Papua New Guinea

Ancient Networks

One of the most famous exchange networks in PNG is the Kula Ring of Milne Bay Province. This ancient but extant ceremonial exchange network involves thousands of men who make the annual interisland voyages in canoes to exchange shell valuables that enhance one's status and reputation. Each participant is linked to two trading partners outside his home community: one to whom he gives a necklace in return for an armband and another to whom he makes the exchange of an armband for a necklace. Although each man is only linked to two others, the entire network expands to form a circular distribution chain encompassing 18 island communities spread out over hundreds of miles.

Another well-known exchange-based network is that associated with the “big man” system of leadership found in many rural Papua New Guinean societies. The big in this term refers to the man's extensive network of relations that he cultivates through gifting to undergird his leadership. In some cases, big men engage in ceremonial forms of large-scale exchange, as in the famous Moka presentations of Western Highlands Province. Over several years, a big man secures an enormous quantity of valuables from supporters to give to another big man, who is expected to reciprocate with an even larger gift in the future.

With the pacification and subsequent modernization of PNG, new social networks have emerged while others have changed. The system of wantok—from “one talk,” referring to those who share a common language—is a modern form of group affiliation and behavior based on ethnic, linguistic, and geographic ties, which is especially important in urban areas. In the context of Papua New Guinean politics, the term refers to politicians and bureaucrats who direct a disproportionate amount of resources to the wantoks (supporters) who helped propel them to power. In this way, the system is analogous to the big man form of leadership.

Some modern social networks pose serious challenges to PNG. For instance, the migration of men who maintain extensive sexual networks across rural, urban, and labor sites has been implicated in a worsening human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic and the deterioration of the status of women. Similarly, PNG has witnessed the emergence of criminal raskols (gangs), which contribute to the law and order problems that plague urban areas. These gangs, although poorly understood, base their membership on the wantok system and are involved in everything from petty theft to violence and major criminal operations. PNG is experiencing rapid and unprecedented social change, characterized by widespread migration, urbanization, religious conversions, a worsening HIV/AIDS epidemic, the breakdown of traditional social life, and the weakening of the government, all of which will ensure that social networks remain in a state of considerable flux for the foreseeable future.

...