Abstract
Drawing upon a study of the over-representation of “chiefs” in the politics of 1950s-era colonial New Caledonia, this article examines the mechanisms governing the hereditary transmission of power in the Kanak world. It is based upon a prosopography of Melanesian politicians following the end of the Code de l’indigénat (1946), research in the archives of the colonial administration and interviews with (present-day or former) politicians who were active at the time. The article finds that the over-representation of chiefs resulted more from their opportunistic use of symbols than from politically leveraging any “traditional” legitimacy enjoyed by lineage. In the Kanak context, what counted was one’s ability to control a space recognized by the administration; by positioning themselves at the frontier of the colonial state, these “chiefs” were able to impose themselves in politics.