Bridging Mental Boundaries in a Postcolonial Microcosm: Identity and Development in Vanuatu

This text looks at the long-term effects of the joint Franco-British administration in public policy, political disputes, and social cleavages in post-independence Vanuatu. It emphasizes the strong imprint left by what the author terms "condocolonialism" in dividing ni-Vanuatu into "Anglophones" and "Francophones", but also suggests how this division is being replaced by divisions based on urban or rural residence, traditional or modern employment and disparities between the status and activities of men and women. The volume aims to provide more than an analysis of a unique case of colonialism and its effects, it is an interpretation of the evolution of an insular society beset by particularly intense pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial fractures. The analysis is also enriched by comparisons between Vanuatu and other colonized societies including Niger, Nigeria, Martinique, Mauritius and Pondicherry.