The spirit of Rabaul after the volcano

Abstract

Rabaul Town, in Papua New Guinea, is viewed with ambiguous nostalgia by the residents of local Tolai villages such as Matupit. In this article, I examine the ways in which proximity to the town has shaped Matupi views of the role of money in shaping social relations. In particular, through a comparison between contemporary hopes and fears concerning the role of 'town-money' and those expressed half a century ago in the work of A.L. Epstein, I seek to illustrate that such ambiguity is not a recent event but reflects an on-going tension in the relationship between Matupit and the nearby town that shaped its history. Finally, I examine the ways in which resettlement after the volcanic eruption that partially destroyed Rabaul Town in 1994 has cast the town as an emblem of backward customary tendencies, contrary to expectations that the urban is the epicentre of anti-customary modernisation.