Potential of a « regional network » approach: The Ranking / Grade Systems in Island Melanesia
Résumé
Voyage simulations (see Dousset & Di Piazza 2018) suggest that the notion of “regional network” better explains potential interrelationships and long term diffusion/exchanges between islands and language groups, than does the small network approach (such as investigating the Kula ring) or large-scale migration models (such as Lapita expansion [Although regional style models have been developed in this context, too]). Regional networks could be defined as spaces of potential interrelations in which, at one particular time, one particular social institution or cultural feature is structurally identical (or similar). Regional networks are shifting and overlapping spaces and are therefore connected as chains. This paper will attempt to explore the Ranking/Grade system as one such social institution prone to diffusion/exchange and suggest some very preliminary hypotheses about its chains of transformation.