Ironies of History in Southeastern Papua New Guinea

Drawing on twenty years of research, this book examines the historical perspective of a Pacific people who saw “globalization” come and go. It asks the question: What does it mean to claim that global connections are in the past rather than the present or the future?

Drawing on twenty years of research, this book examines the historical perspective of a Pacific people who saw “globalization” come and go. Suau people encountered the leading edge of missionization and colonialism in Papua New Guinea and were active participants in the Second World War. In Memory of Times to Come offers a nuanced account of how people assess their own experience of change over the course of a critical century. It asks two key questions: What does it mean to claim that global connections are in the past rather than the present or the future, and what does it mean to claim that one has lost one’s culture, but not because anyone else took it away or destroyed it?