By: Sophia Kim-O’Sullivan
Who gets to tell the stories of forest governance in some of the most biodiverse regions of the world? This summer, UH Mānoa students participated in the South Sulawesi Field School organized in collaboration with the Forest and Society Research Group at Hasanuddin University (UNHAS). The field school was a year-long program culminating in two weeks from July 3-19 of oral history research in rural Indonesia, where students had unique opportunities to learn about political ecology, traditional ecological knowledge, and land governance policies from Indonesian village communities. Their findings are now being exhibited on the first floor of the Hamilton Library.
Funds awarded by the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution helped make participation in the field school possible for nine students. In preparation for their travels, students learned about ethnographic research methods through assigned readings and a spring semester course PACE 316- Environmental Governance, taught by Dr. Micah Fisher. Students also participated in Zoom meetings from March to May to meet and plan together with their Indonesian counterparts.
Working together and growing relationships with UNHAS students was a crucial part of the research experience. Master’s student in Geography & Environment Xiaoyun Neo noted, “Having the local UNHAS Forestry students Dilla and Leni on our team made all the difference. The community knew them. Their presence granted us access not only to interviewees but to homes, quiet reflections, and intimate stories.”
The field school allowed students to deeply engage with village communities through decolonizing research methodologies. Before arranging interviews, students first observed and participated in the routines of village life. Gabrielle Kics, an Environmental Science major remembered, “During participant observation, we helped villagers with their daily tasks in order to learn about their livelihoods. We helped harvest and process peanuts and cloves.”
Field school students join villagers in completing daily chores and harvesting peanuts and cloves. Courtesy of Gabrielle Kics
The oral history interviews were conducted in several stages, with students building rapport with their interviewees before moving into more structured interviews. Xiaoyun Neo described some interviews as a “deep hanging out” that focused on reciprocal exchange. Courtney Tagay, a Political Science major, explained “Our priority was to tell a story that the villagers wanted us to tell without our personal research interests overshadowing their voices.”
The South Sulawesi Field School helped expose students to alternative approaches to research through this interviewing process. Gabrielle Kics reflected, “I learned that unlike trial-based research, interviewing requires much flexibility. Not only in scheduling, but also the place, type of questions, and themes discussed. This is a stark contrast to previous research that I have been involved in, where collecting quantitative data requires uniformity and rigidity.”
Students record an interview with a villager. Courtesy of Gabrielle Kics
The posters hanging in the Hamilton Library explore the complex narratives students learned through their interviews. The community stories being shared cover topics like cultural practices of land management, reforestation, land dispossession, migration, and much more. The conversations facilitated through these interviews encouraged students to consider their own context and opinions with more nuance.
“The villagers shared their hope that ecotourism would provide better-paying jobs for the youth—offering an alternative to migration,” Xiaoyun Neo contemplated. “That conversation challenged me. Coming from the context of Hawai‘i, where tourism has been challenged for its fraught relationship with land and local peoples, I had to suspend my own assumptions. What ecotourism means in Jambua is not what it means in Waikīkī.”
A student research team visits a waterfall nearby the village. Courtesy of Courtney Tagay
Micah Fisher, the faculty advisor for the field school, explained “At the Matsunaga Institute we are always aiming to innovate engaged methodologies that expose students to complex environmental and social policy issues. For undergraduates who learn about the issue from classrooms and the news and become inspired to do something, what an incredible opportunity this was to be able to design a project, go to field sites, meet and live among front line communities. It helps them to eventually reflect on more nuanced ways of cultivating environmental solutions to some of the most complex challenges of our time.”
If you’re interested learning more about the South Sulawesi Field School’s research beyond the posters, be sure to check out these student-made StoryMaps: