Human Biological Histories of Papua New Guinea
Change in population size caused by variable growth rates in Papua New Guinea is a function of ecological stress in the past, as well as recent changes associated with differential economic change. Factors influencing population size in the prehistoric and pre-colonial past include transitions in subsistence ecology and the changing disease ecologies which have accompanied them. Social factors influencing population size during the colonial period (prior to 1975) include differential economic modernisation of coastal areas since about the 1880's, and differential economic modernisation in the Highlands since 1951.
In both geographical areas, some populations saw far-reaching changes in entry into the cash economy, diet, health, morbidity and mortality, and birthrates, all of which have influenced fertility schedules and population size and structure. Although the extent of urbanism on island New Guinea is very low relative to many parts of the world, it has increased steadily across this century, changing the nature of rural human ecology by way of urban-rural linkages. This project examines the ways in which economic modernisation and urban linkages have, by interacting with a changing rural subsistence ecology and health conditions, influenced demographic change, including changing patterns of mortality, fertility, and migration. The project draws on historical, archival and fieldwork data to create a synthesis of changing population biology since the onset of colonialism.
The period following political independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975 has been one of unprecedented social and economic change. The rate of this change has varied enormously across the country, and has had varying impacts on rural population structure and size, as well as the degree to which such populations are economically tied to urban centres. The Purari populations and their neighbours have undergone rapid economic and demographic change across this period, and now experience a previously unknown degree of urban connectedness and modernization. At the same time, the previously remote Mountain Ok population has been exposed to mining and modernization on an unprecedented scale since 1981.
A further focus of this work entails an analysis of these populations in transition, and an exploration of the implications that social and economic change have on subsistence, nutrition, reproductive performance and demography. The study is set in the broader context of the socioeconomic change occurring in Papua New Guinea in general, but also includes communities and populations undergoing modernisation across the developing world. The project involves collaboration between Prof Stanley Ulijaszek and colleagues at the Australian National University , Canberra , and the University of Melbourne, Australia.