Dispossession and the Environment: Rhetoric and Inequality in Papua New Guinea (Leonard Hastings Schoff Lectures)

When journalists, developers, surf tourists, and conservation NGOs cast Papua New Guineans as living in a prior nature and prior culture, they devalue their knowledge and practice, facilitating their dispossession. Paige West's searing study reveals how a range of actors produces and reinforces inequalities in today's globalized world. She shows how racist rhetorics of representation underlie all uneven patterns of development and seeks a more robust understanding of the ideological work that capital requires for constant regeneration Table of Contents ......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Map of the Island of New Guinea ......Page 14 Introduction......Page 18 1. “Such a Site for Play, This Edge”: Tourism and Modernist Fantasy ......Page 54 2. “We Are Here to Build Your Capacity”: Development as a Vehicle for Accumulation and Dispossession ......Page 80 3. Discovering the Already Known: Tree Kangaroos, Explorer Imaginings, and Indigenous Articulations ......Page 104 4. Indigenous Theories of Accumulation, Dispossession, Possession, and Sovereignty ......Page 128 Afterword. Birdsongs: In Memory of Neil Smith (1954–2012) ......Page 158 Notes ......Page 170 Bibliography ......Page 182 Index ......Page 206 Such A Site For Play, This Edge: Tourism And Modernist Fantasy -- We Are Here To Build Your Capacity: Development As A Vehicle For Accumulation And Dispossession -- Discovering The Already Known: Tree Kangaroos, Explorer Imaginings, And Indigenous Articulations -- Indigenous Theories Of Accumulation, Dispossession, Possession, And Sovereignty -- Afterword: Birdsongs - In Memory Of Neil Smith (1954-2012). Paige West. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Paige West's searing study of Papua New Guinea reveals how a range of actors produce and reinforce inequalities in today's globalized world. She shows how racist rhetorics of representation underlie all uneven patterns of development and seeks a more robust understanding of the ideological work that capital requires for constant regeneration.