Demand-sharing and fences: Aspects of the new Port Vila household

Abstract

This article addresses certain aspects of town life in the capital of Vanuatu. In my most recent fieldwork in 2010 and 2014 I have been investigating household economy and aspects of social organization in the settlements that rapidly spring up around the town of Port Vila. I will present one particular feature of these settlements as a test case for revisiting the long debate about Melanesian reciprocity, demand sharing and gift. Notably, in many households people set up a little store, from which kin and friends in the neighborhood can buy their household supplies. Like the household itself, the store is typically fenced off and barred in - not directly from fear of theft, but as a defense against aggressive demand-sharing and envy. My point will be that people in Port Vila now tend to use the store economy as a way of protecting the value of sharing from the too intruding world of relatives and neighbors.