No abstract

No abstract

Summary. " Ceremonial declamations (« viva ») and principales of social organization in the Kouaoua valley (New Caledonia "). " viva " are lists of names paired together and hierarchically ordered, referring to lineages. Their conception — being somewhat different from their enunciation — encompasses the bulk of kin groups living in the largest common territory known as ' mwaciri ' or " country ". This generally comprises a valley or part of a coastal plain. The Kouaoua valley has several such lists, differently arrayed. Though " viva " strongly relate to local social organization they cannot be entirely equated to it as they also relate to principles intrinsic to their function. Comparison and analysis of different lists of « viva » from the Kouaoua valley show that their resemblances and differences are the combination of various social principles, namely the conservation of past-orders, the emphasising of filiation and political alliance, and the ordering of groups through status and hierarchies.

No abstract

Although the history of cattle-raising by Melanesians in New Caledonia is made of a succession of various formulas — ail of which still currently in existence — , thèse do not proceed from an evolutionary line that would stretch back to the establishment of the first rearing practices, more than a century ago. The outset of each of these various formulas, as well as their subsequent developments, are enmeshed in the peculiar set of structural relationship shaping up the New Caledonian social System along with its Melanesian component at that very period. Melanesians who are invested with specific social assets geared to the dominant conditions of the period are henceforth able to get new or additional opportunities to practice cattle-rearing. In that context, changing conditions in cattle-raising among Melanesians are largely framed within the administrative control over land, within or outside reservation lands, a situation inherited from the colonial land policies enacted up by the turn of this century.