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Definition 2024


kastom

kastom

English

Noun

kastom (uncountable)

  1. In Melanesia, the assertion of traditional values and cultural practices in a modern context.
    • 2000, David L. Hanlon, Geoffrey Miles White, Voyaging Through the Contemporary Pacific (page 392)
      At the same time many of these politicians established an intellectual rapprochement between kastom and Christianity.
    • 2008, Sinclair Dinnen, Stewart Firth, Politics and State Building in Solomon Islands (page 200)
      The disturbance of kastom is what Moore sees as the root cause of the outbreak of violence during the crisis.

Tok Pisin

Etymology

English custom

Noun

kastom

  1. kastom; traditional practices, especially as done by the bus kanaka

Usage notes

This is a false friend with English. A custom, in the sense of somthing that one usually does, is pasin.