Since the 1970s, Melanesian countries have been beguiled by the prospect of economic development that would enable them to participate in a world market economic system.
Global markets would provide the means to improve their standards of living, allowing them to take their places as independent nations in a modern world. But development, like globalisation and modernity itself, are contested notions both in theory and practice.
Managing modernity in the Western Pacific takes a broad sweep through contemporary topics in Melanesian anthropology and ethnography. With nuanced and rigorous scholarship, it views contemporary debate on modernity in Melanesia within the context of the global economy and cultural capitalism. In particular, contributors assess local ideas about wealth, success, speculation and development and their connections to participation in institutions and activities generated by them.
Fast money schemes in Papua New Guinea, collectivities in rural Solomon Islands, gambling in the Cook Islands, and the Vanuatu tax haven – all are considered in social contexts where notions of individuality, social obligation, and virtuous relations with kin and community are contested and in flux. This innovative and accessible collection offers a new intersection between Western Pacific anthropology and global studies.
Chapter Outline:
Introduction - Capitalism, cosmology and globalisation in the Pacific by Mary Patterson and Martha Macintyre
Chapter 1 - The imaginary excess of reason: critical reflections on magic and modernity in the context of post-millennial capitalism by Richard J Sutcliffe
Chapter 2 - Enchanted economies in the Pacific and beyond by Mary Patterson
Chapter 3 - Money changes everything: Papua New Guinean women in the modern economy by Martha Macintyre
Chapter 4 - Church, company, committee, chief: emergent collectivities in rural Solomon Islands by Debra McDouga
ll
Chapter 5 - The true me: individualism and biblical types in Fijian Methodism by Matt Tomlinson
Chapter 6 - Prosperity, nation and consumption: fast money schemes in Papua New Guinea by John Cox
Chapter 7 - Bingo and budgets: gambling with global capital in the Cook Islands by Kalissa Alexeyeff
Chapter 8 - Are you viable? Personal avarice, collective antagonism and grassroots development in Melanesia by Nicholas A Bainton
Chapter 9 - Relative trust: the Vanuatu tax haven and the management of elite family fortunes by Gregory Rawlings
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Index
