The unseen city : anthropological perspectives on Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Media reportage of the chronic law and order problem in Port Moresbyhas earned Papua New Guineas capital city the reputation of a town built fortrouble. A different perspective emerges from an exploration of the unseen city, the social area that remains out of sight of most non-Melanesians and where day-today life is a creative and dynamic negotiation of the urban legacy of the colonial past. Ch. 1. From Rolling Thunder To Reggae : Imagining 'squatter' Settlements -- Ch. 2. Off The Record : Village Court Praxis And The Politics Of Settlement Life -- Ch. 3. ... Big-man, Thief : The Social Organisation Of Gangs -- Ch. 4. The Rascal Road : Crime, Prestige And Development -- Ch. 5. Expressions Of Interest : Informal Usury -- Ch. 6. Reto's Chance : State And Status In A Settlement -- Ch. 7. The Age Of Steam : Constructed Identity And Recalcitrant Youth. Michael Goddard. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [207]-225). "This book is based on the fieldwork of an anthropologist among people in Port Moresby's much-maligned migrant 'settlements' and in a 200-year-old village at the city's edge. It addresses the contemporary situation of these urban peoples, displacing popular generalizations with more detailed accounts which do justice to their vitality, resilience, and creative responses to the challenges of living in a burgeoning Melanesian city."--Jacket The Unseen Anthropological Perspectives on Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea The Unseen Anthropological Perspectives on Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea