Dr Emma Gilberthorpe (Durham) ‘Living with Oil: the impact of resource development in Papau New Guinea’ (2004)
The Urgent Anthropology Fellowship gave me the opportunity to continue my work in two regions of Papua New Guinea affected by large-scale resource extraction projects. I worked closely with friends and contacts in both the Waro Valley, where recipients of huge cash royalties from the Kutubu oil project reside; and the Star Mountains, where the environmental and social effects of the Ok Tedi copper mine imposes on a number of ethnic groups. The main purpose of my Fellowship was to produce an ethnographic film that represented the candid views of individuals working and living in around project impact areas on issues such as development, sustainability and the future. The method and output reflects a desire to produce a resource that is more accessible to non-academic users. Data have since been developed into a teaching resource and stand-alone film with a supplementary monograph, which has been disseminated to academic and non-academic institutions. The stand-alone film is also available on YouTube. I remain very grateful for the award and the research I was able to conduct continues to inform my work.
Publications:
n.d. Obscure Developments: Sustainable Development and Resource Extraction in Papua New Guinea. Development and Change. Under Review.
n.d. To Divide and Rule: Fasu Culturisation Before, During and After Oil. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Accepted.
2011. The Anthropology of Resource Development: Ethnographic Explorations of Rural Resource Extraction. Oxford: Berghahn (contracted, submission August 2010).
2009. Development and Industry: A Papua New Guinea Case Study. Canterbury: CSAC.
2009. From the Horse’s Mouth: A Resource for Teaching Development in Anthropology. Canterbury: CSAC. (with M. Fischer & S. Lyon)
2009. Pathways to development: Identity, Landscape and Industry in Papua New Guinea. In S. Heckler (ed.) Landscape, Power and Process: Re-Evaluating Traditional Environmental Knowledge. New York: Berghahn: 202-231.
2009. The Construction of Social Capital in the Current Economic Crisis: Lessons from Papua New Guinea. Anthropology News 50 (7): 15-16. (with P. Sillitoe).
2009. From the Horse’s Mouth: Perceptions of Development from Papua New Guinea. Re-edited film. 40 minutes. Canterbury: CSAC.
2007. Fasu Solidarity: A Case Study of Kin Networks, Land Tenure and Oil Extraction in Kutubu, Papua New Guinea. American Anthropologist 109 (1): 109-119.
2006. ‘It’s Raining Money’: Anthropology, Film and Resource Extraction in Papua New Guinea. Anthropology in Action 13 (3): 13-21.
2005. From the Horse’s Mouth: Perceptions of Development from Papua New Guinea. Documentary Film. 55 minutes. Australia: Darkwood Films.
