Fern Ridge (Safla Rama) Digest

Provincial flags outside the National Library, Port Moresby. What has Independence done to me as a Papua New Guinean, a writer, and scholar of indigenous cultures? Surely, this question must be asked by many conscientious Papua New Guineans. Papua New Guinea as a postcolonial nation struggles to free itself from a colonized history, more particularly from the neocolonial practices and influences of its former colonizer. Achieving political Independence has never freed Papua New Guinea completely from Australia. Australian influence in Papua New Guinea is deeper than perceived at the political level. Australia continues to play a major part in the economic, social, and political development of Papua New Guinea. The relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea is often tested, but always maintained through diplomatic dialogues and other political processess. Early Papua New Guinea writings tackled Australian colonialism with ferment and nationali...

Early Childhood Learning at UPNG on a bus tour. “Where psychological and depoliticised “social” and “cultural” approaches to instruction alike lack an explicit analysis of contemporary material conditions and social relations of power, issues of “transfer of training” tend to be treated as educational anomalies to be solved by better and more precise instructional technologies and “methods,” when they may be curricular artefacts and products of selective cultural traditions that are less than optimally connected in practice with these conditions.” I like this citation from Luke and Freebody’s book on constructing critical literacy because of the thoughts I had right throughout the National Literacy Week in the first week of September 2012. Apart from closing the Literacy Week at Waigani Primary School I also attended a conference on literacy at the National Library site between Wednesday and Thursday of the same week. What stood out for me in both events was that th...

Grade 9 Students of Jubilee Catholic Secondary School 2012 On Sunday braving the gusty wind the parents of Grade Nine students at the Jubilee Catholic Secondary School gathered to hear the concerns raised by the Principal and the Deputy Principals. The parents sat on the terrace, which is an awkward space between the classrooms, to hear out the teachers’ concerns regarding the students’ general academic performance, lack of discipline, lateness, noise, enforcement of reading habits, and other related matters. The parents were then directed into the four classrooms where their children take their lessons.   The parents introduced themselves. The class pastoral teachers were there to coordinate this part of the program. The parents were then asked to nominate a chairperson, a deputy chairperson, and a treasurer. The committee that was appointed was immediately task to raise funds for the school next month towards the building of the school hall. The hal...

This year I went to Airways Motel in time to meet Drusilla Modjeska before her departure to the fjords of Korafe in the Oro Province. Whether Drusilla comes up here from Sydney on her way to Tufi or on her way back to Sydney I usually catch up with her for breakfast at the Airways. On her way from Sydney she usually brings me books that I could not get hold of here. In turn I would bother her with my manuscripts. Drusilla is always patient with me, which I appreciate and acknowledged in my book The Unpainted Mask , presented to her in her recent trip to Papua New Guinea. This year I received her first novel The Mountain set in Papua New Guinea. She had worked on this book for a number of years. There were occassional mentions about the book in some of our conversations. I was honored to have received a signed copy of The Mountain (2012). The book is a wonderful book that is spellbinding, gripping, and yet entertaining to read. I was thrilled to read the book on the w...