Managing modernity in the Western Pacific / edited by Mary Patterson & Martha Macintyre.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Patterson, Mary.

Macintyre, Martha, 1945-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capitalism--Pacific Area.

Capitalism.

Capitalism--Melanesia.

Globalization--Pacific Area.

Globalization.

Globalization--Melanesia.

Neoliberalism--Pacific Area.

Neoliberalism.

Neoliberalism--Melanesia.

Civilization.

Economic conditions.

Pacific Area--Economic conditions.

Pacific Area.

Melanesia--Economic conditions.

Melanesia.

Pacific Area--Civilization--21st century.

Melanesia--Civilization--21st century.

Physical Description:

326 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

St Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press, 2011.

Summary:

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 10 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. Book jacket.

Contents:

Capitalism, cosmology and globalisation in the Pacific / Mary Patterson and Martha Macintyre

The imaginary excess of reason : critical reflections on magic and modernity in the context of post-millennial capitalism / Richard J. Sutcliffe

Enchanted economies in the Pacific and beyond / Mary Patterson

Money changes everything : Papua New Guinean women in the modern economy / Martha Macintyre

Church, company, committee, chief : emergent collectivities in rural Solomon Islands / Debra McDougall

The true me : individualism and biblical types in Fijian Methodism / Matt Tomlinson

Prosperity, nation and consumption : fast money schemes in Papua New Guinea / John Cox

Bingo and budgets : gambling with global capital in the Cook Islands / Kalissa Alexeyeff

Are you viable? : personal avarice, collective antagonism and grassroots development in Melanesia / Nicholas A. Bainton

Relative trust : the Vanuatu tax haven and the management of elite family fortunes / Gregory Rawlings.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780702239007

0702239003

OCLC:

747510932