Regional history and ethnic identity in the hub of New Guinea: the emergence of the Min.

Regional history and ethnic identity in the hub of New Guinea: the emergence of the Min. Beyond the Ethnographic Present in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea(păp`ə, –y Over the last decade Pacific anthropology has undergone a series ofshifts marked by departures from the classic ethnographic forms of the1970s. These departures have little to do with the experiments inwriting recommended by many of our colleagues (e.g., Clifford and Marcus1986), but are instead concerned to broaden the scope of ethnographybeyond the synchronic syn��chron��ic?adj.1. Synchronous.2. Of or relating to the study of phenomena, such as linguistic features, or of events of a particular time, without reference to their historical context. accounts of the small rural communities thatprovided the setting for much of our best work. Keesing andTonkinson's collection on reinvented traditions (1982) launched acottage industry cottage industry:see sweating system. (see Jolly and Thomas 1992, Lindstrom and White 1993)and is probably the single most influential contribution to our currentreorientation Noun 1. reorientation - a fresh orientation; a changed set of attitudes and beliefsorientation - an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs2. reorientation - the act of changing the direction in which something is oriented , but there are many others as well. Sahlins'sstructural history of the Hawaiian encounter with Cook (1981, 1985),Gewertz's analysis of intercultural relations in the Sepik (1983),and Young's treatment of the dialectics of myth, biography, andhistory (1983) all pointed to an anthropology reaching beyond theself-enclosed world of the ethnographic present (see also Burridge 1960,Lawrence 1964, Biersack 1991, Thomas 1989).For that part of the Pacific which concerns me most - Papua NewGuinea - the reawakened interest in history also signals an attempt toengage the transformations occasioned by the articulation of localworlds with colonial and post-colonial networks of relations (seeGregory 1982, Carrier 1992). This broadening of anthropological horizonsowes something to contemporary debates elsewhere in the discipline, butalso has respectable local roots. For anthropologists, PNG'shistorical quarantine was lifted with independence, which saw theemergence of a Third World state complete with development plans,bureaucrats, and more politicians per capita [Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals. than any comparably sizedcountry in the world.(2) If it was once 'the land that timeforgot,' today only tourists imagine this world untouched. PNG (Portable Network Graphics) A bitmapped graphics file format endorsed by the World Wide Web Consortium. It is expected to eventually replace the GIF format, because there are lingering legal problems with GIFs. nowboasts world-class mining projects, student strikes, home-grown popmusicians, bishops, businessmen, its own crime problem and the joys ofEMTV, and anthropology in PNG faces the task of coming to terms with theenlarged world in which indigenous peoples live.Local people have gone from being 'natives' to'nationals,' and one promising response to this is to lookinto the ways in which a new national culture is being put together, atopic recently explored by Robert Foster Robert Foster can refer to: Robert "Bob" Foster, current Mayor of Long Beach, CA Robert Sidney Foster, former governor-general of Fiji Robert Foster, Jamaican track and field athlete Robert Foster, the Lord Chief Justice of England and his colleagues (see Foster(ed.) 1995). Here, following Anderson (1983), one strategy is to seekout the ways in which a collective imagination is constituted,'naturalizing' the nation in the process. But while thisapproach opens up questions about a generic or Pidgin pidgin(pĭj`ən), a lingua franca that is not the mother tongue of anyone using it and that has a simplified grammar and a restricted, often polyglot vocabulary. culture (Filer1985, Hirsch 1990, Philibert 1986, Siegel 1984, Zimmer-Tamakoshi 1993),other issues remain in the less thoroughly explored space between thenation and the small communities that constitute it.(3)We already have some excellent studies of the articulation of thelocal community with the larger world in the work of the Carriers(1989), Gewertz and Errington (1991), Foster (1992), Otto (1992) andNeumann (1992). My concern here, however, is specifically with theregional aspects of the problem, which have been far less searchinglystudied. In this paper I focus attention on emergent identities that areneither unmediated Adj. 1. unmediated - having no intervening persons, agents, conditions; "in direct sunlight"; "in direct contact with the voters"; "direct exposure to the disease"; "a direct link"; "the direct cause of the accident"; "direct vote"direct artifacts of nation-building nor simple outgrowths ofprecolonial pre��co��lo��ni��alor pre-co��lo��ni��al ?adj.Of, relating to, or being the period of time before colonization of a region or territory. forms. These new identities have a distinctly regionalcharacter, reflecting a dialectic between a genealogy of local forms andwider historical processes. My paper thus addresses Hannerz's call(1986) for work bridging the gap between microanthropologies of culturalmeaning and macroanthropologies of global processes.History and Regional Systems in Papua New GuineaDespite the apparent fragmentation of indigenous polities, numerousregional systems of relations between autonomous communities existed inprecolonial times (Schwartz 1963). These systems had diverse bases,ranging from far-flung trading networks (e.g., the Vitiaz system,Harding 1967), to ceremonial exchange circuits (e.g., kula, moka, ortee, Malinowski 1922, Strathern 1971, Feil 1984) and regional cultsystems (e.g., the Mountain Ok, Barth 1971). All, however, providedsmall communities with their most inclusive sense of identity and, oftenenough, their largest political arena.Such systems assumed an altered significance as they wereincorporated within larger political units and wider sets ofrelationships in the colonial and post-colonial eras. In some cases theexpanding colonial economy drastically eroded indigenous exchangenetworks, resulting in an overall attenuation Loss of signal power in a transmission. AttenuationThe reduction in level of a transmitted quantity as a function of a parameter, usually distance. It is applied mainly to acoustic or electromagnetic waves and is expressed as the ratio of power densities. of traditional forms ofregional integration (as in Manus; see Carrier & Carrier 1989). Inthose areas where regional systems persisted, they took on a two-sidedcharacter as they acquired an outer face oriented towards the largersystem. So, for example, contemporary Highlands ceremonial exchange notonly regulates intergroup in��ter��group?adj.Being or occurring between two or more social groups: intergroup relations; intergroup violence.relations in a regional arena, but also servesto mediate between the gift economy and the encompassing cash economy(Gregory 1982). In a more general sense, the persistence of regionalsystems can assume historical and political significance as a token ofresistance or cultural integrity in the face of the encapsulation (1) In object technology, the creation of self-contained modules that contain both the data and the processing. See object-oriented programming.(2) The transmission of one network protocol within another. oflocal communities into the colonial and post-colonial state. Althoughstrikingly different from traditional regional systems in overt form,cargo cults - particularly in Manus, Madang and the Sepik - have alsoshown a notable tendency to generate oppositional movements on aregional basis.Colonial interventions provided additional materials for the genesisof regional systems, and divisions originally instituted as matters ofadministrative convenience later became focal points for emergingregional identities. For example, early colonial administrationsassigned exclusive areas to Christian missions to avoid competitionbetween denominations, generally following the lines of subdistrictboundaries. Thus certain areas and their populations came to beassociated with particular churches and their organizations, many ofwhich provided the matrix for the later development of regionalleadership and elites. The institutions of plantation labour oftenproduced similar effects (Keesing 1986), as did regional high schoolsestablished after the Second World War. More recently, thepost-independence state has instituted a system of provincialgovernments (on which more below), and the National BroadcastingCommission (NBC NBCin full National Broadcasting Co.Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. ) maintains a system of regional transmitters, some ofwhich broadcast in widely understood vernaculars.The most dramatic example of an emergent regional identity isafforded by the case of Bougainville, whose attempted secessionprecipitated the crisis that has dominated PNG history since 1988 (Mayand Spriggs 1990). Although the trouble grew out of longstandinggrievances of Nasioi landowners concerning the Panguna mine, it quicklyspread beyond the Nasioi community to embrace much of the island'spopulation in open rebellion against the national government.Bougainvillean leaders told anyone who would listen that they wereracially and culturally distinct from other Papua New Guineans PoliticsDame Josephine Abaijah Sir Peter Barter Sir Julius Chan Ted Diro Sir John Guise Chris Haiveta Leo Hannett Joseph Kabui Sir John Kaputin Sir Albert Maori Kiki Sir Paulias Matane John Momis Jeffrey Nape , thattheir true affinities were with the peoples of the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands,independent Commonwealth nation (2005 est. pop. 538,000), c.15,500 sq mi (40,150 sq km), SW Pacific, E of New Guinea. The islands that constitute the nation of the Solomon Islands—Guadalcanal, Malaita, New Georgia, the Santa Cruz Islands, , andthat an examination of colonial history would bear out their claim tohave been wrongfully included in what later became Papua New Guinea(Spriggs 1992). Bougainvilleans were claimed to have characteristics -such as a disinclination dis��in��cli��na��tion?n.A lack of inclination; a mild aversion or reluctance.Noun 1. disinclination - that toward which you are inclined to feel dislike; "his disinclination for modesty is well known" to violence - that set them apart from others.All of these factors warranted political independence. Here, despite allthe state's attempts at promoting official nationalism, arelatively sophisticated population found it easy to imagine themselvesas part of a community that did not include Papua New Guineans frombeyond Bougainville (e.g., Nash and Ogan 1990, Wesley-Smith and Ogan1992). What is interesting about all this from the point of view of therelation between the state and indigenous cultures is the fact thatBougainvillean separatism claims cultural roots that transcendprecolonial identities in regional terms.When viewed in this context, it becomes possible to consider regionalidentities as simultaneously integrative and consolidating ordifferentiating and oppositional, depending on whether they are