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‘I want to buy my own block of land’ : Representation of urban settlement communities in Papua New Guinea
Molus, Wilma Thomas, Verena Kauli, Jackie Buys, Laurie
Molus, Wilma
Thomas, Verena
Kauli, Jackie
Buys, Laurie
Abstract
Urban settlements are home to around half the urban population of Papua New Guinea. Since the end of the Second World War, PNG towns and cities have experienced significant growth of urban settlements. Urban dwellings were established on customary and untransformed state lands. With limited support for services from government, informal settlements in the urban landscape have often been perceived from the perspective of their deficiencies. However, residents of urban settlement communities play an important role in urban economies. The purpose of this article is to critically review perceptions of settlements and issues affecting settlement communities in PNG, both in the mainstream media and from within settlement communities. The authors first present a media content analysis of reporting on settlement communities on PNG’s main online media sites. Second, they examine urban market vendors’ personal experiences of the challenges and solutions of living in Kamkumung Settlement in Lae. Drawing on storytelling and photovoice workshops with market vendors at Awagasi market, they argue for the need for media actively to include the voices of settlement residents. The article suggests that, by better understanding the context and personal experience of residents, journalists and the media could make a stronger contribution to sustainable development and urban planning in PNG.
Keywords
content analysis, journalism, market vendors, media representation, news media, Papua New Guinea, photovoice, storytelling, urban settlement
Date
2021
Type
Journal article
Journal
Pacific Journalism Review
Book
Volume
27
Issue
1-2
Page Range
232-250
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Files
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Open access
License
CC BY-NC 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
Diamond open access.