In the Long ‘Run’: Kanak Stockmen, the Cattle Frontier and Colonial Power Relations in New Caledonia, 1870–1988

Abstract

For more than a century, from the 1870s to the 1980s, stockmen were important intermediaries and figures of power and influence in the construction, maintenance and renewal of the colonial order in New Caledonia. Social relations between Kanak and settlers working in the cattle 'runs' permitted a unique form of mobility spanning the frontier. The relations developed between chiefs and cattle farmers are central to the processes by which certain administrative chieftaincies emerged in the late-nineteenth century, and by which Kanak entered the 'political' sphere in the second half of the twentieth century. With reference to the locality of Koné, this article traces the political alliances fashioned between Kanak stockmen and their employers in the context of colonisation, rebellion, evangelisation, post-war political emancipation, local development and, finally, the struggle between supporters and opponents of independence in the 1980s.

Locality, Mobility and Governmentality in Colonial/Postcolonial New Caledonia: The case of the Kouare tribe (xûâ Xârâgwii), Thio (Cöö)

“…Though there were drastic restrictions on the freedom and movement of Kanak, there were also other institutional sites of power – the livestock station, mine, catholic mission – which rendered the social landscape more complex and multi‐layered, whilst not destabilising the structure of colonial segregation (see figure ). For instance, it has been argued that ‘[c]attle provoked the movement that both preceded and contributed to cantonnement ’ (Muckle and Trépied : 200). The spatial distribution of indigenous reservations (such as Ouindo, Kouare, Koua), which are located in the upper and remote parts of the side valleys, were due to the pressure exerted by the pastoral and mining fronts, whereas others (Saint Philippo II, Saint‐Paul) are in the main valley around the church.…”

“…See Bensa (), Bensa and Goromido (), Sand (), Naepels (); but see also Demmer (, ), Trépied's path‐breaking published PhD () and Muckle and Trépied (). See also Demmer () for a highly insightful discussion of the private/public and common (subject)/particular (high‐ranking) categories on the political function of secrecy in Canala, in the xârâcùù linguistic area in which Thio is also located.…”

“…See a similar case of the long tolerated informal reserve of Poinda in Koné, northern New Caledonia, which became official only in 1929 (Muckle and Trépied : 205).…”