Class, capital and spatial differentiation in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The broad theme of this thesis is the analysis of increasing social and spatial differentiation in Papua New Guinea. More specifically, the thesis investigates how people of different regions respond to new forms of capital. and examines the importance of class and gender relations. The analysis of regional diversity considers an alternative methodology for inter- regional and intra-regional comparisons of socio-economic well-being. The analysis is conducted at two spatial scales: the inter-regional comparison of Coastal Madang. Goroka Valley and the Middle Sepik; and the intra- regional comparison of the peri-urban villages, Karkar Island and Bagabag Island within Coastal Madang. Statistical data and secondary sources are used to investigate the inter-regional dirnension whereas fieldwork informs the local level analysis . Different and complex combinations of class relations exist in the three regions. The emergence of regional class formations is determined primarily by the history of layers of capital invested in the region and the influence of the state in that process. Social relations from the pre-capitalist social formation appear to be more persistent and influential in some regions than in others. The ecological base sets the pre-conditions for but does not determine the course of socioeconomic development in each region. Although class relations are an important form of social inequality, gender inequalities are also profound. No consistent relationship was found between class and gender. In some cases gender relations actively determined the nature of emerging productive relations while in others they passively adjusted. Detailed case studies illustrate people's involvement in new forms of productive activity thereby altering the sexual division of labour. Nevertheless. patriarchy persists everywhere.