Book Reviews

Traditional society is not so conservative

In countries governed by outsiders, economic planning has rarely been undertaken in adequate consultation with the inhabitants.

The planners have frequently insufficient knowledge of the traditional economic system of the inhabitants, their judgments and desires for, and adaptability to, economic change.

In the introduction to his book, Vunamami, Professor Richard Salis bury claims that, as far as the people of Vunamami, a Tolai village on the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain, are concerned, internal political changes have been the crucial factor in using foreign tech nology to achieve modern develop ment.

He believes that too many admin istrators and expatriates in particular are wrong in assuming that external factors, such as overseas finance and advice and personnel to create an infrastructure of social services, are the cause of development. Salisbury maintains that external factors merely facilitate development.

Complex decisions

The author further maintains that unreasoning conservatism is not characteristic of traditional society, that traditional societies are not internally homogeneous and that subsistence farmers do make highly complex decisions.

Therefore, says Salisbury, “no theory of economic development is adequate if it ignores the calculating abilities, the entrepreneurial ten dencies, or the range of individual variation, found among traditional farmers”.

Having thus taken a stand differ ing from the redoubtable Rostow, and others whose writings are pre scribed reading for economic students in the Western world, Salisbury goes on to say: “No argument is ex plicitly made against anthropologists or economists who assume that people living in ‘traditional societies’ are ‘bound by custom’ or are ‘in herently conservative’. An exposition of the facts is enough to show the

falsity of the assumptions on which such theories are based”.

Salisbury’s assertions are backed by measurements made and statistics collated by him, and amplified by a text which deals with historical events at Vunamami, seen through Western and Tolai eyes, and with such aspects of economic activity as copra and cocoa production and marketing, wage labour and co operative retailing. The measure ments and tables are, therefore, basic to the text.

One table (p. 117), for example,

shows Vunamami’s copra exports and income from 1896 to 1921. The figures up to 1912 are based on the assumption that Vunamami sold 3 per cent, of the total Bismarck Archi pelago output.

As much of the land alienation and expatriate coconut palm plant ings on New Ireland, one of the three major islands in the archipelago, occurred well after the peak of alienation on the Gazelle Peninsula, the assumption is a brave one, indeed.

Another table (p. 204) sets out the average number and types of vehicles, the average number of passengers per vehicle, and the average amount of purchases per vehicle at Rabaul market in June and November, 1961.

Six per cent, of all loaded vehicles were checked by the author, two Tolais and six agricultural trainees on three Saturdays in June and one Saturday in November.

Figures queried

They counted 1,538 people leaving the southwest corner of the market on June 10. Again, it is rather brave to base some of the book’s major arguments on conclusions reached from these checks.

Notwithstanding any reservations one may have about some of the fieures, and though one may con sider Professor Salisbury’s views about the role of internal political changes in Vunamami to be too romantic and not very relevant to

the overall New Guinean situation, past and present, the book makes a worthwhile contribution to our know ledge of economic progress among a group of Pacific Islanders whose move into the modern world of commerce started well before that of most other groups.

A great deal of highly interesting, novel and extremely useful informa tion is provided by Professor Salis bury, who has done field work in two different areas in New Guinea.

It would not be surprising if Professor Salisbury’s main intention were to stimulate more thought about, and less complacent accept ance of, the present standard think ing among economic planners in countries such as New Guinea.

As he points out, probably to temper some of his assertions, the study presented by this book should be viewed as complementing theories about stagnant traditional societies, with one analysing the development process in dynamic traditional societies.

Whatever one may think of the overall tenor of the book, it clearly points to the urgent need to bring New Guineans centrally into the decision-making process in economic

matters.

HJ.

(VUNAMAMI—Economic Transformation in a Traditional Society, Melbourne University Press, $9.60).