ABSTRACT
In 1994, I returned briefly to the Eastern Iatmul village of Tambunum in the middle Sepik River of Papua New Guinea.1 Tambunum is a large and prosperous, fishing and horticultural community that is well integrated into the Melanesian marketplace, and a central tourist destination in the region. My two village brothers had converted the rear room of my house into a modest tradestore. On the door was a cardboard sign that read in Neo-Melanesian Pidgin or tokpisin, ‘No ken kam askim moa long dinau. Yupela mas sem.’ In colloquial English, ‘Don’t ask for any more IOUs. Have some shame.’
