ABSTRACT
In the opening minutes of Black Harvest, Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson’s 1992 film about coffee in the Papua New Guinea highlands, Joe Leahy and Popina Mai learn that the international price of coffee has collapsed and with it Popina Mai’s dream of becoming rich from their joint venture coffee plantation, Kaugum. Later, sitting in Joe Leahy’s house with other members of the Ganiga tribe, Popina Mai says, ‘It’s not our fault the price has collapsed. I feel like selling my big pig and travelling to where they make these decisions. This affects all of us. We’ll never be millionaires now. When I think of the work I’ve done, I can’t help weeping.’ The poignancy of Popina Mai’s situation, his desire to participate successfully in the global economy, and his profound misunderstanding of his position in that economy, are a microcosm of what cash crops and markets mean to many people in contemporary Melanesia.
