The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is a subject of contention in the international develop... more The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is a subject of contention in the international development community. Anthropologists are among a range of scholars who have investigated community-mine relations since 1981, as solo postgraduate students, as leaders of university research teams, as members of social impact assessment teams, and as members of an oversight body. Recently, in a leading journal, the ngo activist Catherine Coumans accused the anthropologists who have taken on advisory or impact assessment roles of lending legitimacy to the commercial interests of the mining company, while 'remaining silent' about environmental damage and human rights abuses. This paper looks at the various accounts of Porgera in terms of 'narratives' of mining, leading to a close examination of the Coumans' portrayal of the mine through the lens of an Avatar narrative, after the film of this name. The paper presents evidence to reject the arguments of Coumans.
... affirm that this site was a place of consump-tion rather than primary production, a "ret... more ... affirm that this site was a place of consump-tion rather than primary production, a "retail ... were merely trimmed on this chipping floor, and that the skilled work of axe making took place elsewhere; but however attractive this hypothesis may be from the craft specialist's point of ...
The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is a subject of contention in the international develop... more The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is a subject of contention in the international development community. Anthropologists are among a range of scholars who have investigated community-mine relations since 1981, as solo postgraduate students, as leaders of university research teams, as members of social impact assessment teams, and as members of an oversight body. Recently, in a leading journal, the NGO activist Catherine Coumans accused the anthropologists who have taken on advisory or impact assessment roles of lending legitimacy to the commercial interests of the mining company, while ‘remaining silent’ about environmental damage and human rights abuses. This paper looks at the various accounts of Porgera in terms of ‘narratives’ of mining, leading to a close examination of the Coumans’ portrayal of the mine through the lens of an Avatar narrative, after the film of this name. The paper presents evidence to reject the arguments of Coumans.
P. Larmour (ed.) 1991 Customary land: registration and decentralisation in Papua New Guinea. Boroko: Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research. Monograph 29,, 1991
Summary of socioeconomic issues in the 2001 feasibility study of the Hidden Valley gold mine, Pap... more Summary of socioeconomic issues in the 2001 feasibility study of the Hidden Valley gold mine, Papua New Guinea (with Peter Bennett)
The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is a subject of contention in the international develop... more The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is a subject of contention in the international development community. Anthropologists are among a range of scholars who have investigated community-mine relations since 1981, as solo postgraduate students, as leaders of university research teams, as members of social impact assessment teams, and as members of an oversight body. Recently, in a leading journal, the ngo activist Catherine Coumans accused the anthropologists who have taken on advisory or impact assessment roles of lending legitimacy to the commercial interests of the mining company, while 'remaining silent' about environmental damage and human rights abuses. This paper looks at the various accounts of Porgera in terms of 'narratives' of mining, leading to a close examination of the Coumans' portrayal of the mine through the lens of an Avatar narrative, after the film of this name. The paper presents evidence to reject the arguments of Coumans.
... affirm that this site was a place of consump-tion rather than primary production, a "ret... more ... affirm that this site was a place of consump-tion rather than primary production, a "retail ... were merely trimmed on this chipping floor, and that the skilled work of axe making took place elsewhere; but however attractive this hypothesis may be from the craft specialist's point of ...
The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is a subject of contention in the international develop... more The Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is a subject of contention in the international development community. Anthropologists are among a range of scholars who have investigated community-mine relations since 1981, as solo postgraduate students, as leaders of university research teams, as members of social impact assessment teams, and as members of an oversight body. Recently, in a leading journal, the NGO activist Catherine Coumans accused the anthropologists who have taken on advisory or impact assessment roles of lending legitimacy to the commercial interests of the mining company, while ‘remaining silent’ about environmental damage and human rights abuses. This paper looks at the various accounts of Porgera in terms of ‘narratives’ of mining, leading to a close examination of the Coumans’ portrayal of the mine through the lens of an Avatar narrative, after the film of this name. The paper presents evidence to reject the arguments of Coumans.
P. Larmour (ed.) 1991 Customary land: registration and decentralisation in Papua New Guinea. Boroko: Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research. Monograph 29,, 1991
Summary of socioeconomic issues in the 2001 feasibility study of the Hidden Valley gold mine, Pap... more Summary of socioeconomic issues in the 2001 feasibility study of the Hidden Valley gold mine, Papua New Guinea (with Peter Bennett)
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Papers by John Burton
Reports by John Burton