The Game

This entry is fairly short notice since my last post, but I feel I am fully settled now so this is an update about my day to day life. As with most pieces I write, first drafts consist of huge amounts of brackets as relevant things pop into my head, but it works for this kind of thing, so I am sticking with it. On a normal day in Goroka (See Guinness book of records under Worlds Best Climate) I get up around 7.30, take my chair outside and have my breakfast (usually bread, butter, jam or peanut butter) on the veranda. This is when I say ‘monin’ to everyone at the NSI where I live as they walk past me (I cant get up when they do yet as the altitude and walking around in the heat really tire me out). The clouds begin to clear off the surrounding mountains at around 9, when I leave to do this vague thing called ‘fieldwork’.

See picture of NSI

If it is a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, I then work out what I will do in the morning and afternoon, which is usually going to town (East Goroka, I live in West Goroka) on the PMV (a private bus service, in 15 seater battered old Toyotas, very frequent and a site of many interesting ‘monin, nem blo mi Anthony, mi skul mangi blo university lo Scotland, mi stap lo Goroka lo wan yia na sikis mun lo lukim olgeta samtin lo gambling’ conversations). An aside: Almost every private car here is a Toyota 4x4, as the terrain is so tough this is where they test them, and even in town the pot holes are a never-ending series of ponds. In the last few weeks I either go to a ‘Pokie ples’ (fruit machine hall), of which there are 6 in town, and map them, talk to the people who work there, and set up or conduct an interview with someone who works there, or the Horse Racing place. By the way, almost all conversations end with an invitation to go to somebody’s village, which is one way of cornering me (‘whiteman’) into releasing my unlimited money. This sounds harsh on people but it is part of how it works here, and all conversations have something behind them, I am forever giving cigarettes to friends (acknowledged as part of my relative wealth) and have lent the 3 people closest to me K10 on at least 1 occasion, which is usually paid back, sometimes with interest or ‘antap’ (this marks interdependence and is encouraging). Other days I just buy shopping, have an ice-cream, and try to speak to the person I need to at the Eastern Highlands Provincial Administration to officially start my research. Other days, if I am feeling unflappable I go to Kakaruk Market, the centre of gambling for drunkards, settlement dwellers venturing into town, and the habitual gamblers. This is quite a dangerous place to be late on in the day, at least at the moment for me, my face is not familiar enough yet, as many of the prizes involve SP beer (4.5%) or Live Lave (up to 75%), and when people drink, especially the disaffected, they get ‘spak’, which is a kind of out of ones head unpredictable and potentially argumentative or violent state (the drinking culture is very different here for some, but I don’t know enough about it to say anymore than this). I therefore have not been there alone yet, and try to go in the morning, as drinking starts early here. Alternatively I am just starting to go to the District Court, where gambling related cases are heard, and I have a couple of interviews there this week with a magistrate and a clerk. On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 I have training for my team, the Rapatonas, So it is only the morning and early afternoon I am really free. On Fridays I try to be out early and back early, as this is payday, and a spak-fest (I realise I need to get out there sooner or later as this is also a gambling-fest, but it is too dangerous at the moment. In any case I am back before dark every day, as it is not safe for me yet. On Mondays my friend Michael from security at the NSI is free so we go to Mambu maket, where people play ‘kas’ (cards), ‘snooker’ (pool) and bingo, or to his place in a settlement next to town called Kanchukem, where people play kas outside his house. I really enjoy this, it is only just coming together but it is one of the better settlements and I know a few people there so I suspect this will be my second real field location, the first I will come to in the latter section of this post.

When I can I grab some lunch either at a ‘haus kaikai’ in town or back at NSI. Saturday I do very little, clean my clothes etc, this I think is becoming my day off. I was doing a survey of all the different denominations of church on Sundays, but I have decided that it is more important now to become known to people from the settlements and town, and so I am concentrating on football, many of the players in Rapatonas, and in the teams they play against, are from the rougher parts of town (settlements), so seeing me mucking in and being friendly, and here to stay, is a good signal to give out, not to mention that they are really good blokes who have taken me into the team as one of the boys. So we play on the NSI fields on Saturdays or Sundays, and I am going to churches when they don’t clash. It is also a real change from Scotland to be in a team which wins! I have played 2 games so far, in central defence, and we won 2-0 and last week 9-0! I am very proud of the clean sheets which Trevor, Mark, Jack and I have kept.

See picture of the Rapatonas

During these times, the main part of the day, the sun is out, with a little cloud for the occasional break from its skin cooking intensity. Roughly around 5 the clouds roll in and it rains for an hour or so, sometimes like a rainy day in Scotland without the wind, sometimes like it only can in a tropical country, with thunder crashing against the mountains and echoing back to like a terrible encore. In the evening I write up my notes for the day on the computer, which run to about a thousand words a day. I then take my pot down to the kitchen and make dinner, which is usually rice or instant noodles, with either eggs or a can of tuna. If I have been to the main market or to Lopi market I have kaukau (sweet potato) and grins (any gind of boiled vegetables, there are many varieties of spinach-like things here) By the way if anyone is planning to take a trip to Eastern Highlands Province, PNG, I recommend you starve yourself of all starch for at least 3 months prior to arrival. On lucky days, I get caught up in some activity like a goodbye speech, which invariably involves a feast, and the meat I desperately crave (I miss bacon rolls especially). It makes me laugh how high the people here pile their plates, I am not joking it gets up to about 15cm, not even you Matthew (my brother) could compete with these guys, and then discreetly pour what they cant eat into a plastic bag and take it home. After dinner I read my book (Bertrand Russell’s ‘History of Western Philosophy’, I recommend it to all fieldworkers, very interesting, readable, will definitely need reading more than once, and will be useful to know I am sure), and am asleep at around 10.30. Another side note, people are very friendly here in the vast majority, warm, and interested in what you are doing, as well as incredibly forward thinking and self-reflexive about PNG and its future.

One day though, to materialise the suggestion I made earlier, I realised just how prescient my topic is here, if I didn’t know already by all the gambling places they have in this small town of 30,000 people. At a certain workplace not mentioned above, which I cant reveal as it puts peoples jobs in danger, I was asked to come along to a gambling session on Thursday, private payweek (people are paid fortnightly here, private workers one weekend, public sector the next). It started at 12 midday, playing Queen (a complex strategical game where 5 players attempt to rid themselves of their 7 cards via certain combinations) with K2 central bets each and matching side bets. However, the game lasted until 6.30 am the next day! I have to say I didn’t stay for all of it, it gets very repetitive, I got very hungry and tired, and as it was a secret game, there was little to no talking, but I was writing up my notes until 4 that morning, and they ran to three thousand words. What was really surprising is I knew these people, church goers, upstanding citizens one might call them, and some lost almost all their pay packets, while some won big. Not only this, but because of the businesslike nature of play, the fact they had just been paid, and their concentration, all other transactions came to the fore, I saw payments for money borrowed for death ceremonies, loans in the making, and seniors (not an easy thing to discern in town) ordering juniors to buy them ‘buai’ (betelnut, a mild stimulant that is chewed) and ‘simuk’ (cigarettes). It was hard work keeping up, but there is no doubt if I can make the right friends, and make myself safe, I can collect some very interesting data with this topic. So that is why this post is called ‘The Game’, but the intellectually sensitive, the anthropologists, or those who know how my language and humour work, will realise that the first part of this post is also ‘The Game’.

Until next time,

Anthony.

Some P.S.’s:

South African John, and Duncan, I heard Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth blasting out of a Supermarket and thought of you. In fact I often think of the three of us, South Africa, Japan and Papua New Guinea, I do hope we get a chance for the three of us to meet up sometime.

Deans Court People: It must be light until really late there now, wish I could have seen it, and yes I do miss the food, even Deans Court has more variety than my diet here. But I don’t miss The Rule. Can someone email me when the DC hoodie is ready to send. Bronnie, eat a bacon roll from Cherries for me, and go to Oxford. Cheer up Gretel, it’s only 1 year of hard work, and it is almost done (if you work with others, you get more done if you talk less!). Only messing with you petal, you know I love your monkey face. Mark, wish you were here, no one knows the importance of the blues, Bob Dylan, The Ramones or Radiohead here, not even Buckley! AmeriKen, nice one mate, cheers for the email, much obliged. To AmeriKen and the PhD’s, I will see you in a bit.

The Anthropologist's Handshake

I have arrived in Goroka, Highland Papua New Guinea, in fact I have been here 2 weeks or so now. I am not sure whether it is the heat, which is pleasant and not too demanding, unless the weather is clear, or the sun, which is intense when it pops out, learning to understand and speak Tok Pisin, the altitude, or trying to be alert all the time, but I have been sleeping more than usual. I have no pictures for you yet, as I want to build up trust and show I am not a tourist before snapping at everyone and everything (and get a good tan after Scotland!). I have been well looked after and am writing this from an office that the Maths department of the University of Goroka have given me to use, which is fantastic. I think I am getting it quite easy as anthropologists starting out in the field go, but I have to pat myself on the back for making these connections before I got here.

I have done quite a few things since I arrived, set up a phone contract, bank account, made friends with a few students and some other locals, watched one play football on Saturday and basketball on Sunday after Lutheran church. I have learnt 2 card games called Bom and Queen, and talked to a group of land dispute administrators passing through my guesthouse about all manner of things. My colleague at the GLEC, Rex Matang has been very helpful in getting me set up, and understands my need to be independent. I think it is a prestige thing having me here so he doesn’t expect me to be focused mainly on mathematics. The university is also putting an article about me in their newsletter in which I ask people with experience of gambling to come forward for interview, which will get me off to a good if unorthodox start. I like the way it is working out now, this urban anthropology is all about getting information however you can at first, making the ‘network’ early so people can get comfortable with you. After the university I think there is a coffee processing plant where workers gamble a lot, right next to the university, so I will try to get to know and interview them. After that, which will take some time, I will tackle Kakaruk Market, a more volatile place, but the main centre of gambling in the town. I moved into accommodation at the National Sports Institute, and will be playing football with a local team if I make it through training. I don’t want to stay there forever though, when my Pidgin is good enough and I have met the right person, I would like to live with a family, but all in good time. I met Fiona’s (from St Andrews) brother, and yes Simon, he is a big guy isn’t he! I might move in with him. Overall I have been lucky, outgoing, and received in kind, long may it continue. The bigman of a nearby village called Hilla on Mount Michael talked to me today, he was buying equipment to start digging his land for gold (a geologist just found a vein there), and as it turns out, his son works at the university, I lent him K20, and am going over to see him set up in a couple of weeks, if I am lucky I could witness the birth of a new gambling community, and get my K20 back in Gold! Don’t worry, its not a scam, I am learning that these encounters are the kind of things that happen here every day, and succeed or fail, they will look after me and I may get the village contrast I am looking for.

