The Structural Violence of Resource Extraction in the Purari Delta

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Gulf Province

On the bank of the upper reaches of the Aivei River sat an empty cargo container, detritus from a failed logging and oil palm venture initiated in 1993 (Filer with Sekhran 1998: 188–9; Bell 2009). In 2002, when I first encountered this container, the forest was slowly engulfing its blistering orange-red surface (Figure 6.1). All the heavy equipment brought to this site had been removed r scavenged for parts, and the empty cargo container was all that remained.
In 2010, when I returned, the container had slipped from the bank and was now submerged in the river. While every forest has its share of the remnants of failed projects, the forests, mudflats and tidal creeks of the Purari Delta, and
the wider Gulf of Papua, have more than their fair share. Their presence and lingering absence serve as a testament to the failed and ongoing intersection this region and its inhabitants have with capitalism, and the extent to which forests
are central to these engagements.