A travers les pratiques, les initiatives, et les évènements artistiques et culturels, cette thèse questionne la contribution des jeunes habitants de 15 – 25 ans aux dynamiques culturelles et au devenir des espaces ruraux. Cette recherche est attentive à la forte attractivité des territoires ruraux, dont témoignent les mouvements de population et la recomposition sociale de l’ensemble des habitants. Elle tient compte d’un contexte où les politiques culturelles s’élaborent à un échelon local, sont reliées au développement rural et s’appuient sur la capacité d’agir des populations. Ce travail s’appuie sur une méthodologie qualitative basée sur des entretiens semi-directifs, des échanges informels, et sur l’observation participante. L’objectif est tout d’abord de comprendre comment les jeunes habitants font vivre leurs espaces de vie et d’appartenance par leurs pratiques artistiques et culturelles. Puis le questionnement cherche à établir des liens entre leurs manières d’habiter et leurs parcours de vie, et à comprendre la nécessité des aller-retour entre la ville et la campagne, entre l’ici et l’ailleurs. Cette approche nous permet alors de saisir la capacité des jeunes habitants à construire les collectifs dans lesquels ils vivent, et nous donne des clés de lecture des dynamiques collectives des années à venir. / This thesis is about contribution of young inhabitants ( between 15 and 25 years old) in cultural dynamism and futur of rural areas, through artistic and cultural behaviours, initiatives and events. This research takes into account the strong appeal of rural territories wich is shown by population’s movements and new social composition. The thesis deals with a context where cultural politics are built on a local level, are related with local development and are based on empowerment of the population. This work leans on a qualitative methodology semi-directive, interwiews, free discussions and on participating observations. The first goal is to understand how young inhabitants make their local life environment active by their artistic and cultural behaviours. The next goal is to research the link between their way of living and their background, and try to understand the need of regular back and forth trips between town and country, between here and elsewere. This approach allows us to grasp the capacity they have to build the collective places in wich they’re living, and gives a way of understanding collective dynamics of coming years.

Development literature has not accorded sufficient attention to culture as a positive aspect of development until recently. Hence, in terms of using culture as a protective mechanism against gender-based violence, not much has been investigated or reported, since most studies on gender-based violence have focused more on cultural influences as the cause or effect of violence against women. However, in the case of Papua New Guinea (PNG) culture has always been the focus in regards to genderbased violence, portrayed as the cause of violence against women. Occasionally sources state there are traditional customs or beliefs that protect women from violence, but further explanation is not provided. Hence, this research investigated the question, “How can culture address gender-based violence in contemporary, rural Papua New Guinea?” This study offers an opportunity to view PNG culture as a solution to a problem, instead of as merely a problem to be solved. To investigate how culture can be used positively as a strategy to address genderbased violence, a case study was conducted among the Sulamesi people of Mt Bosavi in the Southern highlands province of PNG. This research was conducted in a rural area because in general Papua New Guineans perceive people living in the villages as the ones living a traditional lifestyle, where established cultural norms and behaviours prevail. Using a qualitative research approach, the research investigated whether there were any traditional protective mechanisms in PNG used to address gender-based violence. This thesis concludes that through the identification of culture-driven protective mechanisms, it can be demonstrated that culture can be used as a strategy to address gender based violence. However, caution must be applied, since not all the protective mechanisms identified are desirable or constructive.

Development literature has not accorded sufficient attention to culture as a positive aspect of development until recently. Hence, in terms of using culture as a protective mechanism against gender-based violence, not much has been investigated or reported, since most studies on gender-based violence have focused more on cultural influences as the cause or effect of violence against women. However, in the case of Papua New Guinea (PNG) culture has always been the focus in regards to genderbased violence, portrayed as the cause of violence against women. Occasionally sources state there are traditional customs or beliefs that protect women from violence, but further explanation is not provided. Hence, this research investigated the question, “How can culture address gender-based violence in contemporary, rural Papua New Guinea?” This study offers an opportunity to view PNG culture as a solution to a problem, instead of as merely a problem to be solved. To investigate how culture can be used positively as a strategy to address genderbased violence, a case study was conducted among the Sulamesi people of Mt Bosavi in the Southern highlands province of PNG. This research was conducted in a rural area because in general Papua New Guineans perceive people living in the villages as the ones living a traditional lifestyle, where established cultural norms and behaviours prevail. Using a qualitative research approach, the research investigated whether there were any traditional protective mechanisms in PNG used to address gender-based violence. This thesis concludes that through the identification of culture-driven protective mechanisms, it can be demonstrated that culture can be used as a strategy to address gender based violence. However, caution must be applied, since not all the protective mechanisms identified are desirable or constructive.

Development literature has not accorded sufficient attention to culture as a positive aspect of development until recently. Hence, in terms of using culture as a protective mechanism against gender-based violence, not much has been investigated or reported, since most studies on gender-based violence have focused more on cultural influences as the cause or effect of violence against women. However, in the case of Papua New Guinea (PNG) culture has always been the focus in regards to genderbased violence, portrayed as the cause of violence against women. Occasionally sources state there are traditional customs or beliefs that protect women from violence, but further explanation is not provided. Hence, this research investigated the question, “How can culture address gender-based violence in contemporary, rural Papua New Guinea?” This study offers an opportunity to view PNG culture as a solution to a problem, instead of as merely a problem to be solved. To investigate how culture can be used positively as a strategy to address genderbased violence, a case study was conducted among the Sulamesi people of Mt Bosavi in the Southern highlands province of PNG. This research was conducted in a rural area because in general Papua New Guineans perceive people living in the villages as the ones living a traditional lifestyle, where established cultural norms and behaviours prevail. Using a qualitative research approach, the research investigated whether there were any traditional protective mechanisms in PNG used to address gender-based violence. This thesis concludes that through the identification of culture-driven protective mechanisms, it can be demonstrated that culture can be used as a strategy to address gender based violence. However, caution must be applied, since not all the protective mechanisms identified are desirable or constructive.