The Melanesian Way in the 21st Century: Culture, Politics, and Festivals

What happens to the Melanesian Way as a shared identity across scale, from people to nation and sub-region? I explore ideas of ‘Melanesian-ness’, drawing on the early ideas of Kanak independence leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Bernard Narokobi’s 1980 conceptualization of ‘the Melanesian Way’, and institutional interpretations by the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). I examine MSG-led Melanesian arts and cultural festivals (MACFESTs) as state-curated spaces celebrating Melanesian identity and self-representation, reflecting on the 2023 MACFEST held in Vanuatu. I argue that contemporary official ‘bounded’ Melanesian identity has political utility but retains a strategic flexibility by maintaining an ‘unbounded, open’ Melanesianism, as characterized by Narokobi and Tjibaou. Recognition of cultural promotion as an expression of sub-regional identity, autonomy, and statecraft aids an understanding of the role MACFESTs play within MSG politics, and the embodiment of the Melanesian Way.