The National Museum of Vanuatu ( bi, Nasonal Miusium blong Vanuatu) is located in the
Vanuatu Cultural Centre
The Vanuatu Cultural Centre (in Bislama ''Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta'' or "VKS"; in French ''Centre Culturel du Vanuatu''), founded in 1955, is the national cultural institution of Vanuatu. It is located in the capital Port Vila.
From 1995 to 2006, ...
(VCC) in
Port Vila
Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate.
Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...
,
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
. It specializes in exhibits relating to the culture and history of this group of islands in the
South Pacific. It is unique amongst Pacific national cultural institutions for rejecting many aspects of European museology, and creating new ways of working which value ''
kastom
''Kastom'' is a pidgin word (Bislama/Tok Pisin) used to refer to traditional culture, including religion, economics, art and magic in Melanesia.
The term is the generally accepted term in anthropology to describe such phenomena as well as the ...
'' practices.
Background
The Vanuatu Cultural Centre was founded in 1959.
From its inception, it was designed to encompass a National Museum of Vanuatu. By 1960 a Board of Management was established with British, French and ni-Vanuatu members.
In the early years the museum focussed on exhibitions, mostly of collections formed by colonisers.
Its first site was on the waterfront of Port Vila.
In 1989 leadership of the museum passed from the expatriate anthropologist Kirk Huffman, to ni-Vanuatu Jack Keitadi.
Official opening
In 1995 the VCC and the museum moved to a new purpose-built structure in Port Vila.
The new building was 45 metres long and 20 metres wide, and its architectural design was inspired by buildings from the northern islands.
Its official opening was held at 9.30am on 17 November 1995, and was preceded by four days of ritual and cultural activity.
This festival brought people from a range of communities to the capital and emphasised the museum also belonged to them.
The opening ceremony involved gift-giving and a "Kastom dedication" of the building.
The "Kastom dedication" included covering the building with a spiritual net and the sacrifice of a specially selected pig.
The date of the museum opening, 17 November, was also dedicated as National Cultural Day.
Building
The museum is within the shared structure, which contains an exhibition hall, where displays regularly change.
The museum also has an archival space, known in 2003 as the Tabu Room, where ''
kastom
''Kastom'' is a pidgin word (Bislama/Tok Pisin) used to refer to traditional culture, including religion, economics, art and magic in Melanesia.
The term is the generally accepted term in anthropology to describe such phenomena as well as the ...
'' objects can be deposited by their owners for safekeeping, but where access to them is also kept along ''kastom'' traditions.
The museum also has storage space, where objects that cannot be displayed are kept, either because they are fragile, or because they are the subject of dispute.
Public engagement
The museum runs a Kastom School where traditional arts and stories are passed on to young people from Vanuatu. In 2020 the museum hosted an exhibition on the history of archaeological research in Vanuatu. In 2021 the museum was the location of the launch of Vanuatu's first anthology of women's writing ''
Sista, Stanap Strong!'' Exhibitions in the 1990s included: money, contemporary art, domestic spaces.
Collections
The National Museum of Vanuatu has a collection that includes archaeological and ethnographic objects, as well as biological and geological specimens, from the country.
The collection includes: masks, slit gongs, model canoes, pottery, animal and birds specimens from each island, as well as archaeological archives relating to the material culture of the first inhabitants.
The geology collection includes bones belonging to the
meiolaniid
Meiolaniidae is an extinct family of large, probably herbivorous stem-group turtles with heavily armored heads and tails known from South America and Australasia. Though once believed to be cryptodires, they are not closely related to any living ...
family of megafaunal horned turtles. The remains were excavated from the
Teouma
Teouma is a major archaeological site from Teouma Bay on the island of Éfaté in Vanuatu. The site contains the oldest known cemetery within the Pacific Islands, and has been important in the gathering of information relating to the Lapita pe ...
site, which was inhabited by
Lapita people
The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian peoples, Austronesian people and their material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. They are believed to have originated from ...
; the site provides the earliest evidence for human-meiolaniid interaction. Ceramic material from the archaeology collection includes
Lapita pottery and Wusi pottery from
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census.
Geography
The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...
.
The archaeology collection also includes a photographic archive, which includes images of the excavation of Chief
Roi Mata
Roi Mata (or Roy Mata, Roymata) was a powerful Melanesian chief in what is now Vanuatu. He is believed to have lived at the end of the 16th century, or the beginning of the 17th century, 17th.#unescopdf, ''Chief Roi Mata's domain'' (UNESCO report) ...
's burial site.
Another photographic archive records the tradition of
sand drawing
Sand drawing (or sandroing in Bislama)["Sandroing"](_blank)
Vanuatu ...
from the islands, which appears on UNESCO's
List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Digital collecting
Digital collecting has been an important aspect of the museum's work since 1976 when an Oral Traditions Project was founded. The project trained ni-Vanuatu men to record oral traditions.
In 1990 this programme involved to include the collection of women's oral traditions, as well as men's, and was led by
Jean Tarissei.
By 1994 this programme had developed into the Vanuatu Culture Centre Women Fieldworker Network.
Connections to the Independence movement
During the 1970s, at the same time as the museum was starting its oral collecting programme, the independence movement in Vanuatu was developing, following the establishment of the
Vanua'aku Pati
The Vanua'aku Pati () is a democratic socialist political party in Vanuatu.
History
The party was founded on 17 August 1971 by Walter Lini as the New Hebridean Cultural Association, renamed later that same year as the New Hebrides National Party ...
in 1971. The party stressed the importance of ''kastom,'' in particular as a way to unite ni-Vanuatu against both the colonial rule of the
Anglo-French Condominium
New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...
. This meant that the importance of ''kastom'' became part of a national discourse.
In 1980, post-independence, the Oral Traditions Project developed into the Vanuatu Cultural Centre Fieldworker Network.
Research
In 1994 the museum began a long-term partnership with the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
in order to co-operate to solve some of the gaps in the ni-Vanuatu archaeological record. Excavations have been undertaken at several sites, including:
Erromango
Erromango is the fourth largest island in the Vanuatu archipelago. With a land area of it is the largest island in Tafea Province, the southernmost of Vanuatu's six administrative regions.
Name
The endonym for Erromango in Erromangan is ''Nelo ...
(1994),
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...
(1995),
Mangaasi on
Efate
Efate (french: Éfaté) is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. It is also known as Île Vate.
Geography
It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanua ...
(1996–99), Teouma (2004-06).
The excavations at Mangaasi were the first to include a comprehensive archaeological training programme for ni-Vanuatu.
In 2002 the German painter
Ingo Kühl
Ingo Kühl (born 29 June 1953) is a German painter, sculptor and architect.
Life
Grown up in Bovenau near Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein as a son of a policeman, Ingo Kühl attended the Theodor-Storm-Realschule in Hanerau-Hademarschen. Aft ...
, after participating in an expedition of the Cultural Center to ceremonies of the indigenous people on
Malakula
Malakula Island, also spelled Malekula, is the second-largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, formerly the New Hebrides, in Melanesia, a region of the Pacific Ocean.
Location
Malakula is separated from the islands of Espiritu Santo and Malo by ...
, his works that were created there were shown in an exhibition at the National Museum of Vanuatu and in 2004–2005 at the
Ethnological Museum of Berlin
The Ethnological Museum of Berlin (german: Ethnologisches Museum Berlin) is one of the Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in t ...
.
In November 2006 a major conference was held at the museum, which was the first time an international conference on ni-Vanuatu cultural heritage was held in the country.
Collections management
In 2004 an in-house, electronic collections management system was designed in order to effectively manage physical and digital collections, as well as to accurately represent the relationships that are so important in ni-Vanuatu culture. The system became known as the Vanuatu Cultural Information Network (VCIN). It was designed to work effectively in all three main languages: English, French and Bislama, but is less effective in other endemic languages. The database also records which objects are tabu, and who may access them, for example "family only" or "village - female only". However, in 2019, as a result of a lack of sustained funding, the catalogue had been "de-aggregated".
Museology
The museum does not follow European museological traditions. For the ni-Vanuatu who visit, objects are inextricably linked to social networks and the museum has worked hard with communities and researchers across the islands to record these connections and their significance.
This indigenous understanding of material culture is one that is rarely adopted and continued by the museums of colonised countries.