viewedfrom the inside or outside. With this in mind, I wish to sketch theinteraction between culture and history in the Fly and Sepik headwaterswith an eye towards understanding the processes giving rise to a novelethnic category: the Min.The Mountain Ok and the MinThe geographical centre In geography, the centroid of a region of the Earth's surface is often known as its geographical centre. Geographical centre of Europe Centre of Norway Centre of Scotland Geographical centre of Switzerland Centre points of the United Kingdom of the island of New Guinea New Guinea(gĭn`ē), island, c.342,000 sq mi (885,780 sq km), SW Pacific, N of Australia; the world's second largest island after Greenland. is a ruggedlymountainous area divided by the international border between PNG andIrian Jaya Irian Jaya,province, Indonesia: see Papua. , Indonesia's eastern-most province. Two of theisland's largest river systems, the Sepik to the north and the Flyto the south, rise in these mountains. On the PNG side of the border thearea is further divided by a political boundary between the SandaunProvince and Western Province. Although the area was a remote backwaterduring the colonial period Colonial Period may generally refer to any period in a country's history when it was subject to administration by a colonial power. Korea under Japanese rule Colonial America See alsoColonialism , it became the scene of large-scale economicactivity with the advent of the Ok Tedi mining project in the early1980s. The valleys and slopes of this region are populated by a seriesof groups to which anthropologists have given the name Mountain Ok (Map1).The 'Mountain Ok' designation was originally coined by AlanHealey for the branch of the Ok language family in the Fly and Sepikheadwaters, the area he called the 'hub of New Guinea': theterm is in the first instance linguistic and geographic (Healey 1964).Although the limits of the Mountain Ok area are best thought of in termsof frontiers of interaction rather than sharp boundaries (Hyndman andMorren 1990:10; cf. Hays 1993), the region can be delimited by theStrickland Gorge in the east, the Mek peoples to the west (Michel 1990),and the river-oriented peoples found in the adjacent foothill andlowland areas to the north and south.Despite considerable variation, Mountain Ok peoples share a number offeatures (Jorgensen 1984a). Material culture is relatively uniform, withdistinctive tools, art styles, clothing, body decoration, netbagtechniques, and ritual paraphernalia (Craig 1990, MacKenzie 1990, 1991).Where differences can be observed, for instance in house forms, theprinciples of construction remain constant throughout the area. Groupterritories usually encompass a wide range of elevations (as much asfrom 300m to 3000m), and people exploit this range using a mixedstrategy of gardening, sago making, hunting, and collecting (Michel1986). Subsistence is based upon swidden swid��den?n.An area cleared for temporary cultivation by cutting and burning the vegetation.[Dialectal alteration of obsolete swithen, from Old Norse svidhna, to be burned.] cultivation, with taro taro:see arum. taroHerbaceous plant (Colocasia esculenta) of the arum family, probably native to Southeast Asia and taken to the Pacific islands. as themost prestigious crop, even when it is dietarily less significant thanother foods. Although pigs are kept, their numbers are rarely great andwild game is everywhere socially and dietarily significant (Hyndman andMorren 1990, Morren 1986). Settlement patterns vary from scatteredhouseholds to shifting longhouses or fixed central villages, butMountain Ok settlement in general puts a premium on mobility at theindividual or group level. Even where there are permanent villages,people commonly have alternate residences to which they move for longeror shorter periods of time.Mountain Ok social structures emphasize the autonomy andself-sufficiency of local groups, often with a marked involution involution/in��vo��lu��tion/ (in?vo-loo��shun)1. a rolling or turning inward.2. a retrograde change of the body or of an organ, as the retrograde changes in size of the female genital organs after delivery. ofexchange patterns and a tendency towards some variety of local endogamy endogamy(ĕndŏg`əmē): see marriage. .The underdevelopment of exchange, however, is countered by theelaboration of men's cult ritual (Barth 1987). This cult is held toaffect taro fertility, and its chief ritual paraphernalia consists ofbones and relics of the dead. Admission to the cult is by maleinitiation, and differences between initiates and others are generallymarked by a complex system of food taboos. One highly developed aspectof cult life is an emphasis on ritual secrecy, particularly as itaffects the transmission of esoteric lore focussed on the activities ofa culture-heroine and ancestress An´ces`tressn. 1. A female ancestor.Noun 1. ancestress - a woman ancestorancestor, antecedent, ascendant, ascendent, root - someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent) known variously as Afek, Karigan,Fukunkon, Fitipkanip, or Yuwan.The common linkage to Afek locates Mountain Ok cults in a regionaltradition.(4) Myths concerning Afek not only account for the features ofa particular ritual system or aspects of local cosmology, but also placegroups relative to one another in terms of descent from Afek (or asibling) as she travelled from one area to another. Afek's routealso provides a mythological inscription of the landscape, in whichfeatures such as mountains, watercourses, sinkholes and caves are seenas evidence of her passing, a process which is parallelled by theestablishment of ritual centres at sites where she is said to have builthouses (Barth 1971, Bercovitch 1982, 1989:109f, Brumbaugh 1990,Jorgensen 1983a, 1990, Michel 1988, 1990). Each such house normallycontained especially powerful relics and served as a cult and initiationcentre for a number of different settlements forming a ritualcongregation which was also the widest political community. Suchcommunities are generally designated by a name carrying the -min suffix,such as Telefolmin, Faiwolmin, Atbalmin, Angkayakmin, Urapmin,Wopkaimin, etc. These are the terms that Mountain Ok fieldworkers use todelimit de��lim��it? also de��lim��i��tatetr.v. de��lim��it��ed also de��lim��i��tat��ed, de��lim��it��ing also de��lim��i��tat��ing, de��lim��its also de��lim��i��tatesTo establish the limits or boundaries of; demarcate. cultures or ethnic groups for study.(5)In general, the ensemble of Mountain Ok cultures constituted aregional field of commensurate differences (Gewertz and Errington 1991),where the differentia dif��fer��en��ti��a?n. pl. dif��fer��en��ti��aeAn attribute that distinguishes one entity from another, especially an attribute that distinguishes one species from others of the same genus. between groups were intelligible in terms of acommon matrix of features. So, for example, while no two groups sharedprecisely the same set of food taboos, it was taken for granted Adj. 1. taken for granted - evident without proof or argument; "an axiomatic truth"; "we hold these truths to be self-evident"axiomatic, self-evidentobvious - easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind; "obvious errors" thateach group had a distinctive set of such taboos; while each group haddifferent male initiation rites, there was no question but that eachgroup had initiations, and while each group had its own set of esotericcult lore, the point was rather that men's secrets were somethingthat each group had. This familiarity with difference within a largerframework extended to the point that most groups were conversant CONVERSANT. One who is in the habit of being in a particular place, is said to be conversant there. Barnes, 162. withregional variations and were able, for example, to work out roughtranslations of initiation status so that local equivalents could bedetermined (Barth 1971, 1987, Brumbaugh 1990:57).Against this background of commonality, however, it is important tonote that the regional field was far from uniform. Just as cult housesprovided the nuclei for political communities, so too did a regionalhierarchy of cult houses define significant nodes for wider relations.Some of the houses said to have been built by Afek herself are believedto be connected via underground tunnels or roads, and particular housesstand out from others in terms of the relics they are said to contain.By far the most significant of these is the Telefolip, a huge cult housebuilt by Afek and rebuilt successively on the same site since. Locatedin the village of the same name, the Telefolip also lends its name tothe Telefolmin, the people who are acknowledged as the guardians ofAfek's ritual legacy by virtue of their custodianship over thishouse. This custodianship and the ritual it demands are traditionallyheld to govern the fertility of taro throughout the Mountain Okregion.(6)This sense of cultural, mythological or ritual commonality did notprevent Mountain Ok communities from waging war against each other, andthe precolonial history of the region is one of turbulence as groupsexpanded, jostled one another, were displaced, absorbed or wiped out(e.g., Kienzle and Campbell 1938, Champion 1966, Quinlivan 1954). If inthe past affinities were recognized, there is little to suggest thatMountain Ok conceived themselves as a coherent whole, and the term'Mountain Ok' remains an outsider's designation ratherthan one used by the people themselves. While we may thus be able toargue that the Mountain Ok constituted something like a cultural area ora regional system in the Fly-Sepik headwaters, this is not the same assaying that this was a self-conscious identity. It is rather the casethat cultural continuities and tales of Afek's travels afforded theground against which particular identities emerged, a field within whichdifferentiation was possible.It is all the more interesting for present purposes, then, that mostof those groups classed as Mountain Ok now affirm a common identity interms of the self-conscious label 'Min,' drawn from the suffixindicating group names. In order to understand how this came about, wewill have to look at the colonial and post-colonial history of theMountain Ok, a history in which missions, government, and large-scalemining have all played a role. In doing so, we will have to reckon with to settle accounts or claims with; - used literally or figuratively.to include as a factor in one's plans or calculations; to anticipate.to deal with; to handle; as, I have to reckon with raising three children as well as doing my job s>.See also: Reckon Reckon Reckon the regional effects of wage labour and the Ok Tedi project, which hasbrought running shoes, VCRs, frozen foods and beer to the Fly-Sepikheadwaters. Here genealogy (descent from the ancestress Afek) andhistory (mining, missions, and government) have combined to precipitatea regional ethnicity which is objectified by local people instead ofethnographers.The Colonial PeriodMountain Ok people had ephemeral contact with Europeans (Melk-Koch1989, Champion 1966, Kienzle and Campbell 1938, Morren 1981) until 1943,when USAAF USAAF United States Army Air Forces gliders descended into Ifitaman valley to construct anemergency airstrip at the site of what was later to become Telefolminstation. This marked the inauguration of