Anticipating Ulawun Volcano in New Britain, Papua New Guinea

This paper outlines some of the ways Mengen speakers have positioned Ulawun volcano, its inhabitants and outputs as beneficial features of daily life. By way of contrast, volcanology and more recent disaster planning discourses in Papua New Guinea, have often positioned Ulawun as a hazard that creates potential dangers and risks. The paper explores how these two distinct orientations to Ulawun's past and future influence the possibilities of Ulawun's beneficial and dangerous outcomes. We emphasise how Ulawun's anticipated future has been articulated into forms of disaster planning involving new modes of action, accountability and world making.