The Turaga nation is an indigenous movement based in northern

Pentecost Island Pentecost is one of the 83 islands that make up the Oceania, South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. It lies due north of capital Port Vila. Pentecost is known as in French language, French and in Bislama. The island was known in its native lan ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. Its leader is Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua, and it has also been associated with Motarilavoa Hilda Lin̄i. The organisation has its headquarters in the traditional village of Lavatmanggemu on the north-east coast of Pentecost. The Turaga movement promotes the revival of traditional Melanesian customs, modernised in certain respects. In place of the Western economic system, which is seen as a cause of poverty and foreign dependency, the movement promotes the ''kastom'' (custom) economy, based on traditional systems of economic exchange and native forms of currency such as pigs and woven mats. The Turaga movement operates its own bank (called Tangbunia after the giant baskets in which valuables were traditionally stored) at which these items can be deposited, and has devised a unit of currency (the

livatu The Livatu is a unit used by the Turaga nation, Turaga indigenous movement and the Tangbunia Bank in Vanuatu to reckon the worth of items of traditional currency such as pigs and textiles. One livatu is equivalent to one fully curved boar's tusk, a ...

, equal to the value of a fully curved boar's tusk) in which their value can be reckoned. Turaga has also announced controversial plans to print its own paper currency."Chief Vireleo explains Tuvatu Currency", Vanuatu Daily Post, 2 October 2014 The movement operates a school, the Melanesian Institute of Science, Philosophy, Humanity and Technology (''Bwatielen Borebore, Vovoraga, Mwaguana i Gotovigi'') at which scholars are offered an alternative to the Western-style education provided by Vanuatu's other schools. The school follows a curriculum of its own creation, with teaching organised according to a native lunar calendar. Scholars write in the native

Raga language Raga (also known as Hano) is the language of northern Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. Like all Vanuatu languages, Raga belongs to the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian languages family. In old sources the language is sometimes referred to by the ...

or in

Bislama Bislama ( ; ; also known by its earlier French name, ) is an English-based creole language. It is the national language of Vanuatu, and one of the three official languages of the country, the other ones being English and French. Bislama is the ...

, using an alphabet named

Avoiuli Avoiuli (from Raga 'talk about' and 'draw' or 'paint') is a writing system used by the Turaga indigenous movement on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. It was devised by Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua over a 14-year period, based on designs found in t ...

developed by Viraleo and inspired by traditional sand drawings. The Turaga movement has caused controversy, with some dismissing the movement as self-serving, as a

cargo cult Cargo cults were diverse spiritual and political movements that arose among indigenous Melanesians following Western colonisation of the region in the late 19th century. Typically (but not universally) cargo cults included: charismatic prophet ...

, or as a step backwards into heathenism. The movement has also been criticised for promoting its own particular interpretation of traditional culture. However, Turaga's leaders argue that the values they promote are common to all traditional Melanesian societies and are not incompatible with Christianity.

Etymology

The term ''Turaga'', found in

, derives from the

Raga A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...

words ''tu'' "stand" and ''Raga''.

References

External links

Turaga Development Model For Economic Self-Reliance and Human Security
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BBC news - paying in pig tusks in Vanuatu

Cargo cults Organisations based in Vanuatu