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Article In: International Journal of Language and Culture: Online-First Articles

“A garden gives life, it feeds us”

Cultural explainers for the eco-social networks of Solomon Island ‘gardens’

 | University of Canberra
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Abstract
In the lingua francas of Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, the places where people grow food are referred to using the word gaden. Although gardening (horticulture) plays a significant role in food and nutrition security in Solomon Islands and other Pacific countries, there is evidence that local ‘insider’ meaning of gaden is often not well understood by outsiders, especially in relation to its cultural and eco-social significance. The aim of this study is to explain the meanings of gaden and related terms in Solomons Pijin (tugeda gaden, supsup gaden) using simple and easy-to-translate words, and through these ‘cultural explainers’ to provide an accessible explanatory description of how these terms are understood by cultural insiders. The discussion demonstrates that all three garden types (gaden, tugeda gaden, supsup gaden) are sources of food production but they also contribute importantly to sustaining culture and social networks. The paper aims to explain the eco-social networks of Solomon Island ‘gardens’ in a way that is accessible to outsiders, including funding bodies and agricultural researchers.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Solomon Islands and its languages
    • 2.2Gardens, livelihoods and health
  • 3.The socio-cultural significance of the gaden: Evidence from anthropology
  • 4.The presence and absence of ‘garden’ in current literature
    • 4.1Outsider perspective
    • 4.2Insider perspective
  • 5.The concept of gaden in Solomon Islands
  • 6.Gaden: An areal semantic molecule
  • 7.Gardens, gender, and working together
  • 8.Food always in the home: supsup gaden
  • 9.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
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