attempts to bring the regionunder colonial administration, and the initial period witnessed aninflux of steel tools and, later, an influenza epidemic influenza epidemiccaused 500,000 deaths in U.S. alone (1918–1919). [Am. Hist.: Van Doren, 403]See : Disease . Warfare in theimmediate station area came to a quick and relatively painless end:Telefolmin ceased hostilities with their erstwhile enemies, the Falaminand Tifalmin, who for their part seemed to welcome peace and theopportunity to gain access to European goods flowing into the area fromthe airstrip. Towards the end of the 1940s civil administration tookover from military authorities and made tentative forays into outlyingareas for purposes of censusing, mapping and putting an end to warfare.For the most part - with the notable exception of the Miyanmin area tothe north and west of the station - these initial contacts went well,and the Pax Australiana offered unprecedented opportunities for safetravel. By the beginning of the 1950s the Australian Baptist MissionarySociety (ABMS ABMS American Board of Medical SpecialtiesABMS American Board of Medical SpecialistsABMS Associa??o Brasileira de Mecanica dos Solos e Engenharia Geot��cnica (Brazilian Society for Soil mechanics and Geotechniacl Engineering)) established a station across the airstrip from thegovernment patrol post and began its first efforts at evangelism (seeDraper and Draper 1990).The early colonial period came to a traumatic close late in 1953,when Telefolmin staged attacks on administration patrols in an abortive abortive/abor��tive/ (ah-bor��tiv)1. incompletely developed.2. abortifacient (1).3. cutting short the course of a disease.a��bor��tiveadj.1. attempt to expel the intruders (Craig 1990, Quinlivan 1954). Planeloadsof police landed at the airstrip and combed the surrounding countryside.The participants in the attacks were rounded up and sent to the coastfor trial, where they were eventually sentenced to ten years'imprisonment ImprisonmentSee also Isolation.Alcatraz Islandformer federal maximum security penitentiary, near San Francisco; “escapeproof.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 218]Altmark, theGerman prison ship in World War II. [Br. Hist. . This event dispelled any illusions local people may havehad about the voluntary nature of their relations with the colonialadministration. For its part, the administration placed security and'law and order' at the top of its list of local priorities.During the late 1950s and through the 1960s New Guinea's labourfrontier moved westwards and numbers of young Mountain Ok men signed onfor two year contracts on either copra or tea plantations. While asource of cash and excitement for many young men, the plantationexperience gradually revealed to them the disparity between Mountain Okbackwardness and the relative wealth and sophistication so��phis��ti��cate?v. so��phis��ti��cat��ed, so��phis��ti��cat��ing, so��phis��ti��catesv.tr.1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly.2. of coastal (andlater, Highland) areas. Tagged with the epithet ep��i��thet?n.1. a. A term used to characterize a person or thing, such as rosy-fingered in rosy-fingered dawn or the Great in Catherine the Great.b. bus kanaka (Pidgin forunsophisticated bush people), Mountain Ok men soon found that, as far asthe outside world was concerned, they were all 'Telefolmins'or 'Sepiks'. Grouped together in common barracks andsupporting one another in the inevitable urban scraps, the sons oferstwhile enemies or strangers learned to see themselves in a new lightin relation to Papuans and other New Guineans.While it would be easy to make too much of such experiences, it isimportant to note that this emerging awareness went hand in hand withother developments that both facilitated and consolidated connectionsbetween different Mountain Ok communities. The spread of colonialadministration moved outwards from the patrol post at Telefolmin,concentrating on the relatively large populations lying within aday's walk of the airstrip. Frequent patrols to outlying areas wereinitially confined to Tifalmin, Urapmin, Falamin, and the Telefolminliving in the Eliptaman valley. Evengelists soon followed, and one ofthe most striking aspects of ABMS policy was an outreach program thatput an emphasis on the development of airstrips in remote areas, a taskdischarged at the rate of approximately one new airstrip every threeyears. The airstrips facilitated the mission's medical andevangelistic efforts, but they also made it much easier for young men toleave their villages for distant plantations.The network of mission airstrips, in turn, also served to extendadministrative control Direction or exercise of authority over subordinate or other organizations in respect to administration and support, including organization of Service forces, control of resources and equipment, personnel management, unit logistics, individual and unit training, readiness, mobilization, by providing staging points for patrolling intomore remote areas, which provided additional opportunities for airstripconstruction, and so on. By the time PNG's independence arrived in1975, the ABMS had established a total of eight strips in the MountainOk area, all of which served as feeders to the central strip atTelefolmin.(7)For its part, the Australian administration established additionalpatrol posts in the region, each of which had its own radio, airstrip,and staff. The first of these was built at Oksapmin (1961), whoserelatively dense population led the ABMS to set up a second missionstation at nearby Tekin shortly thereafter (Friend 1981, Flatters 1981).A patrol post was built among the Faiwolmin at Olsobip south of the mainranges in 1964, and in 1973 a police post and airstrip were constructedamong the West Miyanmin at Yapsiei.By the close of the 1960s the basic administrative infrastructure ofthe Mountain Ok area was set. Telefolmin, with its own local governmentcouncil (LGC LGC Logistics (Contracting)LGC Local Government CommissionLGC La Gloria Cubana (cigar)LGC Laboratory of the Government Chemist (UK)), became the site of a range of amenities that drew peoplefrom throughout the region: a well-stocked mission trade store, primaryschool, hospital and maternity clinic. As subdistrict headquarters,Telefolmin was also the seat of the local court and gaol The old English word for jail. GAOL. A prison or building designated by law or used by the sheriff, for the confinement or detention of those, whose persons are judicially ordered to be kept in custody. to whichoffenders from throughout the area were brought.(8) Mission,administration, and the cash economy had all become crucial in thearticulation of a system of relations in a regional field, but thenature of this articulation changed importantly with two developments ofthe 1970s which also altered the way local people saw themselves andtheir relation to the wider world: the advent of large-scale miningprojects and PNG's independence.Mining and IndependenceMining loomed large on the Mountain Ok scene in the years beforePNG's independence. Kennecott Copper built two base camps, themajor one at Tabubil, and another at Tifalmin, and local people had seenKennecott's survey teams come and go throughout the late 1960s andearly 1970s. Local expectations for the future rose and fell with eachannouncement and rumour about the imminent launching of miningoperations. But by the mid-1970s Kennecott had abandoned the Tifalminbase camp and reduced Tabubil's staff to a skeleton crew The term skeleton crew is used to indicate the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item at its most simple operating requirements, such as a ship or business, during an emergency and, at the same time, to keep vital functions operating. . Duringthis period Mount Isa Mines The Mount Isa copper, lead zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia are part of the Xstrata mining company. HistoryIn 1923 the orebody containing lead, zinc and silver was discovered by the miner John Campbell Miles. built the Frieda camp, but nothing muchhappened after that. Through a combination of news reports, officialannouncements, and informal statements by mine staff, local peoplelearned that the hold-up was somehow linked to negotiations surroundingPNG's independence (see Jackson 1982). This fact heightened boththe anticipation and anxiety with which independence was greeted, areflection of local perceptions that mining and the prosperity it wassupposed to bring were central to visions of the future.Deeply held suspicions of government intentions were aggravated bythe apparent discrepancy between the constant talk of developmen - theword had become entrenched in Pidgin and Mountain Ok lexicons - and theall too obvious lack of movement on the mining front.(9) When it becameclear that much of the trouble had to do with an impasse in negotiationsbetween the government and Kennecott, local resentment became intense.Wopkaimin and Faiwolmin people in particular were furious that agovernment whose neglect was legendary had intervened between them andthe mining company (cf. Jackson 1982:66f). Here it is necessary torecall that until the Olsobip patrol post was opened in 1964 the onlyadministrative presence in the area consisted of occasional patrols fromTelefolmin (Hyndman 1990:161, Jackson 1982:43-4). Even after theestablishment of the Olsobip post, patrolling was sporadic, governmentservices almost nonexistent non��ex��is��tence?n.1. The condition of not existing.2. Something that does not exist.non . The Montfort Catholic mission firstprovided aid posts and schools around the villages of Bolivip, Golgubip,and Imigabip; Kennecott provided similar services in the Wopkaimin area,while the government confined its activities to the vicinity of theOlsobip station itself.People on the northern side of the district (and later provincial)boundary focussed much of their dissatisfaction on electoralrepresentation. The Member of the House of Assembly A Member of the House of Assembly is a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly in Canada.Other StatesMembers of other Canadian provincial and territorial assemblies employ the titles: for the Telefolminarea at independence was from Ambunti (middle Sepik), and he showed nointerest in local concerns, particularly on the mining issue. Given thedemography of the Upper Sepik Open Electorate, which included relativelylarge populations in the Sepik lowlands, it was clear that mountainpeople would always be at a disadvantage in any electoral contest. Thisled to agitation for a redrawing of electoral boundaries spearheaded bythe former incumbent from Telefolmin, Wesani Iwoksim.