Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the characteristic processes of socio-material composition and decomposition of the so-called "artificial islands", those massive structures of coral rocks which the Lau speakers in north Malaita, Solomon Islands have inhabited.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the characteristic processes of composition and decomposition of the so-called "artificial islands" which the Lau in north Malaita, Solomon Islands, have inhabited. These are massive structures constructed of coral rocks, and currently there are more than ninety of such islands in the area.

For the Lau, each island has peculiar composite character. That is, an island is never completed by its founder but is continually expanded by successive generations. And current residents are able to tell which part of the island was built by whom and when.

Such "dividual" character gives these islands a specific tendency toward decomposition, both in social and material terms. First, the social life on each island rests on a delicate balance of closeness and separateness between different lineages. This can easily be broken into conflicts, which often result in one party leaving the island to establish a separate one. Such social decomposition is an essential part of the Lau history.

Second, for the Lau, the islands as materially decomposable constructs are essential media for self-reflection. Always exposed to sea wind and currents, the coral rocks composing an island tend to fall off continuously. The Lau perceive an ill-maintained, materially decayed island as a sign of social disharmony among its inhabitants, and also as a moral warning to themselves. What is noticeable here is a particular interconnection between social and material decompositions, and it is the aim of this paper to further examine its significance.