The creative constitution of an archipelago: Intercultural dynamics in the belep islands of Kanaky new caledonia

This article considers the Belep islands archipelago in Kanaky New Caledonia as a geo-cultural project in which human collective agency plays a crucial role. In the constitution of the archipelago, geomorphology interweaves with historical, intersubjective and intercultural process of cultural creativity. Cultural creativity is presented here as a theoretical framework and as a useful tool to understand the emergence of original and unexpected forms in many domains of Indigenous island societies who are actively engaged with exogenous forces. In particular, the article concentrates on those historical and contemporary processes that emerge in intercultural dynamics and shape the archipelago, leading first to its reduction, then to its condensation in a new form (the village of Waala), and, most recently, to its expansion.