(10) Three mainarguments were mobilized in submissions made to the government. Thefirst was based upon the cultural unity of the Min people - for so theywere now termed - in the Mountain Ok area, emphasizing the differencesseparating them from the river peoples of the Sepik lowlands. Here acrucial piece of evidence was the existence of well-attested traditionslinking the Min as descendants of Afek, the mythological genetrix of theMountain Ok peoples, an argument reinforced by the existence ofAfek's house at Telefolip (Jorgensen 1990). A second argumentstressed the obvious differences in interests and problems facing peoplein such unlike circumstances, particularly since the Mountain Ok areawas only accessible by air, while Ambunti and environs had easilyavailable river transport. Finally, it was pointed out that the twoareas belonged to completely different administrative units, withTelefolmin as part of the West Sepik District and Ambunti as part of theEast Sepik Coordinates: East Sepik (Tok Pisin: Is Sepik) is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. . These efforts met with success, although the redrawing ofelectoral districts did not take place until 1976, a year afterindependence.The Emergence of the MinIn addition to holding a seat in the old House of Assembly, Mr.Iwoksim had also served as a pastor for the Baptist mission, and in 1975he gave a speech at the Telefolmin Independence Day celebrations, whichattracted contingents from as far away as Atbalmin in the west andDuranmin in the east and Bolivip in the south. He talked about thefuture of the Min, stressing that independence meant that power waspassing from the Australian authorities to local people. This power wasvouchsafed by the minerals God and the ancestors had placed in thenearby mountains, while Christianity and sound parliamentary leadershipwould provide the guidance needed for this power's wise use. Whilethis transparently political speech could be fairly said to have markedthe official opening of his election campaign, it captured hisaudience's sentiments and aspirations accurately. In the votingfollowing the establishment of the new electorate, Mr. Iwoksim wasreturned to office as the first Member for the new Telefolmin OpenElectorate.The movement for a new electorate brought three interlinked issuestogether: the insistence on the cultural and political unity of theMountain Ok, the desire for a greater political voice at the centres ofpower, and a demand to have a say in the plans for the economicdevelopment of the region. Each of these points coalesced in a growingtendency to speak in terms of the 'Min people,' a usage whichself-consciously stresses the inclusive identity of the Mountain Ok.During my 1974-75 fieldwork talk of the 'Min' seemed mainly toemerge in discussions about the new electoral boundaries, althoughpeople would sometimes speak about the differences between themselvesand others in these terms. While it is hard to tell precisely how longthis conception has had currency, what is clear is that this way oftalking has become far more frequent in the post-independence period,particularly in political contexts (Fiamnok Lakurengim, pers. comm.; seealso Brumbaugh 1980:4-19, Morren 1986:300, Jackson 1982, Jorgensen1984b, Polier 1994).(11)Other indications of a consolidating collective identity are evidentin the way the Christian Rebaibal movement of the late 1970s spreadamong the Mountain Ok. Prompted by local church members and bypost-independence policies stressing the localization Customizing software and documentation for a particular country. It includes the translation of menus and messages into the native spoken language as well as changes in the user interface to accommodate different alphabets and culture. See internationalization and l10n. of positionspreviously held by expatriates, the ABMS established a Baptist biblecollege Baptist Bible College is the name of two schools in the United States: Baptist Bible College & Seminary, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania Baptist Bible College (Springfield, Missouri) (a branch campus once existed in Massachusetts, now called Boston Baptist College) at Duranmin in 1977 under the directorship of Diyos Wapnok, aTelefol man from the Eliptaman valley.(12) Shortly thereafter a wave ofindigenous evangelism spread from Duranmin and the Eliptaman valleythroughout the Mountain Ok region (Jorgensen 1981b, Hyndman 1990,Robbins 1995). A striking feature of the Rebaibal was that the agents ofproselytization were indigenous people - mainly female spirit mediumspossessed by the Holy Spirit - rather than expatriate missionaries. Bythe beginning of the 1980s most Min had participated in the Rebaibal anda network of pastors had developed spanning the length and breadth ofMountain Ok territory. In some areas, as among the northern Miyanmin,teams of pastors routinely travelled from village to village in'patrols' listening to disputes, giving information andadvice, and generally acting as informal extension officers in areasvirtually ignored by the government (Jorgensen 1984a).(13) Elsewhere,itinerant spirit meris ('spirit women') travelled from placeto place holding seances while male pastors settled in for long-termevangelization e��van��gel��ize?v. e��van��gel��ized, e��van��gel��iz��ing, e��van��gel��iz��esv.tr.1. To preach the gospel to.2. To convert to Christianity.v.intr.To preach the gospel. throughout Mountain Ok country, even challenging theposition of the Catholic mission in Faiwol-speaking areas to the south.Interestingly, there was no attempt to extend Rebaibal beyond thecompass of Mountain Ok cultures, almost as though the Holy Spirit werespeaking specifically to the Min - as was indeed held to be the case. Infact, what is striking is that the transition to national independencewas marked by the mobilization of not one, but two spiritual genealogiesconstituting Min identity: descent from Afek, whose sacred centre atTelefolip served as a focal point focal pointn.See focus. for the creation of the TelefolminElectorate, and the spread of the Rebaibal from Duranmin, which carriedthe Holy Spirit's word throughout Min country. Each consolidated acollective identity defined in relation to the originally exogenousinstitutions of the state and the church. Just as PNG was in the processof fabricating its own identity, the transformation of the Mountain Okinto the Min marked a shift of self-definition.Ok Tedi and Regional TransformationIf post-independence electoral politics and the spread of theRebaibal consolidated some sense of Min identity, this identity acquireda new and pointed saliency sa��li��ence? also sa��li��en��cyn. pl. sa��li��en��ces also sa��li��en��cies1. The quality or condition of being salient.2. A pronounced feature or part; a highlight.Noun 1. in the context of the Ok Tedi project, whichtransformed the Mountain Ok region from an obscure backwater to thecentre of economic development in the western part of the country. Ajoint copper and gold mining venture in which the PNG government owns30% equity, Ok Tedi has loomed large in the calculations of nationalplanners. The massive logistics required to support this undertakingshifted the centre of gravity centre of gravityNounthe point in an object around which its mass is evenly distributedNoun 1. centre of gravity in the Western Province from the coastalarea around Daru, the provincial capital Noun 1. provincial capital - the capital city of a provincecapital - a seat of governmentcity, metropolis, urban center - a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts; "Ancient Troy was a great city" , northward to Tabubil andKiunga. Tabubil township was developed as a service and supply centrefor the Ok Tedi project and Kiunga was developed as a deep-water port onthe upper Fly River. Supplies are shipped to Kiunga and then truckedalong a specially constructed road to Tabubil, which also boasts aninternational airport with direct connections to Port Moresby Port Moresby(môrz`bē), town (1990 pop. 193,242), capital of Papua New Guinea, on New Guinea island and on the Gulf of Papua. Rubber, gold, and copra are exported. Port Moresby was founded by Capt. John Moresby, who landed there in 1873. andAustralia.Although it hosts a relatively large expatriate population and ishome to people from other parts of PNG, Tabubil has become in many waysa Min town. Here people from widely separated Mountain Ok groupsencounter one another on a routine basis. Although the issue of squattersettlements at the various 'corners' in Tabubil has sometimesled to friction between local Wopkaimin and other Min, Tabubil and theadjacent villages of Bultem and Wangbin increasingly resemble amicrocosm of Min ethnicity, with enclaves of different Min groupsforming a larger community (Joel Robbins, pers. comm.). In Tabubilitself, relations are for the most part amicable and far less tense thanin many other PNG towns.(14)The project immediately attracted large numbers of workers fromthroughout the region when construction began in 1981. Although men fromother areas also made their way to Tabubil in search of employment, themining agreement explicitly accorded hiring and training preference topeople from the North Fly (including Ningerum and Awin people as well asMin) and the Telefolmin areas. At the peak of the construction phaseroughly 1300 local workers were employed at the mine (Jackson and Ilave1983). This corresponded to a rate of male absenteeism of as high as 40%and was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the flow of cash to ruralareas throughout the region.(15)The regional effects of these developments are complex. The miningboom is readily evident in the large numbers of houses with corrugatediron corrugated ironn.A structural sheet iron, usually galvanized, shaped in parallel furrows and ridges for rigidity.corrugated ironNoun roofs, and general consumption levels are high. A by-product ofthis has been an upsurge in entrepreneurial activity and an increase inthe volume of air traffic: areas that received only one plane a month inthe 1970s are now visited at least once a week, while the Telefolminstrip routinely sees a score of landings each week (as compared withthree per week in the mid-1970s). Tabubil long ago replaced Wewak as thechief source of access and supply for the Mountain Ok region, mainlybecause of vastly reduced air costs. Most local flights are operated byprivate airlines or the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF MAFmacrophage activating factor. ), which now hastwo aircraft permanently based at Telefolmin. At least two flights perweek between Telefolmin or Oksapmin and Tabubil are charters organizedfor marketing fresh vegetables for sale to the Ok Tedi Mining (OTML)commissary COMMISSARY. An officer whose principal duties are to supply the army with provisions. 2. The Act of April 14, 1818, s. 6, requires that the president, by and with the consent of the senate, shall appoint a commissary general with the rank, pay, and emoluments . Although such sales provide far less cash than workers'wages, vegetable marketing remains important for those (such as womenand older men) unable to participate directly in the Ok Tedi project andis likewise important for those areas (such as Miyanmin) on the MountainOk periphery.