超越詛咒與恩典：巴布亞紐幾內亞天然氣發展下的 Hiri 歷史記憶

Beyond Curse and Blessing: Remembering Hiri in the Time of Natural Gas Development in Papua New Guinea

能源與礦產的開採與出口是大洋洲獨立國家巴布亞紐幾內亞（巴紐）在殖民時期以及 1975 年獨立之後，政府重要稅收來源與國家達到發展的手段。本文以巴紐第一座液化天然氣發展計畫為例，探討下游液化廠區兼出口站附近的 Motu-Koita 村民如何理解與批判全球能源開採。在過去巴紐採礦的相關文獻中，許多研究將巴紐「傳統」視為地方為了競奪地主的合法性與獨佔採礦利益分配的手段或資源。上述的看法缺乏了長時段的觀點；因此，本文結合 Michel Serres 的「滲透」（percolation）時間觀點與巴紐對於身體與現代化的民族誌文獻，探討 Motu-Koita 村民如何透過 hiri 的口述歷史來理解大型能源投資。Hiri 是過去巴紐東南沿海的區域性貿易活動，以陶器換取西谷米，為貧瘠的區域帶來食物使人免於飢餓。在田野期間，村民在私下或是公開場合，以 hiri 來比擬或理解天然氣的發展：一方面，天然氣計畫如同 hiri 為在國家缺席的偏遠地區帶來發展的可能性，例如，現金、工作與教育等；另一方面，就像大多數的採礦業在巴紐造成社區內、外的衝突、糾紛與日益嚴重的不平等現象，村民以 hiri 的互惠與分享的社會價值，來批判天然氣所帶來的社會衝擊。本文認為 Motu-Koita 人的 hiri 口述歷史，具有飢餓、豐饒與分享的意涵，在巴紐大型能源發展的關鍵時刻，成為地方居民理解採礦所帶來的各種矛盾現象。因此，本文在採礦發展上分析 Motu-Koita 人對 hiri 的記憶，對於原住民的「傳統」作為理論在認識與批判發展計畫本質的可能性探討。

Mining and energy exploitation have been critical sources of government revenue and means for development for the independent nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) since its independence in 1975. Taking the nation’s first liquefied natural gas development project as an example, I examine how the Motu-Koita people, the indigenous population around the downstream liquefaction plant site, make sense of and criticize the global energy extraction on their land. Previous literature on mining in PNG has seen “tradition” as a means to local competition for landowner legitimacy and exclusive distribution of mining benefits. This paper brings a longue-durée perspective to supplement the above body of literature. Combining Michel Serres’ idea of percolation with the ethnographic studies on body and modernity in PNG, this study explores how the Motu-Koita villagers understand the large-scale energy investment through their recollection of hiri. Hiri was a regional trading activity along the southeast coast of PNG. Through hiri, the Motu-Koita people brought food to their barren land and released themselves from hunger. During my fieldwork, villagers constantly compared the natural gas development to the hiri trade: on the one hand, the natural gas project, like hiri, brought food and development, such as cash, jobs, and education, to the rural area; on the other, the Motu-Koita villagers also employed the ideology of reciprocity and sharing in hiri to criticize the increasing conflicts and inequality because of the natural gas project. This paper concludes that Motu-Koita’s recollection of hiri has served as a way for local villagers to understand the ambivalent situations during a critical period of energy exploitation in PNG. This case study of the Motu-Koita people’s bringing hiri to mind in the context of mining development provides a potential way to discuss indigenous “tradition” as a theory for understanding and critiquing the nature of development projects on resource frontiers.