Synopses & Reviews
Review
andquot;In this field-changing analysis, Jerry K. Jacka shows us a world that is complex and changing, and he takes topics readers think they know and treats them in new and stimulating ways.
Alchemy in the Rain Forest is a brilliant examination of ontological adaptation and change over the course of the history of Papua New Guineaand#39;s highlands.andquot;
Review
andquot;In this unique and nuanced study in highland Papua New Guinea, Jerry K. Jacka shows how royalty and compensatory payments from a multi-national gold mining company percolate through the local kinship system, transform the socioecology, and exacerbate inter-clan violence in a truly horrific way. In place of the idealized relations of neoliberal economics, Jacka posits an and#39;alchemy,and#39; in one of the most revealing and disturbing accounts ever written of industrial resource extraction in the Global South. Sure to become a classic.andquot;
Synopsis
In Alchemy in the Rain Forest Jerry K. Jacka explores how the indigenous population of Papua New Guineaand#39;s Porgeran highlands struggle to create meaningful lives in the midst of the extreme social conflict and environmental degradation brought on by commercial gold mining.
About the Author
Jerry K. Jacka is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas, San Antonio.