Horowitz 2008 HO - Cultural Models of a Mining Project in New Caledonia

8/13/2019 Horowitz 2008 HO - Cultural Models of a Mining Project in New Caledonia

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the analyses, any negative association between mainstreamChristian beliefs and environmentalism tended to disappear.This was particularly the case when the surveys investigatedopinions on speci c issues rather than general attitudes to-ward the environment (Shaiko 1987:253-257). However, incontrast to their analysis ofmainstream Christianity, nearly allof the studies that examined extreme Christianconservatism (variously labeled Biblical literalism (Greeley 1993; Schultz,Zelezny, and Darymple 2000), evangelicalism (Guth et al.1995), and fundamentalism (Boyd 1999; Eckberg and Blocker1996)) agree that, even after controlling for other factors, this particular belief system stands out as being associated witha lack of both environmentally-friendly attitudes and self-reported environmentalist behavior. Nonetheless, one study(Wolkomir et al. 1997) questions the negative relationship be-tween fundamentalism and environmentalism, demonstratingthat the speci c belief that humans have been given dominionover the world, rather than any religious af liation per se, plays a role in determining environmental attitudes.

The present paper also questions the relationship betweenfundamentalist Christianity and environmentalism or thelack thereof. However, I examine environmental attitudesexpressed in response to a particular threat rather than to asurvey questionnaire. Instead of analyzing quantitative datafrom a broad survey of self-reported beliefs and behavioral patterns regarding the environment in a general sense, Iconsider more closely the statements of a smaller sample of people about their reactions to a particular instance of po-tential environmental degradation. I rely on qualitative datafrom interviews with fundamentalist Christians in rural NewCaledonia (South Paci c) who were faced with the prospectof a nickel mine opening in their backyard, and I take adiachronic look at these villagers statements in light of the

socioeconomic contexts in which they were made.To understand the villagers responses to the mining project, I use a cultural models framework, yet I explore a newdimension of this approach. Previous work has discussed waysin which cultural models can have motivational force becausethey not only label and describe the world but also set forthgoals (both conscious and unconscious) and elicit or includedesires (see DAndrade and Strauss 1992; Strauss 1992:3).However, little research has explored the factors that in uencewhich models individuals choose to adopt and how they adaptthese to their needs. I do not dispute the notion that our beliefsabout the way the world works can in uence our perceptionsof the best ways to engage with it. However, my ndings sug-

gest that the converse may also be trueour understandings ofour own best interest may shape our beliefs about, or culturalmodels of, the world (see also Erickson 2007). In forming thesecultural models, we have available to us a range of discoursesupon which we can draw. I found that fundamentalist villag-ers in New Caledonia drew upon either, and sometimes both,what I label stewardship and exploitation discourses inarticulating their cultural models of the environment.

This paper also contributes to the burgeoning eld of po-litical ecology which addresses the political, economic, social,

and cultural contexts of community-ecosystem relationshand, thus, provides valuable insights into the interactionsmultiple scales, among various factors behind environmenissues (Biersack 1999:10-11; Biersack and Greenberg 20Blaikie and Brook eld 1987; Bryant 1992, 1997; Esco1998, 1999; Neumann 2005; Paulson and Gezon 2005; Pand Watts 1996; Robbins 2004; Schmink and Wood 198Scoones 1999:485; Watts 2000, 2001). A political ecolo perspective, thus, emphasizes ways in which cultural modof human-environment relations are not only a self-ref-ential dialogue, but also draw upon cross-scalar, multiglobal discourses (Zimmerer 2004:112). However, politiecology has been criticized for failing to account adequatfor cultural speci cities that may condition peoples relati-ships with their surroundings (West 2005:633). Therefortake a micropolitical (Barnes 1962; Dumont 1980; Fortes Evans-Pritchard 1940; Leach 1994; Macintyre 2003; M1961; Strathern 1979; Turner 1957) and actor-oriented (also Giddens 1976, 1979; Long 1992; Murdoch and Mars1995:371) approach in order to hone in on local particul-ties and the importance of interactions among individuaI explore how, within a single community, these differe[global] dialogues are used by actors to position themseland their interests (Ferguson and Derman 2005:72; see aChecker 2002; Haenn 1999:487; Hnneland 2004).

Cultural Models andEnvironmental Discourses

Cultural models are mental representations of the worshared among members of a group, that explain why eveoccur and allow their users to predict outcomes and to -have accordingly (DAndrade 1990:809; Quinn and Holl

1987:4). They are, thus, composed of personal mental modheld by individual community members, that overlap dushared experiences (Shore 1996:48). Recent research has de-onstrated ways in which cultural models can in uence peopattitudes and behavior by providing sets of assumptions expectations that function as frameworks for understandand engaging with reality (e.g. DeMunck and Magnus 20Lepani 2007; Thompson 2007). For example, cultural modof the environment inform peoples environmental attitudand prescribe appropriate ways of interacting with it (eBorchgrevink 2002; Ignatow 2006; Paolisso 2002; Paoliand Maloney 2000; Schelhas and Pfeffer 2005). By de nitmental models (whether personal or cultural) exist only in

mind; they are often unconscious and may remain unarticula(Quinn 2005b). They must, therefore, be inferred from th possessors speech and behavior (Quinn 2005a).

