|
Posted on 8-4-2003
Money
Makes You Crazy
In the sixteenth century adventuring Spanish explorers discovered
what they believed to be the site of King Solomon's mines and
home to legendary riches. Now these islands are attracting the
attention of a new breed of adventurers with tourists, loggers
and mining companies intent on utilising the rich treasures
of this distant part of the Pacific.
In Money Makes You Crazy: Custom and Change in the Solomon
Islands (published by University of Otago Press), Ross McDonald
explores the impacts these new forces are having on the people
of the Solomon Islands.
Between, and within, the islands of the Solomons are distinct
cultures with unique tribal languages, customs and beliefs.
Told from the perspectives of five communities, Money Makes
You Crazy is a journey into the changing world facing indigenous
peoples not only in the Western Pacific, but everywhere modern
money makes its impact.
Chiefs and elders have often failed to recognise the irreversible
effects of selling resources. Forests are harvested in an unsustainable
way, and the sale of land is full and final. Around the islands,
fish stocks are becoming depleted and shops sell tinned versions
of tuna caught by consortia off their shores. Customary ways
and values are threatened. To earn money, youth often need to
leave their traditional village life for the city. Among those
affected by the selling of resources are people disillusioned
by decisions that seem to benefit the elders and chiefs, but
provide little or nothing for everyone else.
As communities have become aware of the risks involved in parting
with their resources, they may look to alternatives for economic
sustainability. For one community this involves a 'free labour'
system that raises collective funds for taxes, school and medical
supplies. Another village is engaged in carefully managed tourism
through a village stay programme. McDonald also visits a community
that has completely shunned the modern world and returned to
traditional custom and the ways of the ancestors.
The experience of the Solomon Islands represents in microcosm
how western business is affecting traditional, indigenous cultures
and the environments they live in throughout the Pacific.
Ross McDonald teaches Business and Social Issues, Business
and Culture and the Ethics of Modern Economy at the University
of Auckland. His research work in the Pacific is done through
the Mira Szazy Centre for Maori and Pacific Island Development
at the university.
Book Release: 18 April
Books details
Money Makes You Crazy: Custom and Change in the Solomon
Islands. Ross McDonald, ISBN 1 877276 448, RRP $29.95
Ross McDonald is available for interviews. For further information
contact: Amanda Smith, amanda.smith@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Phone 03 479 9094
|
