Being a Village Court Magistrate in Papua New Guinea

Melissa Demian

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    The fictional magistrate speaking in this chapter is imagined to be from lowland Papua New Guinea. The eulogy he gives is in keeping with the style of funeral speeches on the Papuan (southern) coast, where presenting actual details of a deceased person's life would be the height of disrespect, but it is considered entirely appropriate to use a recent death as an opportunity for moral instruction. Papua New Guinea is a country of some eight hundred distinct languages. The greatest cultural divide in the country is between lowlanders from the coasts and highlanders from the mountainous interior. Papua New Guinea is made up of two former colonies, one British and one German, both governed by Australia under slightly different legal regimes from the end of World War I until the country's independence in 1975. Port Moresby is the national capital. At the time of writing, one Papua New Guinea kina equaled 0.37 U.S. dollars.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationA World of Work: Imagined Manuals for Real Jobs
    EditorsIlana Gershon
    Place of PublicationIthaca, NY, USA
    PublisherCornell University Press
    Pages58-69
    Volume1
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Print)9780801453939
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

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