><td>1,081</td><td>952</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">Central group</td><td>Cèmuhî</td><td>2,051</td><td>2,139</td><td>2,602</td><td>2,400</td><td>2,234</td></tr><tr><td>Paicî</td><td>5,498</td><td>6,056</td><td>7,252</td><td>6,866</td><td>6,530</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="10">Southern group</td><td>Ajië</td><td>4,044</td><td>5,051</td><td>5,358</td><td>5,019</td><td>4,449</td></tr><tr><td>Arhâ</td><td>35</td><td>59</td><td>166</td><td>135</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>Arhö</td><td>62</td><td>264</td><td>349</td><td>291</td><td>186</td></tr><tr><td>Ôrôê</td><td>587</td><td>355</td><td>490</td><td>429</td><td>373</td></tr><tr><td>Neku</td><td>221</td><td>320</td><td>125</td><td>86</td><td>115</td></tr><tr><td>Tîrî</td><td>558</td><td>481</td><td>619</td><td>472</td><td>393</td></tr><tr><td>Sîchëë</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>19</td><td>20</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Xârâcùù</td><td>3,784</td><td>4,816</td><td>5,730</td><td>5,287</td><td>5,645</td></tr><tr><td>Xârâgurè</td><td>566</td><td>632</td><td>758</td><td>751</td><td>589</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3">Extreme Southern group</td><td>Drubéa</td><td>946</td><td>1,154</td><td>1,211</td><td>1,268</td><td>1,022</td></tr><tr><td>Extreme Southern dialects</td><td>1,814</td><td>1,582</td><td>2,184</td><td>1,943</td><td>1,618</td></tr><tr><td>Tayo</td><td>609</td><td>376</td><td>904</td><td>1,033</td><td>1,052</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="5">Loyalty Islands group</td><td>Nengone</td><td>6377</td><td>7,958</td><td>8,721</td><td>8,940</td><td>9,356</td></tr><tr><td>Drehu</td><td>11,338</td><td>13,249</td><td>15,586</td><td>15,949</td><td>15,875</td></tr><tr><td>Iaai</td><td>1,562</td><td>2,464</td><td>4,181</td><td>3,821</td><td>3,714</td></tr><tr><td>Faga uvea</td><td>1,107</td><td>1,614</td><td>2,219</td><td>2,062</td><td>2,066</td></tr><tr><td>Total number of distinct speakers</td><td>53,566</td><td>62,648</td><td>65,510</td><td>67,589</td><td>75,853</td></tr><tr><td>Changes in number</td><td></td><td>9,082</td><td>2,862</td><td>2,079</td><td>8,264</td></tr><tr><td>Changes in %</td><td></td><td>14.50</td><td>4.37</td><td>3.08</td><td>10.89</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: New Caledonia population census, INSEE-ISEE, data updated on 28 September 2021

to 88.1% in Greater Nouméa. And, as in 2009, speakers of Loyalty Islands languages are more numerous in Greater Nouméa than on their islands of origin: 59.1% for Drehu, 56.2% for Iaai, 55.6% for Fagauvea, and 52.9% for Nengone. But this is not the case for Grande Terre languages.

Analysis of data provided by successive censuses shows that the proportion of 15 years and older peoples who declare speaking or understanding a Kanak language is increasing (Table 13.3). The last census (2019) establishes that 97.7% of Kanak people from the Loyalty Islands (95.5% of men and 95.9% of women) speak or understand a Kanak language. The figures are 76.2% in North Province (76.6% of men and 75.9% of women) and 31.7% in South Province (30.9% of men and 32.6% of women). In total, 92,794 people declare that they speak or understand a

Kanak language, that is, 44% of inhabitants aged 15 and older. The percentage was 38.8% in 2014, 41.3% in 2009 and in 2004, and 37.9% in 1996. Should this revival of vernacular languages of people aged 15 and over be linked to political demands for independence? This is a question that must be asked in light of the recent history of Kanak claims and the results of the 2018 and 2020 referendums (see Leblic 2022).

## 13.5 The Use of Kanak Languages in Teaching

Before specifying the use of Kanak languages in the school system (Anonymous 1989), we should recall that French remains the main language of instruction in schools.

