Community Books: Research, Shared Experiences, and Collaborative Authorship
The books presented on this page are part of the research I have been carrying out with communities in New Ireland Province. The first, A Maani: Birds and Nalik Culture, grew out of collaborative work with the Nalik people during my master’s research in 2016. Years later, as part of my doctoral research, a new experience with the Nochi and Kun peoples led to Voices of New Ireland: Kun and Nochi Wisdom.
In both experiences, the books were developed through a participatory process involving activities with students in schools and with different members of the communities. Throughout this process, knowledge about the environment and local cultural practices was documented, along with stories, narratives, and songs shared by elders, community leaders, and other village members. Some of this material, produced and documented with the participation of the communities themselves, later provided the basis for the books.
From the beginning, there was also a concern that what was being shared during the research should not circulate only outside the communities through academic publications. Producing the books made it possible for some of this knowledge to be documented in materials that could remain in the schools and villages and continue to circulate locally. For this reason, returning the books to the communities that took part in creating them was just as important as producing the books themselves.
The process of creating the books began in the schools. Through workshops, students researched topics related to their communities, spoke with family members and elders, and produced texts, drawings, and records of stories, songs, and knowledge about the environment.
These materials were later discussed and reviewed with community members. Elders, leaders, and others with knowledge of the topics helped verify information, names, and stories, make corrections, and decide what could be included in the books and shared publicly. My role was to organize and accompany this process, bring together the materials that had been produced, and work with students and community members to prepare the content for the final version of each book.
The books were published in English, a decision discussed with the communities themselves, while retaining words, names, expressions, and songs in local languages. This decision took into account the realities of the schools. Many children are no longer fluent in the languages of their communities, while some teachers come from other provinces of Papua New Guinea and do not speak or know the local languages. Using English therefore made the books accessible to a larger number of students and teachers, while still ensuring that local languages remained present in their content.
Once published, multiple copies of the books were returned to the communities where they had been produced, remaining available in schools and villages and among the people who had taken part in creating them.
Stories Shared in the Villages
An unfinished drawing of an osprey during one of the activities with students at Langenia Primary School. The illustration was later included in the community book Voices of New Ireland: Kun and Nochi Wisdom. (Photo: da Silva, 2022)
Students at Madina Primary School creating a mural to introduce the book project to villages in the Nalik community, as part of one of the workshops held during the project (Photo: da Silva, 2016)
Students at Madina Primary School creating illustrations for the book A Maani: Birds and Nalik Culture (Photo: da Silva, 2016)
Matriarchs from Liedan village reviewing a draft of Voices of New Ireland: Kun and Nochi Wisdom to validate the material before final printing (Photo: da Silva, 2024)
Birds and Community Voices
These processes resulted in two books, produced at different stages of my work in New Ireland Province.
A Maani: Birds and Nalik Culture
Voices of New Ireland: Kun and Nochi Wisdom
A Maani: Birds and Nalik Culture explores the close relationship between birds and the sociocultural organization of the Nalik people, who live in the northern part of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. In the Nalik context, birds are not simply part of the natural landscape but play an important role in clan organization, ancestral memory, and ceremonial practices.
The book describes different bird species found in the region and explains how particular birds are associated with specific clans, serving as markers of identity and belonging. It also explores the symbolic importance of these birds in traditional narratives, malagan ceremonies, and the transmission of knowledge between generations.
By bringing together environmental knowledge and social organization, the book shows how nature and culture are not understood as separate domains, but as interconnected dimensions of community life.
Voices of New Ireland: Kun and Nochi Wisdom brings together narratives, memories, and cultural knowledge from the Kun and Nochi communities in the central region of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. The book offers a broad view of the sociocultural life of these communities, bringing together land, social organization, ceremonial practices, and traditional stories.
The book explores aspects of matrilineal social organization, agricultural practices, celebrations such as malagan, ancestral stories, traditional songs, and elements of everyday village life. It also gives particular attention to the region’s linguistic diversity, highlighting the distinctive status of Kuot as a language isolate (a language with no known relationship to any other language family). The book also draws attention to the language’s current vulnerability, as the number of speakers declines and other languages are increasingly used in everyday interactions and in schools.
Both books are available for download using the links below:
Cláudio da Silva
Research, Education, and Lived Experiences in Papua New Guinea
claudio@clausilva.eu
© 2026 Cláudio da Silva