Money Games

Anthony J. Pickles is British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and Bye-Fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge. He was formerly Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge.

“[This study] offers fascinating insights into how local communities make their own rules and create their own business and cultures by taking up new practices, in this instance gambling, and associating them with their traditional way of life.” • Journal of New Zealand and Pacific Studies“This ability to tie gambling to broader economic practices, processes of identification, and social changes, is one of the key strengths of this monograph…It is an engaging and thoroughly interesting ethnography that will be of great interest to all students of economic anthropology, the cultural and social dynamics of Pacific Island communities, and the interdisciplinary field of gambling studies.” • Pacific Affairs“Money Games is at once wholly original in subject matter and rigorous and convincing in argumentation. This study is a genuine breakthrough in our understanding of contemporary life in Papua New Guinea and it stands as a novel intervention in recent debates about the nature of money and social aspects of economic life.” • Joel Robbins, Sigrid Rausing Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge“Money Games will doubtless become an important book in the anthropology of economy, value and money, as well as a substantial contribution to the Melanesianist literature.” • Bill Maurer, University of California, Irvine

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsNotes on TextIntroductionChapter 1. Selected HistoriesChapter 2. The Pattern Changes ChangesChapter 3. The Tyranny of DenominationChapter 4. The Fastest Money in GorokaChapter 5. The Big-Shots at Old SlotsChapter 6. The Origin of PoolingConclusionReferencesIndex