1. An airplane with its cargo unloaded at the Nomad airstrip, 1998
2. Gebusi greeting Bruce on his arrival, 1998
3. Wahi 1998, airline agent (largely unpaid)
4. Wahi 1998, church translator for the evangelical pastor
5. Wahi 1981, in warrior face and smoking a pipe
6. Didiga as a young boy, 1981
7. Didiga as a young man in 1998 (shirt courtesy of Bruce)
8. Mus, sister of Halia, 1980
9. Mus, 1998
10. Halowa, Yuway’s younger brother, 1981
11. Halowa, carrying his son named “Bruce,” 1998
12. A new generation of children in Gasumi Corners
13. Gwabi, 1981
14. Gwabi, 1998, standing by sweet potatoes from his garden that he has just harvested
15. Gwabi, 1998, proudly holding his young son.
15a. A pile of food purchased at Nomad market for about $2.40 US in 1998; coconuts, squash, sweet potatoes, bamboo shoots, peanuts, papayas, Tahitian chestnuts, sago, cassava, taro, and three kinds of bananas. The root crops, squash, and peanuts are largely crops introduced since pacification.
16. Gebusi leaving Nomad and carrying Bruce’s cargo to Gasumi Corners. The carrier closest to the camera is Modiay.
17. Gasumi Corners hamlet where Bruce resided
18. Bruce’s house, 1998 (flag courtesy of Eileen)
19. Bruce’s house interior, 1998
20. Fieldwork revolution: solar panels and battery for computer use
21. Fieldwork revisited, 1998: talking with Mosomiay and his family while taking computer notes.
22. Fieldwork, 1981: Bruce wrestling with carbon paper
23. Bruce relaxing on his back porch by the dining room table, coconut tree outside
24. Bruce with three Gebusi friends, 1998
25. First light on Bruce’s first morning in Gasumi Corners: Dawn from the back porch of Bruce’s house, looking out over garden clearings and secondary forest.
26. Mist burning off in a hot morning sun, from Bruce’s house, Gasumi Corners
27. Early afternoon storm, viewed from Gasumi Corners
28. Storm ending, viewed from Gasumi Corners
29. Clearing following afternoon storm, Gasumi Corners
30. Dusk, Gasumi Corners
31. Early sunset, Gasumi Corners
32. Late sunset, Gasumi Corners
33. The path to Nomad from Gasumi Corners, showing mixed clearing and secondary forest and a family homestead
34. The path to Nomad from Gasumi Corners across the Hamam River, now bridged for foot travel to Nomad Station.
35. The path to Nomad: the edge of the Nomad Station, looking over the edge of the airstrip toward distant mountains to the northeast.
36. The Nomad Catholic Church, on the outskirts of Nomad near Gasumi Corners
37. The lay pastor of the Nomad Catholic Church, a man from outside the Nomad area, preaching to parishioners from the Bible.
38. Changes in “time”: The Nomad Community School daily schedule, which is divided into fifteen- and thirty-minute schedule periods.
39. Economic isolation at Nomad. During 1980-82, Nomad officers owned a new yellow truck, which they drove around the station and for several miles up the spur of a single road. By 1998, the road had washed out and the truck had broken down and had not been replaced; the Nomad Station had no motor vehicles. As a monument to their economic isolation, people buried the broken truck upside-down, tail in the air, in the main grounds just outside the government station house.
40. The Gasumi Corners Store, begun and operated with Bruce’s help. The store ran successfully, but such local enterprises often fail over time due to problems of supply, unexpected costs, and disputes over money.
41. First graders sitting cross-legged on the floor listening to an arithmetic lesson at the Nomad Community School.
42. Girl standing by the altar of the Nomad Catholic Church
43. The Catholic pastor at Nomad harangues the congregation using the moral lesson of a Bible story.
44. Yuway in costume after a feast, 1981
45. Yuway dancing, following his initiation, 1981
46. Yuway as senior man, 1998
47. Yuway holding an initiation arrow he has carved, 1998
48. Christian conversion poster #1: Dark heart of man closed to God. The devil and forest spirits reign supreme, while the Bible is closed and the fire of the Lord is left outside.
49. Christian conversion poster #2: Black heart of man who resists God. The Bible and the fire of the Lord exert force, but the pagan heart resists and turns black
50. Christian conversion poster #3: The death of a heathen man. A man who has been sinful in life — drinking beer, playing cards, hoarding money — dies forever. His soul burns in hell, accompanied by devils.
51. Christian conversion poster #4: Gray heart of a man beginning to hear God’s word. The Bible and the fire and the eye of the Lord are inside the man’s heart, but the Bible remains closed and the fire is small. The devil and heathen spirits of the forest gather around the heart, attempting to get back in.
52. Christian conversion poster #5: the bright heart of a man who hears God’s word. The book of the Bible opens to the “good news,’ the fire of the Lord burns brightly, and the eye and the mouth of the Lord grow large. The man’s heart is enlightened, while the devil and pagan spirits are repelled.
53. Christian conversion poster #6: The enlightened heart of a converted Christian. The man’s heart enshrines knowledge of the Bible and its various verses and stories. The Lord reigns supreme, the man smiles fully, and the heart is bounded by a solid wall against the devil. Pagan spirits of the forest have disappeared.
54. Christian conversion poster #7: The death of a good Christian man. The man dies with a smile on his face and the Bible open on his chest. Though his wife weeps for him, a white angel ushers his spirit upwards to everlasting life in a golden shining heaven.
55. Small hamlet church of the Seventh Day Adventists, near Gasumi Corners. Yuway stands in a white shirt in the center of the photograph
56. Pastor preaching in the Nomad Evangelical Church of Papua New Guinea
57. A woman listens to the pastor’s sermon in the Evangelical church
58. Men listen to the pastor’s sermon in the Evangelical church
59. Modiay, 1998, wearing the shirt his warden gave him while he was serving his prison term for killing Sabowey.
60. Modiay, 1998, showing his prison skills (and his physique) by carrying a large pot of rice he has cooked for a village feast
61. Modiay, 1998, leans on the porch of my house after telling me his story of Christian conversion
62. Uwano’s corpse, dressed in his white Sunday shirt, wreathed in leaves, and placed in a grave.
63. People of Gasumi Corners cluster around Uwano’s open grave while a Catholic lay pastor reads a passage from the Bible.