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...