Wantok System – Wantok System

Bigmen and Wantoks: Social Capital and Group Behaviour in Papua New Guinea, Working Paper Number 27, Paolo de Renzio

Source: https://core.ac.uk/ The concept of social capital has received a lot of attention in the social sciences in the last few years. It has come to be seen as an important factor in promoting socioeconomic development. Despite the diversity of definitions available and the lack of clarity surrounding the concept, it is claimed that the … Read more

The Wantok System

THE WORLD’S SECOND-LARGEST ISLAND after Greenland is threaded with twisting rivers, rainforests, and swamps. Steep peaks and grassy highlands cross the center. For forty thousand years there were no centralized states. People lived by planting taro, banana, sago, and yam, with some hunting and gathering. No colonialism, and not much world-system, until about the last century. … Read more