When journalists, developers, surf tourists, and conservation NGOs cast
Papua New Guineans as living in a prior nature and prior culture, they
devalue their knowledge and practice, facilitating their dispossession.
Paige West's searing study reveals how a range of actors produce and
reinforce inequalities in today's globalized world. She shows how racist
rhetorics of representation underlie all uneven patterns of development
and seeks a more robust understanding of the ideological work that
capital requires for constant regeneration.