Gutpela Sindaun: Wellbeing in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville

The Melanesian Tok-Pisin phrase gutpela sindaun, which translates as ‘abundant life’, or, ‘to have a good life’, has been appropriated by peacebuilders and by foreign donors within socio-economic development efforts in the region. In the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARoB) in Papua New Guinea (PNG), the phrase became especially significant in the context of peacebuilding efforts following an almost ten-year civil war that ended in 1998. This chapter details how post-conflict peacebuilding and development efforts by both international and local agents have defined and used gutpela sindaun in order to generate peace and change in Bougainville, most recently in the context of Bougainville’s long-term struggle to obtain independence from PNG.