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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2001
This paper compares social networks mobilised through claims of ownership in Euro-American and Melanesian contexts. It addresses the debate between Strathern (1996) and Latour (1993) regarding the length of networks formed in these societies. Examples are drawn from compensation claims against the Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea. The paper also considers Pietz (1997) discussion of nineteenth-century British laws relating to compensation. The aim of the paper is to examine the effects of ownership strategies on other social categories and practices, including competing assessments of the environmental impacts of mining and the value of human life.