I am a cultural anthropologist specializing in the study of religion and cultural change. My field research among the previously unstudied Asabano people of Papua New Guinea focuses on recording their recent history and developing theoretical insights on how and why people come to accept exotic, foreign religious beliefs. The Asabano live in the interior of New Guinea Island, which lies in the South Pacific to the north of Australia.
New Guinea is a vast equatorial land of contrasts.
Sandy beaches, mangrove inlets, and grassy fields rise from the sparkling turquoise ocean. In parts of the interior, giant rivers meander through huge steaming swamps, while farther inland majestic mountains are carpeted with rainforests, grasslands, and in a few places even snow. Papua New Guinea, comprising the eastern half of New Guinea and surrounding islands, is home to hundreds of small tribes and a remarkable diversity of cultures and languages. The Asabano are a thorougly land-based people. Living in their remote rainforests, tucked amidst rugged mountains and stony, rushing rivers, they did not know of the ocean's existence.