Mediation in Matters Involving Sorcery in PNG Villages and Remote Australian Indigenous Communities
-
Queensland University of Technology
Australia -
University of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea
Abstract
The article discusses the application of mediation to conflict involving sorcery and sorcery-related violence in Papua New Guinea (PNG) villages and remote Australian Indigenous communities. The article proposes that a Hybrid Mediation Approach to managing this form of conflict can be effective. This approach re-imagines the stages of mediation not as fixed or rigid steps but as design parameters that empower the parties through incorporating local values and traditions into the dispute management process. The hybrid element of the approach refers to the incorporation of local values and traditions into the mediation design. The article makes reference to specific examples of sorcery-related conflict at the remote Australian community of Aurukun and a village in PNG to provide a background to this discussion of effective mediation techniques.
Except where otherwise noted, content in this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Downloads
Author Biographies
Craig Jones is an accredited mediator in Australia and PNG. His mediation career includes working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People across Australia over the last 30 years and in the Pacific, including PNG. Mr Jones has provided mediation services and mediation training services to the National and Supreme Court of PNG since 2010. More recently, Mr Jones has been working in Aurukun on western Cape York Peninsula in Australia to deliver community mediation services and mediation training. He is also a doctoral student at the Centre for Justice at the Queensland University of Technology where his research work is titled “Can mediation be reimagined to address conflict in a remote Aboriginal community?". His fieldwork site is Aurukun.
Michael Steven Wagambie is a lawyer and lecturer with a strong background in legal practice and academia. He holds a Diploma in Social Administration and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Papua New Guinea, as well as a Joint Masters in Conflict Management and Resolution (MCMR) and an MBA from James Cook University, Australia. Since 2000, he has been a private legal practitioner in the areas of corporate commercial and civil and criminal defense litigation. In 2019, he became a Lecturer in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) at the University of Papua New Guinea. His research interest is in dispute resolution and mediation. Michael is actively involved in community service, serving as the Chairman of the Board of La Salle Technical Secondary School Hohola and the PNG Director of Catherine McAuley Services Ltd, Australia (2022-2024).