Tea and Tinned Fish: Christianity, Consumption and the Nation in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

This paper explores the intersection of consumption, Christianity and the nation in Western Province, Papua New Guinea. It examines the significance of the adoption of Europeanintroduced clothing and the consumption of trade store foods like tea, tinned fish, rice, sugar and tinned milk for Gogodala communities of PNG. Although initially disgusted by the idea of consuming substances that seemed reminiscent of mother's milk, Gogodala now embrace trade store foods with enthusiasm. The paper traces the transformation of Gogodala attitudes to such products in terms of the development of a 'national culture' as well as a more globalising Christianity. It suggests that, for the Gogodala, consumption is an arena for what Foster has termed 'everyday nation making'. Yet, in this case, 'the nation' is understood and realised through a metaphoric association with Christian others, particularly Europeans. The basis of national subjectivity for the Gogodala, then, is an enduring relationship between Gogodala and expatriate Europeans.Oceania 75, 2004

Asian and Pacific Cosmopolitans

“…The original ancestral beings or iniwa luma mapped, created and named the local landscape as they moved across it, places still marked by trees, rocks and other animate beings referred to as ugu. The ancestors also established the moieties, clans and clan canoes that structure the lives of contemporary Gogodala (Dundon, 2002b(Dundon, , 2004. Thus the distinction between the ancestral 'past' and the Christian 'present' was always blurred.…”

“…Christian country acknowledged the reality of the blurred distinctions between custom and Christianity in quotidian practice, and, over the ensuing years, has come to indicate various elements of lived and past practices associated with iniwa ela gi, customary ways, as well as institutionalized and lived Christian practice. It is predicated on the consumption of certain substances or foodstuffs, like sago or tea and tinned fish, or its prohibition, as in the case of alcohol, tobacco or betel nut, as well as the prevalence or absence of particular practices like dance (Dundon 2002(Dundon , 2004. It is based on the Gogodala ela gi or lifestyle of Gogodala village communities, from the production and consumption of foodstuffs native to the area, to the perpetuation of clans and clan canoes through marriage and land-owning practices and principles.…”

Negotiating the Horizon—Living Christianity in Melanesia

“…Dundon 2002, 2007a, in press, Eves 2003, Goddard & Van Heekeren 2003, Jebens 2005, McDougall 2008, Robbins 2003, 2004, Scott 2005, Tomlinson 2009). As Jolly (2005, pp.…”

“…Dundon 2004, 2010, Eves 2011, Goddard & Van Heekeren 2003, Jacka 2005, Robbins 1998, 2004a. Exploring the The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 5 conjuncture of Christianity, capitalist development and ideas of modernisation among the Ipili in the Porgera Valley, PNG, Jacka noted the significance particularly of the concepts of heaven and salvation in conversion processes (Jacka 2005).…”

The Fiji Times and the Good Citizen: Constructing Modernity and Nationhood in Fiji

“…Virtue is largely its own reward (see also Foster 2002;Dundon 2004;Gewertz and Errington 2004). The practices that are entailed in being a good citizen are those of contribution.…”