'From Adam's rib': land disputes, social differentiation and state formation in postcolonial Solomon Islands

In the last decade there has been a resurgence of interest in customary land tenure and the management of land disputes among national governments, donor agencies and scholars of the South Pacific, in particular the arc of instability in Melanesia. This paper draws on research in Solomon Islands, a small archipelagic state in which customary conceptions of land, territory and leadership have been continually renegotiated in in response to engagement with Christian missionaries, the establishment of the colonial state, and the development of an economy highly dependent on extractive industries.