[ANU Pacific.Institute] Seminar on PNG LNG Project Thu 5 Nov 3pm

[Christopher Ballard]

School of Culture, History and Language
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
Department of Pacific and Asian History
2015 Seminar Series



Thursday, 5 Nov 2015, 15:00pm - 16:30pm


Seminar Room C, Coombs Building (9), Fellows Road, ANU


Rotten Desire: Gas, Development and Change in the

Papua New Guinea Highlands

Thesis Proposal Review

Michael Main
School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific, the Australian National University


Papua New Guinea's Liquefied Natural Gas (PNG LNG) project, which is the largest economic investment in the history of Melanesia, is centred in the territory of Huli people of the Komo area. The Komo Huli have for decades been one of the most economically marginalised groups in PNG.  The Huli are distinguished by their extensive genealogical knowledge and by indigenous historical narratives that incorporate the desire for improvement and renewal.  In terms of both its scale and the relatively small size of its environmental footprint, the recently completed PNG LNG project differs markedly from open cut mining projects elsewhere in PNG.  This project offers an opportunity to examine development in terms of a deeper indigenous historical context than is available for many other parts of PNG, and without some of the specific issues associated with an extensive environmental footprint.  My research seeks to breach the nexus between a perceived pre-contact process of social reproduction and the post-contact / post-colonial process of social change by locating development as a human project driven by desire that views change as the successful outcome of social transformation.



Michael Main is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology, School of Culture, History and Language, ANU.

Enquiries: Andrew De Lisle <andrew.delisle at anu.edu.au<mailto:andrew.delisle at anu.edu.au>>

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