Steel to Stone: A Chronicle of Colonialism in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea

In this work the late Jeffrey Clark examines the history of colonialism among the Wiru of Papua New Guinea. He reflects upon his own fieldwork as an anthropologist as he scrutinizes the cultural construction of encounters and exchanges between New Guineans and Australians from the 1930s onwards. Colonized and colonizers alike are the focus of an analysis that draws upon theories of culture, temporality, discursive representation, and anthropology in the postcolonial era. This study offers an original critique of several different theories and perspectives and, in its ensemble of frameworks, constitutes an innovative contribution to anthropological thinking about history and culture. Of especial interest is Clark's application, in a New Guinean context, of Foucault's analysis of the way in which new regimes of power and knowledge are inscribed on the body . The Wiru, faced with the impact of a colonizing culture, are shown to inscribe their own history on the body, and to read in it their understanding of particular events.

Review:

Steel to Stone is a welcome contribution to the ever-innovative practice of Pacific anthropology. We will miss Jeffrey Clark's voice. The Journal of the Polynesian Society This is a densely written and provocative book, rich in ideas and first-rate enthnography, that will be relevant to scholars far beyond the Melanesianist circles and should be of interest to historians, students of colonial culture, culture theory, as well as to anthropologists. It constitutes a highly innovative contribution to anthropological thinking about history and culture, and will ensure that Clark's spirit lives on in the intellectual debates generated by his last book. Paideuma A challenging and in some ways radical piece of work ... a refreshing and profound analysis. Paideuma