Like eating money: Card gambling in a Papua New Guinea Highlands village

Data obtained during two years of participant observation research are drawn on to describe card gambling among the Awa, a society in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Card gambling was introduced by returning labor migrants, who were responsible for transplanting many aspects of u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Gambling Behavior 1989-10, Vol.5 (3), p.231-245
Main Author: Hayano, David M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Gambling
Papua New Guinea
Recreation
Traditional Societies
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Summary:Data obtained during two years of participant observation research are drawn on to describe card gambling among the Awa, a society in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Card gambling was introduced by returning labor migrants, who were responsible for transplanting many aspects of urban migrant culture back to their rural villages. Presently, gambling is seasonal & mainly recreational, & not smoothly integrated into the whole society. As rural villages like the Awa have begun to develop economically, card playing has become less a form of recreation & more a divisive social, economic, & political activity. It is neither a functional substitute for waning traditional activities, nor a microcosmic mirror of traditional society, but a reflection of colonial history & the import of urban/plantation culture to a society in the throes of rapid modernization. 1 Table, 46 References. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0742-0714
1573-3602
DOI:10.1007/BF01024389