Value and Abundance
Shell Money
The Cascade project has an underpinning practical intention to create real value from a system that is run on another way of knowing. In the case of Ambae, the network supports engagement with traditional ni-Vanuatu culture that directly supports cultural sovereignty. Each network will be owned by the land itself, stewarded by cultural organisations in Vanuatu and create value for those who input and share their voices.
The focus on alternative value systems rose in this project through Further Arts research mission and interviews on Som (Shell Money.)
Communities in the Banks Islands in the north of Vanuatu have a specialised local currency called Som or in English “shell money”. For the last 3-5 generations, production of shell money has been largely halted, as the incursion of the global cash economy has transformed the lives and livelihoods of people. However, the existing stock of shell money still circulates in rituals and ceremonies.
Tommy Dick and Delly Roy (on behalf of Furtherarts) made initial recordings of interviews on the shell money and accepted ongoing relationship. (Video 1 and Video 2 early drafts) The videos were commissioned by a tribe in North Western US - the Tulalip tribe - through Maryka Paquette at the UN who is holding this relationship in the US. A new journey in May 2018 has brought back further interview recordings.
Abundance and Digital Currencies
It has been suggested by many that we simply create a crypto version of Shell Money. This is a rather too simplistic view of the forces driving the emerging world of crypto currencies: opening alternative currencies to the forces of speculative currency is not a wise step in itself. However, the project is absolutely committed to bringing out the strong potentials within the digital transformation towards creating value for the islanders.
Creating an alternative creative communication and currency system in the Pacific islands has an aspect of the snake eating its' own tail as alternative value systems are still in use in Vanuatu. We are designing the Cascade Network to respect the traditional ni-Vanuatu understanding of abundance that emphasis that each life and expression has intrinsic creative value.
ni-Vanuatu culture is inherently commons oriented. This video created by the Alternative Indicators of Wellbeing project, a project which is part of an emergent grassroots resistance network, explains “abundance” in relation to ni-Vanuatu well-being https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtnLl1Jp0K0 There is however a serious lack of resources on the islands, as well as the prospect of further major climate disruptions across the coming years, and the subject of value is not an abstract issue. Clearly a reciprocal healthy abundance culture is not currently convergent with the dominant competitive monetary system or the wild speculation and anarcho-capitalism of the crypto world.
Whilst the Cascade Network itself is open source and global, the intention is that the originator retains ownership of all content shared and the local network itself is thereby sovereign to the people of Vanuatu and supportive of real-life healthy relational realities in the present.
Alternative Currency
We are exploring with the communities that use Shell Money the design of the system. For example, whether the project should incentivise engagement from those living on the islands - paying them in tokens for their participation - and encouraging younger generations to connect with the development of forms of creativity indigenous to these lands. Whilst micro payments are taken from those outside Vanuatu addresses who view the cultural content.
Physical tokens
The cascade.network is using artistic practice to explore creating tokens of culture - physical in nature - that hold cultural transmissions. Physical objects - like shells or woven objects - can be used as a seed to a digital system to unlock creative content. This system will be devised, tested and evaluated during the creative labs during the HIVE in Brighton, UK 2019.
Towards these design questions and research we will workshop in the next meeting of Blockchain for Wisdom.
Vanuatu 2019
The outcomes of the Shell Money interviews had applied for funding for a small group of people from Gaua, representives from Santo and also the Solomon Islands to a catalysing meeting the revivals of shell money at the Dung Verei Festival which is to be held in conjunction with TORBA Day (Oct 1-2). This will be an opportunity for communication on Shell Money practices, and to engage with communities from the more remote island of Ureparapara - custodians of a slightly different lineage of shell money production - as well as others from Vanua Lava, and Mota Lava. Delly discovered a connection to the continuing practice of shell money production in the Solomon Islands - and also a kinship connections between the Gaua community and the Solomon Islands community (as confirmed by Chief Polwyn). An invitation was also made to adelegation from the Tulalip community and WISN.
The Dung Verei Festival is intended to be a platform for the performance of traditional customary activities known locally as kastom) including music, dance, food preparation, etc. For the integration of community into the design of value networks and communication structures this is a key meeting. We are working towards sending a design and media team - headed by Vanuatu media practitioners who are working with the Ambae community through Further Arts to this meeting. This means that the collection of experiential media (360 video and photogrammetry) in Ambae would be scheduled for October.