“We Are So Happy EPF Came”: Transformations of Gender in Port Moresby Schools

In this article, we examine the work of Equal Playing Field (EPF), an organization that introduces ideas of gender equity to students in schools in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Drawing on interviews with students, teachers, and EPF staff and volunteers, we demonstrate that the design and implementation of the EPF program is derived from Western liberal ideas of gender difference and the desirability of an educational environment that removes gender discrimination. Without discounting the challenges of upholding these ideas and practices in Port Moresby schools, we argue that they have gained traction among students and teachers and that the potential long-term benefits of this arguably outweigh the risks and challenges entailed. Demonstrating that programs such as those run by EPF are no longer instances of external donors imposing foreign agendas for social change on uninformed or unwilling recipients, we place under scrutiny notions that the appeal to human rights is inappropriate, irrelevant, or necessarily alien in the context of urban life in PNG. Instead, we suggest that, as with other programs that promote human rights awareness in PNG, the problem for such educational projects is that they assume support services and practical solutions that simply do not exist

Death and Rebirth of Atlántida: The Role of Social Learning in Bringing about Transformative Sustainability Processes in an Ecovillage

This paper explores the role of social learning in bringing about transformative sustainability processes among individuals and communities. At a time when sustainability is being seriously questioned in terms of what it is and how it can be implemented and evaluated, there are increasing calls to focus instead on sustainability processes. Drawing on 12 months of action-oriented research, including interviews and community-reflection meetings, and with contributions by two co-researchers from the community studied, this paper explores the triple-loop learning process of an ecovillage in Colombia called Atlántida. The findings show that disruptions in the community provided the opportunity for members to enter into a process of deep learning, because they were willing to reflect collectively on their process. This, however, took place in a tough reflective environment in which it was realised that differences in world views, ethics and leadership among members had contributed to the ‘death’ of the community, while their acknowledgement and acceptance of these differences were contributing to a process of transformative ‘rebirth.’ We therefore conclude that, when we talk about social learning as a deep transformative process, it is vital to remember that, though it may be necessary, nobody said it was going to be easy

Women and politics in Papua New Guinea.

This volume comprises papers presented to the Department of Political and Social Change's fifth annual seminar on Papua New Guinea, held at The Australian National University in May 1984, together with an introductory paper by Professor Maev O'Collins. It brings together contributions by Papua New Guineans and foreigners, politicians and scholars, women and men

Reflecting on loss in Papua New Guinea

This article takes up the conundrum of conducting anthropological fieldwork with people who claim that they have 'lost their culture,' as is the case with Suau people in the Massim region of Papua New Guinea. But rather than claiming culture loss as a process of dispossession, Suau claim it as a consequence of their own attempts to engage with colonial interests. Suau appear to have responded to missionization and their close proximity to the colonial-era capital by jettisoning many of the practices characteristic of Massim societies, now identified as 'kastom.' The rejection of kastom in order to facilitate their relations with Europeans during colonialism, followed by the mourning for kastom after independence, both invite consideration of a kind of reflexivity that requires action based on the presumed perspective of another

Engineered SH2 domains with tailored specificities and enhanced affinities for phosphoproteome analysis

Protein phosphorylation is the most abundant post-translational modification in cells. Src homology 2 (SH2) domains specifically recognize phosphorylated tyrosine (pTyr) residues to mediate signaling cascades. A conserved pocket in the SH2 domain binds the pTyr side chain and the EF and BG loops determine binding specificity. By using large phage-displayed libraries, we engineered the EF and BG loops of the Fyn SH2 domain to alter specificity. Engineered SH2 variants exhibited distinct specificity profiles and were able to bind pTyr sites on the epidermal growth factor receptor, which were not recognized by the wild-type Fyn SH2 domain. Furthermore, mass spectrometry showed that SH2 variants with additional mutations in the pTyr-binding pocket that enhanced affinity were highly effective for enrichment of diverse pTyr peptides within the human proteome. These results showed that engineering of the EF and BG loops could be used to tailor SH2 domain specificity, and SH2 variants with diverse specificities and high affinities for pTyr residues enabled more comprehensive analysis of the human phosphoproteome. Statement: Src Homology 2 (SH2) domains are modular domains that recognize phosphorylated tyrosine embedded in proteins, transducing these post-translational modifications into cellular responses. Here we used phage display to engineer hundreds of SH2 domain variants with altered binding specificities and enhanced affinities, which enabled efficient and differential enrichment of the human phosphoproteome for analysis by mass spectrometry. These engineered SH2 domain variants will be useful tools for elucidating the molecular determinants governing SH2 domains binding specificity and for enhancing analysis and understanding of the human phosphoproteome

