CV

Willem Church studied his master's degree at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork near Goroka, Papua New Guinea, his thesis explored changing understandings of land sales near town. His research primarily focused on the creolization of economic forms as buyers and sellers drew on both legalistic and customary signifiers to communicate the transfer and ownership of land. Before his master's research, Willem studied both biological and social anthropology, and he also has an undergraduate degree in economics and management. Willem is currently involved in the research project “International Capital and Local Inequality”, and is investigating the impact of a copper-gold mine on a community in Wampar, Papua New Guinea.