Yu Mas Kamap Wan Nesen : the mainstream churches, Tok Pisin and national identity in Paupa New Guinea

Abstract

After the Second World War missions in Papua New Guinea faced new imperatives driven by the reaction of the Australian administration to United Nations' directives. These directives related to the development of education and the use of language in schools. This effectively ended the missions' domination of the education system and the end of Tok Ples as the primary language of education for indigenous people. Most significantly, however, was the fact that Tok Pisin came into its own as a lingua franca. These factors combined to enhance the role of language as an identifier from a purely village or regional level (Tok Ples) to a national one (Tok Pisin). The A. argues that neither the Australian administration nor the missions foresaw this role for Tok Pisin. Paradoxically, the first steps towards making Tok Pisin respectable and beginning the enhancement of the role of language as an identifier were the misssions particularly the Catholic Divine Word missionaries.