By contrast, discourse is what is publicly stated, whethor not it is believed. In its broadest de nition, discoursesimply all form of talk and texts (Gill 1996:141), languin use, either spoken or written (see Fairclough and Wod1997:258; Quinn 2005b). However, discourse has an inter-tive, rather than merely enunciative, character, and hencconsidered to be a type of social practice (Fairclough


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Wodak 1997:258; Potter 1996:129). This refers to the func-tion orientation of discourse, the fact that it allows its usersto interact with other people by performing actions such asoffering excuses, assigning blame, or requesting services (Gill1996:142). Discourse is social in another way as well: Peo- ples ways of expressing themselves are heavily in uenced by prevailing norms of what to say and how to say it. Sometimesthese conventional ways of talking (Johnstone 2002:3) formrelatively coherent sets of ideas or articulated ideologies(Strauss 2005:203). This alternative, narrower, Foucauldiansense of the term de nes a discourse, or a social discourse(Strauss 2005), as a way of talking and a set of associated practices, forms of subjectivity, and power relations thattogether constitute a body of knowledge, identi ed withmembers of some subgroup of society (Burr 2003:64; Quinn2005b:5). (Some such discourses with which the reader will be familiar include that of global warming as a disastrousresult of short-sighted policies and that of climate changeas a fallacy promoted by radicals.) In turn, individuals caninternalize and express discourses, even when these aremultiple and con icting (e.g., Hilhorst 2001; Schelhasand Pfeffer 2005; Strauss 2005:203). Thus, Foucauldianor social discourseswhich often exist at a broad, evenglobal scalemay be adopted as, or at least partially inte-grated into, local cultural models. Through these models, thelogic contained within the discourses makes possible certainways of interacting with the world (e.g., Hnneland 2004).The global discourses upon which I focus in this paper arethose that frame human relationships to the environment byusing the terms contained within Christian doctrine. I willnow attempt to characterize two such discourses, which Icall stewardship and exploitation, and which form theframework of my discussion later in this paper.

Due to the current unpopularity of environmental uncon-cern, it is dif cult to nd direct evidence of an exploitationdiscourse in the published literature. Instead, we must relyon critics characterizations of its implicit presence. Thesesurfaced mainly in the late 1960s, following in the wake ofWhites in uential article. In fact, by January 1970,The NewYork Times religion editor had counted over 40 articles andessays that reproduced Whites argument (Houston 1978:235).Fundamentalism was identi ed as leading to particularly lowlevels of environmental concern due to its millennial castwhich dictated that this earth, and everything upon it, is anexpendable support system for mans voyage to eternity(Marx 1970:948). By the mid-1990s, both environmentalist

and Christian authors tended to refer to established depictionsof the exploitation discourse rather than to describe it afresh(e.g. Oelschlaeger 1994:20; Wall 1994:192). Meanwhile,some Christians even accepted some of the collective blamefor having taken Gods command of dominion as a divineauthorization to exploit the earth, although this was attributedto persuasive and in uential misinterpretations of Christiandoctrine (Prance 1996:57).

Indeed, since the dawn of environmental awarenessin the 1960s, conservative Christians have announced the

advent of an [e]cologically reformed Christian theology(Hessel and Ruether 2000:xxxvii), often arguing that a morecareful reading of the Bible reveals a call for stewardship.They have identi ed speci c Biblical passages as well as ageneral Christian outlook as advocating respect for nature,Gods creation (Schaeffer 1970:76). Christian authors nd intheir faith an ethic of responsible stewardship (Oelschlae-ger 1994:130) due to the fact that the land belongs to Godand not to humans (Houston 1978:230), and they insist that[d]ominion, a word which has often been misunderstood,implies caretaking to act as stewards of Gods own purposes(Prance 1996:56). Some even see Christianity as an essen-tial guideway that can provide environmentalism with asocial, moral, and political force that...might move societytoward sustainability (Oelschlaeger 1994:76). The degreeto which such a concept has penetrated popular culture isevidenced by a recent search on a trendy e-commerce website() for books on the topic of Christianityand ecology. This yielded 346 hits, including titles such asChristianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earthand Humans and Christian Environmental Ethics: A Case Method Approach.

Certainly, Christianity is adapted, through the incorpora-tion of pre-existing beliefs, wherever it is adopted. However,I argue that enough of Christian dogma is shared even amongdiverse nations in order for comparisons to be made of therelationships between Christian beliefs and environmentalattitudes at different locations around the world. In support ofthis comparative approach, a cross-cultural study that included participants from 14 countries throughout the Americas foundan association between literal beliefs in the Bible and anthropo-centric environmental attitudes that was consistent across thismotley sample (Schultz, Zelezny, and Darymple 2000:588).

Although ethnographers have long overlooked, or deliber -ately ignored, the Christian practices of Melanesians (Barker1992:144-145; Douglas 2001:615), this religion has spreadthroughout the Paci c, often mixed with indigenous beliefs and practices (Barker 1990). Indeed, Christianity has been indi-genized to the point of becoming a component of nationalistMelanesian identities (Barker 2001:108; Douglas 2002:8; Lini1982). Evangelical teachings have spread as well, along withthe views on nature that they espouse. In Solomon Islands, anenvironmental attitude and awareness survey of 375 villagersfound that adherents of the millenarianist Seventh-day Adven-tist faith reported far lower levels of concern about ecologicalconsequences than did mainstream Christian villagers (Juvik

1993). As the present paper demonstrates, global discourseson both stewardship and exploitation were available to,and implemented by, fundamentalist Christians in a village inanother Melanesian nation: New Caledonia.