Another thing, in the paper the other day, a tribesman is suing Jared Diamond's publishers for misrepresentation. Power to the people! I was going to write my entry on that, as I find his writing pejorative and based on a model of humanity as profit maximizing, colonising robots. But I think I will follow the story and report back when more news arrives.

Anyway, let me explain the title of this post. I really haven’t had time to miss home too much yet, though the prospect of missing it sometimes gets me down, and I am enjoying the way this place unexpectedly fills my days. But in the few moments I have missed home, what soon springs to mind is my anthropology PhD friends, who are at home, or all over the world, off the top of my head and not exclusive: 3 in Brazil, 1 in Italy, 1 in India, and 1 in Senegal. Before I left I spoke to my friends about what I called ‘the anthropologist’s handshake’, where we say goodbye knowing we may not see or hear from each other again for up to 3 years, and then miraculously pick up exactly where we left off when we do. This is definitely one of my favourite things about being in anthropology, the understanding of each others mentalities and the immediate and deep friendship which comes from it. But in the brief time since I came out here ‘the anthropologist’s handshake’ has come to mean something more to me. When I think of the trials of fieldwork, of which I have limited knowledge so far, mostly in terms of anticipation, I think of all those friends out there feeling similar things and facing different but relatable difficulties, and I know that we will know it in each other when we see one another again. So the handshake, rather like here in Goroka, after formally ending, retains the lightest contact which acknowledges ourselves as a collective. If others don’t feel this, mores the pity, some will read this and know they helped inspire my confidence, and I offer this perspective as just another ‘method’ in thanks. To everyone else, know I am well, happy to be here, and ready for the task ahead.

Heading off...

I thought it would be a good idea to write something before I go to the field. I had my PhD research proposal viva the other day with Tony Crook and Huon Wardle, and my tickets are booked for the 11th of April, so now is as good a time as any. I thought it went well, I had no revisions to make, though it was not without 'robust debate'. The question which arises after these first sentences is what I want this blog to be, an account of my thoughts and feelings? a diary of events? an anthropological assessment as I go along? Well we can discount the latter, much as it would be an interesting experiment, I dont want to make public things which I may change my mind about, or to make premature judgements which might affect others (and myself) detrementally. It has to be something of the first two, with a little context from my anthropological training as and when. Essentially, this is a way of reaching people easily, to let you know how I am doing, and give some idea of what my daily life is like in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. I have a diary to overfeel in, so it wont be too soppy I promise.

So, the set up:

For those who dont know I am doing a PhD in social anthropology at the University of St Andrews, supervised by Dr. Adam Reed, and am about to do my period of fieldwork in Goroka Town in Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea, for the following 18 months. I will be studying gambling as well as other activities related to calculative decisions. By this I mean all things money related, as well as counting systems (peoples way of counting with their bodies, in 10's and 100's or not, etc.), and different peoples attitudes towards gambling. I will basically be conducting interviews with gamblers, their families, religious leaders, judges, specialists in indigenous mathematics, and anyone else who knows something I dont. I will also be gambling, and watching others do it, with migrants and locals, learning the games, and watching money circulate.

In more detail my work is about the relation between 'gift exchange', the traditional economy of certain Papua New Guinean groups, and the money economy which is now everywhere in PNG. Meanwhile PNG is famous for its diversity of languages and counting systems, yet gambling, which is not indigenous, has spread across the country very rapidly indeed, despite the games relying (to Our eyes) on a particular numerical understanding (to do with the decimal system and an appreciation of odds) which is often quite different from recorded traditional numerical and gift exchange knowledge. This coincides with the spread of money, and how these combine is the focus of my project. It also focuses on causality, how people perceive why events occur, to do with both chance and fate etc, but from a PNG perspective. As a result I am doing a semi-urban ethnography (this word is what anthropologists do in the field) in a town called Goroka in the Highlands of PNG of 24,000 people, and following migrants back to their villages to observe differences between the two places in terms of my project.

Anyway, in order to prevent sending annoying group emails every now and then (as I said in the email), I am going to write this blog, and anyone curious can check it or comment whenever they want, without pressure, well you know how a blog works. I will try to update it regularly (once every few weeks). Unfortunately this first one is necessarily a bit dull as I am not really doing anything, I hope you find later ones interesting...