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Item Cause and Effect: Who Is Responsible for Porgera?(2015-05-07) Golub, AlexWhat do we owe to our research communities? What duties do we have towards them, and what role should we play in their lives? And how do we answer these questions if it is difficult to locate a coherent, bounded, homogenous thing called a 'community' in the social processes that we study?Item Traction: The Role of Executives in Localising Global Mining and Petroleum Industries in Papua New Guinea(W. Kohlhammer GmbH, 2013) Golub, Alex; Rhee, MooweonThis article presents interview data from corporate elites in Papua New Guinea's mining and petroleum sector and other members of the business community. It describes their world view, and in particular their belief that resource extraction and business will help bring development to their country in a way that its social-democratic government has not. The article uses this data to make three contributions to the existing literature. First, it argues that globe-spanning industrial capitalism is subject to description through ethnographic fieldwork. Secondly, it demonstrates that elites in Papua New Guinea gain 'traction' and thus make corporate projects possible because of - not despite - their particularistic ties and personal biographies. Finally, it argues that it is possible to study corporate elites in a disinterested way without being co-opted by their political agenda.Item Creating "Kantri" in Central New Guinea: Relational Ontology and the Categorical Logic of Statecraft(M/C - Media and Culture, 2008) Wesch, MichaelItem Supposed Figure of a Woman?' Homosociality in the British Solomon Islands, 1880-1940(2006) Goodwin, BryonnyDrawing from research conducted in the Western Pacific High Commission archival collection, this project is based upon colonial conditions in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (B.S.I.P.), ranging from 1880 (the earliest records) to 1940 (the outbreak of war in the Pacific). Focussing upon the extant correspondence between the Protectorate administration and the High Commission, I trace the development of a colonial culture in the margins of empire. That culture was marked by the homosocial governance of native men by white men. Ethnographically engaging with archival documents, I seek to move discussion of homosociality beyond Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s (1985) foundational analysis into a territory specifically colonial, and specifically raced. Fundamentally, I diverge from Sedgwick’s triangular delineation in which homosociality emerges from male rivalry over women, positing instead that it was a relationship conjured and manipulated by colonialists, defending a masculine ‘world in miniature’ (Keesing and Corris 1980) that excluded, if not maligned, women. Rather than rivalry, homosociality was born in the foundational violence of early imperial confrontation. I demonstrate how the destructive demonstrations of naval punitive investigations morphed into such a male-centred and anti-female phenomenon, and specifically read its manifestations in regard to the bureaucratic judicial system and debates over adultery legislation. This delineation is in contradistinction to dominant studies of colonial cultures which have often identified a strong fear of miscegenation as the underlying force of propulsion. Instead, through both examining masculinity for and of itself, and reorienting the lens of analysis away from the heteronormative, fruitful lines of anthropological enquiry and disruptive conclusions emerge.Item Persistence of the gift: Tongan tradition in transnational context(Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2001) Evans, MichaelItem Traditional Medicine in the Marshall Islands(Republic of the Marshall Islands Historic Preservation Office, 2004) Petrosian-Husa, Carmen C.H.Item Introduction: Recognition, redistribution and reconciliation in postcolonial settler societies(The Polynesian Society, 2003) Van Meijl, Toon; Goldsmith, MichaelItem Health seeking and access to care for children with suspected dengue in Cambodia: An ethnographic study(BioMed Central, 2007-09) Khun, Sokrin; Manderson, LenoreBackground: The continuing contribution of dengue fever to the hospitalization and deaths in hospital of infants and small children in Cambodia is associated with delays in presentation for medical attention, diagnosis and appropriate care. It is important to identify the reasons that influence these delays, in order to develop appropriate interventions to redress the impact of dengue. Methods: Data on health seeking were collected during an ethnographic study conducted in two villages in the eastern province of Kampong Cham, Cambodia in 2004. Interviews were conducted with mothers whose children had been infected with suspected dengue fever, or who had been sick for other reasons, in 2003 and 2004. Results: Women selected a therapeutic option based on perceptions of the severity of the child's condition, confidence in the particular modality, service or practitioner, and affordability of the therapy. While they knew what type of health care was required, poverty in combination with limited availability and perceptions of the poor quality of care at village health centers and public referral hospitals deterred them from doing so. Women initially used home remedies, then sought advice