Traction: The Role of Executives in Localising Global Mining and Petroleum Industries in Papua New Guinea

Date
2013
Authors
Golub, Alex
Rhee, Mooweon
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
W. Kohlhammer GmbH
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
This 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.
Description
Keywords
Papua New Guinea, natural resource extraction, development, globalization, corporations, corporate executives, Ethnology
Citation
Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, Vol. 59 (2013), pp. 215-236
Extent
26
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Table of Contents
Rights
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.