ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss the ways in which the Duna people of the Lake Kopiago district in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea are using their indigenous knowledge of the environment and their place within their cosmological framing of the world to adjust to and cope with change. Development projects are one form of change among many that the Duna have encountered over the last 60 years. The Duna had traded with neighbouring groups from different language areas in the pre-colonial past and acquired information on other places and peoples through these interactions. The first colonial explorers to enter into the Duna area were the Fox brothers in 1934 (Schieffelin and Crittenden 1991: 97-100, 268-273). The colonial government administration was established in 1960 and missionaries started entering the area soon thereafter, bringing new ideas and new pressures for the Duna to confront. The state-introduced currency, the kina, has replaced cowrie shells and (to a lesser extent) pearl shells that previously served as wealth. Nowadays, young men earn cash by occasionally working for mining companies such as the Ok Tedi or Porgera mines. Although these men travel for work elsewhere they generally return to their home area. Frequently we have heard them say that while they were away they missed their hunting expeditions, gardens, and the place itself with its abundant forest. Their comments reflect the identification of these men with their landscape, rooted in their everyday activities.
