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This paper assesses the way each cultural group of New Caledonia perceives the major periods of the archipelago's human history. The identification of strong divergences around the meaning of history depends on origins, nevertheless it shows the progressive diversification of these perceptions in each community. The contemporary development, in relation to the creation of a political process of local citizenship and the building of a shared future, shows how variable cultural behaviour can be, in particular that which is supposed to be immuable. This gives hope for future agreements over a series of shared values and cultural features. The definition of new unifying “origin myths” will have to be constructed through a new definition of symbols, in what historians call a process of “invention of tradition” that characterizes the building of modern States.

After the institutional immobilism of the colonial period, New Caledonia has tested about ten statutes since 1946 and seems to have found a certain statutory stability since the Matignon Accord. Beyond these evolutions, there is a certain stability in the institutional relations and policy between the French State and New Caledonia.

This article examines the roots of the tragic “events” of the 1980s in New Caledonia, arguing that the Kanak Awakening of 1969 resulted from a convergence of powerful structural forces, such as the recolonization of the territory by France in the 1960s, accompanied by massive immigration during a nickel mining boom, and the return home of radicalized Kanak and Caledonian students from France, where they had experienced the May 1968 studentworker uprising. The gradual, multi-ethnic trend toward autonomy by the Union calédonienne had been interrupted, but the advocacy of revolutionary Kanak Independence polarized the population along ethnic and political lines. Today, France is again granting autonomy to New Caledonia, but two visions of nationhood are in competition: remaining loyal to France or becoming a sovereign state.

The practice of welcoming in New Caledonia is often reduced to the sole dimension of customary ceremony, consisting in giving a piece of cloth and some tobacco to those who welcome you. This practice is, however, much more complex. This article's objective is to show that the only way to grasp all the dimensions of these practices is by considering them as a customary right, where the stakes are much different from those imposed by colonial authorities or politicians working above all for their own benefit. We will also evoke the recent attempts at reformulating the set of rules and customs encompassed by the welcoming practices, in what some traditionalists claim is the “law of the land”. The force of law that the Kanaks attribute to the notion of welcoming, and the security and the prerogatives it offers, might be reduced if the duties and respect towards those who welcome and the local rules are not observed. The “law of the land” is a reminder of these fundamental principles.

In 1988 the Matignon agreement put an end to several years of violent struggle between Kanak independentists, loyalist forces and the French colonial state. Part of the settlement was the creation of Kanak customary councils. From 1992 onward, in the region called Hoot ma Whaap, the customary council organised several large regional encounters. All these encounters expressed Kanak positions towards colonialism. In these encounters, ceremonies and council activities we witness an aspect of the Kanak independence movement which has been largely unobserved. The Kanak people call this the “cultural” or “customary” aspect of their movement and contrast it with the “political” aspect. This article analyses the ethnography of the council's meetings, of these encounters and of the reception ceremonies with their contextual transformations. I study some of the ways Kanak positions towards colonialism are expressed. I then stress the specificities of the relations between the “political” and “cultural, customary” aspects of the anti-colonial movement, especially through practices and representations— both historical and contemporary—of resistance to French colonialism.

Considering that the sense of belonging and identity are part of historical processes and that claiming an identity creates a tension between the sense of belonging and of difference, I examine here the “mission dress”, a garment worn by Kanak women in Lifou and more generally in New Caledonia. The analysis, based on ethnographic interviews and archives, suggests that imported clothes, which are clearly part of a strategy to impose a Western-style sense of modesty, were adapted to local uses by Kanak women, and their meaning was adapted. My interest lies especially in how the women perceived the introduction of new clothing. Nowadays the “mission dress”, in its new designs, is considered part of “la coutume”. The dress, a sign which once allowed Westerners to view Kanak women as inferior beings, has gradually become a symbol of identity, which many of my female interlocutors claim with pride.

This article examines the micropolitics within a Kanak community in New Caledonia, concerning a mining project. Because of its political and economic importance, local residents supported the project on the whole. However, disputes arose within the surrounding communities. In Kanak societies, prestige is acquired through the ability to claim membership of a clan that is among the first to arrive in a place, and thus has the right to make all decisions relating to land use. People viewed the recognition of these rights by the mining company as having the potential to either support or destabilise their social positions. People's expectations in this regard also influenced their statements about the ecological consequences of the project as well as the risks of provoking the ancestors'anger.

The peace that New Caledonia has experienced for about fifteen years can be apprehended, as greatest progress on this territory. Notwithstanding this first encouraging report, it is not at all obvious that the future evolutions of the territory will proceed under the best auspices in terms of decolonization. However, consolidated by international law, the decolonization of New Caledonia seems strewn with obstacles that we propose to analyse by first assessing the scission of the FLNKS. We will then estimate the range of dynamics suggested by the process of economic development which brought in a new era in 1988. We shall question the way the developmentist ideology may represent a new form of colonialism, and if this ideology proudly defended by the Accords (1988-1998) really contributes to the correction of the inequalities and the rebalancing.

Since the 1980s, the “Rock” has been perceived differently by its neighbors: for some, as New Caledonia, French territory in the South Pacific; for others, as Kanaky, struggling to obtain its independence! From critical approaches to supportive attitudes, the different view points have highlighted certain aspects of the archipelago's internal situation, on national and international levels. Our analysis will show on the one hand the emergence of a political regional identity through the South Pacific Forum (FPS, now Forum of Pacific Islands, FIP) and, on the other hand, how the Melanesian Group “Spear Metal” gave rise to the affirmation of solidarity among Melanesians. Have the regional reactions of Interference or Oceanic solidarity influenced or affected the relations between the Kanak separatists, the Caledonian loyalists and the French state? In conclusion, one must take stock of this regional perception: has it helped the situation on the Rock evolve? Has it indeed evolved?