article
Temporary townsfolk?: Siwai migrants in urban Papua New Guinea
Pacific studies • 11 (3) • Published In 1988 • Pages: 77-100
By: Connell, John.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This study focuses on Siwai urban migration and communities in the twentieth century. While the first plantations were established by the Germans in 1907, Siwai migration to coastal plantations began in earnest in 1914 with the imposition of a head tax by the Australian government, requiring payments in cash which could only be obtained through contract labor. Urbanization also provided opportunities for employment in town business and service sectors. The rise of indigenous cash crops after World War II, and their replacement by cocoa beginning in the 1960s, drew labor back to the rural interior. The opening of a copper mine in 1970 provided a boost in employment and wages, at least while copper prices were high in global markets. The author examines the structure and dynamics of Siwai urban households and their degree of attachment to an urban way of life, additionally noting the formation of a Siwai identity arising from urban ethnic enclaves and interactions with workers from other ethnic backgrounds.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Composition of population
- Internal migration
- External migration
- Settlement patterns
- Urban and rural life
- Labor supply and employment
- Residence
- Household
- Inter-ethnic relations
- Taxation and public income
- External relations
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Siwai
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2016
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Melanesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard; 2014
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1974-1976, 1981
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1900-1985
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- southern Bougainville, North Solomons Province, Papua New Guinea
- NotesAdditional notes
- John Connell
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-100)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 84643929
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Siuai (Papuan people)