ANTH2060 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sweet Potato, International Monetary Fund, Nuclear Family
ANTH2060 Lecture Three: Yali's Question
Yali's Question
• "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it into PNG, but
we black people have so little cargo?"
• Why is it that white people developed so much cargo and brought it into PNG?
• Diamonds answer: In short, the West came to have more cargo, because of the
geographic differences that allowed some people to have power over guns, germs and
steels. The assumption is that all people cover powerful things and will use those
powers things to control those who do not. The 'haves' are determined by their
geography and environment and the 'have nots' are determined by the environment and
geography
• The Gun, Germs and Steel (GGS) story
-humans disperse and cover the planet
-some lived in areas that encouraged agriculture and domestication of animals
-everyone has the potential to develop agriculture and animal husbandry but the area
they dwelled in was not conducive to that
-those that did develop agriculture had an evolutionary advantage
-more food led to large populations
-larger populations led to more specialisation
-specialisation supported soldier
-more people led to wars over more arable land
-wars led to more specialists (soldiers) and craftsmen
-high populations densities led to hierarchical organisations
-more domesticated animals led to more germs
-exposure to germs led to immunological resistance
-these advantages led to groups expanding and conquering others
-it was inevitable then that the haves (colonisers) came to conquer over have-nots
(colonised)
-Diamond is one of the 'haves'
• Under Australian administration the view of PNG land was one of underutilisation.
Their aim was to:
-find vacant land and turn it over to productive use
-patrol officers were used to control the territory
-patrol reports were used to create a new vision and narrative for space and time in
PNG. One of development and modernisation
• In the case of Ramu valley turning alienated land over to pastoralists for development.
Land acquisition reports which led to purchases of land from customary owners.
• Opinions of underutilisation of land was due to laziness and apathy. Uneducated
opinions were based on the people fallowing the land for long periods of time and only
rearing pigs, rather than over-sowing the land like agriculturalists, and having a large
livestock pool. The native's way of living wasn't good enough for the patrol officers,
for they saw agricultural development in the area to be lacking. They had a trajectory
foreseeing development leading to a work ethic in PNG
• PNG was moving towards independence, so it was time for a grand project. Politicians
vied for a project in their area. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund were
turned to for assistance. World sugar prices were high at the time (early seventies), so a
sugar mill was built in PNG
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The assumption is that all people cover powerful things and will use those powers things to control those who do not. The "haves" are determined by their geography and environment and the "have nots" are determined by the environment and geography: the gun, germs and steel (ggs) story. Some lived in areas that encouraged agriculture and domestication of animals. Everyone has the potential to develop agriculture and animal husbandry but the area they dwelled in was not conducive to that. Those that did develop agriculture had an evolutionary advantage. More people led to wars over more arable land. Wars led to more specialists (soldiers) and craftsmen. These advantages led to groups expanding and conquering others. It was inevitable then that the haves (colonisers) came to conquer over have-nots (colonised) Diamond is one of the "haves: under australian administration the view of png land was one of underutilisation. Find vacant land and turn it over to productive use.
