Contribution short abstract:

This presentation analyses the ways in which a “traditional” Lavongai conservation area known as vala, set up in coastal waters that may be regarded as a type of “common”, at once depends upon and influences the relations that Lavongai people have with nonhuman beings and with each other.

Contribution long abstract:

On Lavongai Island in Papua New Guinea, access to land and fishing grounds is indispensable to the livelihoods of most inhabitants. Land tenureship arrangements are fluid and complex, with ownership determined by membership in one of several matriclans, and usage derived through alliance, residence, or ceremonial purchase. At sea, the matter is more complex, as “there are no divisions into clans” there. This raises the question: is the sea a form of common?

Marine spaces are home to a number of nonhuman species with which Lavongai people have daily interactions. Marine animals have roles in local stories, myths and legends; certain specialists direct practices towards fish in order to “call” them or make them “tame”; their meat is key to gift exchanges organised for funerals and marriages; and they are important sources of food.

Lavongai people are recipients of discourses carried by local and foreign NGOs concerning durable management of marine resources. Blending such information with their own knowledge and practices, they have “revitalised” a form of localised fishing prohibition known as vala, described by Lavongai people as allowing them to properly “look after” fish and other marine beings. However, in such contexts, conflicts occasionally arise because not everybody agrees that such measures are beneficial nor necessary, showing how multispecies sociopolitical issues are central to such undertakings. In this presentation, I analyse the ways in which vala at once depends upon and influences the relations that Lavongai people have with nonhuman beings and with each other.