Ancestral Lines
Introduction to Papua New Guinea (PNG)Fieldwork
Modes of ProductionKinship
Reciprocity, Gift Exchange, and MarketsGlobalization
Rainforests: Amazon, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia• Tremendous biological diversity in terms of animal,
insect, and plant species• Under threat from logging, mining, ranching, and
increased population pressures• Erosion and poor soil once trees are cut
(Haiti/Cuba/Puerto Rico after sugar cultivation in 17th and 18th centuries)
• Why should we care about rainforests? Carbon sinks: absorbs CO2 and thus mitigates the harmful effects of carbon production: global warming and climate change
PNG as a Culturally Diverse Nation: “For Each Village, a Different Culture” (popular saying)
• Population: 6 million people (about the population of greater Philadelphia metropolitan area)
• Area: slightly larger than California (55th largest country in the world)
• 700 distinct languages; most languages have less than 1,000 speakers.
• Due in part to a mountainous terrain; also endemic warfare in the past (footnote 7, p. 36).
• Most people are multilingual, including in Tok Pisin, a creole language that is the lingua franca.