Modern Papua New Guinea (review)

Modern Papua New Guinea, edited by Laura Zimmer-Tamakoshi. Kirksville, mo: Thomas Jefferson University Press, 1998. ISBN cloth, 0-943549-51-5; paper, 0-943549-57-4; vi + 424 pages, maps, tables, figures, photographs, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth, US$40; paper, US$25.

Laura Zimmer-Tamakoshi has responded to a need experienced by many of those who teach about Papua New Guinea by compiling an excellent volume introducing students to Papua New Guinea as a contemporary nation-state. The book will be useful for upper division and graduate students, specialists in Third World development, and Papua New Guinea specialists (3). Readers need some familiarity with development in recently independent nation-states and the cultural diversity of Papua New Guinea. The usefulness is enhanced by a chronology of recent history, and tables and maps that include socioeconomic strata in urban areas, current and future mining sites, and wilderness preserves. The essays are enriched by substantial references to current sources on Papua New Guinea and comparative development. A persistent theme is the tension between local and state systems and allegiances. The volume is organized into four sections: "The State and National Identity," "Economic Development," "The New Society," and "The People's Welfare."

The first section explores development of the state in Papua New Guinea. Peter Larmour asks to what extent Papua New Guinea meets the criteria for a nation-state, and finds legal, international criteria more definitive than internal ones. Unlike Polynesian societies, colonial rule in Papua New Guinea did not interrupt an indigenous process of state formation. Therefore much state infrastructure is only a few decades old, and power is not strongly centralized through the nation-state bureaucracy. MacQueen finds the role of Papua New Guinea in the international system relatively weak, whether it pursues a multilateral, issue-oriented, or regional policy. Nevertheless, rich natural resources make the country a potentially valuable, though presently not very influential, member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (asean). Pamela Rosi discusses the difficulties of contemporary artists, caught between localized artistic roles and traditions and the problems of making a living in the modern sector. King concludes this section with a discussion of the Papua New Guinea-West Irian border issues arising from political boundaries that are not coordinate with the cultural and economic systems they seek to control. He views the influx of refugees into the Ok Tedi area, an ecosystem under duress, as potentially a political time-bomb.

The articles in "Economic Development" vary in their optimism about the future of Papua New Guinea. Olson and Kan assess the potential for using rich and diverse fisheries resources. Filer argues that the travails of the mining industry signal a pervasive problem of runaway expectations thwarted by the lack of an ethic of mutual cooperation and common good. MacWilliam's economic analysis of agriculture, comparing plantations and smallholder enterprises, describes how smallholder production is under pressure to absorb large numbers of the unemployed. As population burgeons, this economic "sponge" effect at the village level undermines efforts to improve the general standard of living. Kurer compares politics and economic development in African countries and Papua New Guinea, concluding that in both places the development of patronage systems and local elites raises the cost of doing business and threatens to stall economic development. These processes are, in his view, more contained in Papua New Guinea than in some African nations.

"The New Society" describes tensions generated by urban-rural and intergenerational differences and considers the challenges for women of urban and semi-urban lifestyles. King surveys urban settlement along lines of socioeconomic stratification, describing how the benefits of employment are undermined by hard living conditions in towns. As social classes continue to develop, he predicts greater rifts between urban and rural sectors and increasing difficulties for low-income sectors. Jeanette Dickerson-Putman analyzes intergenerational differences among four age groups of Bena Bena men. She warns that extreme differences in values among age groups make it unlikely that local leadership...