Study Site and Methods

The archipelago of New Caledonia, an overseas posses-sion of France, lies at the southern boundary of the tropics(Figure 1). New Caledonia has two main ethnic groups:


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members of four clans (the Vehajoa, Tobwaa, Xhato, andDuujuat [pseudonyms]) stepped forward as the customarylandowners of the peninsula and later gave their consent,which Falconbridge accepted as evidence that the communityhad granted them permission to conduct feasibility studies forthe re nerys construction at Pinjen. However, representativesof the cattle-raising co-op protested the fact that they had not been consulted rst, as they were the legal landowners, and inMarch 2000 they set up a road block to prevent subcontractorsfrom entering the property. Intracommunity tensions rapidlyescalated (see Horowitz 2002). In May 2001, approximately20 people, primarily members of three of the four clansclaiming customary ownership, moved to the peninsula whichthey began to occupy in order to ensure that Falconbridgesstudies could proceed. Nonetheless, the co-ops refusal to al-low construction ultimately resulted, by August 2001, in themining companys rejection of Pinjen as a potential site andthe selection of Vwavuto, a peninsula to which some Kanakclans claimed customary rights, but which was of ciallyowned by a Caledonian family of European origins.

There was a variety of motivations behind peoplesdesires to see, or not to see, the re nery built at Pinjen orat Vwavuto. Some people undoubtedly had the welfare ofthe entire community at heart, while others were probablymore concerned about clan or personal interests. All, how-ever, expected the location of the re nery to have highlysigni cant socioeconomic implications at the village level.These encompassed both the expected loss of some or all ofthe marine resources upon which people without salariedemployment depended, as well as disproportionate bene tsfor the clans able to claim rst occupancyi.e. customaryownershipof the lands in question. Ethnographic studiesof Kanak societies have uniformly shown that the rst fami-

lies to arrive in a place, usually termed matres du terrain(masters of the land), have a privileged relationship to the landat that location (e.g. Bensa and Rivierre 1982; Dubois 1981).According to customary conventions, their social positiongives this group all decision-making rights over the land andhow it is to be used. Hence, they also retain authority overother community members, such as the privilege (at leastin theory) of asking other clans to leave. At Oundjo, peoplewith claims to rst occupancy of the area where the miningcompany was planning to build its re nery, whether Pinjen orVwavuto, were certain that the mining company would pro-vide royalties and/or preference in employment to membersof their clan. Each group of customary landowners organized

themselves so as to make demands of the mining companyin exchange for the permission to use their customary lands.Such payments and preference would represent not only a

nancial bene t but also a recognition of the localized highsocial status associated with being able to claim membershipof a rst occupant clan. However, the payment of royaltiesto landowners, customary or otherwise, or the prioritizingof these clans in employment, is not a legal requirement in New Caledonia, and in my conversations with them, miningcompany representatives denied having any such plans.

Oundjo is almost entirely Protestant aside from onecouple and their young children who are of the Bahai faith.Most residents are members of what is known aslglisevanglique libre, often called lglise de Charlemagne(theFree Evangelical Church). A few women who married intothe village are members oflglise vanglique, often called lglise autonome (the Evangelical Church). Since approxi-mately 1990, some villagers have also formed a subgroupof the Free Evangelical Church known asla Cellule (theCell), which could arguably be labeled fundamentalist. Itsmembers, who call themselves Enfants de Dieu (Children ofGod),1 have all been re-baptized as adults. This group meetsMonday through Thursday evenings to pray, sing, speakabout their spiritual experiences, and ask God for visions toanswer speci c questions. On Fridays, they participate in aBible study group that is open to all villagers (although as ageneral rule only the Children of God attend), on Saturdaysthey travel to meet with other such Cells in nearby villages,and on Sundays they attend regular church services. In thelate 1990s, this group boasted about 30 members. However,due to internal problems, which some villagers claim werecaused at least in part by disagreements over the constructionof the Northern Re nery, about 20 members stopped attendingthe meetings in mid-2001, although some had recommenced by mid-2003. Some former members chose to hold similarmeetings in small family groupings.

From January to June 2000, I worked as a consultantto Falconbridge and co-authored a Landscape Heritage baseline study, which involved a survey of 369 local residentsas well as a map of taboo sites around the Koniambo Massif(Horowitz and Remond 2000). The present paper is based on

eldwork conducted during my return to the area in July toDecember 2001 as a doctoral student, when I was based at

the village of Oundjo and resided with a local family. In July2003, I made a return visit to Oundjo and conducted severalsupplementary semi-structured interviews. On all occasions,my research focused primarily on the micropolitical con ictssurrounding the mining project, as outlined above. It, thus,addressed a gap in the literature on mineral extraction, whichfocuses mainly on company-community interactions (e.g.Ali 2003; Beynon, Cox, and Hudson 2000; Gardner 2001;Kirsch 1997; Martinez-Alier 2001; Muradian, Folchi, andMartinez-Alier 2004; Toft 1997). Although recent studiesexamine con icts among community members (e.g. Filer1990, 1997; Hilson 2002; Imbun 2000; Jorgensen 2001; Laneand Chase 1996; Ross 2001; Strathern and Stewart 1998;

Trigger and Robinson 2001; Vail 1995), there is still a needfor more ne-grained analyses of the diversity of individualresponses to industrial development. Here, I wish to focuson the ways that local people explainto themselves and tootherstheir responses to development, and how they relyupon global discourses in doing so. In this aim, I will hone inon a group of Christian fundamentalists at Oundjo.

