Some of the world's most advanced work on biodiversity is being carried out deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea by a team including local tribes-people. Novotny's entertaining, engaging, and unique diaries reflect on the wisdom of the ancient culture, bringing to life the people and the sometimes tragi-comic interactions between it and the West

This book is the first to draw extensively on the recently released highly classified notes of the cabinet room discussions of successive Australian Governments, from 1950 to the mid-1970s. It details the changing attitude of the nation's leaders towards the place of Papua New Guinea in Australia's defense and security outlook. The Cabinet Notebooks provide an uncensored and unprecedented insight into the opinion of Australia's leaders towards Indonesia under Sukarno, Southeast Asia and Indo-China in general; the changing nature of relations with Britain and the United States; and towards Papua New Guinea. The cabinet room discussions reveal attitudes towards Asia and Australia's place in the region which are more nuanced, varied, and sensitive than previously known. They also illustrate the dominant influence of Prime Minister Robert Menzies and Deputy Prime Minister John McEwen in shaping Australia's response to the critical events of the time. Australia's Northern Shield? shows how, since colonial times, Australia has assessed the importance of Papua New Guinea by examining the ambitions of and threats from external sources, principally Imperial Germany, Japan, and Indonesia. It examines the significant change in Australia's attitude as this region approached independence in 1975, amid concerns as to the new nation's future stability and unity. The terms of Australia's long-term defense undertaking are examined in detail, and an examination is offered of the most recent attempts to define the strategic importance of Papua New Guinea to Australia. (Series: Investigating Power) [Subject: Politics, History, Southeast Asian Studies]

The island of New Guinea is the most floristically diverse island in the world with an extremely rich tree flora of up to 5,000 species. Trees of New Guinea details each of the 693 plant genera with arborescent members found in New Guinea. The entire New Guinea region is covered, including the West Papua and Papua Provinces of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the surrounding islands such as New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville. The book follows contemporary classifications and is richly illustrated with line drawings and photographs throughout. Each group has a family description and key to the New Guinea tree genera, followed by a description of each genus, with notes on taxonomy, distribution, ecology and diagnostic characters.Trees of New Guinea is the essential companion to anyone studying or working in the region, including botanists, conservation workers, ecologists and zoologists.

Wogeo Island is well-known to anthropologists of Papua New Guinea through the work of Ian Hogbin. Based on substantial fieldwork, the author builds on and expands previous research by showing how Wogeos establish and maintain social relationships and identities connected to place and movement in the physical landscape. This innovative study demonstrates how Wogeo worldviews and social organization can be described in relation to terms of movements, flows and placements in the landscape while, in turn, the landscape is constituted and made meaningful through people’s activities and buildings. The author not only addresses some of the key issues in contemporary anthropology concerning place, gender, kinship, knowledge and power but also fills an important gap in Melanesian ethnography.

Metaphor, as an act of human fancy, combines ideas in improbable ways to sharpen meanings of life and experience. Theoretically, this arises from an association between a sign—for example, a cattle car—and its referent, the Holocaust. These “sign-vehicles” serve as modes of semiotic transportation through conceptual space. Likewise, on-the-ground vehicles can be rich metaphors for the moral imagination. Following on this insight, Vehicles presents a collection of ethnographic essays on the metaphoric significance of vehicles in different cultures. Analyses include canoes in Papua New Guinea, pedestrians and airplanes in North America, lowriders among Mexican-Americans, and cars in contemporary China, Japan, and Eastern Europe, as well as among African-Americans in the South. Vehicles not only “carry people around,” but also “carry” how they are understood in relation to the dynamics of culture, politics and history.

Journey to the Stone Age In one of the last untamed places on Earth, Indonesian New Guinea’s snowcapped peaks tower above steaming rainforests and huge crocodiles stalk in thick mangroves ringing the island. Whether you lounge on the white beaches of Biak, or trek around Wamena, Indonesian New Guinea offers the adventure of a lifetime. The ultimate adventure guide This is the most complete guide to Indonesian New Guinea ever produced. Hundreds of pages of travel tips and dozens of lively articles cover every aspect of the island’s history and geography, taking you to lots of rarely- visited places. The nitty-gritty, from A to Z Detailed maps of every town and region of Indonesian New Guinea are included, along with personal recommendations from our expert authors on how to get around, where to stay and eat, and how to get the best value for money.

A brief introduction to the amazing tribal people of Papua New Guinea through a journey across the eastern highlands.