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  • Kowasch_M._S.P.J._Batterbury_M._Neumann.

    Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Settler Colonial Studies on 13/07/2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/2201473X.2014.1000905

    Accepted author manuscript, 431 KB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Contested sites, land claims and economic development in Poum, New Caledonia

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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/10/2015
<mark>Journal</mark>Settler Colonial Studies
Issue number4
Volume5
Number of pages15
Pages (from-to)302-316
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date13/07/15
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Property relations are often ambiguous in postcolonial settings. Property is only considered as such if socially legitimate institutions sanction it. In indigenous communities, access to natural resources is frequently multidimensional and overlapping, subject to conflict and negotiation in a ‘social arena’. Settler arrivals and new economic possibilities challenge these norms and extend the arena. The article analyses conflicts and negotiations in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in the light of its unique settler history and economic activity, focussing on the little-studied remote northern district of Poum on the Caledonian main island Grande Terre. In this region the descendants of British fishermen intermarried with the majority Kanak clans. We illustrate the interaction between customary conflicts, European settlement, struggles for independence, and a desire for economic development. Customary claims are in tension with the attractions of economic growth and service delivery, which has been slow in coming to Poum for reasons largely outside the control of local people.

Bibliographic note

Later republished in a book This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Settler Colonial Studies on 13/07/2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/2201473X.2014.1000905