Melanesian cultures
Melanesia is the most multilingual region on earth: Papua New Guinea alone has more than eight hundred languages. This assistant leans on the region's cultural centres and universities, and separates what it knows from what it is unsure of.
Languages and peoples
The institutions consulted
- Vanuatu Cultural Centrevanuatuculturalcentre.gov.vu
- Fiji Museumfijimuseum.org.fj
- University of the South Pacificusp.ac.fj
- Gouvernement des Îles Salomonsolomons.gov.sb
- University of Papua New Guineaupng.ac.pg
- PARADISECparadisec.org.au
- Communauté du Pacifique (CPS)spc.int
- Forum des îles du Pacifiqueforumsec.org
Questions to start with
- Why does kava matter in Fijian gatherings?
- How are chiefs chosen in Vanuatu?
- How are Papua New Guinean sing-sings organised?
- What designs appear on Solomon Islands war canoes?
- What happened during the Bougainville civil war?
What the assistant will not do
It will not invent a word in a Pacific language, and it will not present one people’s practice as another’s. When it has no source, it says so. Every word in language it writes is checked after the answer, and the reader is shown any that appear nowhere.