<footnote><sup>a</sup>A single person may declare speaking one or several languages. Furthermore, some people declared speaking a Kanak language without specifying which one, which is why the total per language does not necessarily correspond to the total number of distinct speakers</footnote>
<table><caption>**Table 13.3** Changes in the number of speakers of a vernacular language aged 15 and older per municipality</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Municipalities</th><th>1996</th><th>2004<sup>a</sup></th><th>2009</th><th>2014</th><th>2019</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="10">North Province</td><td>Bélep</td><td>586</td><td>612</td><td>607</td><td>582</td><td>665</td></tr><tr><td>Canala</td><td>1,888</td><td>2,267</td><td>2,240</td><td>2,484</td><td>2,555</td></tr><tr><td>Hienghène</td><td>1394</td><td>1710</td><td>1597</td><td>1596</td><td>1724</td></tr><tr><td>Houaïlou</td><td>2,320</td><td>2,708</td><td>2,402</td><td>2,313</td><td>2,276</td></tr><tr><td>Kaala-Gomen</td><td>885</td><td>922</td><td>904</td><td>935</td><td>824</td></tr><tr><td>Koné</td><td>1,512</td><td>1,713</td><td>1,785</td><td>2,197</td><td>2,533</td></tr><tr><td>Kouaoua</td><td>708</td><td>857</td><td>779</td><td>767</td><td>776</td></tr><tr><td>Koumac</td><td>566</td><td>539</td><td>802</td><td>832</td><td>820</td></tr><tr><td>Ouégoa</td><td>982</td><td>996</td><td>1,035</td><td>1,249</td><td>1,078</td></tr><tr><td>North Poya<sup>b</sup></td><td>951</td><td>936</td><td>1093</td><td>1135</td><td>1093</td></tr><tr><td>Touho</td><td>1,201</td><td>1,224</td><td>1,327</td><td>1,127</td><td>1,274</td></tr><tr><td>Voh</td><td>858</td><td>1063</td><td>1042</td><td>1154</td><td>1138</td></tr><tr><td>Total North Province</td><td></td><td>15,847</td><td>15,547</td><td>17,622</td><td>18,385</td><td>18,775</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3">Loyalty Islands<br>Prov.</td><td>Lifou</td><td>5,970</td><td>6,291</td><td>5,559</td><td>6,194</td><td>6306</td></tr><tr><td>Maré</td><td>4,042</td><td>4,703</td><td>3,484</td><td>3,195</td><td>4,023</td></tr><tr><td>Ouvéa</td><td>2,366</td><td>3,038</td><td>2,304</td><td>2,172</td><td>2,363</td></tr><tr><td>Total Loyalty Islands Province</td><td></td><td>12,378</td><td>14,032</td><td>11,347</td><td>11,561</td><td>12,692</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="20">South Province</td><td>Bouloupari</td><td>391</td><td>522</td><td>491</td><td>539</td><td>584</td></tr><tr><td>Bourail</td><td>988</td><td>1,020</td><td>1,094</td><td>933</td><td>1,075</td></tr><tr><td>Dumbéa<sup>c</sup></td><td>1,686</td><td>2,777</td><td>3,859</td><td>5,538</td><td>7,324</td></tr><tr><td>Farino</td><td>18</td><td>36</td><td>34</td><td>29</td><td>58</td></tr><tr><td>Isle of Pines</td><td>992</td><td>1,053</td><td>1,207</td><td>1,074</td><td>1,200</td></tr><tr><td>La Foa</td><td>492</td><td>455</td><td>673</td><td>570</td><td>607</td></tr><tr><td>Moindou</td><td>200</td><td>178</td><td>220</td><td>190</td><td>187</td></tr><tr><td>Mont-Dore<sup>c</sup></td><td>2,155</td><td>2,465</td><td>3,083</td><td>3,590</td><td>4,549</td></tr><tr><td>Nouméa<sup>c</sup></td><td>11,577</td><td>14,206</td><td>16,523</td><td>16,039</td><td>18,528</td></tr><tr><td>Païta<sup>c</sup></td><td>818</td><td>1,328</td><td>2,290</td><td>2,208</td><td>3,104</td></tr><tr><td>Poindimié</td><td>2,285</td><td>2,615</td><td>2,611</td><td>2,741</td><td>2,857</td></tr><tr><td>Ponérihouen</td><td>1,486</td><td>1,684</td><td>1,426</td><td>1,437</td><td>1,431</td></tr><tr><td>Pouébo</td><td>1,394</td><td>1,518</td><td>1,551</td><td>1472</td><td>1,479</td></tr><tr><td>Pouembout</td><td>239</td><td>282</td><td>448</td><td>514</td><td>500</td></tr><tr><td>Poum</td><td>654</td><td>626</td><td>749</td><td>715</td><td>761</td></tr><tr><td>South Poya<sup>b</sup></td><td>951</td><td>936</td><td>1,093</td><td>1,135</td><td>1,093</td></tr><tr><td>Sarraméa</td><td>252</td><td>339</td><td>268</td><td>229</td><td>273</td></tr><tr><td>Thio</td><td>1,078</td><td>1,207</td><td>1,202</td><td>1,102</td><td>1,147</td></tr><tr><td>Yaté</td><td>632</td><td>758</td><td>821</td><td>737</td><td>741</td></tr><tr><td>Total South Province</td><td></td><td>28,288</td><td>34,005</td><td>39,643</td><td>40,792</td><td>47,498</td></tr><tr><td>Total Greater Nouméa (***)</td><td></td><td>16,236</td><td>20,776</td><td>25,755</td><td>27,375</td><td>33,505</td></tr><tr><td>Relative number of speakers in Greater Nouméa (°)</td><td></td><td>30.3%</td><td>33.2%</td><td>39.3%</td><td>40.5%</td><td>44.2%</td></tr><tr><td>New Caledonia</td><td></td><td>53,566</td><td>62,648</td><td>65,510</td><td>67,589</td><td>75,853</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: New Caledonia population census, INSEE-ISEE, data updated on 29 October 2020

