Ancestral Lines Introduction to Papua New Guinea (PNG) Fieldwork Modes of Production Kinship Reciprocity, Gift Exchange, and Markets Globalization

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 17 th and 18 th 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 (55 th 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.

John Barker’s Ethnographic Fieldwork ProsCons