In total, of the 34 Oundjo residents who identifiedthemselves as Children of God, I held interviews with 15.The interviews were semi-structured (Bernard 2002) and


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lasted anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours. I analyzedthe data using grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967;Pidgeon 1996; Pidgeon and Henwood 1996), allowing themesto emerge from the interview transcriptions. Throughout this process, I was strongly in uenced by Foucauldian andcritical approaches to discourse analysis. While I cannotclaim that the research that resulted in the present paperhas a directly emancipatory aim (Fairclough and Wodak1997:259), I have followed critical discourse analysissemphasis on the uses of language and what actions it makes possible (Burr 2003:170-171; Willig 1999, 2001).

In this paper, I summarize the attitudes of these 15 fun-damentalists toward the environmental impacts of the mining project. Then, I analyze in greater depth the statements of sixChildren of God, who invoked Christian discourses in theiranalyses of the potential ecological effects of the KoniamboProject. My conversations with these people did not focuson their religious practices, nor did I speci cally ask them todescribe the in uence of these beliefs on their environmentalattitudes or vice versa. Instead, as for all other interviews atOundjo, I directed the discussions so as to elicit viewpointson the mining project and its potential environmental andsocial impacts, both positive and negative. Thus, any Christiandiscourses articulated by my interviewees were spontaneous.I conducted all interviews in French, and have replaced allnames of clans and individuals with pseudonyms.

Before I discuss peoples expectations of the socioeco-nomic and environmental consequences of the mining project,however, I would like to point out that White was right onone point: As explained to me by villagers, Christianity didappear to reduce peoples inhibitions regarding restrictionsset by ancestral spirits on the exploitation of nature, suchas was necessitated by the mining project. Whether people

viewed that fact in a positive or a negative light, though, cor -related with their expectations of the projects socioeconomicimplications.

God, Spirits, and Control Over nature

Evidence indicates that around the world, turning awayfrom animist practices has freed people from fears of being punished by spirits for encroaching upon areas that were previously off-limits (Anoliefo, Isikhuemhen, and Ochije2003:291-292; Robbins 1995). As White might have put it,converts seemingly have a greater sense of mastery overnature because they are less afraid of taboo places and the

metaphysical beings associated with them. Christianitys ap- pearance does not in fact entail destroying pagan animism(White 1967:1205), because converts may still believe in theexistence and power of these spirits. However, they are moreinclined to disregard the restrictions that these impose, due toa greater con dence in the Christian God and His endorsementof economic development.

Kanak societies acknowledge the existence of twokinds of ancestral spirits: human forefathers and animal, plant, or meteorological totems, both of whom reside

in the landscape (Lambert 1980:202-203, 288-289).2 Par -ticular sites, such as ancient burial grounds and the summof mountains, are known to be inhabited by both typesspirits who set rules about who (usually their descendanif anyone, is allowed to enter those areas. In the Voh-Koregion, such spirits, or evidence of their presence, were -casionally sighted by Kanak mining company employeesthe mountaintops, provoking a certain degree of conceHowever, local residents expressed a sense, similar to thathe Urapmin described by Joel Robbins (1995), that the Ch-tian faith would facilitate economic development by allow people to ignore the obstacles posed by such beings. One of people I interviewed for the Falconbridge consultancy, MicMwajona, held a position of authority at a small village in mountain chain on the edge of the Koniambo Massif. Althohis community was quite isolated, with horses as almost the means of transportation, Michel wanted to nd ways to hthe village develop economically, and he had high hopes employment opportunities from the mining project. As Micexplained, Christianity was gradually eliminating dangers francestral spiritswhich he described using the Christian tedemonsbased at taboo sites:

Its true, there are demons. But all you have to do issimply not believe any more. Me, I became a Christian, Iabandoned those adorations. Me, now, a taboo place, if Iam told to go there, I wont go to play the wise guy. Butif its really necessary to go to get something important, Ican go there. Because of progrs (progress), you haveto abandon.Well have to manage to convince people.(personal communication, May 2000)

Thus, these spirits had not disappeared; however, not beli-ing in them (which evidently meant not worshipping thewas a way to accept progress and to integrate taboo plainto natural resource exploitation projects. The cultural moMichel was promoting, which might be termed Christianallows progress, allowed him to set aside fears about spiand their reactions to ecological change in order to embrthe economic bene ts that he hoped would result from mining project.

