ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the emplaced character of interpersonal and intergroup relations, the spatial co-presence of non-human beings, and numerous historicities which form the basis of these relations. It discusses the modification of landscape as a reflection of either an alteration of internal kin and other social relationships or newly emerging forms of sociality created through particular place-making practices in urban environments. The chapter describes more extreme modifications of landscape are also a consequence of external influences brought about by, for example, different Christian denominations, palm oil plantations, and industrial logging and mining operations. Melanesian land- and seascapes are imbued with temporality and the historicity of peoples past and present, with relationships between groups and individuals, with their activities, struggles and movements. Dramatic forms of social change in Melanesia, such as the arrival of Charismatic Christian movements or extractive industries, both affect and are often grasped through people’s relation to the land.
