Story

Modern Life in Papua New Guinea

January 28, 2013 | Pulitzer Center
By
Céline Rouzet, for the Pulitzer Center

A Huli man with a homemade gun, also called “one-shot gun,” in a village nearby Tari, Hela Province. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

In 2003, there were 164 conflict-related deaths in the Tari area and 40 more over the first eight months of the following year, according to a 2007 study. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

In the Tari area, tribal fighting re-emerged in the 1980s – following independence in 1975 – together with a rise in criminality and politically motivated violence. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. A view of the central business district and a Motuan village. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

Informal market in front of a beer store in the Badilli area, Port Moresby. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

The sign reads: “It is forbidden to wash in this funerary area.” The landslide at the Tumbi Quarry, near Hides Gas Project Area, Hela Province, took about 60 lives by burying 40 homes on Jan. 24, 2012. No official death toll exists. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

A landowner on the way to his house on a Hides construction site. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

A Hides site where the gas conditioning plant is being built stands alongside traditional houses in the Hela Province. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

A child on the road to a Motuan village, Port Moresby. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

The outcast landowners of Hides village in Hela Province, where the natural gas plant is located. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

A young woman in Hides. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

Tari, the small capital of the new Hela Province. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

Huli men armed for a tribal war, nearby Tari. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

Tari is the main market, transport hub, and capital of the Hela Province. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

Only about 40 percent of school-aged children in the Hela Province attended school in 2010, according to a 2010 National Research Institute report. Literacy levels were 30 percent for women and 41 percent for men in 2002. Image by Céline Rouzet. Papua New Guinea, 2012.

Exxon Mobil's natural gas project in Papua New Guinea could be a blessing for the economy or a threat to the 60,000 people who can claim "customary ownership" of tribal lands. These photographs show outcast landowners and others who live in Hela province.