Natrauswen nig Efat: stories from South Efate

Abstract

This book presents a selection of stories recorded mainly in Erakor village, Efate, Vanuatu since the mid-1990s.

This collection of stories is a result of my collaboration with a number of Erakor villagers. The stories presented here are not and could not claim to be a comprehensive view of Erakor tradition. Each is the result of the speaker’s choice of what they would tell me and reflects their understanding of what is significant, based on my request for them to talk about any topic, but largely framed by kastom (traditional) story, history or personal story. These are the categories into which I have placed the stories. This distinction is not unproblematic as personal stories can become indistinguishable from kastom stories when magical events intervene in the narrator’s life, and can also reflect historical events in which the narrator inevitably finds themself.

The collection presented here aims primarily to provide a record of aspects of Erakor life for South Efate speakers and for interested outsiders. Given that little else is published about this village the present set of stories is a first step, one that I hope will be followed up with more collaboration from Erakor villagers.