Focused on the Rotary Club in Wewak, the capital of Papua New Guinea's
East Sepik Province, this article examines emergent forms of stratifi
cation and, in particular, the Club's role in the development and oper
ation of an indigenous middle class. We show that by stressing middle
class sociality and generalized service to the community, the Rotary C
lub enabled affluent Papua New Guineans to overcome moral and strategi
c conflicts so that they were able to place their desire for lives of
enhanced consumption over their obligations to kin. We also show how,
in postcolonial Wewak, the Rotary Club allowed middle-class 'nationals
' and 'expatriates' to assist one another in justifying the privileges
which distinguished them from the 'grass roots'. Finally, and most ge
nerally, we show why members of the middle class, such as the Rotarian
s upon whom we focus, had a particularly salient role in transforming
Papua New Guinea.