Such disregard for restrictions imposed by ancestspirits was not always viewed so optimistically. Marce Nyaban, a born-again Christian at Oundjo who worried abthe damage to marine resources that mining could caudescribed disrespect of the ancestors wishes as foolishrisky and sometimes entailing dire consequences. Marceinterpreted a tragic helicopter crash, which in the previoyear had killed six mining company employees and the pias the indirect result of such heedless behavior. She expresa belief that ancestral spirits had willed the crash. Marceviewed these beings sympathetically, believing that th played a role in protecting the river and mountains:

He [a hypothetical ancestral spirit] is the one who guardsthe river, the mountains, so that man doesnt come de-stroy. They [the mining company employees] come tovisit the mountains, to visit the sea, to build re neries,


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to build laboratories, to do all that. Well, the elders from before, the elders who are already dead, they dont wantyou to destroy the land. (personal communication, July2001)

Thus, the greater control that humans were taking overnature, supported by their faith in God, did not necessarilyimply that people could now rest assured that guardian spir -its would not intervene. Marcelles adoption of this culturalmodel, which could be labeled spirits punish environmentaldestruction, allowed her to oppose the mining project onecological grounds. As explained below, when this interviewwas conducted, the re nery was planned to be built at a lo-cation where Marcelles clan had no customary rights and,thus, expected no bene ts. This may have contributed toher negative attitudes toward the project in general and herarticulation of this cultural model.

Expected Impacts of the Re nery atPinjen or Vwavuto

Just as Michel and Marcelle disagreed about the wisdomof ignoring spirits injunctions, Oundjos Children of God didnot present a uniform opinion on the optimal siting of the Northern Re nery. Instead, they held differing viewpointsabout the economic desirability, and the potential ecologicalimpacts, of the project as a whole as well as of the possible placement of the re nery at each of the two sites. Indeed,these tensions led to many departures from the Cell in 2001.Clearly, peoples stances vis--vis the re nery were basedon factors other than religious af liation. To a large extent, because of clan solidarity and because clan members and theirallies often had similar social positions and interests, peopletook sides along clan lines and based on long-standing alli-

ances. Certainly, this was how the situation was presented tome when I began my doctoral eldwork, when I was advised(by senior male villagers) that all that was necessary was tointerview a senior male from each clan. However, I soondiscovered that individuals within a single clan might havedifferent interests and expectations, leading family membersto take opposite positions in the debate. Women, in particular,tended to doubt that they would nd employment with themining project and to worry about their source of shell sh,while their husbands or sons were enthusiastic about employ-ment opportunities. In all cases, though, peoples opinionsregarding the optimal location for the re nery, or lack thereof,were directly related to their expectations of the economic

and micro-political opportunities and costs that it represented(Horowitz 2002, 2003). Oundjos Children of God were noexception in this regard.

Members of the Vehajoa clan, who claimed customaryownership of part of Pinjen, were the most strongly in favor ofthe re nerys placement there. They led the occupation of the peninsula in support of the mining company subcontractors pre-construction preparations. I interviewed four Childrenof God from this clan, two women and two men, none ofwhom thought that placing the refinery at Pinjen would

entail ecological damage. These four people demonstratedawareness of the ecological threat that the mine represented.However, two of them (Charlotte and Jacques) thought thatthis would not pose a problem because employment wouldobviate the need for shing. Charlotte was in fact alreadyemployed in the kitchen at the hotel owned by Falconbridge,which it used for temporary housing needs of its personnel,while Jacques had a son who worked on the massif for Falcon- bridge/SMSP. The other two fundamentalist members of theVehajoa clan (ric and Marie-France) were more concernedabout the fate of local marine ecosystems, but supported the project for the economic bene ts it would offer. ric, whoworked at another local mine site, believed that any problemswould result from the mining activity on the mountain topsrather than from the re nery itself. When I interviewed him, adecision had been made to proceed at Vwavuto, but ric notedthat he had supported construction at Pinjen as this would haveinvolved a lucrative lease on the lands, which would have ben-e ted the entire village (personal communication, November2001). Marie-France also preferred that the re nery be builtat Pinjen because she and her friends liked to gather shell shat Vwavuto, which would become impossible if the area were polluted (personal communication, September 2001).

According to the version of oral history to which theTobwaa and the Vehajoa subscribed, the ancestors of theTobwaa were at Pinjen before departing to Oundjo, and,therefore, this clan had customary rights over a portion of the peninsula. All clan members at Oundjo supported construc-tion of the re nery at Pinjen. I spoke with the two who wereChildren of God, neither of whom expressed any ecologicalconcerns. Louise Tobwaa provided a religious explanationfor this sense of security (see below).

The Xavuke had no claims to customary ownership of

Pinjen. However, they were closely allied with the Vehajoa,and it was well known that nearly all the Xavuke supportedthe struggle to have the re nery built at Pinjen. Georges, afundamentalist Christian from this clan, expressed a desireto see the lagoon preserved from mining pollution for itstourism potential and marine resources. Nonetheless, he wasalso strongly in favor of the Koniambo Project, which would prove to any loyalist doubters that the Kanak were capableof developing their country. When I interviewed Georges,the mining company had given up hope of constructing there nery at Pinjen, a fact that he regretted (personal commu-nication, October 2001).

