ABSTRACT
‘Globalization’ is a key word of the present and, as such, a contested term. In the most general sense, ‘globalization is a matter of increasing long-distance interconnectedness, at least across national boundaries, preferably between continents as well’. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book reports that among the Warn peoples of the East Sepik Province mediations form an important instrument of conflict management. It deals with sports and games, important occasions in modern societies through which ethnic and social groups, such as villages, may define their boundaries and thereby maintain their ethnic and social identity. The book discusses problems relating to defining, interpreting and representing cultural ‘traditions’ from the anthropological fieldworker’s point of view. It represents a case where identity is still alive and well in a modern, urban setting; but this identity does not necessarily involve the maintenance of a separate culture.
