Since West Papua was colonized by Indonesia in 1963, West Papuans have endured one of the most disastrous experiences of cultural and environmental destruction, human rights abuses and mass killing of the twentieth century. In the Western Highlands of West Papua, where Freeport McMoRan, a mining company from Louisiana, United States (U.S.), operates, there have been long-standing disputes over environmental justice, human rights, the right to control development, and wealth distribution. Substantial research has been done on the negative impacts of the Freeport's operation on the Amungme and Kamoro communities who reside in the company's operating area. Yet, limited research has been done regarding Freeport's social policies and the possible solutions to the issues which are crucial for the further development of Amungme and Kamoro. Therefore, the thesis firstly examines Freeport's recent social policies which have attempted to address the two communities' concerns as well as the social problems the company has caused around its operating area. The examination suggests that genuine reconciliation between Amungme and Kamoro communities and Freeport is a crucial next step in achieving successful community development in the area. The thesis employs a case study of the South African reconciliation processes via Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to explore the prospects of achieving successful community development in Freeport's operating area of West Papua which might lead to prosperity for the Amungme and Kamoro peoples. In addition to this, the prospect of preventing the human rights violations by the Indonesian Military (Tentera Nasional Indonesia-TNI) is considered. The TNI, by carrying out the role of protecting the Freeport operation, has until today committed a large number of human rights violations against indigenous West Papuans around the mine thus preventing and inhibiting the future development of Amungme and Kamoro communities. Since major countries, including the U.S., the United Kingdom (UK), New Zealand and Australia, have until today, supported the Indonesia state and the TNI, the attitude of Pacific Island states towards the issue is examined. Finally, although the above processes are important, the study suggests the more important role of the Amungme and Kamoro themselves in taking responsibility for their plight and taking positive actions wherever possible to solve the issues surrounding them. Although the conflict continues to the present day, the research contained in the thesis outlines the situation in West Papua only up until November 2006.

This thesis examines how the Kamoro (also known as the Mimika) people of the south-west coast of Papua (former Irian Jaya), Indonesia have adapted to major political and economic changes over a long history of interactions with outsiders. More specifically, it is an ethnohistorical analysis of Kamoro strategies of engagement dating back to the seventeenth century, but focusing on the twentieth century. Taking ethnohistory to most generally refer to the investigation of the social and cultural distinctiveness of historical consciousness, this thesis examines how perceptions and activities of the past shape interpretations of the present. Though this thesis privileges Kamoro perspectives, it juxtaposes them against broader ethnohistorical analyses of the “outsiders” with whom they have interacted. For the Kamoro, amoko-kwere, narratives about the ancestral (and eternal) cultural heroes, underlie indigenous modes of historical consciousness which are ultimately grounded in forms of social reciprocity. One key characteristic of the amoko-kwere is the incorporation of foreign elements and their reformulation as products of indigenous agency. As a result of this reinterpretation expectations are raised concerning the exchange of foreign material wealth and abilities, both classified in the Kamoro language as kata. Foreign withholding of kata emerges as a dominant theme in amoko-kwere and is interpreted as theft, ultimately establishing relationships of negative reciprocity between the Kamoro and the powerful outsiders. These feelings are mirrored in contemporary Kamoro conceptions of their relationships with the Indonesian State and the massive PT Freeport Indonesia Mining Company who use a significant amount of Kamoro land for deposition of mining waste (tailings) and for the development of State and company infrastructure.