Graduate Student, Social Anthropology
St Leonards
Thesis Title: Gambling in Goroka, Highland New Guinea
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Dr Adam Reed
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About
From an initial interest in indigenous enumeration practices in Melanesia, my PhD research was conducted in Goroka Town, Highland Papua New Guinea, on gambling. Card games, slot machines, betelnut markets and gambling events like the State of Origin rugby league series were my stock and trade, but I also worked with such people as devoted Christians, local leaders, beggars and security guards. With special focus on the character of calculation, my thesis will concentrate on money and value in Goroka, often through the lens of gambling activities. I ask the question: What is money if its uses are informed by a truly alternative understanding of personhood and its concommitant arithmetic?