(16) In addition, many flights carry passengers to and fromTabubil, where people visit relatives working at Ok Tedi. Such trafficis more or less continuous, but surges each fortnight as payday comes;these visits have become the chief means by which wages find their wayinto villagers' pockets. Finally, at least half of the flights arecharters to fly in tradestore stock from Tabubil. In all of this theairstrip at Telefolmin acts as a connecting hub, providing links betweenTabubil and more remote centres such as Duranmin or Tumolbil.A less visible consequence of the project has been the collapse ofthe traditional trading networks connecting Mountain Ok communities withthose to the south. The Wopkaimin people - that is, those locatednearest the mine and its township - were the key links in the exchangeof shells originating from the south coast for tobacco coming from theTifalmin-Telefolmin area. With the advent of Ok Tedi, Wopkaimin lostinterest in traditional trade, partly because it simply seemed not worththe trouble, and partly because store-bought cigarettes have rapidlydisplaced mountain-grown tobacco in local preferences. As a result, theflow of shells, which traditionally served as bridewealth valuablesamong a number of Mountain Ok groups, has virtually dried up.The withdrawal of Wopkaimin from traditional exchange is understoodas contributing to this collapse, but Telefolmin offer anotherexplanation which has achieved wide currency. In the mythology of theAfek cycle, Afek's younger brother Umoim created the Land of theDead (Kwiinbil or Bagelam) after she had killed him at Telefolip. Shesent him off to the west along an underground track, in the direction ofthe central Wopkaimin hamlet of Bultem, and he established the Land ofthe Dead underneath the mountain known as Fubilan (see Map 2 above;Hyndman 1990:161, Jorgensen 1990: 157). Traditionally held to be thesource of stone adzes (fubi, hence the mountain's name) and shellwealth originally produced by Afek's brother, Fubilan was tornapart by OTML in order to get at the gold. Thus shells no longer movealong the old trade routes because their source beneath Fubilan wasdestroyed, and local people know that the mining company does this inorder to turn gold into money. So it is that money is replacing shellsin bridewealth transactions, just as the extraction of gold replaced themythological source of shell wealth.This account articulates a common view that the money now availableto Min people is their just due, not simply as a replacement for shellwealth, but also as compensation for its loss. This, plus thetraditional mythology linking Afek and her descendants to namedlocations in the Mountain Ok area have served as a focus for agitationclaiming a right to a share of Ok Tedi's benefits for all Min.Drawing Lines: Region and ProvinceAt PNG's independence in 1975 dissatisfaction on Bougainvilleover the allocation of mining revenues from Panguna precipitated acrisis which quickly led to secessionist threats. After protractednegotiation, the national government reluctantly agreed to instituteprovincial governments, part of a policy of decentralization de��cen��tral��ize?v. de��cen��tral��ized, de��cen��tral��iz��ing, de��cen��tral��iz��esv.tr.1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. aimed atstriking a balance between local and national interests. A key part ofthe strategy with regard to Bougainville was an agreement to return aportion of mining revenues to the newly constituted provincialgovernment as a means of containing resentment and defusing separatistsentiment. To a certain extent this approach seemed unproblematic in theBougainville context, given the relatively compact and unambiguous formthe proposed province was to take: as an island, Bougainville'sboundaries seemed obvious. The creation of provincial governmentsthroughout the remainder of the country, however, tended to raise anumber of issues concerning political representation that centred aroundthe way in which provinces were to be defined, issues that weresharpened when questions of claims to mineral rights and benefits arose.Many of these become evident when we examine the interrelation betweenprovincial governments, the Ok Tedi project, and the sense of a regionalidentity for Mountain Ok peoples now styling themselves as Min.Mountain Ok peoples straddle In the stock and commodity markets, a strategy in options contracts consisting of an equal number of put options and call options on the same underlying share, index, or commodity future. borders that were originally drawnacross the white spaces See white space. on colonial maps, and none of these boundarieshad more than a fantasy existence until the beginnings of Australianadministration in the 1940s.(17) In the 1960s and early 1970s theinternational border assumed new significance in Australian eyes withIndonesia's takeover of the former Dutch New Guinea Dutch New Guinea:see Papua, Indonesia. . Fearful ofIndonesian expansionism ex��pan��sion��ism?n.A nation's practice or policy of territorial or economic expansion.ex��pansion��ist adj. & n. , the administration established a string ofposts along the international frontier (including Yapsiei) and issuedstern warnings about crossing the frontier.(18)In contrast to the international border, the old Papua-New Guinealine dividing the Western and West Sepik Districts was never taken veryseriously by local people or, for that matter, by outsiders. For nearlyfifteen years after its establishment, the station at Telefolmin was thecentre from which the colonial administration extended its reach, andpatrolling on both sides of the line was carried out from there untilthe Olsobip patrol post was built in 1964. Kennecott established itsbase at Tabubil soon afterwards, where it assumed many of the tasksotherwise entrusted to missions or the administration. In all of this,'belonging to' a particular district had little immediatemeaning: people came and went at will, and Kennecott's survey teamsroamed through the mountains in sublime indifference to districtboundaries.With this background it becomes easier to understand Min resentmentsabout the hardening of boundaries following the creation of provincialgovernments in the late 1970s. Redefining districts as provincesprovided a symbolic break with the colonial regime, but had theparadoxical effect of conferring more power on certain colonialadministrative arrangements than they ever had before independence.While districts had previously served as links in a centralized chain ofcommand, the provinces now held powers beyond any colonial DistrictCommissioners' wildest dreams. One rationale for this was providedby the Constitutional Planning Committee planning committeen (in local government) → comit�� m de planificaci��n:'The people of an increasing number of districts are becomingever more conscious of the interests and problems that they share. Thedistrict is more than a simple administrative unit Noun 1. administrative unit - a unit with administrative responsibilitiesadministrative bodyInland Revenue, IR - a board of the British government that administers and collects major direct taxes . It is, in fact, animportant political unit with much of the administrative infrastructurenecessary for further political development. It is also a knownquantity: it poses no new problems of identity.' (quoted inFitzpatrick 1980:212)It is hard to imagine a statement that could have been more wildlyoff-target for the Min region.The former West Sepik and Western Districts were reconstituted as theSandaun and Western Provinces, and this failed to play well in Mincountry from the start. Equipped with new powers and hungrily eyeingreturns from the mining prospects, both provincial governments suddenlytook on an unwelcome importance in Min affairs. While the WesternProvincial government in Daru staked a claim to mining benefits andargued for excluding 'outsiders' from other provinces(including neighbouring Min people such as Tifalmin, Telefolmin,Oksapmin, etc.), Wopkaimin and Faiwolmin people were asking whereDaru's interest had been before there was money to be found intheir mountains (Jackson 1982:162ff). In a region neglected untilKennecott extended services in the late 1960s, local people felt thatall the provincial government had managed to do was to multiply thenumber of powerful outsiders with their hands out. For its part, thenational government was sufficiently exasperated with the WesternProvincial Government in the early 1980s to place the Ok Tedi projectfor a time under a special administrative authority directly answerableto Moresby (T. Friend, pers. comm., Jackson 1993).Nor were things much better on the Sandaun side of the provincialboundary. Provincial headquarters in Vanimo was notorious for itsneglect, one indication of which was its dogged opposition to plans fora high school in Telefolmin in favour of an additional high school inVanimo proper (Jackson 1982:164). Following the conclusion of theTelefolmin District Development Agreement (TDDA) in 1983, Vanimopersistently attempted to gain control of funds earmarked for thedevelopment of the Min region. The result has been a long-standing feudbetween Telefolmin and Vanimo in which Vanimo has consistentlydowngraded services and allocations to the Telefolmin District. This hasprovoked demonstrations at the Telefolmin District Office and given riseto threats - at present only rhetorical - to run provincial officialsout of the area.It is little wonder that mining, resentment against remote centres ofpower, and a pan-Min identity have converged in a movement to establisha separate Min Province. The notion of separate provincial status forall Min has existed as a diffuse ambition ever since the late 1970s.People on the northern side of the provincial boundary were upset attheir exclusion from Ok Tedi's expected benefits.(19) Thesedissatisfactions and frictions with Vanimo over the high school issuefuelled popular sentiments to unite all Min in a single province, andlocal politicians agitated ag��i��tate?v. ag��i��tat��ed, ag��i��tat��ing, ag��i��tatesv.tr.1. To cause to move with violence or sudden force.2. along these lines in the centres of power.Just prior to the 1982 elections local people established the MinAssociation, a registered community group, on the environs of Telefolip,site of Afek's home and the centre of the regional taro cult. Localpoliticians, including Wesani Iwoksim and Fiamnok Lakurengim, had beenlobbying for a greater share for the Min of Sandaun Province, with animplied threat of a provincial breakaway if these demands were not met.Sir Julius Chan Sir Julius Chan GCL, GCMG, KBE, MP (陳仲民 Pinyin: Ch��n Zh��ngm��n) (born 29 August 1939) was Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1980 to 1982 and from 1994 to 1997. , then Prime Minister, came to Telefolmin to open the MinAssociation house (built as a replica of a spirit house). Local peopletook this as an affirmation of the claims validated by Min mythology, aconclusion reinforced when Papua New Guinea's Governor Generalarrived in 1983 to sign the Telefolmin District Development Agreement(TDDA; see Jorgensen 1990). The agreement provided for the constructionof a high school at Telefolmin at a cost of K 2,000,000 and an annualallocation of K 500,000 for projects within the Telefolmin District.(20)While the prospect of a Min Province was thus forestalled, the agreementcontained two elements crucial to local aims: tacit recognition of thecollective rights of all Min vis-a-vis the Ok Tedi project, and anexplicit proviso making the administration of local development fundsimmune to intervention from Vanimo.(21) The agreement was sweetened inthe late 1980s when the annual allocation to TDDA was increased to K1,000,000.Similar developments were in train on the southern side of theprovincial boundary, but with a different cast. As in Sandaun Province,Min people were generally disaffected with a remote provincialgovernment located on the coast, but in this they had the company ofLowland Ok and Awin peoples with whom they shared a common involvementin the Ok Tedi project. Elected representatives from the Min and Awinareas began voicing sentiments for the creation of a breakaway North FlyProvince which came to a head in 1981 when Isidore Kaseng, acting aschair of the Kiunga/Lake Murray Political Advisory Committee, threatenedto force the closure of Ok Tedi just as it was being constructed -unless funds for local development were made available (Jackson1982:160-1). The result was the conclusion of the Kiunga Lake Murray Lake Murray may refer to: Lake Murray (Papua New Guinea), the largest lake in Papua New Guinea Lake Murray (South Carolina), for a time the largest artificial lake in the world Lake Murray (Oklahoma), a lake and the oldest State Park in Oklahoma Development Agreement (TDDA's twin), providing K 1,000,000 annuallyfor infrastructural development in the North Fly region. Although thisdefused separatist sentiment for the time being, the Western ProvincialGovernment has since the early 1980s been dominated by northerners benton Adj. 1. bent on - fixed in your purpose; "bent on going to the theater"; "dead set against intervening"; "out to win every event"bent, dead set, out to breaking away. Norbert Makmop, an Angkayakmin man from Bolivip, wasprovincial premier for the last half of the 1980s, and attempted ondifferent occasions to shift provincial headquarters from Daru toKiunga. His successor following the 1991 provincial election was IsidoreKaseng. By 1991 legislation for the creation of a North Fly Province hadbeen given first reading, and the TDDA committee moved in the same yearto seek means of breaking away from Vanimo and joining the new province(TDDA Minutes, 10/91).Culture or History?The efforts to establish a Min Province reflect a politicization ofethnicity that tempts us to choose between culture and history as framesfor understanding. This is particularly clear in some of the discussionsurrounding Bougainvillean separatism, where accounts range themselvesbetween two extremes: a pole which finds the motives for rebellion in along-standing and island-wide sense of cultural identity (e.g., Griffin1990) and an opposite pole which sees this identity as a myth concoctedin order to consolidate political claims over the Panguna mine (Filer1990). One peculiarity of this dispute is that we find a historian(Griffin) emphasizing cultural continuities while an anthropologist(Filer) finds historical contingencies more persuasive, perhaps anindication that the choice between culture and history is one we neednot - and should not - make.Looking back at the emergence of the Min from the vantage of thepresent, it is obvious that a self-conscious Min identity has multipleroots. The mythology of descent from Afek, the route of her journeys,and the network of cult houses all gave form to an otherwise diffusesense of cultural affinity. Against this backdrop a range of colonialinterventions tended to reinforce rather than dispel such a sense, duein no small part to the fact that Telefolmin - the acknowledged centreof Afek's cult system - became the centre for the extension ofcolonial administration throughout the region. Added to this, andprobably more important in the long run, was the fact that Telefolminalso became the seat of ABMS's missionary activities. Quite apartfrom its explicit evangelical aims, the ABMS created an air transportinfrastructure which shaped later networks of relations throughout theFly-Sepik headwaters. This infrastructure was the practical means bywhich Mountain Ok people were incorporated into the colonialadministration and the cash economy, and also provided the frameworkthrough which young Mountain Ok men - whether as labour recruits or asbible students Bible Students is however the comprehensive designation of the different groupings, those from the Bible Student movement since 20th. Century came out.Traditionally the following Christian religious communities are called Bible Students: - came to see themselves as Min.The emergence of an articulate and self-conscious group of men withincreasing sophistication about the wider world grew in importance withthe approach of PNG's independence. Many of these men had forvarious reasons not completed their local initiations: cut off from manyof the ritual traditions that had earlier served as diacritics ofmembership in distinct Mountain Ok polities, what they did share was anencounter with modernity mediated through Christianity. Young pastors,in particular, operated with an increased social range and were thefirst local people to become literate. These factors gave them astrategic position to voice collective grievances and represent regionalinterests. At least part of the story of the emergence of the Min, then,is also a story of the emergence of an embryonic post-traditional elite.With the advent of electoral politics, one of their number (WesaniIwoksim) became the first elected Mountain Ok representative in PortMoresby.Agitation for the creation of a Min electorate coincided with asharpened sense that PNG's independence was linked to miningdevelopment in Mountain Ok country. At this point it could be fairlysaid that the Min had emerged as an ethnic category aimed at convertingcultural identity into a means of securing political representation anda stake in anticipated mining benefits. Indeed, formal politicalparticipation was perceived largely in terms of the ability to monitorand contest arrangements surrounding the Ok Tedi project, which was seenas the single most significant component of the relation between localpeople and the state. This position became explicit when theestablishment of a Min Province moved to the top of local priorities.In all of this it is clear that ethnicity has become politicized withreference to mining and the state, and the agitation for a Min Provincecannot be understood apart from this context. At the same time, it ishard to imagine similar developments arising in the absence of aregional cultural framework.(22) If we view the situation in terms ofantinomies between indigenous forms and exogenous processes, then, it isequally important to recall that all cultures are historicallyconstituted and that historical events are culturally mediated. Thispoint is perhaps best made if we reconsider the Rebaibal and its impact,where disentangling indigenous forms and exogenous events is moredifficult than simple dichotomies allow.On the one hand, the Rebaibal evangelists plainly aimed atoverturning certain aspects of traditional cultures in the interests ofrealizing a new Christian For other uses: see New Christian (Swedenborgian).The term New Christian (cristianos nuevos in Spanish, crist?os novos dispensation DISPENSATION. A relaxation of law for the benefit or advantage of an individual. In the United States, no power exists, except in the legislature, to dispense with law, and then it is not so much a dispensation as a change of the law. for the Min: initiations andother rites were to be suspended, food taboos abrogated, esotericknowledge revealed and cult relics discarded or destroyed. Divisionsbetween men and women and between initiates and others were to bemoderated in the context of a Christian family operating within a widerchurch congregation. That mission policy prompted, or at least enabled,this thrust seems patent, a view confirmed by hints that Rebaibalinspiration came in part from knowledge of visions and speaking intongues at Baiyer River, another area of ABMS influence. It likewiseappears that the question of how to allocate and absorb anticipatedmining cash was at the heart of many Rebaibal concerns (Jorgensen1981b). All of this points to the Rebaibal as a phenomenon precipitatedby recent historical experience and directed at creating a rupture withthe past.At the same time, however, there are other features that suggest thatthe Rebaibal was something more than a simple appropriation of anexogenous form. For one thing, the possession and spirit mediumship thatmarked the Rebaibal had a clearly recognizable local precursor in the OkBembem movement that operated on a far more modest scale in theTelefolmin area earlier in the 1970s. Here, however, the inspiration wasprovided by a traditional bush spirit (Magalim) rather than the HolySpirit, which underscores the fact that Magalim and the Holy Spirit havea surprising amount in common (Jorgensen 1980). From another angle, itis crucial to recognize that the Rebaibal took place not simply apartfrom the wishes of expatriate missionaries, but also to some extent inopposition to them. One of the clear messages of Rebaibal ideology, forexample, was that sin must be confessed, and early Rebaibal demands weredirected to Australian missionaries who had failed to confess their lackof love for their Min coreligionists. Further, the dramatic role of thespirit meris - female spirit mediums - obviated much of the raisond'etre rai��son d'����tre?n. pl. rai��sons d'��treReason or justification for existing.[French : raison, reason + de, of, for + ��tre, to be. of the Duranmin bible school, since the Holy Spirit was nowable to address Min directly without the mediation of missionaries orscriptures. Finally, the Rebaibal eradicated traditional religious formswhich constituted the various Mountain Ok identities only to replacethem with a specifically Min form of Christianity. While it would be toomuch to identify the peregrinations of Rebaibal spirit meris with thejourneys of Afek, the Rebaibal accomplished much of what had earlierbeen credited to Afek: the creation of an encompassing spiritualgenealogy and the promulgation PROMULGATION. The order given to cause a law to be executed, and to make it public it differs from publication. (q.v.) 1 Bl. Com. 45; Stat. 6 H. VI., c. 4. 2. of distinctive liturgical forms.Given this, it is clear that the Rebaibal has a legitimate localpedigree as well as a location in cross-currents of historical forcesoriginating outside the area - a point that applies with equal force toits Ok Bembem antecedants (cf. Burt 1994). Likewise, any attempt to readthe Rebaibal as either resistance to colonial intrusion or a yielding toits effects must fail because it tacitly assumes that the variousMountain Ok peoples faced a choice admitting only two possibilities: toremain culturally authentic by remaining as they 'always' wereor to give in to history and cease to be themselves. It is preciselythis dilemma that Rebaibal Christianity refused (cf. Barker 1992).Returning to the larger question of the emergence of the Min, itseems obvious that a divorce between culture and history is not onlyundesirable, but impossible: to say what Min culture is at presentrequires us to talk about things like Christianity, mining, and thestate, and to talk about Min history makes no sense without reference toAfek and her legacy.