Kirk Huffman emphasised the importance of the "unique, quasi-spiritual" operations of the museum: "There is much in Vanuatu's cultures that is
tabu
Tabu may refer to:
Cultural and legal concepts
*Taboo (spelled ''tabu'' in earlier historical records), something that is unacceptable in society
*Tapu (Polynesian culture) (also spelled ''tabu''), a Polynesian cultural concept from which the wor ...
, that the outside world does not need to know, nor have the right to know, and these restrictions must be respected."
Repatriation
In 2003 it was noted that absences in the collections included: material related to missionary activity, nationalism in Vanuatu, and material culture relating to cargo cults, for example those of
John Frum
John Frum (also called Jon Frum, John Brum, and John Prum) is a mythic figure associated with cargo cults on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. He is often depicted as an American World War II serviceman who will bring wealth and prosperity to the ...
.
However, much missionary material culture that relates to Vanuatu is held in overseas collections, particularly in countries connected to
Scottish Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
. Many other countries host ethnographic and scientific specimens from Vanuatu, as a result of colonial collecting practices.
''Lengnangulong'' sacred stone
Since 1997 the original owners of the
''Lengnangulong'' sacred stone, which is from the village of Magam on North Ambryn, have requested either the repatriation of the object or formal acknowledgement of their ownership from the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. It was collected by
Jean Guiart, a French anthropologist in 1949. Whilst the original is in Paris, in the Pavillon des Sessions of the Musée du Louvre, a copy of the stone is displayed at the National Museum of Vanuatu. In Vanuatu, ownership of the stone according the ''kastom'' is recognised as Zaki Tubuvi. Whilst Guiart paid a small amount of money for the stone, he did not pay the ''kastom'' owners - Tubuvi - and so according to ni-Vanuatu culture, Guiart's act is equivalent to stealing as he ignored traditional practice. As of 2017, the stone had not been returned or traditional ownership acknowledged.
Objects held in overseas collections
File:Vanuatu MHNT ETH AC NG 29 pirogue.jpg, Pacific canoe prow, featuring a frigate bird, from the island of Vao, now at Museum of Toulouse.
File:Vanuatu objects, Otago Museum, 2016-01-29.jpg, Display of ni-Vanuatu objects in Otago Museum
Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...
File:Vanuatu Zeremonialkeule Museum Rietberg RME 703.jpg, Ceremonial club, from Ambrym or Malakula, held at Museum Rietberg
The Rietberg Museum is a museum in Zürich, Switzerland, displaying Asian, African, American and Oceanian art. It is the only art museum focusing on non-European art and design in Switzerland, the third-largest museum in Zürich, and the largest t ...
File:Red mat from Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, Honolulu Museum of Art accession 14147.1.jpg, ''Sese'' (red mat) from Pentecost Island, 20th century, pandanus (Pandanus tectorius), Laba (Rhamnus ventilago neocaledonica), dye, stencil resist and plaiting, Honolulu Museum of Art
The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single col ...
.
File:Slit gong from Vanuatu, 19th century CE. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.jpg, Slit gong, from Vanuatu, held at National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...
File:Naturalis Biodiversity Center - ZMA.MOLL.205130 - Vexillum pardalis (Küster, 1841) - Costellariidae - Mollusc shell.jpeg, Molluscs from Zoological Museum, Amsterdam
Notable people
*
Marcellin Abong - curator
*
Kirk Huffman - former curator, 1977–90.
*
Nadia Kanegai - fieldworker
*
Jack Keitadi - first ni-Vanuatu curator
*
Clarence Marae - former ni-Vanuatu curator
*
Ralph Regenvanu
Ralph John Regenvanu (born 20 September 1970 in Suva, Fiji''Laef Blong Mi'', Sethy Regenvanu, op.cit., p. 76) is a Ni-Vanuatu anthropologist, artist and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since September 2008, was a member of Cabinet ...
- former ni-Vanuatu curator
*
Richard Shing - acting director (2017).
References
External links
*
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
VANUATU'S National Museum 😲 with human skulls and ancient artifacts, let's go!*
Flickr
Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...
Some wood sculptures. National Museum* Flickr
Vanuatu 2014. Church group outside National Museum*
National Museums Scotland
National Museums Scotland (NMS; gd, Taighean-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland.
NMS is one of the country's National Collections, ...
Vanuatu Collection17.745579, 168.317204
{{Oceania topic, List of museums in
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
Port Vila
Museums in Vanuatu
Museums established in 1960
1960 establishments in Oceania