The Nyaban clan had no claims to customary ownership

of Pinjen, and one of their kinsmen was a member of thecattle-raising co-operative. I interviewed four Children of Godfrom this clan. All except one, Benjamin (whom I interviewedafter the mining company had switched its plans to Vwavuto),expressed concerns about the ecological damage that mightoccur if the re nery were placed at Pinjen. At Vwavuto justas at Pinjen, the clan had no customary rights over the precisearea where the re nery would be built (although they didhave rights to adjacent areas). Nonetheless, Lon Nyabanreported that the Lord put into the heart of a member of the


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sites customary landowner clan the idea to approach Lonand a representative of another clan in September 2001. This person proposed that the three kin groups unite to demandroyalties from the mining company for the right to constructthe re nery at Vwavuto. Lon voiced concerns about potentialecological consequences of the re nerys placement at Pinjen but expressed con dence that no environmental damage wouldresult from its construction at Vwavuto. Benjamins statementsabout the ecological impacts of the project similarly correlatedwith expectations of socioeconomic implications for his clan.In a conversation in October 2001, he began by proclaiming hiscon dence in Falconbridges ability to prevent pollution, whileexplaining that not many families shed nowadays anyway.Subsequently, however, he insisted that, as the customarylandowners, his clan would demand royalties in order tocompensate for the pollution that the project would cause, sothat the families who live from shing are not penalized.

The Fetraladi have no customary rights to either Vwavutoor Pinjen. Unrelated, long-standing tensions exist between thisclan and the Vehajoa, and at Oundjo the con ict over Pinjenwas often characterized as largely the Vehajoas struggle tohave the re nery built there over the Fetraladis opposition. Ispoke with two Children of God from this clan, one of whom(Danile) expressed concerns about the ecological damagethat could result from placing the re nery at Pinjen. Anotherfundamentalist Christian, Florence, was married to a memberof the Fetraladi clan who was very active in the cattle-raisingco-operative and strongly opposed the placement of the re n-ery at Pinjen. Florence herself, however, worked at the localFalconbridge of ce as a cleaner. While recognizing that themining activity would inevitably cause problems for naturesuch as a loss of marine resources, she insisted that the villagemust accept this cost in exchange for the employment that the

project would bring, even if the re nery were built at Pinjen(personal communication, October 2001). Her opinions, thus,diverged from those of the clan into which she had married,although not those of her birth clan, the Xavuke.

The Duujuat were in an unusual situation: They werecustomary landowners of part of Pinjen, but some clan members also held important positions within the structure of theco-operative. Because of this latter fact, most clan membersopposed construction of the re nery at Pinjen and were,therefore, excluded by the Vehajoa from plans for negotia-tions with the mining company. Honor Duujuat, however,had participated in discussions with Falconbridge in 1999,in which representatives of the customary landowner clans

had granted permission to conduct prospecting activities onPinjen (see above). While aware of the concerns of his fam-ily members, and while on occasion describing himself asan environmentalist, he pronounced himself in favor of theconstruction of the re nery on Pinjen, expressing trust inthe mining company and optimism about the employment itwould bring. In July 2003, by which time it was clear that there nery would be built at Vwavuto, Michle Duujuat (likeHonor, a Child of God) expressed ambivalence about themining projects economic bene ts and ecological costs.

Clearly, fundamentalist Christians at Oundjo eithdesired the economic bene ts promised by the KoniamProject or worried about its potential ecological effects, both. In summary, of the 15 fundamentalists I interviewnine displayed concern about the ecological impacts some aspect of the project, while six opined either that signi cant damage would occur or that economic benewould far outweigh any ecological degradation. Thus, Oundjo residents identity as a Child of God was a po predictor of his or her attitudes (at least as they were voito me) about the environmental hazards posed by the min project. In fact, the degrees of concern or con dence tI observed within this group were quite similar to thosethe villagers who didnot belong to this sect (see Horow-itz 2002, 2003). In both cases, people tended to favor construction of the re nery in a place where they expectheir family, clan or village to gain economically and/orterms of social status (Table 1), and they used environmenarguments to support their position. Additionally, somethe Children of God with whom I spoke relied on religiocultural models.

Interpreting Gods Will:Cultural Models of the Environment

The six fundamentalist Christian Oundjo residents whom I will now focus all used a religious idiom to exprtheir expectations, optimistic or pessimistic, of the ecologiconsequences of the mining project. In forming and arti-lating their cultural models of the environment, they drupon one, or both, of what I have characterized abovetwo global Christian discourses, those of stewardship aexploitation. No matter how they might hypothetically h

described their general attitudes toward the environmena survey questionnaire, when faced with this particular -stance of potential ecological damage, their choice of whcultural model to adopt re ected their socioeconomic amicro-political interests. However, their choice of modallowed them to explain and justify their positions vis--the mining project. Below, I explore the reasons behind eaindividuals adoption of either cultural model, or, in somcases and circumstances, both.

Stewardship: We Cannot Destroy what GodCreated

On certain occasions, some of my interlocutors evidenthe opinion that the mining project would be damaginglocal ecosystems. As noted above, they tended to voice susentiments when they or their clan did not expect beneeither economic or in terms of social status, from the co-struction of the re nery at the site where it was plannHowever, some of these Children of God couched thanxieties in a stewardship cultural model that interprethe local abundance of natural resources as Gods creatiHis gift to humankind. According to this logic, destruct


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of the resources that God had created for human use wentagainst His wishes. For example, Michle Duujuat expressedmixed feelings about the mining project, noting that it would provide employment for village youth but would destroy thelocal landscape. She explained that God had created marineresources to sustain the local community, which dependedheavily on the sea, and that it was the responsibility of humansto take care of everything He created (personal commu-nication, July 2003). Two years prior, most of the Duujuatclan had actively opposed the construction of the re nery atPinjen, mainly because of their ties to the cattle-raising co-operative. By the time I interviewed Michle, Vwavuto ratherthan Pinjen was the most likely option. However, like manyof the women at Oundjo, Michle liked to gather shell sh atlow tide, and had seen how nearby mining activity could llthe shoreline with silt.

