Paper short abstract:

I shall offer some comments on the conference’s ‘Footsteps and Futures’ theme from a Was valley perspective. The markedly asymmetrical relation between indigenous and introduced technologies and socio-political orders challenges the theme, as do local concepts of time.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will offer some comments on the conference's 'Footsteps and Futures' theme from the perspective of the Was valley, Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. When they compare their ancestors' things with those of the industrial world, the Wola feel awkward and think they are poor. They are keen to move on. They are particularly anxious to avail themselves of manufactured goods unimaginable to their forebears and join the world from whence they come, and forget 'footprints' going back to what pertained previously (only a few elderly persons, for instance, know how to make many of the objects documented in Made in Niugini). The inappropriateness of the 'footsteps' metaphor is further evident in the previous Was valley view of time, which I liken to a tightly coiled spiral (hybrid of conventional linear and circular models). The extensive changes resulting from the intrusion of the outside world into their valley has stretched the spiral spring-like out of shape, so transmogrifying the idea of the 'future' too. The wish to change things outwardly and 'modernise' is straightforward, although people are largely thwarted in accessing many of the things they desire. But to change things inwardly, which concern inculcated values, is another matter. Participating in the world from which manufactured things come poses a paradox for those belonging to an acephalous order that values equality highly. What is the future? How can they engage more effectively with the hierarchical capitalist world order without compromising their non-authoritarian relations and egalitarian ethic?