from public and private providers, shifting from one sector to another in a pragmatic response to the child's illness. Conclusion: The lack of availability of financial resources for poor people and their continuing lack of confidence in the care provided by government centres combine to delay help seeking and inappropriate treatment of children sick with dengue.Item Rediscovering Bark-cloth in Taiwan(White Lotus, 2006) Ku, Kun-hui; Howard, Michael C.Item The Symbolic and the Material in the Recognition of Hierarchy among the Austronesian Paiwan, Taiwan(Institute of Anthropology, National Tsing Hua University, 2006) Ku, Kun-huiThis paper examines the dynamic interplay between the symbolic and the material in the recognition of hierarchy among the Paiwan in Piuma, located in southern Taiwan. The data were mainly gathered from Piuma in Pingtung County and other communities in Taiwu Township. The control and/or possession of valuables in a trading network is often said to be essential or fundamental in the formation of hierarchy in local societies in many parts of the world. I argue, in this paper, that symbolic representation is no less important than material representation in the construction of hierarchy or the struggle for recognition among the Paiwan. In particular, names/naming and marriage negotiation/rites are used as the point of departure for discussion. I contend that the movement of valuables mainly follows the path of names and that valuables are often used to objectify the social relationships among individuals or groups as represented by names.Item Rhetorical Virtues: Property, Speech, and the Commons on the World-Wide Web(George Washington Institute for Ethnographic Research, 2004) Coombe, Rosemary J.; Herman, AndrewItem Copyright and taboo(George Washington Institute for Ethnographic Research, 2004) Golub, AlexItem “Just Like the Qing Empire:” Internet Addiction, MMOGs, and Moral Crisis in Contemporary China(SAGE, 2007) Golub, Alex; Lingley, KateThis article examines discourse about Internet addiction and video-game-related suicide in the People’s Republic of China. Through an analysis of media reportage, interview transcripts, and chat rooms, a preliminary account of the origins of contemporary Chinese concerns with Internet addiction is provided. This approach differs from biomedical models, which see Internet suicide as a form of mental illness, similar to drug or gambling addiction. This approach draws on anthropological and sociological models of the cultural construction of social problems and argues that concerns with Internet addiction are part of a more general moral crisis faced by Chinese, in response to rapid consumerism, the medicalization of mental illness, and new forms of public and publicity.Item Sustainable Development as Cargo Cult: Strange Tales of Scale Making from Melanesia and Beyond(2007-12) Golub, AlexWhile the hyper-exotic discourse of 'cargo cult' continues to draw attention in popular media representations of Melanesia, many anthropologists have noted that the movements thus labeled represent a more general Melanesian form of sociality which emphasizes the creation of social unity as a means of obtaining wealth. This paper contrasts 'Cargo Cults' with corporate and environmentalist discourses of sustainable development, which seeks to unite stakeholders in a state of social unity in order to obtain wealth and the good life. In both cases the success of desired change at the macro-level depends on micro-level subjects taking "ownership" of the proposed changes to social life. The difference is that some 'cargo cults' such as the Christian Fellowship Church in the Solomons and the John Frum movement in Vanuatu have created social orders which have endured for decades while the vast majority of 'development' projects in Melanesia have failed. This paper asks: how and why do white discourses render credible, believable, and intelligible discourses of 'sustainable development' 'fighting corruption' and 'capacity building' while the macro-level aspirations of grassroots aspirations slip constantly back into the derogatory and exoticizing label of 'cargo cult'? Can our sense of an unproblematic notion of 'credibility' emerge unscathed in a world where Melanesian enthusiasm for organizations like 'integrated conservation and development areas' is now continuous with white dreams of reforming Melanesian social orders in the name of the environment?Item Fataluku medicinal ethnobotany and the East Timorese military resistance(BioMed Central, 2007-01) Collins, Sean WM; Martins, Xisto; Mitchell, Andrew; Teshome, Awegechew; Arnason, John T.Background: An ethnobotanical study of medicinal and poisonous plants used by the East Timor resistance was undertaken in the Lautem District of East Timor to study medicinal plant use in the region. Interviews were conducted with a single key consultant from the resistance army who belonged to the Fataluku culture. This study is of importance as a historical document and because no previous medicinal ethnobotanical studies on this region exist. Methods: A rapid ethnobotanical survey of medicinal and poisonous plants was conducted through the proposed Conis Santana National Park in the Lautem district of East Timor. Medicinal and poisonous plants were identified by a Consultant and data was collected by the authors using classical descriptive ethnobotanical techniques (i.e. no