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The development of difference: social change around the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine, Papua New Guinea
The research presented here is based on one-month of fieldwork, during which forty-two interviews were conducted in and around Tabubil in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province. I argue that non-renewable resource extraction creates particular forms of inequality in Papua New Guinea, based on the legal status of customary landownership, an emerging class system associated with a form of nationalism which draws on imagery of a generic notion of kastom, and the need for mining companies and the state to identify clearly (geographically and territorially) bounded landowning groups as the recipients of royalty and compensation payments. While local actors may be deeply concerned about the prospects for continued access to morally and materially desirable forms of development following mine closure, elites working for Ok Tedi Mining Limited valorise kastom and ‘village life’ in such a way that they at times refuse to frame the inevitable closure of the mine as a problem.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Durham Anthropology JournalISSN
1742-2930Publisher
Durham UniversityExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
18Page range
61-114Department affiliated with
- International Development Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2017-09-04First Open Access (FOA) Date
2017-09-04First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-09-04Usage metrics
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