Morality and a Mosbi Market

Abstract

Markets in Port Moresby like elsewhere in the world provide a space for economic activity and social interaction. This article engages with two moral concerns that arise from the market. Firstly, I present a description of how the ban of the sale of betel nut is being negotiated by vendors and customers alike in the face of threats of violence from enforcement officials such as police. Secondly, I present concerns that arise at the local Village Court, which is also housed at the market. Both activities invoke debate about morality as they raise discussion about citizen and government responsibility, ideas of place and ways of being.

Bridewealth a Pardon: New Relationships and Restoration of Good Daughters

“…In the cases that follow I show how bridewealth, far from denying a woman's agency to choose freely, is fundamental to the recognition of her autonomy in entering into marriage and marks her choice as good . As both Rooney (2019) and Hukula (2019) identify, being a good or 'ideal' person is realized in the social action that these notions provoke and/or create in daily life and when displayed in sharing, gifting and exchange practices. Both Rooney (2019) and Hukula (2019) use the Tok Pisin term luksave to explain within their respective ethnographic contexts, how social action is deployed to identify a good or 'ideal' person.…”

“…As both Rooney (2019) and Hukula (2019) identify, being a good or 'ideal' person is realized in the social action that these notions provoke and/or create in daily life and when displayed in sharing, gifting and exchange practices. Both Rooney (2019) and Hukula (2019) use the Tok Pisin term luksave to explain within their respective ethnographic contexts, how social action is deployed to identify a good or 'ideal' person. Rooney (2019:162) suggests through an analysis of local market economy in urban PNG, that luksave is a basis from which acts of sharing infer 'virtuous valuation on acts of giving' while Hukula (2019:170) argues luksave as it relates to exchange practice, 'equates to recognition' in relationships based on kinship and affinity.…”

“…Both Rooney (2019) and Hukula (2019) use the Tok Pisin term luksave to explain within their respective ethnographic contexts, how social action is deployed to identify a good or 'ideal' person. Rooney (2019:162) suggests through an analysis of local market economy in urban PNG, that luksave is a basis from which acts of sharing infer 'virtuous valuation on acts of giving' while Hukula (2019:170) argues luksave as it relates to exchange practice, 'equates to recognition' in relationships based on kinship and affinity. Furthermore, 'people explain their exchange behaviour by explicit reference to relational moral judgements'.…”

“…Furthermore, 'people explain their exchange behaviour by explicit reference to relational moral judgements'. (Hukula 2019:170). Both offer analysis of intricate social spaces that help to determine gutpela pasin through the social action of luksave as the positive acknowledgement of social and kin relationships.…”

“…Where the exchange of bridewealth signifies social cohesion, it also has effects in kinship and affinal relationships that produce social harmony and continuity (LiPuma 1988). In PNG these practices are made within the framework of moral action, or pasin , and reinforced and acknowledged by and through the action and behaviour displayed as part of a person's relatedness to others or luksave (Hukula 2017, 2019). The practice of bridewealth in PNG and across Melanesia is socially significant in that on a micro level it solidifies relationships between men and women by recognizing relatedness between and amongst individuals; while on a macro level, it produces and reinforces important social relationships through recognized moral actions amongst kin and affine or luksave as a matter of gutpela pasin .…”