(23)CONCLUSIONThe attempt to establish a Min Province grows out of theencapsulation of the Mountain Ok peoples within the postcolonial stateand seeks to replace the division imposed by current provincialboundaries with an alternative division couched in terms of Minidentity. The public profession of this identity has foregrounded asense of continuities with the past aimed at gaining the state'srecognition of local claims in relation to the Ok Tedi project, astrategy also aimed at repudiating the claims of the Sandaun (WestSepik) and Fly (Western) provincial governments. Given that suchrecognition has not yet been achieved, it is necessary to view theemergence of the Min as part of an unfinished project, a project,moreover, that is unlikely to be realized: the Wingti-Chan and thesubsequent Chan-Haiveta governments served notice that the state intendsto scrap the provincial government system altogether, a move that wouldeliminate one bone of contention while leaving other matters unresolved.There are, however, already signs that a sense of Min identity istaking on a more substantial form even as the prospect of provincialstatus fades. The emergence of the Min has been part of aregionalization regionalizationManaged care The subdivision of a broadly available service–eg, a blood bank, into quasi-autonomous regional centers, capable of making decisions and providing more cost-effective and/or faster service to hospitals and health care facilities, of cultural identity in which older distinctions betweendifferent ethnic groups begin to lose their saliency and give way to anemphasis on intraregional linkages. So, for example, villages throughoutthe Fly-Sepik headwaters have churches, wage-fed tradestores, andcommunity schools that already integrate them into a regional network,and villagers throughout the region can hop a plane to Tabubil to bank,shop, or visit relatives working in town. Nor is the process merely oneof articulation between local people and the cash economy or the state:marriages between different Min communities are more frequent than inthe past, and reciprocal participation in church and sporting eventstends to cut across old linguistic and cultural boundaries. This growingmutual entanglement is accompanied by signs of the emergence of new'generic Min' cultural forms as, for example, local pastorsvisit diverse Min communities to collect material for the composition of'traditional' Min hymns to be sung in Rebaibal churches. Allof these factors suggest that an understanding of cultural dynamics inthe Fly-Sepik headwaters will require us to reframe Re`frame´v. t. 1. To frame again or anew. our customaryethnographic categories in order to take regional processes into accountas boundaries reform along new cultural frontiers.NOTES1. The research on which this paper is based was supported over theyears by the Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, is an arts council of the Government of Canada created to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. It was introduced by Parliament in 1957. , the Social Sciences and Humanities ResearchCouncil of Canada The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (French: (le) conseil de recherches en sciences humaine en Canada) (SSHRC/CRSH) is a Canadian federal agency which supports university-based training and research and training in the humanities and social , the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-GrenFoundation, the Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution,research and education center, at Washington, D.C.; founded 1846 under terms of the will of James Smithson of London, who in 1829 bequeathed his fortune to the United States to create an establishment for the "increase and diffusion of , and Cultural Survival. The workof many Mountain Ok colleagues has produced a growing literature on theregion as a region, as the recent volume called The Children of Afekattests (Craig and Hyndman 1990). Barry Craig deserves special mentionfor his sustained efforts to conjure an esprit de corps esprit de corpsGraduate education The degree of happiness of the 'campers' in a place among Okethnographers. Joel Robbins, recently returned from Urapmin, has beenhelpful in providing current information, friendly suggestions andhelpful criticism. John Barker John Barker may refer to: John Barker (scholar) (fl. c. 1471–1482), an Old Etonian Sir John Barker, 1st Baronet (1840–1914), founder of Barkers department store in Kensington, London, and Liberal MP , James Carrier, Don Gardner Don Gardner is an American rhythm and blues drummer and vocalist.Born in Philadelphia, Gardner had formed his own group, the Sonotones, in 1953, but teamed up with Dee Dee Ford in the early 1960s to have his biggest successes. , and ImkeSwart swart?adj. ArchaicSwarthy.[Middle English swarte, from Old English sweart.]Adj. 1. Jorgensen were also kindly critics. Additional suggestions wereprovided by Aletta Biersack, Jeff Clark Jeff Clark (born March 26, 1957 Redwood City[1]) is one of the most noteworthy and respected big wave surfers, famous for surfing Mavericks alone for 15 years before it was widely discovered by the big-wave surfing community. , Dave Cooper David Charles Cooper (b. 1967), is a cartoonist, commercial illustrator and a graphic designer who lives in Ottawa, Canada. In addition to comics, Cooper has worked extensively as a designer, producer, and creator in the field of animation. , Robert Foster,Jean-Marc Philibert and one anonymous reviewer. I also owe a specialdebt of gratitude to Tony Friend, Maria Wronska Friend, FiamnokLakurengim, Clarkson Dikinsep, Levi Binengim, and Trondi of Telefolip.An earlier version of this paper was delivered at the 1993 meetings ofthe Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania at Kona, Hawaii.2. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. published reports, PNG has over 600 parliamentarians.New Zealand New Zealand(zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , with roughly the same population, has less than 100. Thisfigures in the state's plans to abolish provincial governments, atopic I touch upon at the end of the paper.3. It is worth emphasizing this point, since people in the Fly-Sepikheadwaters tend to strongly counterpose coun��ter��pose?tr.v. coun��ter��posed, coun��ter��pos��ing, coun��ter��pos��esTo set in contrast, opposition, or balance.Verb 1. their regional (i.e., as'Min') identity to a broader sense of Papua New Guinean (i.e.,national) identity. When speaking of 'Min,' local peopleinvariably in��var��i��a��ble?adj.Not changing or subject to change; constant.in��vari��a��bil have some positive view of themselves which they wish toassert. The notion of a Papua New Guinean identity, by contrast, isgenerally opposed to Min identities and tends to gravitate grav��i��tate?intr.v. grav��i��tat��ed, grav��i��tat��ing, grav��i��tates1. To move in response to the force of gravity.2. To move downward.3. around oftennegative stereotypes of outsiders, e.g., school teachers and publicservants. In such circumstances it would be a serious mistake toassimilate discussions of regional identities to a naturalized discourseof nationalism. Indeed, to the extent that national identities arenaturalized among the Mountain Ok, it is as a naturalized Other. I amindebted to Joel Robbins for bringing this point home to me.4. The multiplicity of Afek's names is due both to localvariation and to the fact that she, like most Mountain Ok mythologicalfigures (and real people), has a number of aliases. Thus the name Afek,the most widely known variant, is in fact merely a name meaning'Great One' or 'Ancient One' (female), and alsofunctions as a kin term for 'grandmother' in Telefol. Thiscover term conceals a number of other, more esoteric names which, itturns out, are often known to senior cult adepts in widely separatedgroups. This, plus the more public affirmations of a common identity forthe wandering heroine who founded Mountain Ok groups, underscores thesense of a regional system marked by local differences (see Barth 1987,Bercovitch 1989, Brumbaugh 1990, Jorgensen 1981a).5. Here I must gloss over questions which could be significant inother contexts, one of the most important of which is that the -minsuffix, which literally means 'children, descendants,' can beattached to any label designating a distinct category of people. So itis also used to indicate small scale descent categories, and cansometimes be attached to higher-order contrasts as well. The point hereis that it applies to a sliding scale of identities.6. The position of the Telefolip in Mountain Ok cosmology is bothcentral and ambiguous. On the one hand, as the last house Afek builtbefore she died, it is felt to embody her legacy in a particularlypotent and immediate way, and is in a sense something belonging to allMountain Ok peoples. On the other hand, it is clearly identified withthe interests of the Telefolmin per se, which may be at odds with thoseof their neighbours, as often happened in the days of precolonialwarfare. This interplay can be illustrated by two examples. In thefirst, a group known as the Iligimin are said to have burnt theTelefolip to the ground in the late 19th Century. In response, theTelefolmin were joined by the Urapmin and Faiwolmin, who combined in asustained campaign that resulted in the extermination exterminationmass killing of animals or other pests. Implies complete destruction of the species or other group. of the Iligiminand the depopulation DEPOPULATION. In its most proper signification, is the destruction of the people of a country or place. This word is, however, taken rather in a passive than an active one; we say depopulation, to designate a diminution of inhabitants, arising either from violent causes, or the want of of the Eliptaman valley, their erstwhile home. Therationale for this unprecedented action was that the Iligimin had'cooked the mother' [i.e., burnt the Telefolip] of allconcerned: Telefolmin, Urapmin, Faiwolmin, and Iligimin - indeed, themother of all the Mountain Ok. Roughly a century later, when TelefolRebaibalists from the Eliptaman valley threatened to burn the Telefolipdown in their enthusiasm for Christianity, Faiwol people - includingChristians - sent a message saying that the Rebaibalists would have toanswer to Faiwol arrows if they did so. In this case it is important tonote that the Faiwolmin were talking about defending the Telefolipagainst Telefolmin (see Jorgensen 1981b, 1990, Quinlivan 1954).7. The strips were: Feramin, Tifalmin, Miyanmin, Eliptamin [sic], andTekin. These strips were characteristically built with a combination ofmission-supplied hand tools and local labour. The strip at Tekin was atthe site of a second ABMS mission station, founded in the wake of theOksapmin patrol post, opened in 1961 (Weeks 1981). Mission strips were(and still are) serviced by the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), whichoften provided the most reliable conduit for tradestore goods intooutlying areas. Since the mid-80s the strip at Telefolmin has been thehome base for one to three MAF aircraft. It is worth digressing brieflyto comment on ABMS policy here. First, it should be noted that theconsequences of the airstrip building program were not necessarily whatABMS had in mind in the first place, and there is a good deal to suggestthat the outreach program was in part a strategy of consolation for themission's palpable lack of progress in making converts in thevicinity of its home base in Telefolmin, where baptisms were relativelyfew as late as the mid-1970s. Mission newsletters to home congregationsin Australia - who provided virtually all of the mission's support- dwelt dwelt?v.A past tense and a past participle of dwell. on the obstacles to proselytization and offered progress reportsof airstrip construction rather than emphasizing the