Synchronization, power and agency: Perspectives on Melanesian historicities

Abstract

Synchronization refers to the coordination of different time schemes. How the time schemes held by persons are synchronized towards specific purposes in a social context will depend on the arrangements of power that hold in such contexts. The notion of historicity is also connected with time, with how conceptions of past and future are related in any given present. The article suggests that historicity is objectified – made concrete – through synchronization; when persons and things are placed in a simultaneous time and space such actions disclose local conceptions of historicity. This is examined through the ways synchronization and historicity are made manifest among two Melanesian peoples from highland and coastal Papua. Through these case studies, the paper also considers the relevance of the ‘regime of historicity’ concept in the Melanesian context.