<table><caption>**Table 13.4** Breakdown by age of Kanak population (2019)</caption><thead><tr><th>Community<br>Kanak total</th><th>Under 10</th><th>10–19</th><th>20–29</th><th>30–39</th><th>40–49</th><th>50–59</th><th>60–69</th><th>70–79</th><th>80 and above</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>111,856</td><td>17,488</td><td>18,763</td><td>18,520</td><td>17,402</td><td>15,429</td><td>11,855</td><td>7,475</td><td>3,671</td><td>1,253</td></tr></tbody></table>

Source: 2019 Census

<footnote><sup>a</sup>Population 14 and older (see Table 13.4 for an example of breakdown by age in 2019)</footnote>

<footnote><sup>b</sup>Total for Poya municipality</footnote>

<footnote><sup>c</sup>For municipalities part of Greater Nouméa</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_69.png" /><figcaption>**Figs. 13.2** Teaching of Kanak languages and cultures in public secondary schools as of 14 March 2018 (the 2022 map is currently available on the following website, but is less clear). (Source: https://www.ac-noumea.nc/spip.php?article3161)</figcaption></figure>

Up to 1984, the Kanak languages were “officially excluded from the educational system” (Moyse-Faurie et al. 2012, p. 122). Following the Matignon-Oudinot Accords in 1988 and the previous EPK experiments, the Deixonne law<fnref n="4" /> entered into force in New Caledonia (decrees of 20 October 1992) at the end of the 1990s (May to August 1998). This sanctioned some teaching in local languages—and some are now even taught in high school, for example, Drehu, Nengone, Ajië, and Paici. Article 1.3.4 of the Nouméa Accord signed on 5 May 1998, stipulates that Kanak culture must be valued, and Deliberation No. 106 of 15 January 2016, on the future of the Caledonian school system specifies in Article 10.1 that “teaching of the fundamental elements of Kanak culture must be compulsory for each student” and thus enjoins the school system to include them in the curriculum (see also Chap. 14 by

