ABSTRACT
One afternoon in March of 2015, on a blindingly white sand beach in the village of Isudau, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG), the disputants had gathered. There were perhaps 50 to 60 people present, from Isudau itself and its neighbouring villages along the coast, arrayed around two boxes that had been drawn neatly in the sand: one for complainants, and one for defendants. They had brought conflicts over unpaid debts, over land boundaries, and over adultery accusations. Over the course of the afternoon, people would move themselves around spatially to show their positioning for a particular case: outside the boxes if they wanted to speak but contribute information they considered neutral, or on the line between the boxes if they wanted to speak for both sides of the dispute. Children, dogs and chickens threaded through the proceedings, a reminder that village life continued as normal while those present tried to straighten their problems with one another.
