Culture and cooperation in Vanuatu

Professor Quentin Douglas Atkinson

Professor in Psychology
q.atkinson@auckland.ac.nz

Abstract

The 80 inhabited islands of the Vanuatu archipelago are home to more than 100 different ethnolinguistic groups. For the last 10 years, the Language, Cognition and Culture Lab has been working in communities across Vanuatu to study variation in a wide range of cultural beliefs and practices, including values, norms, music, and religious beliefs and practices. This work has included research on the way religious beliefs and practices promote cooperation, the function of music, and the effects of Cyclone Pam on community cohesion and trust. This work has been combined with findings from other non-industrialised societies around the globe to better understand how culture shapes human behaviour. Current ongoing projects include the relationship between ideology and values in Vanuatu social life and research on indigenous knowledge and responses to climate change.