Wadrawane in this book).<fnref n="5" /> Moreover, Article 10.2 requests New Caledonian schools, enriched by the country's cultures, to train students at all levels in the values and practices of citizenship in order to promote the development of living together in the spirit of the Nouméa Accord.<fnref n="6" /> In fact, the structuring of the teaching of Kanak languages and culture (LCK) has aimed to establish compulsory teaching of the fundamentals of Kanak culture as well as an offer of teaching Kanak languages in LV2. To do this, resources and teaching tools for the LCK were produced to create a documentary fund. The last point is the improvement of LCK teacher training with the implementation of the authorization and certification processes (2018).<fnref n="7" />

<footnote n="4">⁴Law 51-46 on teaching regional languages and dialects (Official Gazette, 13 January 1951).</footnote>

<footnote n="5">⁵https://denc.gouv.nc/ressources-pedagogiques/ecole-maternelle-domaines-dactivites/langues-et-culture-kanak-ecole.</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶https://denc.gouv.nc/sites/default/files/documents/deliberationpenc.pdf.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷https://denc.gouv.nc/sites/default/files/documents/charte_dapplica-tion-papage-2.pdf.</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_70.png" /><figcaption>**Figs. 13.3** Teaching of Kanak languages and cultures in private secondary schools as of 14 March 2018 (the 2022 map is currently available on the following website, but is less clear). (Source: https://www.ac-noumea.nc/spip.php?article3161)</figcaption></figure>

Since 1992, four languages can be chosen as electives for the Baccalaureate (the French high school diploma): Drehu, Nengone, Ajië and Paicî. In 1997, six vernacular languages were taught in middle school and high school: Iaai and Xârâcùù in addition to the four mentioned above. Since 1999, they have also been taught at the University of New Caledonia, as part of the Bachelor's degree in Oceanic languages and cultures (LLCER).

The New Caledonia territorial government acquired jurisdiction over teaching in private primary schools and in public and private secondary schools on 1 January 2012.

The fact that at least four Kanak languages are taught in New Caledonia, from primary school to university, supports the view that the loss of indigenous languages is premature. Moyse-Faurie et al. (2012, p. 122) highlight: “The public primary school curricula in New Caledonia [since 2000], voted in 2005, provides the teaching of Kanak languages and cultures to students whose parents have expressed the wish, in the amount of 7 hours weekly. [...] In 2009, about 1900 preelementary public school pupils (out of 9200 pupils at this grade) received instruction in a dozen of Kanak languages.” But there is a wide variation. According to data collected for the New Caledonia Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (ISEE), sourced by the Vice-Rectorate in 2005 and between 2010 and 2015, ten Kanak languages were taught

over the period. These were Ajië, Drehu, Iaai, Nêlêmwa (in 2005 and 2010 with slightly over 130 pupils at the Boaouva Kaleba private middle school in Poum), Nengone, Paicî, Xârâcùù, and then, from 2013, Djubéa (23 in public middle school in 2013) and Fwâi (in 2013 and 2014 at the Hienghène middle school), and Yuanga with a single pupil in private middle school in 2012 at the Baganda middle school in Kaala Gomen. Therefore, beyond the six main vernacular languages, the others are only taught sporadically and are localized within their geographic area. Depending on the year, the total number of pupils receiving instruction in vernacular languages varies from 3014 in 2005 to 1879 in private establishments, that is, two thirds, with 655 in high school and 2359 in middle school to 778 in 2011, in public schools only (data from private schools being unavailable), and rising to 3365 in 2005. Out of these, 2931 were in middle school and 434 in high school, and in total, 1537 pupils or almost half were in private establishments.

Teaching locations in the New Caledonian archipelago are also diversified (see Figs. 13.2 and 13.3). For teaching Kanak languages and cultures, various pedagogical materials have been developed, for example, a webpage for primary schools to learn Nengone,<fnref n="8" /> a textbook “I learn A'jië/Drehu/Nengone/

