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Dossier 6e conférence de l'ESfO à Marseille (juillet 2005)

From fertility rituals to mining companies: eco-cultural issues and land rights in Oksapmin

Lorenzo Brutti
p. 249-255

Abstracts

This paper describes the Oksapmin representations of land ownership related to the frame of the water use permit payment process, engaged by Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) as a consequence of the ecological impact of the mine operations on the Lagaip-Strickland basin. Even if the Oksapmin society has been fully evangelized during the last two generations, the landowners have recently stressed the pre-contact exegesis in the claims against that foreign mining company. In this essay the author formulates the hypothesis that the claims to the former animist beliefs may be a social strategy to manage land ownership. This strategy provokes, on the side of private companies, a monetary compensation for the «eco-cultural» impact of mining operations. The land issues focus today on the rediscovery of tradition in order to integrate it to modernity. Tradition then acquires a new original rule in contemporary society. The water spirits and the river sacred sites are re-interpreted and perceived as the guardians of land rights, held by mythical actors at the beginning of time.

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References

Bibliographical reference

Lorenzo Brutti, “From fertility rituals to mining companies: eco-cultural issues and land rights in Oksapmin”Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 125 | 2007, 249-255.

Electronic reference

Lorenzo Brutti, “From fertility rituals to mining companies: eco-cultural issues and land rights in Oksapmin”Journal de la Société des Océanistes [Online], 125 | Année 2007-2, Online since 01 December 2010, connection on 29 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/jso/979; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/jso.979

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About the author

Lorenzo Brutti

CNRS CREDO, UMR 6574, Marseille, lorenzo.brutti@pacific-credo.fr

By this author

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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