Recent work includes a review of New Guinea pig husbandry, co-editing the proceedings of a conference on Papuan Pasts, co-editing an ethno-zoological book manuscript on Kalam (PNG) mammals by I.S. Majnep and the late Ralph Bulmer. Current projects include writing a history of agricultural censuses and surveys in Papua New Guinea (1946-62), and a review of New Guinea ethnobotany.

Research interests/expertise

Human ecology of rural society in Melanesia, with special emphasis on smallholder agriculture; ethnoscience, subsistence, nutrition and ethnography in Papua New Guinea.

Key publications

• (ed.) South Simbu: Studies in Demography, Nutrition and Subsistence, Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research, Port Moresby, 1984.
• (with P.F. Heywood) 'Nutritional effects of export crop production in Papua New Guinea: a review of the evidence', Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 15(3), 233-249, 1994.
• Pig Husbandry in New Guinea: A Literature Review and Bibliography. ACIAR Monograph No. 108. Canberra, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, 2003.
• (edited, with A. Pawley, R.Attenborough, and J. Golson) Papuan Pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of the Papuan-speaking peoples. PL 572. Canberra, Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, xxiii + 817 p, 2005.
• (with Pam Swadling) ‘Changing landscape and social interaction: looking at agricultural history from a Sepik-Ramu perspective’. In: Pawley, A., Attenborough, R., Golson, J., and Hide, R. eds. Papuan Pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. PL 572. Canberra, Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, pp. 289-328, 2005.
• (with I. Mueller et al.) ‘Malaria control in Papua New Guinea results in complex epidemiological changes’. Papua New Guinea Medical Journal, 48(3-4), 151-7, 2005.
• (edited with Andrew Pawley) Majnep, I.S. and Bulmer, R.N.H. Animals the Ancestors Hunted: An account of the wild mammals of the Kalam area, Papua New Guinea. Belair, South Australia, Crawford House Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd, 520 p., 2007.

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