<footnote n="8">⁸http://nengone.univ-nc.nc/.</footnote>
Paici” for middle school students (first level) and a comic
book “*P’ti mec*” by Bernard Berger in Numèè and Drehu, in
collaboration with the mining company Vale NC, the ALK
(Academy of Kanak languages) and Tetemba Production.
There is also a document designed for teachers of high school
seniors presenting the four notions to be covered with pupils:
myths and heroes, areas and trade, places and forms of
power, the notion of progress, with, for each of the
four themes, bibliographical references and online resourc-
es.<fnref n="9" /> One must also note, following the Nouméa Accord
in May 1998, the official creation of ALK, under the aegis of
Déwé Gorodey, Minister of Culture at that time, as a public
New Caledonian establishment charged with “setting the
rules of usage and participating in the promotion and devel-
opment of all Kanak languages and dialects” (deliberation n°
265 of 17 January 2007, on the creation of the ALK). Their
website<fnref n="10" /> offers downloadable documents on 32 languages
and dialects, and at the request of the government of New
Caledonia, the ALK provides subjects for the civil service
examinations (Ihage 2014). It thus promotes Kanak lan-
guages and cultures alongside the rectorate, the university
and the Tjibaou cultural center (CCT, see below). The
Matignon-Oundinot Accords specify that the ADCK must
promote Kanak cultures “namely by capitalizing on our heri-
tage – whether cultural, artisanal, archeological or linguistic.
Languages are at the heart of our missions, because they are
one of the privileged instruments for the transmission of oral
traditions” (Tjibaou 2014, p. 5; see also Salaün 2017).

Since 2002, in partnership with the Customary councils,
the CCT department for Heritage and research has been col-
lecting oral data, namely, clan narratives, from some 15 lan-
guages, as well as putting them in writing (Tjibaou 2014).
These local institutions add to the research that has been car-
ried out since the second half of the twentieth century by
teams of linguists and ethnolinguists, namely, from the
CNRS LACITO research unit in France, beginning with the
foundational works of André-Georges Haudricourt (see, e.g.,
Leblic 2020). Many recordings made of these languages are
available online in the Pangloss Collection and in speech
corpora.

But in fact, according to the hourly volume specific to
each level of education, which breaks down as follows, this
teaching of the fundamental elements of Kanak culture is
very limited. No real recommendations for kindergarten and
elementary schools, 1 hour per fortnight in sixth grade of
middle school starting in 2017, gradually extended to other
grades from 2018. Indeed, the reform of the secondary
schools provides for compulsory interdisciplinary practical

teaching (EPI) on the fundamental elements of Kanak cul-
ture, in the cycle four course (fifth, fourth, and third grades).

In the general and vocational training high schools, it is
recommended to have 1 h fortnight in the second grade of
secondary school starting in 2017, which will be progres-
sively extended to other levels in 2018 (first grade or junior)
and 2019 (last grade or senior); in vocational training high
schools (CAP), 1 h fortnight in first year, which will be
extended to second year in 2018. However, the lack of quali-
fied teachers for these courses means that there is often a big
difference between the norm and the practice. Therefore,
French remains, almost exclusively, the language of instruc-
tion at all levels.

13.6 Conclusion

In the field of Kanak languages, as in many others, demands
of Kanak people led to changes to the legal framework for
language instruction and recognition. Languages that pre-
ceded colonisation by France persist, even though their
speakers have been displaced in the past, or today because
greater movement is possible and often linked to occupa-
tional opportunities. The constant increase in the number of
speakers shows that Kanak languages, including the “lan-
guages of culture and teaching,” present in the Nouméa
Accord initially as a symbolic recognition, are persistent
(Leblic 2022). This is despite the various macroeconomic
effects and socioeconomic readjustments which fall far short
of being ideal arrangements for nurturing different cultures
and languages (Leblic 2018). Although the long colonisa-
tion period favours French in terms of effective linguistic
practices in society as a whole, it no longer necessarily
impedes to the use of the Kanak languages, thanks to the fact
that Kanak people themselves have taken an interest in the
matter, and also to research carried out over more than half a
century on Kanak languages and cultures (Leblic 2022).
Today, this has been taken over by local institutions, among
others by the Academy of Kanak languages and the Tjibaou
cultural centre, in conjunction with academics from metro-
politan France. It is too early to say however whether this
grow tendency of Kanak languages will endure.

