Dreams, Gender, and Artisanal Mining in Papua New Guinea

Dan Moretti was British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge (2007−2010). Since 2007, he has consulted on projects related to artisanal and small-scale mining in Laos and Papua New Guinea.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsNotes on TextList of AbbreviationsIntroductionPart I: The Ethno-Historical and Theoretical ContextChapter 1. How a Spirit-Infested Mountain Became a Colonial Resource Frontier and Then a HomelandChapter 2. A Field of Dreams: Hamtai Gold Dreams and the Anthropology of DreamingPart II: Analogic DreamsChapter 3. Mining as GardeningChapter 4. Mining as ProcreationChapter 5. Mining as Marriage to the Mountain SpiritsPart III: Conjugality, Affinity and Human-Mineral RelationsChapter 6. On the Ambivalence of Gold, Spirits, Women and AffinesChapter 7. Inscriptive Work, Ritual Exchange and Conjugal-Affinal Respect in Human-Mineral RelationsChapter 8. Dreams, Melanesian Perspectivism and the Fractal Morality of MiningPart IV: Gender, Mining and Cosmic DeclineChapter 9. Melanesian Male Rituals, Spirit Marriage and Hegemonic Masculine Perspectives on Depleting MineralsChapter 10. ‘Just Lies Men Use’: Women’s Counter-Perspectives on Gold and Complementary Visions of MasculinityConclusion: Dreams, ‘Bitter Gender’ and the Value and Values of Minerals in Melanesia and BeyondGlossary of Mining Terms (English and Tok Pisin)ReferencesIndex

“This is a thoughtful, deeply researched and well-written study of dreaming, gold mining and gender relations in Papua New Guinea. It is a major contribution to several fields at once.” • Charles Stewart, University College London“This is an excellent book: clearly written, interesting and easy to read, impressively erudite.” • Roger Lohmann, Trent University