From Land to Mouth: The Agricultural "Economy" of the Wola of the New Guinea Highlands
Paul Sillitoe
Abstract
Among the Wola people of Papua New Guinea, using the term “economy” is problematic. Distribution is unnecessary; the producers of everyday needs are the consumers: produce goes largely “from land to mouth”—with no implication that resources are scarce. Yet transactions featuring valuable things—which are scarce—are a prominent aspect of life, where sociopolitical exchange figures prominently. The relationship—or rather the disconnection—between these two domains is central to understanding the fiercely egalitarian political-economy. In this investigation of a Highland New Guinea agricultural “ ... More
Keywords: Wola, Papua New Guinea, egalitarian political-economy, political order, noncapitalist context, gift, data sets
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 | Print ISBN-13: 9780300142266 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 | DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300142266.001.0001 |