**Acknowledgments** This article partially reproduces, with significant updates and the addition of more recent data, a manual I wrote for the *Agence universitaire de la francophonie* in 2000 (Leblic 2000). For more linguistic data, which I do not delve into here, see among others Moyse-Faurie et al. (2012) and the research by the linguists at the CNRS LACITO: Isabelle Bril, Françoise Ozanne-Rivierre, Jean-Claude Rivierre, Claire Moyse-Faurie. I thank the ISE for allowing me to use their map, which I added to the chapter, and Jacques Vernaudon and Caroline Graille for personal communications. I also thank Margaret Dunham for the translation from French into English and Martha Macintyre for English proofreading.

<footnote n="9">⁹https://www.ac-noumea.nc/IMG/pdf/cycle Terminal lck-final.pdf.</footnote>

<footnote n="10">¹⁰http://www.alk.gouv.nc/portal/page/portal/alk.</footnote>
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<figure><img src="image_71.png" /></figure>
Abstract

The reconfiguration of New Caledonian schools and curri-
cula seems to be essential in times of complex political and
environmental changes. It should rehabilitate the memory
of the Indigenous Kanak cultures and genealogical itinerar-
ies. Six fundamental elements of Kanak culture (éléments
fondamentaux de la culture Kanak, or EFCK) are therefore
currently integrated into school curricula following their
official introduction in 2016 in the New Caledonian
Education Project (PENC). Their implementation in
schooling contributes to innovative teaching and teacher
training techniques and will progressively lead to socio-
school rebalancing. The transfer of Indigenous Kanak
knowledge into so-called academic contexts can contribute
to a greater balance between humans and their environ-
ment. Based on qualitative methods in human and social
sciences, I will demonstrate the possibilities for teaching
Indigenous knowledge and life skills. Examples for the
transposition of Kanak knowledge and cultural practices
include the *Aengeni hnameneng* ceremony on Maré island
and a yam calendar produced by teacher candidates in their
second year of training. I conclude that schools and univer-
sities should encourage teachers, teacher candidates, edu-
cators, and students to critically reflect the didactic
resources of Kanak and Oceanic cultures.

Keywords

Marginalization · Rebalancing · Contextualization ·
Kanak knowledge · Didactic transposition · *Aengeni*
*hnameneng* · Yam

14.1 Introduction

Greater cultural awareness of youth in primary and second-
ary education is a philosophical, social, and educational
necessity. The socioeconomic balancing politics introduced
by the Matignon-Oudinot Accords in 1988, described else-
where in this book, also involved formal education. The
teaching and scientific research on Kanak languages and cul-
tures, which began in 1971 and was later broken off by polit-
ical decisions, were re-launched by the Accords in 1988. The
Nouméa Accord in 1998 accentuated and reinforced Kanak
languages and cultures both at the University of New
Caledonia (UNC) and the teacher training centers, and in
other institutional structures such as the Academy of Kanak
Languages, the Tjibaou Cultural Center, and the
Kanak Customary Senate.

14.2 The Current School Context

For the start of the school year 2021, the New Caledonian
government announced that 65,980 students were expected
from kindergarten to high school, including 26,340 students
at public primary level, 22,898 students at public secondary
level, 7415 students in private primary schools, 8902 stu-
dents at private secondary level, and the remainder, 425 stu-
dents, in private noncontractual learning arrangements.
Some 341 public and private schools were operating, includ-
ing 258 primary schools, 57 middle schools, 5 general and
technological high schools, 12 vocational high schools and 3
vocational high school branches, 5 multipurpose high
schools, and 4 rural family homes.<fnref n="1" />

<footnote>E. W. Wadrawane (✉)
University of New Caledonia (UNC), Nouméa, New Caledonia
e-mail: wayuone-eddie.wadrawane@unc.nc</footnote>

<footnote n="1">¹Isabelle Champmoreau, member of the government in charge of edu-
cation, Érick Roser, Vice-Rector, Director General of Education,
Romain Capron, Director of Education, and Jean-Luc Bernard-
Colombat, Director of Agricultural Training. Press conference of 10
February 2021, on the start of the 2021 school year, Government of
New Caledonia.</footnote>
## 14.3 Some Worrying Facts About the Current Education System

