By Michael French Smith
Kragur village lies at the rugged north shore of Kairiru, a steep volcanic island simply off the north coast of Papua New Guinea. In 1998 the village appeared a lot because it had a few twenty-two years past whilst writer Michael French Smith first visited. yet he quickly stumbled on that altering conditions have been shaking issues up. Village at the Edge weaves jointly the tale of Kragur villagers' fight to discover their very own course towards the longer term with the tale of Papua New Guinea's travails within the post-independence period. Smith writes of his personal stories in addition, residing and dealing in Papua New Guinea and attempting to comprehend the complexities of an strange lifestyle. to inform a lot of these tales, he delves into ghosts, magic, myths, ancestors, bookkeeping, tourism, the realm financial institution, the Holy Spirits, and the that means of growth and improvement. Village at the Edge attracts at the insights of cultural anthropology yet is written for someone attracted to Papua New Guinea.
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Village on the Edge: Changing Times in Papua New Guinea
Kragur village lies at the rugged north shore of Kairiru, a steep volcanic island simply off the north coast of Papua New Guinea. In 1998 the village regarded a lot because it had a few twenty-two years past while writer Michael French Smith first visited. yet he quickly came across that altering situations have been shaking issues up.
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Additional info for Village on the Edge: Changing Times in Papua New Guinea
Sample text
Such an altar was usually little more than a colorful picture of Christ or Maria, displayed on a homemade wooden table, flanked by flowers and ornamental foliage in glass jars of water; but it was usually carefully tended and occupied a prominent place. Catholicism Comes to Kragur Although Catholicism was firmly established in the East Sepik Province by the 1970s, it had come there only relatively recently. German Catholic missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word landed in what is now Madang Province in 1896.
Fortunately, despite such prejudices and influences I managed to keep a somewhat open mind. This allowed me to learn as the year progressed that Catholicism was very much a part of the local culture in Kragur and that there was no simple way to describe or evaluate its contribution. Kragur villagers’ own understanding of Catholicism tended to encourage the kind of painful self-doubts colonialism often sows. Kragur people also, however, had found ways to use Catholicism to assert their independence and moral worth.
Xavier’s staff had no interest in imposing their own religious beliefs on their students. Largely members of Catholic orders, principally the Society of Mary, they took their religion very seriously; but they did not Finding Kragur 21 seem alarmed that some of their students, themselves raised in Catholic villages, asked pointed and skeptical questions about the faith. Had I known more of either Catholicism or the mission in Papua New Guinea I would have been aware that both had changed significantly since the early years of the twentieth century.