Gender injustice in compensating injury to autonomy in English and Singaporean negligence law

The extent to which English law remedies injury to autonomy (ITA) as a stand-alone actionable damage in negligence is disputed. In this article I argue that the remedy available is not only partial and inconsistent (Keren-Paz in Med Law Rev, 2018) but also gendered and discriminatory against women. I first situate the argument within the broader feminist critique of tort law as failing to appropriately remedy gendered harms, and of law more broadly as undervaluing women’s interest in reproductive autonomy. I then show by reference to English remedies law’s first principles how imposed motherhood cases—Rees v Darlington and its predecessor McFarlane v Tayside Health Board—result in gender injustice when compared with other autonomy cases such as Chester v Afshar and Yearworth v North Bristol NHS Trust: A minor gender-neutral ITA is better remedied than the significant gendered harm of imposing motherhood on the claimant; men’s reproductive autonomy is protected to a greater extent than women’s; women’s reproductive autonomy is protected by an exceptional, derisory award. Worst of all, courts refuse to recognise imposed motherhood as detriment; and the deemed, mansplained, nonpecuniary joys of motherhood are used to offset pecuniary upkeep costs, forcing the claimant into a position she sought to avoid and thus further undermining her autonomy. The recent Singaporean case ACB v Thomson Medical Pte Ltd, awarding compensation for undermining the claimant’s genetic affinity in an IVF wrong-sperm-mix-up demonstrates some improvement in comparison to English law, and some shared gender injustices in the context of reproductive autonomy. ACB’s analysis is oblivious to the nature of reproductive autonomy harm as gendered; and prioritises the father’s interest in having genetic affinity with the baby over a woman’s interest in not having motherhood imposed upon her

Grass Roots and Deep Holes: Community Responses to Mining in Melanesia

This introduction contextualizes the discussion of community responses to mining in Melanesia by looking first at the policies of minerals extraction and the shift of academic interest from economic development to the social effects of mining. As this collection concentrates on Papua New Guinea, an analysis of the sector and its problems in that country is briefly contrasted with the situation in other Pacific Island nations, canvassing the idea that the economic “resource curse” might have a social dimension. The varying interpretations of local impact and anthropological studies have challenged notions of unified interest or consensus at the local level, revealing ambivalence and contradictions. An overview of the contributions made in this special issue to current debates about stakeholder interests and economic sustainability is presented, showing that understandings of mining and its social consequences at each stage of the process are always inflected by the cultural conceptions of change, wealth, and resources that obtain in a community

Changing paths : an historical ethnography of the traders of Tubetube

In this thesis I examine processes of economic and social change and the ways in which they have transformed the small island community of Tubetube in Milne Bay Province, P.N.G. since contact. The study is based on anthropological fieldwork and historical research and proceeds from an analysis of modern economy. Prior to European intervention in the region, Tubetube people were sea-faring traders who were able to support a large population on imported goods. They were participants in the network of inter-island exchange called kune (kula) and my study of the economic changes which affected trading relationships entails an assessment of Tubetube kune over the last hundred years. I argue that pacification, the introduction of European goods, and the Christian conversion of the Tubetube people effected profound changes in their trading economy and the system of alliances between separate communities. I explore the nature of these changes and the conservative ideologies of exchange which have sustained and adapted to new political relationships and economic strategies