Ralph Regenvanu is the Member of Parliament for Port Vila, Vanuatu. He holds an Honours Degree in Development Studies and Anthropology from the Australian National University and a Law Degree from the University of the South Pacific. Prior to his entry into politics in 2008, Regenvanu served as the director of the National Museum and Cultural Centre of Vanuatu for eleven years (1995-2006). In this role he was one of the founding executive board members of the Pacific Islands Museums Association (PIMA) and was on the international drafting committee of the “Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage” which was adopted by the General Assembly of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2003. Between 2013 and 2015, in his capacity as the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in the Government of Vanuatu, he was the main driver behind a major overhaul of the land laws of Vanuatu and co-chaired the Vanuatu government’s efforts to put in place a new national sustainable development plan for the 15 years post 2015.

Agenda Building, Art, Bislama, Bureaucratization, Class, Community Development, Contemporary Indigenous Art, Corruption, Cultural Heritage, Cultural Policy, Custom, Democracy, Education Policy, Heritage Management, Indigenous Politics, Intellectual Property Rights, Kava, Land Management, Land Tenure, Language Policy, Law and Culture, Leadership, Legal Pluralism, Media And National Identity, Museums, Music, Nationalism, Non-state Justice System, Oral Tradition, Political Culture, Politics, Public Policies, Sand-Drawing, Social Media Activism, State, Statehood, Subsistence Economy, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Urban, Urban Identity, Urbanization, World Heritage, Youth

Anthropology
Political sciences

European Society for Oceanists (ESfO)
Pacific Arts Association (PAA)

Vanuatu
Malampa (Vanuatu)
Penama (Vanuatu)
Sanma (Vanuatu)
Shefa (Vanuatu)
Tafea (Vanuatu)
Torba (Vanuatu)

Melanesia
Vanuatu
Port Vila

21st century
Anticipatory

Bislama