New Books in Sociology

Tuomas Tammisto, "Hard Work: Producing Places, Relations and Value on a Papua New Guinea Resource Frontier" (Helsinki UP, 2024)

Apr 6, 2025

Tuomas Tammisto, a socio-cultural anthropologist and research fellow at Tampere University, dives into his book exploring the complex lives of the Mengen people in Papua New Guinea. He discusses their intricate relationships with land, resource extraction, and external influences like NGOs and corporations. Tammisto also highlights the cultural significance of traditional lament songs, the challenges of logging, and how communal labor shapes identity. The podcast reveals the delicate balance between environmental conservation and community needs in an ever-evolving socio-political landscape.

02:05:32

Episode guests

Tuomas Tammisto

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The Mengen people's relationship with their land revolves around resource extraction, shaping both their cultural identity and social dynamics.

Work within the Mengen community is redefined to include nurturing relationships and social reproduction, emphasizing the value of communal responsibilities.

Community conservation efforts spearheaded by local leaders highlight the intersection of cultural identity and environmental sustainability in response to resource exploitation.

Deep dives

Evolving Human-Environmental Relations

The discussion centers on the human-environmental relationships among the Mengen people of Papua New Guinea, showcasing their connections to land, natural resources, and external actors such as companies and NGOs. The book illustrates how the Mengen's agricultural, logging, and conservation practices reflect their views on value production and resource extraction, shaping both their environment and social dynamics. For instance, their farming methods are not just about food production but are deeply tied to kinship and communal identities. This interplay highlights the cultural significance of these practices and their implications for understanding value in communal contexts.

Intro

3min

Exploring Papua New Guinea: A Journey of Discovery

15min

Exploring Marginalization and Resource Dynamics in Papua New Guinea

5min

Cultural Expressions of Loss: Mangan Songs and Laments

2min

Songs of Grief and Kinship in Mengen Culture

26min

Land Politics and Logging in Papua New Guinea

28min

Labor and Community in Papua New Guinea's Plantations

14min

Conservation and Conflict in White Bay

19min

Exploring Road Networks and Their Impact on Papua New Guinea's Development

5min

On the podcast today I am joined by socio-cultural anthropologist, Tuomas Tammisto, who is an academy research fellow in Social Anthropology at Tampere University. Tuomas is joining me to talk about his recently published book, Hard Work: Producing Places, Relations and Value on a Papua New Guinea Resource Frontier (Helsinki UP, 2024)

Hard Work examines human-environmental relations, value production, natural resource extraction, and state formation within the context of the Mengen people of Papua New Guinea. It provides elaborate, rich ethnography to make sense of how the Mengen engage with their land and outside actors like companies, NGOs, and the state through agriculture, logging, plantation labor, and environmental conservation. These practices have shaped the Mengen’s lived environment, while also sparking debates on what is considered valuable and how value is created.

The book is the result of hard work: for years Tuomas Tammisto has gained rich empirical research to detail how indigenous Mengen people perceive and live with the threats of logging. The chapters are not only rich in ethnography and theory, but they are also interlaced with beautiful photos and poetic song lyrics both in the original and translated languages, to provide an eye-opening window into Mengen perceptions of their complex lived environment.

The book is Open Access and available to read for free here.

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New Books in Sociology

Tuomas Tammisto, "Hard Work: Producing Places, Relations and Value on a Papua New Guinea Resource Frontier" (Helsinki UP, 2024)

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Evolving Human-Environmental Relations

Kinship and Care as Work

Logging and Landowner Companies

The Impact of Oil Palm Plantations

Conservation as Empowerment

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts