Is literature not part of our culture....
15 May 2025
MICHAEL DOM
“In order to find solutions for socioeconomic improvement it is very important to define precisely what is good for a society within its cultural context”
LAE – A few years ago, Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, was incredibly foolish not to support the development of a literary culture when it came knocking at his door in the guise of writers Daniel Kumbon, Caroline Evari and Betty Wakia (see photo).
Or perhaps he wasn’t being foolish. Perhaps the snub was purposeful.
Perhaps PM Marape is a creature of the culture defining his prioritisation of what is good for PNG and, given that our core cultural values are tribal, how supporting a home-grown literature would work for us as a nation.
Neither proposition – fool or cool - is particularly appealing.
It’s not worthy of us to pursue the first pronouncement, after all Marape has beaten back two votes of no-confidence, and that was after he unseated the previously unassailable Peter O’Neill, whose reign not even the judicial arm of government could bring to grief.
So, if he’s clearly not prone to foolishness, it is more likely that Marape is a creature of his culture. But, what is his ‘cultural controller’?
James Marape is a Huli chieftain. He is also an Elder in the Seventh Day Adventist faith.
By his own words, he had remained loyal to Somare, his political father – and he’s had a long and dedicated political service record, regardless on which side he sat in parliament. And irrespective of the perceptions of political pundits in the press gallery and the public outside it.
Somare’s autobiography, Sana, is almost synonymous with our national literature, having a legacy which will far outreach some of his contemporaries, maybe even the great Simbu politician Iambakey Okuk.
Okuk, who was a skilful politician himself, was instrumental in getting Somare elected as PNG’s first prime minister and he has his own place in the political mysticism of Simbu.
As he moved to become prime minister, Marape had embraced the slogan Take Back PNG coined by fellow parliamentarian, Gary Juffa, who has a literary license-to-kill which he has often used.
So, Marape is not ignorant of the power of language to capture the imagination of a nation, in speech if not in action.
Even O’Neill gave the nod to leaving a legacy in literature by having his biography published in a book titled My Dreams.
I have placed O’Neill’s legacy into poetry which will, for the benefit of the nation, be read for many more decades after he and I have each fertilised about four-cubic meters of earth.
I did the same for his prime ministerial predecessor Somare and then Marape.
So, these three gentlemen were already direct beneficiaries of a national literature that they did not support. That’s exceedingly ungrateful, from the perspective of PNG authors.
However, I wonder what resultant rationale emerging from the complex potpourri of cultural, religious, political and social factors affecting the psyche of James Marape, would have led to ignoring an impressive petition seeking his support for national writers and for a fledgling national literature?
As a Huli chief, surely he was inducted into their deep and mystical heritage, one of the few in the country which sports a religious belief system of its own.
As I understand, in Huli traditional culture, deep religious knowledge is a source of power and status. I assume that sits well with Marape’s Adventist faith.
But what about the deep understanding and wisdom to be found in literature overall, being secular sources of knowledge other than the Adventist approved Holy Bible?
As one of my mentors suggests, it is likely that Marape’s Adventist faith effectively prohibits him from supporting and promoting the publication of any writing other than that which is biblically based or approved by the church.
I wonder then how that guides his policy writing, because often the outcome of government policy does not appear to me to come from God. So, maybe ‘give unto Caesar…’
Religion may set rules about how to live a good life, or about what is good, but culture permits, omits and edits a society’s interpretations of what may be deemed acceptable, tolerable or redeemable in the course of everyday human action and interaction.
Politics, on the other hand, may seek to influence, negotiate, manage or manipulate a society’s approaches towards what is good, but the cultural background of politicians affects their thinking in an a priori manner which they merely act out.
Then again, social factors may also exert their influence on leaders, although it’s arguable what good impact this may have on the members of parliament who sit within the socioeconomic income bracket (and lifestyle) of company CEO’s and other wealthy elite.
What’s more, it’s commonly observed that the majority of MPs no longer live in their electorates. So, how does that work for the good of their people?
Alternatively, it may be that Marape’s reasoning was about pure and simple economics.
He was the finance minister after all, so it’s likely that he could see immediately how uneconomical supporting a national literary culture may be from the outset.
The government coffers might drop by 0.0001 of a percentage, and that’s one thousand tithes to recover costs by SDA-math.
And PNG authors don’t sell many books so, there’s that.
Maybe the slogan to ‘Buy PNG books’ was counterintuitive to Marape, or maybe the actual ask was not articulated directly, that writers needed the government to help make their books more accessible and affordable, while they were working on increasing the popularity, creating greater awareness of the value of PNG writing, and building the brand of a national literature.
