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Accepted Paper:
Ambivalence, tension and enthusiasm: land owners and local government at the Lihir gold mine, PNG
Nick Bainton
(University of Queensland)
Martha Macintyre
(The University of Melbourne)
Paper short abstract:
In this paper we consider the relationship of the state of Papua New Guinea to the Lihir gold mine as it is manifest through the local level government and its leaders.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper we shall discuss the range of ways that people on Lihir have understood, embraced and rejected new forms of local government over the last century. While concentrating on the ways that leadership has been manifest in local communities in the context of the mining project that began in the mid 1990s, we argue that the patterns that are obvious in recent years have a long history. At the same time we shall present case studies that illustrate the fluidity of community leadership and the tenuous hold that all 'leaders' have on public acceptance of their authority. We explore the roles of a succession of charismatic leaders over the past fifty years and the ways that they have reinvented 'tradition' to serve their own political ends.