Coffee, development, and inequality in the Papua New Guinea highlands.
Item
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Title
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Coffee, development, and inequality in the Papua New Guinea highlands.
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Identifier
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AAI9207073
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identifier
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9207073
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Creator
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Finch, John David.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Mervyn J. Meggitt
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Date
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1991
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Cultural | Economics, Agricultural | History, Asia, Australia and Oceania
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Abstract
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This dissertation, based on long-term fieldwork in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, examines the social consequences of agricultural development. Specifically it focusses on changing social relationships in rural villages, and the impact of the expansion of agricultural commodity production on these traditionally kin based communities. Agricultural development based on commercial production of coffee began in this region after World War II, and includes both smallholdings and plantations.;The economic circumstances of the people of the Papua New Guinea Highlands closely resemble those of people who have been called "peasants" in other Third Word contexts, especially in Africa. They own the land and tools, which are the means of producing much of their own sustenance (use-values), as well as commodities (exchange-values). Like these "peasants" they also engage in part time wage labor, producing, in this case the same commodity on plantations that they grow as smallholders. Local control over the means and organization of production emerges as the most important feature of the contemporary Papua New Guinea Highlands, allowing people to preserve a commitment to an agrarian way of life and a host of other values grounded in local traditions. In spite of persistent pressures of powerful economic, political and ideological forces, this study contends that local values remain an important force in producing a complex social formation which combines both local and global features.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