quantitative measures) through an unstructured open ended interview. Results: During the survey 40 medicinal and poisonous plants were identified by the Consultant and collected by the authors. Defining characteristics of the Consultant's knowledge include a high frequency use of trees, heavily forested habitats, leaves, decoctions and drinks for a range of conditions relevant to a resistance army. Conclusion: Despite limitations of the study, important contributions of this study include preservation of a part of the cultural history of the resistance movement and traditional botanical knowledge of the Fataluku. Furthermore, initial findings may indicate that traditional botanical knowledge is unique amongst different East Timorese cultures in terms of plant selection.Item Comparison of plants used for skin and stomach problems in Trinidad and Tobago with Asian ethnomedicine(BioMed Central, 2007-01) Lans, CherylThis paper provides a preliminary evaluation of fifty-eight ethnomedicinal plants used in Trinidad and Tobago for skin problems, stomach problems, pain and internal parasites for safety and possible efficacy. Thirty respondents, ten of whom were male were interviewed from September 1996 to September 2000 on medicinal plant use for health problems. The respondents were obtained by snowball sampling, and were found in thirteen different sites, 12 in Trinidad and one in Tobago. The uses are compared to those current in Asia. Bambusa vulgaris, Bidens alba, Jatropha curcas, Neurolaena lobata, Peperomia rotundifolia and Phyllanthus urinaria are possibly efficacous for stomach problems, pain and internal parasites. Further scientific study of these plants is warranted.Item Ethnomedicine and dominant medicine in multicultural Australia: a critical realist reflection on the case of Korean-Australian immigrants in Sydney(BioMed Central, 2007-01) Han, Gil-Soo; Ballis, HarryBackground: Viewed through the micro focus of an interpretive lens, medical anthropology remains mystified because interpretivist explanations seriously downplay the given context in which individual health seeking-behaviours occur. This paper draws upon both the interpretivist and political economy perspectives to reflect on the ethno medical practices within the Korean-Australian community in Sydney. Methods: We draw on research data collected between 1995 and 1997 for an earlier study of the use of biomedical and traditional medicine by Korean-Australians in Sydney. A total of 120 interviews were conducted with a range of participants, including biomedical doctors, traditional health professionals, Korean community leaders and Korean migrants representing a range of socio-economic backgrounds and migration patterns. Results and Discussion: First, the paper highlights the extent to which the social location of migrants in a host society alters or restructures their initial cultural practices they bring with them. Second, taking hanbang medicine in the Korean-Australian community as an illustrative case, the paper explores the transformation of the dominant biomedicine in Australia as a result of the influx of ethnomedicine in the era of global capitalism and global movement. Conclusion: In seeking to explain the popularity and supply of alternative health care, it is important to go beyond the culture of each kind of health care itself and to take into consideration the changes occurring at societal, national and global levels as well as consequential individual response to the changes. New social conditions influence the choice of health care methods, including herbal/alternative medicine, health foods and what are often called New Age therapies.Item The Melanesians: Studies in their anthropology and folk-lore(Clarendon Press, 1891) Codrington, Robert HenryItem A Preliminary Assessment of Health and Disease in Human Skeletal Remains from Shi San Hang: A Prehistoric Aboriginal Site on Taiwan.(Anthropological Society of Nippon, 2003-11) Pietrusewsky, Michael; Tsang, Cheng-hwaA preliminary assessment of the health and disease of 23 (15 males and eight females) of the most complete and best preserved adult skeletons from the Shi San Hang site (ca 1800-500 B.P.), Taipei Prefecture, Taiwan, is made. Overall, the prehistoric inhabitants of Shi San Hang were relatively healthy. Adult mean statures indicate that the Shi San Hang adults were slightly taller than living Taiwan aboriginals. While moderately high frequencies of dental enamel hypoplasia (37.1%) and cribra orbitalia (38.9%) are observed in these remains, the overall health of these prehistoric inhabitants was good. Low frequencies of premortem tooth loss (0.3%), dental caries (1.0%), and dental abscessing (0.7%), and moderately low frequencies of periodontal disease observed in these remains suggest a mixed economy. Sex differences in the frequencies of some indicators in this prehistoric Taiwan aboriginal skeletal series suggest possible gender-related occupational/cultural uses of teeth. With the exception of spondylolysis in three individuals, bone trauma is rare. There is no evidence of general or specific infectious disease in these remains. Degenerative joint disease is not marked in the specimens examined. Limited comparisons of the results of this study are made with modern and prehistoric skeletal series from surrounding regions of Asia and the Pacific.
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