Danielle Fetraladi was from a clan that strongly opposedthe construction of the re nery at Pinjen. Although she herselfdeclined to take a de nitive position regarding the construc-tion, Danielle worried about the pollution that the miningactivity would cause (personal communication, August 2001).

While asserting that she and fellow Children of God were notopposed to the project as a whole, she added that spiritually...we cannot destroy. She insisted that the land came fromGod, and that we cannot destroy what God created sinceit was created for our own good. While acknowledging thenecessity of lvolution (progress), she was concerned that people were destroying in its name. Finally, she opined thatthose who wanted the re nery to be constructed at Pinjenwere simply interested in moneyand thus, by implication,not in higher spiritual pursuits.

Marcelle Nyaban, who had married into another clan withno customary rights at Pinjen, also expressed opposition toconstruction of the re nery there because she believed thatGod spoils us with the beauty of the landscape and theabundance of natural resources (personal communication,July 2001): In the other countries, they dont have what wehave, we here in New Caledonia. Here you dont risk... evenif you dont work, you can at least plant a manioc. God givesyou a manioc. You can go shing, God gives you a sh. Shewas concerned that people were destroying what God had cre-ated and given to humans so that you wont be destitute onEarth (personal communication, July 2001). This destructionwas lamentable because God gives us everything but its upto us to protect, and He didnt want humans to ruin whathe had provided them (personal communication, July 2001).Shortly after explaining the role that she believed ancestralspirits had played in causing a tragic helicopter crash (seeabove), Marcelle expressed the opinion that God had also played a part in this event because He doesnt want us todestroy His creation (personal communication, July 2001).The crash had been a warning to Falconbridge and SMSP,

and by extension to all those who placed individual pro tabove the long-term well-being of the community. However,this message had gone unheeded: Hes speaking to those bigwigs, Pidjot [the Kanak CEO of SMSP who perished inthe crash] and company. But they dont realize, or else theydont understand; all they think about is money (personalcommunication, July 2001). Marcelle clearly described Chris-tianity and its representatives as advocating environmentalconcern, as evidenced by her account of the visit of a groupof French ministers to a nearby village. She recounted that

Table 1. Fundamentalist Christians at Oundjo had Different Preferences for the Re nerys Placement. ThesePreferences Correlated with Expectations of Socio-economic Bene ts for Themselves or their Clanat each Site.

Customary Bene ts Expected from PreferredInterviewee Clan Lands Re nery Placement at: Re nery Site

Honor Duujuat Pinjen Pinjen PinjenMichle Duujuat Pinjen N/A* N/A*Dominique Tobwaa Pinjen Pinjen PinjenLouise Tobwaa Pinjen Pinjen PinjenCharlotte Vehajoa Pinjen both N/A*ric Vehajoa Pinjen Pinjen PinjenJacques Vehajoa Pinjen Pinjen PinjenMarie-France Vehajoa Pinjen Pinjen PinjenBenjamin Nyaban Vwavuto Vwavuto N/A*Lon Nyaban Vwavuto Vwavuto VwavutoMarcelle Nyaban Vwavuto Vwavuto VwavutoSarah Nyaban Vwavuto Vwavuto VwavutoDanile Fetraladi none neither no answer Florence Fetraladi none both no preferenceGeorges Xavuke none both Pinjen

* By the time I interviewed these people, a decision had been made to proceed at Vwavuto.


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these clergymen had asked the young people present, a nevous fait pas quelque chose (Doesnt it have an emotionalimpact on you) when people come destroy? The youths hadreplied that the mining project would bring them work, butthe ministers had retorted that it would only employ thosewith appropriate education and training (personal commu-nication, July 2001).

In August 2001, when the mining company realized thatit would be unable to resolve the con ict over Pinjen, it beganto look elsewhere for a construction site. Danielle Fetraladiand three members of the Nyaban clan (Marcelle, Lon, andSarah) all saw this as a sign that God had prevented construc-tion there, in part for ecological reasons. God had revealedto Sarah, through visions, that nature (which she de nedas the place where cattle grazed) must not be destroyed atPinjen (personal communication, October 2001). Marcelleagreed that Sarahs visions demonstrated Gods displeasurewith the choice of Pinjen as a construction site because Hedesired to maintain the natural resources He had provided:They cant do it because God already said, even by the proof to the sister, that, I dont want you to destroy whatI created. Marcelle doubted that the construction would proceed successfully on Vwavuto, again because God wouldnot want the resultant environmental damage. Nonethe-less, she endorsed her in-laws demands for preferentialemployment at the construction site on Vwavuto, based ontheir claims to customary rights to this area (personal com-munication, October 2001). Marcelles father-in-law, Lon,was similarly concerned about the impacts on sh habitatof building the re nery at Pinjen (personal communication,July 2001), and was relieved when this did not eventuate.He stated that God had seen in my heart the wish for thelagoon not to be polluted at Pinjen (personal communica-

tion, October 2001).Exploitation: He Wants Us to Use what HeProvided

On the other hand, Lon was con dent that God had ar -ranged for the re nery to be built at Vwavuto, where his clanclaimed customary rights. In his view, this site would be lessof a threat to the environment because currents would carrythe pollution farther north (personal communication, October2001). As he made plans to demand royalties from the min-ing company for the use of Vwavuto, Lon explained thatGod could prevent pollution from becoming a problem. He

frequently prayed to God to bless local people by protect-ing marine resources so that the mine will work but you stillhave sh (personal communication, July 2003).

