In Papua New Guinea (PNG) more rural people, and especially rural women, earn cash from selling in marketplaces than from any other source. PNG's marketplaces are critical for food security, and for the redistribution of wealth. They are also important meeting places where people gather to see friends, hear the latest news, attend court cases, play cards and be entertained. This introduction to this special issue on ‘Marketplaces and Morality in Papua New Guinea’ reviews the history of PNG marketplaces and their contemporary forms. It charts their transformation from introduced colonial spaces into dynamic Melanesian places, which, as places to buy, sell and socialise, have become pervasive institutions in the lives of both urban and rural Papua New Guineans, and places where people interact with both known and unknown others. From this, marketplaces emerge as important spaces of moral evaluation and contestation in relation to what constitutes morally acceptable exchange and what practices are acceptable in these places. The paper demonstrates that exchange in the marketplace should not be reduced to commodity transactions, and questions assumptions about the types of people marketplaces create. It argues that the country's marketplaces are productive sites to consider ideas of exchange, social relations and social personhood, and that there is a critical need to understand the concrete details of what takes place in contemporary marketplaces.

中文翻译：

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巴布亚新几内亚的市场和道德：地方，人格与交流

在巴布亚新几内亚（PNG）中，有更多的农村人口，尤其是农村妇女，从市场上出售赚取的现金比其他任何来源都多。巴布亚新几内亚的市场对于粮食安全和财富再分配至关重要。它们也是重要的聚会场所，人们聚集在一起会见朋友，听到最新消息，参加法庭案件，打牌并得到娱乐。本期《巴布亚新几内亚的市场与道德》特刊的引言回顾了PNG市场的历史及其当代形式。它描绘了他们从引入的殖民地空间到充满活力的美拉尼西亚人的地方的转变，这些地方已经成为买卖，社交的地方，已成为巴布亚新几内亚人城市和农村以及人们与知名和未知地区互动的地方普遍存在的机构其他。由此，市场是道德评价和竞争的重要空间，这些空间构成了在道德上可以接受的交换以及在这些地方可以接受的实践。本文表明，不应将市场交易减少为商品交易，并且质疑关于市场所创造的人员类型的假设。它认为，该国的市场是考虑交流，社会关系和社会人格观念的生产地，并且迫切需要了解当代市场发生的具体细节。本文表明，不应将市场交易减少为商品交易，并且质疑关于市场所创造的人员类型的假设。它认为，该国的市场是考虑交流，社会关系和社会人格观念的生产地，并且迫切需要了解当代市场发生的具体细节。本文表明，不应将市场交易减少为商品交易，并且质疑关于市场所创造的人员类型的假设。它认为，该国的市场是考虑交流，社会关系和社会人格观念的生产地，并且迫切需要了解当代市场发生的具体细节。