all too modestnumbers of conversions. On the other hand, it seems fairly clear thatthe mission had made itself indispensable to the colonial administration- as it has to the postcolonial one - by establishing and managing theinfrastructure of air transport in the Mountain Ok region. In an areawhere road building has been declared a technical and fiscal folly, thisis no mean accomplishment.8. For those living south of the Papuan boundary, government matterswere handled via the patrol post at Olsobip. It was common in the early1970s, however, to see parties of Faiwolmin visiting the station atTelefolmin. Such parties usually combined more or less traditionaltrading (Faiwolmin and Telefolmin had long been partners) with shoppingexpeditions at the mission trade store. Kennecott's camp at Tabubilalso drew similar visits.9. In the absence of roads, development possibilities for the regionwere very limited, and Moresby's border quarantine policieshindered official attempts to introduce cash crops. Local administrationofficers thus resorted to unsanctioned attempts of varying degrees ofinventiveness and practicality to help local people generate cashincomes. One success was an underground scheme engineered by R.F.Lanaghan for marketing penis gourds from the Oksapmin area to Moresbyartifact dealers. The proceeds were divided between producers and asmall Oksapmin road-building fund which provided some local employment.A dramatic failure was the attempt to set up a brickworks in Telefolminfor the construction of government buildings, closely followed by thecollapse of a vegetable marketing project that used blighted seedpotatoes. The difficulties were intensified by the uncertaintysurrounding mineral projects, since local people were more interested inthese possibilities; government officers were pessimistic that anythingwould ever come of them.10. Mr. Iwoksim won the first seat for Upper Sepik Open by virtue ofhaving run unopposed.11. Local usages are as follows: Pidgin, ol Min ('the Min')or mipela Min ('we Min'); Telefol, Minmin ('theMin-min'), Min nogol ('we Min'), or Afekman('Afek's children'). Ryan refers to the 'Mintribes' in his 1969 book, The Hot Land (p. 338f), and Champion alsouses the term 'min people' in his 1966 account of theFly-Sepik expedition (p. 219), although he does not use this term in his1932 version (see also Jackson 1982). One index of the readiness ofoutsiders to extend and reify reify - To regard (something abstract) as a material thing. the notion of Min-ness occurs in officialversions of local place names. It is thus common for government maps tomisrender the suffix-taman ('valley') as -min, e.g., Eliptamin(sic) rather than Eliptaman, Baktamin rather than Baktaman, Seltaminrather than Seltaman, etc.12. The site for the school at Duranmin is said to have beendetermined by a dream or vision Diyos had. Expatriate missionaries wereinitially reluctant to endorse this site because the surroundingpopulation was very sparse and its suitability for an airstrip ismarginal. In the end Diyos's vision prevailed, and it is worthnoting that Diyos has maternal kin in Duranmin. Kinship ties acrosslines of traditional enmity resulted from the abduction of enemy womenwho were incorporated into their captors' groups. It has now becomecommonplace to follow up such ties in ways that would have been verydifficult in the days of warfare. Don Gardner (pers. comm.) informs methat Miyanmin at Yapsiei - who would formerly have regarded Diyos as anenemy - spoke of Diyos with pride and related how he had declined theQueen's invitation to save the British from further spiritualdecline in order to devote his efforts to the salvation of all Min.13. Things were not always so rosy, however, and there were somecomplaints about the high-handed actions of Telefol Rebaibalists,particularly in the Atbalmin area (Eytan Bercovitch, pers. comm.). Froma slightly different angle, Don Gardner (pers. comm.) reports that atYapsiei Telefol aid post orderlies stressed their common'Min-ness' with local Miyanmin people, perhaps as a way ofovercoming traditional hostilities between Telefolmin and Miyanmin. Inone instance, a Telefol man was included in compensations at the deathof a Yapsiei man because the latter's mother was Telefol(presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. a war captive). In precolonial days such transactions wouldhave been unthinkable.14. I do not wish to suggest that Tabubil is trouble-free, nor thatits relative peace is simply the result of amity am��i��ty?n. pl. am��i��tiesPeaceful relations, as between nations; friendship.[Middle English amite, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *am among Min: it is stillin many ways a company town, and I suspect that much of the appearanceof good order is maintained by the visible and frequent patrolling ofOTML security within the township. At the same time, Tabubil is notablyfree, for example, of the high fences and razor-wire enclosures that areincreasingly the hallmark of urban Papua New Guinea. For a critical viewof Tabubil, see Poller (1994).15. I was told by Ok Tedi returnees in 1983 that unskilled labourerscould expect to earn K80 per fortnight, a sum which compared favourablyto schoolteachers' salaries. In 1991 this figure had risen to overK300 per fortnight. By contrast, I estimated per capita income Noun 1. per capita income - the total national income divided by the number of people in the nationincome - the financial gain (earned or unearned) accruing over a given period of time inTelefolmin at independence in 1975 at between K30 and K50 per year.16. Oksapmin have been enthusiastic in vegetable growing and have ahigh degree of labour participation at Ok Tedi; in general, they seem tobe some of the greatest beneficiaries of the Ok Tedi project. Miyanminand Atbalmin, however, remain on the margins. For many East Miyanmin,vegetable marketing for OTML is their only source of income, and eventhis is weakly developed in the west at Yapsiei. Don Gardner informs methat many people on the northern edges of Min territory eagerly awaitthe rumoured revival of plans for mining at Frieda River (Ok Nena).According to George Morren and Levi Bineng, such plans are now activelybeing pursued by Highlands Gold Pty. Ltd. Differential responses to OkTedi and uneven development among the Mountain Ok are important topicsthat deserve fuller treatment than I can give them here.17. Even then they had scant practical importance: Champion (1966)complains of the difficulty of getting the Dutch authorities to paycompensation for shootings committed by a Dutch patrol in the headwatersof the Alice (Ok Tel = 'Ok Tedi') River.18. The immediate effect, however, was the opposite of what wasintended: a party of curious Irianese Kofelmin walked to Telefolminstation to find out what was going on. For their part, Telefolmin andAtbalmin used Yapsiei as a jumping-off point for excursions into theIrianese side. This cross-border traffic was discouraged when a villagecouncillor from Telefolmin was arrested by Indonesian authorities at OkSibil, where he was trying to purchase fowl to take back home with him.At present some trade is still conducted across the border, but this hasbeen greatly reduced because of fighting between the Free PapuaOrganization (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM See Oracle Process Manufacturing. ) and the Indonesianmilitary. In 1990 and 1991 significant numbers of refugees crossed overin the vicinity of Yapsiei and Tumolbil. In one 1991 incident adetachment of helicopter-borne Indonesian troops landed at Yapsiei insearch of weapons and radios taken in OPM raids (T. Friend, pers.comm.). According to Amnesty International Amnesty International(AI,) human-rights organization founded in 1961 by Englishman Peter Benenson; it campaigns internationally against the detention of prisoners of conscience, for the fair trial of political prisoners, to abolish the death penalty and torture of , this incursion in��cur��sion?n.1. An aggressive entrance into foreign territory; a raid or invasion.2. The act of entering another's territory or domain.3. resulted inthe death of at least one PNG national. Since that time most of therefugees have been moved to the East Awin area of Western Province.Unsuitable conditions there have led a number of refugees to seekrepatriation RepatriationThe process of converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country.Notes:If you are American, converting British Pounds back to U.S. dollars is an example of repatriation. to Irian Jaya. Irianese refugees also pose a seriousproblem in the Yonggom (Lowland Ok) area between Kiunga and Tabubil(Kirsch kirsch?n.A colorless brandy made from the fermented juice of cherries.[French, short for German Kirschwasser; see kirschwasser. 1988). Recent reports indicate that there have been additionalIndonesian incursions both north and south of the main ranges.19. Although the 1976 agreement between the consortium and thenational government recognized the claims of the people of TelefominDistrict to special status vis-a-vis the mine, this amounted to no morethan guaranteeing hiring preference. Late in the planning process aproposal was put forward for the integrated development of the Friedaand Fubilan prospects, and this included plans to construct a roadbetween the two sites via Tifalmin-Telefolmin-Duranmin (Jorgensen1983b). The prospect of such a road ultimately connecting Telefolminwith Kiunga was viewed by local people as a solution to all futuredevelopment problems, and disappointment was great when it was announcedthat the plan was not being adopted.20. The initial agreement was slated to run until 1987, when it wasrenegotiated and renewed. Construction of the high school had in factbegun prior to the formal agreement, although this was surrounded bycontroversy with Vanimo, which had tried to obstruct the project. Onequestion that I cannot pursue here is the extent to which the tworegional high schools in the Mountain Ok area - at Telefolmin andTabubil - play a role in shaping a Min identity.21. Another provision was that the funds released for the TelefominDistrict were to be over and above Vanimo's normal responsibilitiesfor the district, that is, the agreement would in no way result in acurtailment of provincially provided services. In fact, Vanimo hasroutinely violated the spirit of this provision by systematicallyunderfunding the Telefomin District relative to other parts of theprovince.22. The Mt. Kare case here comes to mind, where cultural differencesbetween Huli, Ipili, and Enga seem to preclude the emergence of asimilarly consolidated regional identity (Biersack, personalcommunication).23. Foster makes a similar point in his recent account of therelation between what he calls the 'New Melanesian History'and the 'New Melanesian Ethnography', both of which implicate im��pli��cate?tr.v. im��pli��cat��ed, im��pli��cat��ing, im��pli��cates1. To involve or connect intimately or incriminatingly: evidence that implicates others in the plot.2. and require the other (Foster 1995).REFERENCESANDERSON, B. 1983. Imagined Communities. London: Verso ver��so?n. pl. ver��sos1. A left-hand page of a book or the reverse side of a leaf, as opposed to the recto.2. The back of a coin or medal. .BARKER, J. 1992. 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