Cultural erosion in Bougainville

Question 1

key info:
- location
- why they a part of PNG
- population
- how many language groups

Answer 1

location: 1000km from the capital of Port Moresby
- the most remote island of Papa New Guinea /19 provinces
- part of the Solomon Islands chain, but due to an error in the 19th-century colonial map drawing, became part of Papa New Guinea
- 200,000 population
- 800 language groups (cultural and linguistic diversity)

Question 2

timeline until Bougainvilles integration into PNG

Answer 2

1902: first Christian Mission
1905: German New Guinea
1914-42: Australian New Guinea
1942-45: under control of the Japanese army
1946-75: Australia administered the territory of Papa and New Guinea
1975: Bougainville attempted to secede, resolved by guaranteeing autonomy (self-government) under a provincial system
1975: Papa New Guinea gained independence

Question 3

what were the relations like between Bougainville and central colonial authorities?

Answer 3

very troubled relations that were maintained after Papa New Guinea gained independence from Australia in 1975

Question 4

what was the effect of the conflict in 1988?
- mines
- on rural communities
- on government (1990)
- on state structure

Answer 4

1. closure of one of the world’s largest copper/gold mines which had made Bougainville the wealthiest province
2. relied on subsistence farming and autonomy + isolation changes were slow
3. efficient provincial and local government system
4. was weak at all levels, failing to impose policies on local communities (who were determined to oppose them)

Question 5

pre-colonial social structures
- main social units
- what are clans and lineages like (not in Buka)
- what are clans and lineages like in Buka?
- what is leadership based on in other areas?

Answer 5

1. land holding local clan lineages
2. matrilineal
3. hereditary leaders, ‘chiefs’
4. performance, but there is still a hereditary element to this and are often referred to as ‘chiefs’

Question 6

what caused the closure of the mine?

Answer 6

it had a perceived imposition by the colonial regime for the benefit of the rest of PNG, so was resented by the civilians of Bougainville. This caused the emerging ethno-nationalist movement for succession (independence) from PNG in the 1960s

Question 7

how did Bougainville attempt succession?
- how was this disputed in 1977?

Answer 7

through a unilateral declaration of independence in 1975, just days before PNG gained independence.
- disputed by PNG establishing a constitutionally based decentralized system

Question 8

what caused the violent conflict of 1988?
- who responded?

Answer 8

disputes over the mine and revenue shared by younger landowners, which caused the destruction of mine property and widespread violence which was the catalyst for wider ethno-nationalist rebellion built on a long history of grievance and resistance
- the PNG police

Question 9

what had become the main goal of the ethno-nationalist rebellion?

Answer 9

separation of Bougainville from PNG

Question 10

effects of conflict/rebellion:
- on non-Bougainvillians
- when did PNG troops retreat from Bougainville
- when did Bougainville declare independence
- what conflict developed in the 1990s?
- when and what ended the conflict?

Answer 10

1. many non-Bougainvillians left Bougainville as they feared for their life due to ethnic cleansing (1989-90)
2. MARCH 1990
3. MAY 1990 (but gained no international recognition)
4. Intra-Bougainville conflict which complicated the rebels efforts
5. in 1997, a series of peace-making endeavours and negotiations led to the political settlement in 2001

Question 11

what was included in the political settlement of 2001?

Answer 11

• high level of autonomy for customary social groupings and to strengthen these groups and state structures

Question 12

what was the impact of this post-colonial and colonial change?
- in Melanesia:
what were the new arenas for power competition?
identity?
how did people react to change?
- effects of traditional social structures like customary authority

Answer 12

1. immense effects on pre-existing social structures
   - new ideologies
   - new arenas: Christian missions, colonial administration, cooperatives, elected local governments, village courts and elected provincial governments
   - new sources of identity emerged due to challenges to traditional understandings of how the world worked
   - many welcomed and benefited from it but some resisted
   - some remained strong and some were changed, but any who weren’t okay with traditional authority could go to the police or village courts.

Question 13

what has happened in the 20 years after WW2 in terms of race?
- what did this lead to

Answer 13

Bougainvillians have expressed grievance of racist treatment by the ‘whites’ and colonial neglect which resulted in limited infrastructure and economic development

Question 14

what had ‘outsiders’ done to the mine in the 1960s

Answer 14

disrespected Bougainvillian cultures, squatted on customary land and competed for economic opportunities that locals felt were rightfully theirs

Question 15

what is an example of one of the various forms of resistance to colonial rule? (in efforts to come to terms with the outside world)

Answer 15

Cargo Cults
- originated in beliefs widespread in pre-colonial Melanesia about a millennium where all things would be available
- in colonial times, cults were a reaction to the injustice of the affluence of whites
- influences by Christian missionary promises about the afterlife
- involved Bougainvillian’s assertion of autonomy over their communities and lives

Question 16

the importance of custom
- when and what effects did the increase in the cash economy have?
- what effects did the increase in availability of education and new forms of economic activity have?

Answer 16

1. By the mid-1980s, the increasing intensity of participation in the cash economy gave rise to new kinds of disputes that traditional leaders
   were not well-equipped to deal with. 2. The increasing availability of education, with new forms of economic activity and
   increasing mobility, reduced social cohesiveness, and young people were less willing to accept customary authority and limits on
   behaviour.

Question 17

what did Bougainvillians believe about social structures?
- effects of this

Answer 17

Bougainvilleans believed that customary social structures were threatened by the disinterest of the youth, the election of people other
than chiefs as local government members and village court magistrates, and the continuing influx of outsiders.

Bougainvilleans also saw
increasing crime, especially in urban areas, as a symptom of social disintegration.

Question 18

how did Bougainvillians respond?
- effects on the period of conflict
- what was set up in 1995?

Answer 18

1. Bougainvilleans proposed reducing the number of outsiders by returning the unemployed and squatters to their home provinces elsewhere in PNG and transforming elected local-level governments into councils of chiefs.
2. Public concern and debate about such issues undoubtedly impacted the early stages of the conflict, especially the pressure on outsiders to leave Bougainville, and enhanced the status of customary authority and customary ways during the period of the conflict.
3. In 1995, the provincial government set up Councils of Elders (COEs) which were to govern people from culturally coherent areas. This structure is still widely in place today.