Paper short abstract:

An analysis of rural efforts to 'rescue' Honiara-based relatives from corrupting urban influences, including the Solomon Islands state, reveals continued struggles surrounding political and religious 'conversions' and the significance of village-based kin networks in leadership and governance.

Paper long abstract:

Every year Gwou'ulu Village (Lau, Malaita Province) sends at least one 'rescue mission' to Solomon Islands capital city, Honiara. Organized by the Anglican village church, the goal of these rescue missions is to remind villagers who have temporarily or permanently migrated to town about village values, interests and priorities. This paper examines villagers' motivations for 'rescuing' Honiara and outlines some of the strategies that they deploy, such as a 're-mapping' of Honiara settlements to align with village-based prayer groups. I show how these missions combined with other village-centric events and activities in town, attempt to subvert (urban) state and to a lesser degree Church authority. Organizers and participants aim to reassert the moral dominance of village-based kin networks in political and religious leadership and governance against a perceived growth of individualism and urban anonymity. A desire for more active and equitable participation in the global state system and the (Anglican) Christian oecumene is met by a continued sense of exclusion by both 'communities.' This perceived exclusion undermines the legitimacy of the state and the Anglican Church, re-revealing villages and kin networks as dominant sources of belonging, and thus fueling a continued struggle surrounding political and religious 'conversions' in contemporary Solomon Islands.