The Death of the Big Men: Depreciation of Elites in New Guinea

Christian Marriage, Money Scams, and Melanesian Social Imaginaries

“…These vices are located within a particular class of men as they characterize undesirable behaviour common to politicians and other ‘big shots’ (Martin , ) or at least heads of households; men with responsibilities ( cf. Gewertz and Errington :114).…”

Elephants in the Pacific? Pacific urbanisation and its discontents

“…The pursuit of wealth by a few rarely allows for such digressions. It is unsurprising that such ‘leaders’ are all too often seen as ‘big shots’– the contemporary bad leader – rather than big men in touch with their roots and their constituents (Martin, 2010) – or concerned with planning for unknown others.…”

“…Government's role in strategic planning and regulation has declined, increasingly limited to ‘meta‐governance’, merely overseeing, steering and coordinating, and becoming ever more central (see Bell and Park, 2006), if that. As in PNG ‘globalised neo‐liberalism and the consequent shrinking of the ability of the post‐colonial state in the developing world to provide welfare and resources for its citizens has contributed to a growing cynicism towards the post‐colonial governing class’ (Martin, 2010: 18). As the state shrinks so the possibility of planning, policy formation and implementation declines further.…”

Big men and business: morality, debt and the corporation A perspective by Keir Martin

“…Gregory argues that is the kind of debt that underpinned the power of the village ‘Big Man’ so familiar to students of Melanesian ethnography, who extended the reach of his social relations and ultimately the number of those indebted to him by creating debts that he had no desire to see repaid. This depiction of gift‐debt as the source of the Big Man's authority finds plenty of support in the ethnographic record at Matupit during the 1960s, when ToGarama was one of the predominant Big Men at Matupit (Martin 2010).…”