Despite some smaller modifications, school curricula have remained almost unchanged since the beginning of formal schooling in New Caledonia. At present, the curricula appeal more to students from metropolitan France and less so for those from the French overseas territories (Wadrawane 2022). Indigenous Kanak and Oceanian knowledge is not sufficiently taken into account in school curricula. After analyzing two locally produced geography textbooks for primary and secondary schools, Stastny and Kowasch (2022) come to the same conclusion that Indigenous Kanak knowledge is marginalized, or described as backward and unprofitable. And ecological practices mostly do not take place in Indigenous milieus. The contextual harmonization of Kanak languages teaching is still delayed, although there is a choice of the four main languages for the high school degree. Each province has its own language teaching policy. But in 2019, the Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of New Caledonia (ISEE) estimated that there were 210,981 speakers of Kanak languages aged 15 and older in New Caledonia (see Chap. 13 by Leblic in this book).

Training and evaluation tools for pre-service and in-service teachers are still very eurocentric. This eurocentrism is omnipresent in teacher training and student teaching institutions. This context makes it difficult to implement a policy of the “oceanization” of schooling, supported by politicians. Decolonizing minds is more laborious than one would think. Other constraints remain in the country’s educational landscape, around resourcing and facilities, but the orientation of teacher training is my focus here.

The intensive update and modification of teaching programs remains a highly politicized issue despite the efforts of research and certain institutions to teach Kanak and Oceanian languages and cultures. Language teaching is still underdeveloped. There are just not enough permanent teachers specializing in Kanak languages and cultures for primary and secondary schools. The pedagogical advisors for aiding classroom teachers, and the inspectors for the evaluations of their teaching, remain insufficient. There is also a lack of reflection on the transformation and the didactization of everyday Kanak and Oceanian knowledge in schooling. Apart from some initiatives in private education, this field of research remains deficient for the moment.

Sometimes, parents of students raise concerns about secondary school curricula and schooling, despite the adoption of the territory's educational project in 2016 (NC la 1ère 2020). They highlight an overlap in the timetables between Kanak languages and other disciplinary sessions, for example, making attendance difficult or impossible. Their concerns and resistance to them is hardly surprising since Kanak

languages are still considered as foreign languages. It is thus difficult to affirm the sustainability of Kanak and Oceanian languages and cultures in the educational system.

## 14.4 Religion in the History of Schooling

The first rudimentary schools in New Caledonia-Kanaky appeared between 1843 and 1846 on the Loyalty Islands. Between 1854 and 1858, the first two boarding schools were opened in the Rhô community on Maré. The missionaries there set up religious education within Kanak communities (Salaün 2005; Wadrawane 2008) and started to teach fundamental skills from the Roman school: reading-writing-counting. The links between school teaching and religious instruction rapidly led to some Kanak wanting to master this new and unfamiliar knowledge. The knowledge of faith entered the history of schooling at this stage. The missionaries of the London Missionary Society then deciphered and translated the biblical texts into Kanak languages, welcomed by Kanak communities. According to the missionaries, the faith of the Kanaks would arise through the reading of the Holy Scriptures in their own language (Rognon 2018). However, this work of translation was not viewed favorably by the colonial administration of the time, which was wedded to teaching in French.

The arrival and appointment on 17 March 1862, of the Fourierist and anticlerical administrator, Governor Guillain (1862–1870), did not help to settle these disputes. The governor sought to slow down the missionary expansion project. He did not like the Mission, and as a result, he was probably not much loved in return (Merruau 1871). The secular public schools established in 1863, reserved for the children of settlers. Guillain tried to reduce the influence of the missionaries. One of the most famous measures he took was to prohibit the teaching of Kanak idioms and [Kanak languages] in all public and private schools.

## 14.5 Strong Results, Despite the Ban on Kanak Languages

Despite this prohibition, the Kanak continued to learn the fundamentals of scholarship, including writing. Dauphiné (1990) describes a scene where Governor Guillain authorizes the wife of the great chief Boula to write to her husband (a four-page letter written in Drehu language in 1864):

> It was the first time that I saw a woman so close to the Negro race, posed with such ease in front of a writing table, with a pensive and thoughtful physiognomy, writing herself on the paper, her ideas, her reflections and drawing a line of conduct to her husband, the great chief of Læssi. I could not help but say to myself sadly, that even today, after ten years of our occupation,