The Name Must Not Go Down: Political Competition and State-Society Relations in Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea - Couverture souple

Joseph Ketan

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 982020352X ISBN 13 : 9789820203525

Editeur : Institute of Pacific Studies, 2004

Synopsis

For Highlanders the nation-state of Papua New Guinea is a prize worth fighting for, in the midst of a turbulent society. They have devised sophisticated strategies to control bits of the state, but they also subvert it whenever it suits them. The state, an alien creature, has been rendered ineffective by the powerful forces of indigenous Melanesian cultural values and political practices. National politics is characterised by parochial struggles, nepotism, and clientism, while at the same time being concerned -- at least in name and law -- with the governance of the country as a whole. This book analyses how and why people in Mount Hagen have incorporated the state into their local megacycle. By analysing political competition at the local level where such nationally prominent leaders as Paias Wingti, Robert lak, Michael Mel, and Paul Pora operate, this study facilitates understanding the behaviour of politicians who interact within and between two separate moral realms. It analyses how and why people in Hagen compete for prestige, power and influence through ceremonial exchange, group warfare, and compensation payment, elections, and business and enterprise. It is, in essence, a study of state-society relations -- of competing legitimacies and parallel moral worlds -- from a local perspective. By examining the composition of local groups and the major arenas of political competition and cooperation within which members of such groups and their leaders interact, the study provides insights into the processes that take place when kin-based societies come into contact with Western state systems and the market economy. This study explores the level and extent of interpenetration between state and society to determine whether one system has dominated the other.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Institute of Pacific Studies
• Date d'édition: 2004
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 982020352X
• ISBN 13: 9789820203525
• Reliure: Paperback
• Nombre de pages: 437
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible