Outsider engagement in debates about constitutional reform

From 1998 to 2003, Solomon Islands suffered a period of social upheaval and civil conflict that is now popularly known in Solomon Islands pijin as the Tension, or more controversially, the Ethnic Crisis. This paper situates the conflict in an ongoing process of contestation over the multiple constructions of identity, allegiance and place within Solomon Islands legal system. In particular, it examines some of the distinctive ways in which custom and liberal law conceive of the connection between people and place. In the aftermath of the conflict, Solomon Islanders have sought to address these contests through a process of constitutional reform. The current Draft Constitution adopts a federal system of government. It also enshrines the right to freedom of movement, but proposes that this may be subject to restrictions imposed by State laws as well as the traditional norms and practices of localities within States. This paper considers two sets of questions. The first concerns the manner in which different kinds of law in Solomon Islands distribute gendered and racialised identities in place. The second set of questions concern the ways in which competing constructions of place and identity affect who may speak or write about these issues, or more importantly, how people may speak or write about these issues. Put another way, how does ones belonging to a particular place affect the ways in which we speak or write about law and policy, particularly in a place that is not our own?