This is part 2 in a series considering the ways in which Vanuatu finds itself in a somewhat precarious position culturally, as it straddles the fence between the old ways and the new. I shared some things about physical adornment in my last post. I will repeat the opening paragraph of that post first, and then briefly consider a particular struggle currently being experienced in regard to language.
History records that Europeans first made landfall in these isles back in 1606 (at which time the archipelago was known as the New Hebrides), but “Westerners” didn’t begin immigrating until the mid-1800s (primarily as missionaries and farmers seeking plantation land). In 1906, the English and French initiated a dual condominium government presence in Vanuatu. Then, during the Second World War, hundreds of thousands of American troops passed through Vanuatu. These influences, along with the general progression of the world-society, have contributed substantially to the current state of the Vanuatu’s otherwise very traditional culture. It would seem that the country now finds itself in a rather precarious position, perhaps not unlike a prepubescent teen caught between the two worlds of childhood and adulthood. This all makes for an interesting “mix.” In this series of posts, I want to share some of the ways in which locals (especially Christians) are struggling to sort out where they fit in these mixed up parts of societal life.
Vanuatu is said to be the most linguistically diverse country (per capita) in the world, with each individual region possessing its own unique language, resulting in some 150 total languages for a population of only 250,000. Bislama serves as the lingua franca and, alongside English and French, is one of Vanuatu’s official languages. Bislama is an ever-changing language. For instance, the word ending -em signifies a verb, e.g. sanem, laekem, givim (send, like, give), and in recent years words like textem and emailem (texting and emailing) have cropped up with the introduction of cell phones throughout the islands.
The “pidgin English” of Bislama came about as a result of “blackbirding” (the practice of “coercing” islanders into slavery-type situations on plantations in Fiji, Australia and other parts of the Pacific) several hundred years ago, which caused many different Pacific islanders to be thrown together under English-speaking captors. Needing a way to communicate with each other, they pieced together parts of their own languages, joining them to the English language which surrounded them (necessity is the mother of invention).
The mix-up, in this particular case, comes from the fact that the trade language was formulated by non-English speakers who learned how to speak from sailors and slave traders. As you might can imagine, there are therefore words that reference various body parts, body functions and sexual acts that are quite offensive to native-English speakers, but that are very acceptable (and sometimes the exclusive term available) in Bislama.
Shawnda and I coach our children regularly about the differences in acceptability between the languages, with extra caution being applied before traveling to America. We still find ourselves grimacing when others use this category of words, and feel even worse when forced by the cultural context to use them ourselves (with even the Bislama translation of the Bible saying things in ways that make us blush). I also struggle in my attempts to discuss the application-side of passages like Ephesians 5:4.
Of course, God understands, and we do our best to balance the two sides, but it’s certainly something that we didn’t necessarily anticipate when came over as “green” Americans armed with little to no cross-cultural communication skills. Culture is an amazing thing, and the longer I am here the more I understand the relationship between knowing and appreciating the culture, and the ultimate success of our “mission.” Both Jesus (Phil 2:6,7) and Paul (1Cor 9:19-23) practiced an incarnational ministry, wherein they sought to let others know how much they cared before expecting others to care how much they knew. God help us as we strive (struggle?) to contextualize ourselves and His enduring gospel to our present cultural environment.
Part 3 upcoming…
No comments:
Post a Comment