AN ETHNOGRAPHER'S TALE: ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH IN NETHERLANDS (WEST) NEW GUINEA (1950 – 1962)1

A major part of the ethnographic literature concerning present-day Irian Jay a is based on research dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. Following the independence of Indonesia, West New Guinea remained a separate Dutch colony between 1950 and 1962. The Dutch colonial administration had had little ethnographic interest in the area since the beginning of the century, so that interest in knowledge concerning the indigenous population had yet to develop. Lack of manpower, finances and time to instigate adequate research meant that the resulting search for ethnographic data became itself a complex social process. People from a range of backgrounds and training - not only academic researchers, but also administrative and missionary personnel - became involved in the gathering of ethnographic material, often while engaged in quite different duties. In this article some light is shed both on the resulting structure of research and on the motivations behind the separate research efforts. At the end of the article some conclusions are drawn concerning the nature of the material gathered.     

Population and poverty in dependent states: Latin America considered

"Malthusians maintain that rapid population growth aggravates poverty, while Marxists contend that social formations determine its nature and extent. Each perspective is incomplete, however, since it ignores the insights of the other. Latin American states, characterized by dependent capitalism formations and dominated by ruling elites, are generally incapable of solving the problems of population and poverty. Since population growth under dependent capitalism weakens labor's bargaining position against capital, reduced population growth is emphasized as a labor empowerment strategy the poor can implement on their own to improve their socioeconomic conditions."     

Some Spatial Representation Problems in Disease Modeling

The paper examines the applicability of spatial representation ideas to the determination of equilibrium solutions for multiregion disease models. In particular, alternatives to the standard specification of regionally variable infectivity rates are devised and their impact on the space-time behavior of a carrier model for Hodgkin's disease is assessed using data for Greater Manchester.