That seems to me to be a worthy national project in the lead up to the 50th anniversary of PNG independence.
But then again I’m not as politically savvy as Marape. Maybe he divined that support for PNG authors and a national literature was political suicide.
At this juncture of our history maybe we should be asking whether having a national literature is culturally acceptable or even relevant to Papua New Guineans. And what purpose does it serve.
It often seems to me, perhaps mistakenly (I’ve done no survey), that most university educated Papua New Guineans still struggle with nurturing a mentally healthy reading habit, or even to understand the meaning of and functionality of interacting with literature, let alone actually being able to read and write legibly.
Apart from the last, I do not exclude myself from most of these aspects.
As to question of'culture and literature, the immense longevity of original culture drowns out recent literature.
No sound accompanies two dimensional markings on the plain surface of a book. But where that information is delivered as spoken aural input for listening, that may align with custom.
Immediately it is then in the realm and grasp of leaders, including politicians, for whom aural information is a key function supporting of intention.
As example of how sound supports culture, it was a cassette player with tapes such as of German baroque music that delighted my aural senses in 1968-71 in Oro Province, yielding a 'heightening' matched by the nearby Sumbiripa (Mount Lamington).
Posted by: Lindsay F Bond | 16 May 2025 at 04:06 PM
Is having a national literature relevant to Papua New Guineans?
Apart from the sheer pleasure of reading stories to which one can directly relate, there are several important reasons why Papua New Guinean people need a national literature of their own.
One of these reasons becomes abundantly clear in the comments that follow the publication of Papua New Guinean stories in places like PNG Attitude.
Many of these stories capture and explain cultural aspects which have elapsed or disappeared since the coming of modernity. They invariably evoke clan, tribal and national pride.
Literature provides a precious link and explanation of the inherited cultural aspects from the multiple and disparate groups that make up Papua New Guinean society. You have to know about where you came from to understand who you are and where you are going.
Unfortunately many people in Papua New Guinea, especially those in the towns, have lost those links. Literature can help to fill this void and explain what it means to be a Papua New Guinean.
James Marape would probably disagree with this idea. He sees Papua New Guinea as a Christian nation and no doubt believes that is all that is required to be a Papua New Guinean. He would say you don’t need either a unique culture or a national literature if you have Christianity.
That sort of thinking smacks of medievalism or the sort of Orwellian communism that once ruled China and the Soviet Union.
As I recall, certain writers, especially those who were public servants, who contributed work in the early days of the Crocodile Prize for Literature, were so afraid of what the Papua New Guinea government might do to them they insisted upon anonymity if their work was to be published.
Thankfully that fear disappeared quite rapidly. That’s probably because those writers are more circumspect and cleverer rather than because of any newfound liberal attitude on the part of the government. James Marape likes that situation and has stated many times that he believes the public shouldn’t be allowed to criticise the government.
The United States of America is a highly Christianised country but it still manages to maintain a vibrant literary culture. Admittedly that literature supports much of its Christian ethos and culture but there are also subversive elements which freely question those values.
Certain Christian interests, now championed by President Donald Trump, are using censorship and the control of public libraries and schools to diminish the impact of these alternate points of view. Those zealots would probably rejoice at the current state of literature in Papua New Guinea.
If there is no national literature and Christianity doesn’t fulfil the cultural needs or national pride, what are people going to use as an alternative? Social media? Film and television? (Bearing in mind that the genesis of these sorts of things usually begin when a writer puts pen to paper).
The short answer is probably something made in America. But do you really want to fulfil your cultural needs through the sort of stuff that comes out of America?
Some people do, I suppose, raskols and politicians for instance.
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The main reason why most of those early Papua New Guinean writers chose to use their own names was because most of the even earlier Papua New Guinean writers decided to do just that. The blog also encourages the use of real names but we also allow 'pen names' or anonymity if people explain to us why their real name should not be used - KJ
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Posted by: Philip Fitzpatrick | 15 May 2025 at 04:34 PM
Those "approaches towards what is good", are they but hope, not yet a plan?
Of "mystical", is that "to-be-researched-and-explained-in-hypothesis" more widely acceptable?
Of such plan and basis, is that whither or whether or wither?
Having a population tittering on each-next-political-polite is short of the aspiration among teachers who gave their many years of service at the now-nation's schools and universities.
Then again, of eruptions, only geophysical thus far.
Bring on "brand of a national literature" in which earnest cultivation is planned.
Posted by: Lindsay F Bond | 15 May 2025 at 09:54 AM