Land and access: A framework for analysing mining, migration and development in Melanesia

Abstract

In this paper we propose that we can best make sense of mining-induced in-migration in Melanesia through the dual frame of “land” and “access”, which can both be seen as a type of “capital” or “asset” in the way that Anthony Bebbington used these terms in his well-known “capitals and capabilities” framework for analysing rural livelihoods. The concept of land provides a useful point of entry for understanding the relationship between mining, migration and development in this setting. We argue that if land is central to the making of social relations in Melanesia (that land is a social relation), then mining changes the meaning and values that can flow from land, and these changes induce manoeuvres on the part of residents and in-migrants as they attempt to control or become part of the social relations that constitute land in order to access the development benefits derived from mining activities. In the end, these actions remake place, and irrevocably reshape relationships and senses of place that precede mining.