Viewing from a Point

On the eve of my 30th birthday, I lost my sister Talitha in a tragic road accident, she was only 26. Like my other siblings, it was hard to digest, even more; I received news a day after the accident as I was in Panguna, and could only access Digicel by standing only at certain locations. This made it more shocking when I received condolence messages before I could confirm my sister's passing. My little family managed to make it in time before her burial at our Father's village in Rempi. This is Talitha's story from a brother's reflection. Talitha was born on the 12 th of February 1992 at the Port Moresby General Hospital. At the time, we lived at the Ranu Flats in 4 Mile. I was only 4 years old, but can vividly recollect the time as she was the sibling after me and the first sister for the brother pair. We had no babysitter hence we had to stay with Mum's younger brother Uncle David, while Dad drove Mum down to the hospital in our little Toyota Starlet. It

Orientalism, or as put by Said; the difference between east and west; is a tri chapter work of what Edward Said concludes, should not have been done in the first place regarding the classification of peoples between the so called civilised west to the uncivilised east. This has greatly contributed to the bias and propaganda that still exists to this day.      In the first chapter, he writes how the world was divided between the east and west. The orients were regarded as sub-human, uncivilised, incapable of running their own affairs, hence needed the intervention of the civilised west. And because they (orients) were incapable, the west could, without their knowledge, represent them. Everything was studied and interpreted according to the interpretation of the west. European generally defined themselves by defining the orient. The second chapter writes the orients’ land and behavior being highly romanticized as the east being exotic and pure. It was in the easts’ purit

Smith has articulated one of the most impressive and informative writings I have ever come across. Research, as her book articulates, “it stirs up silence, it conjures up bad memories, it raises a smile that is knowing and distrustful.” The relevance resounds arguably in many ‘indigenous’ communities as they cannot but agree with subconscious contempt. Having imperialism as the driving force that has and continues to enable research to infiltrate and to an extent ‘colonise’ indigenous groups throughout the world, implies only of the West’s arrogance towards structures and systems that have been established and practiced for thousands of years by indigenous peoples throughout the world. For Bougainville, research is a well-known term in many communities, villages, hamlets, etc. And as a region coming out of two big waves of colonization and then the bloody 10-year civil war, the region has seen much outside influence as much from within their own. Conceptions of

Nilla, comes from the heartland of Panguna in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. This cheerful character is always seen with an affectionate smile that makes her a likable person to anyone she meets. However, this has never been the case in this young woman’s past, as she reflects upon her upbringing through the struggles of 10 year war and the horrendous execution of her “redskin” father at the hands of opportunistic BRA soldiers; she recalls the struggles she and her family went through and how she never gave up her dreams to make it make it to through education. This is the story of Theonila. Theonila was born on the 4 th of September 1990 to a family of five, she was the last. At that time the crisis was at its peak.  Little did she know of a normal life, as everyday was filled with drama of seeing and hearing gunfire, blood and gore from casualties’ battle wounds, and the continual fear of what the next day would hold for the family, this was the life she became accustom