Thus, when they expected economic or social status bene ts for their clan, my interlocutors displayed a lack ofanxiety about the environmental threats associated withthe mining activity. They did not deny that these risks were present, but some used an exploitation cultural model toargue that God would ensure that any ecological damagewould not entail the loss of the marine resources upon which

the villagers depended. For instance, Louise Tobwaas csupported construction of the re nery at Pinjen, where thad customary rights. Like Danielle and Marcelle (see abovLouise expressed the view that the Earth had been crea by God for human bene t. Unlike the other two, howevLouise did not believe that this fact indicated that the na-ral environment needed to be preserved and protected humans. Instead, the land and seaand all they containincluding nickel oreexisted in order to be used and m-aged for human bene t. God was not concerned about natwhich inevitably had to be partially dug up for any foof economic development to take place (personal comm-nication, October 2001). Instead, He cared about peoplewhom He had given the wisdom necessary to make the buse of their environment. In Louises view, the surroundiarea had already been polluted by human activity, but Ghad ensured that the sh remained abundant, and Louise wcon dent that He would continue to do so. She referredthe Biblical story in which the entire Earth was destroyeda great ood but God chose Noah, saving his family athus, the human species (personal communication, Octo2001). This incident had clearly shown that no matter wecological damage might occur, Gods grace would alwaensure human survival.

Conclusions

In contrast to large-scale surveys that have identia clear association between Christian fundamentalism aa lack of environmental concern, the present study foundiversity of environmental attitudes among a group of fun-mentalists. Instead of collecting data on self-reported opiniregarding the environment in a general sense, I examin

peoples statements about a particular ecological threat planned mining projectand contextualized these stateme by considering each persons economic and micro-politiexpectations. With this approach, concerns about nancwell-being and culturally-determined social status appeato play a much greater role in peoples viewpoints about mining project than did religious beliefs. Thus, althouanalysis of copious amounts of quantitative data can useful in indicating general tendencies and trends in en-ronmental attitudes, the ndings of this study point to value of small-scale, contextualized analyses of individuresponses to speci c environmental hazardswhat RichPeet and Michael Watts call a sort of political-ecologi

thick description (1996:38). More broadly, my ndinshow that (regardless of how people might portray the-selves in response to a survey questionnaire), when thspeak about any particular instance or event that affectsthem signi cantly, sociocultural and economic concerns m be a greater determinant than religious beliefs of peoplviews on environmentally-risky economic developmeIndeed, this example suggests that there may be onlyloose connection, if any, between peoples stated attitud(religious or otherwise) toward the environment in gene


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and their reactions to a speci c environmental threat in theirown backyard.

Nonetheless, people often explain their ecological at-titudes not as re ections of their own self-interest but assensible outcomes of logical frameworks. What this paperhas attempted to demonstrate is that these frameworks, orcultural models, do not necessarily pre-exist peoples at-titudes; instead, people may form opinions based primarilyon their social or economic interests and then must locatea paradigm that accounts for their opinions. As politicalecology would suggest, such models are the product ofmultiple influences at a range of scales, from local toglobal. Fundamentalist Christians, like the other villag-ers in the Voh-Kon area, clearly favored construction ofa multinational mining projects refinery at the locationthat they expected would most benefit their clan throughincreased social status or nancial windfall. However,they did not claim to be merely promoting their clans owninterest, which would have appeared sel sh. Instead, thevillagers selected ideas from global Christian discoursesthat provided guidelines for how they should interact withtheir environment.

Two of these discourseswhich I have characterized asstewardship and exploitationpromoted contradictoryviews of how best to ensure long-term availability of naturalresources. People then had a choice of which discourse to useas an interpretive resource in formulating and articulatingexplanatory cultural models that accounted for their expec-tations of the environmental impacts of the mining project.They could even rely on both cultural models, in differentcontexts, as Lon demonstrated by using a stewardshipmodel when discussing why the re nery should not be builtat a location where his clan had no customary rights and an

exploitation model when explaining why it should be builtat a place where the clan did have claims. I do not view thisas an instance of deliberate hypocrisy but, rather, simply asan example of cultural models performing what is perhapstheir primary function, that of providing logical explanatorysystems to allow people to engage with their world in waysthat promote their best interests. Thus, these ndings suggestthat not only (and perhaps not always) can religious beliefsinform environmental attitudes; explanatory cultural models(religious or otherwise) may on the contrary be in uenced by environmental attitudes, which are in turn shaped by so-cioeconomic concerns.

Notes1As far as I could determine, this group bears no relationship what-

soever to the controversial, international Children of God movementthat was active in the 1970s.

2Totem is not the most apt of terms; as Lvi-Strauss notes (1962),it is actually a semantic distortion that covers diverse and unrelated phenomena. However, it is the term most often used (albeit reluctantly,in some cases) both by Kanak, when speaking French, and by the authorswho write about them.

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