Abstract
This paper deals with conflict that is commonly referred to as “ethnic tension” in the Solomon Islands. The conflict caused a number of people to become internally displaced. There have been continual studies of the migration patterns and livelihood strategies of displaced people in Malaita. However, little attention has been given to how the people in northeastern Guadalcanal, where some of the most severe fighting took place, lived under conflict. In this article, I consider how the internally displaced people lived with and avoided becoming involved in the ethnic tension by analyzing their daily lives.
This article has 2 aims. First, I offer an ethnographic description of the people of northeastern Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. Second, I discuss their everyday struggles and choices during the conflict and social unrest, referred to as “ethnic tension.” Specifically, I examine their living conditions during the turbulence as well as their strategies for avoiding conflict.
In conclusion, I state 2 key points describing the living situation of people in northeastern Guadalcanal during turbulence: First, the subsistence economy played an important role in their livelihood under the conflict. Second, they avoided becoming involved in the tension by providing foods and goods to militants along with physically keeping a distance from the conflict itself.
