Village on the Edge
Changing Times in Papua New Guinea
Kragur village lies on the rugged north shore of Kairiru, a steep volcanic island just off the north coast of Papua New Guinea. In 1998 the village looked much as it had some twenty-two years earlier when author Michael French Smith first visited. But he soon found that changing circumstances were shaking things up. Village on the Edge weaves together the story of Kragur villagers’ struggle to find their own path toward the future with the story of Papua New Guinea’s travails in the post-independence era. Smith writes of his own experiences as well, living and working in Papua New Guinea and trying to understand the complexities of an unfamiliar way of life. To tell all these stories, he delves into ghosts, magic, myths, ancestors, bookkeeping, tourism, the World Bank, the Holy Spirits, and the meaning of progress and development. Village on the Edge draws on the insights of cultural anthropology but is written for anyone interested in Papua New Guinea.
An excellent portrait of the travails and contradictions of fieldwork itself, ... an unobtrusively profound exploration of the contemporary quandaries of rural Papua New Guinea
Although a variety of scholars and professional anthropologists will benefit from reading this book, Smith’s intended audience is much wider
Strikes just the right note between popular writing and professional investigation
L’analyse se construit par cercles concentriques et par petites touches issues de l’expérience de terrain, s’affine, et garde toujours une agréable et fécondante distance critique.... Notons enfin que l’auteur n’est pas dénué d’humour et que le livre se lit facilement, ce qui n’est pas le moindres des ses mérites.
Michael French Smith spins a great yarn. He has an admirable ability to translate personal experiences into a meaningful message and can describe complex social phenomena in ways that the anthropologically uninitiated can understand and appreciate.
In Village on the Edge, Michael French Smith provides the reader with something rare and precious—a humane and sharply insightful view into the rich local world of a village in transition in Papua New Guinea.
If you have ever been curious about the working methods of cultural anthropologists, this is the book for you.... Could be a model etiquette guide for any traveler—or modern tourist—exploring any off-the-beaten track.... [Smith] writes simply and plainly—none of academia’s woolly prose for him.
Both a reflective, personal memoir and well-researched scholarly work. The combination provides a thoughtful, and thought provoking, introduction to contemporary village life in Papua New Guinea.
