Money Games: Gambling in a Papua New Guinea Town

Anthony J. Pickles

Published by Berghahn Books 2019

Money Games

Gambling in a Papua New Guinea Town

Anthony J. Pickles

Volume 10 in the series ASAO Studies in Pacific Anthropology

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781789202229

Overview
Contents

About this book

Gambling in Papua New Guinea, despite being completely absent prior to the Colonial era, has come to supersede storytelling as the region’s main nighttime activity. Money Games is an ethnographic monograph which reveals the contemporary importance of gambling in urban Papua New Guinea. Rich ethnographic detail is coupled with cross-cultural comparison which span the globe. This anthropological study of everyday economics in Melanesia thereby intersects with theories of money, value, play, informal economy, social change and leadership.

Author / Editor information

Anthony J. Pickles is British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and Bye-Fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge. He was formerly Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge.

Reviews

“This ability to tie gambling to broader economic practices, processes of identification, and social changes, is one of the key strengths of this monograph…It is an engaging and thoroughly interesting ethnography that will be of great interest to all students of economic anthropology, the cultural and social dynamics of Pacific Island communities, and the interdisciplinary field of gambling studies.” • Pacific Affairs

“Money Games is at once wholly original in subject matter and rigorous and convincing in argumentation. This study is a genuine breakthrough in our understanding of contemporary life in Papua New Guinea and it stands as a novel intervention in recent debates about the nature of money and social aspects of economic life.” • Joel Robbins, Sigrid Rausing Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge

“Money Games will doubtless become an important book in the anthropology of economy, value and money, as well as a substantial contribution to the Melanesianist literature.” • Bill Maurer, University of California, Irvine

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Notes on Text Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Selected Histories Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Chapter 2. The Pattern Changes Changes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
Chapter 3. The Tyranny of Denomination Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Chapter 4. The Fastest Money in Goroka Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Chapter 5. The Big-Shots at Old Slots Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
Chapter 6. The Origin of Pooling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 216
Keywords: Melanesia; Highlands; Goroka; Gameplay; Economic Adaptation; Anthropology of gambling; urban Papua New Guinea; Economic anthropology; Pacific gambling; Pokies anthropology; Anthropology of money

eBook

Published: June 6, 2019
ISBN: 9781789202229