A braided chronology to elucidate temporalities of a mine on New Guinea

Abstract

The concept of mining temporalities is applied to a mining district on New Guinea. Data to inform the temporalities and configure them into a chronology were gathered in the district and its environs. These data were supplemented with secondary sources, mostly involving similar fieldwork in this location, and corporate and governmental sources. The district has an indigenous population comprising two peoples who traditionally lived distinctly on contiguous territories. These peoples claim these territories, including lands inside the district, as theirs. In contrast, these territories and those comprising the rest of western New Guinea are claimed by, and recognised geopolitically as part of, the Republic of Indonesia. Accordingly, its Government has licenced the rights to mine in the district to a global mining corporation and supports the corporation, militarily and civically. Mining began in the 1960s, since when the district has been charged with the diverse political, economic, ecological and social interests of these central characters—the two peoples, the government and the corporation. This is in complete contrast to the district's previously sedate circumstances, with the two peoples’ territories physically demarcated by mountainous terrain and largely unvisited by outsiders. These circumstances are elaborated as a braided chronology composed of three strands, one for each people and the third for everybody else. This braided format recognises the plural nature of circumstances, events and experiences, and the potential for contrasting patterns of remembrances and anticipations. It demonstrates how this plurality almost certainly inspires multiple temporalities attaching to the resource extraction, rather than a single temporality agreed amongst everyone involved. Also, the format is suggestive of the analytical properties of contrasting temporalities to explain conflicts over mining. Arising from these results are such possibilities as mitigating or eradicating conflicts, or conditioning or restricting mining so that it better serves those whom it affects worst.