Maribeth Erb

Biodiversity and human livelihoods in protected areas : case studies from the Malay Archipelago

Protected areas have emerged as major arenas of dispute concerning both indigenous people and environmental protection. In the Malay Archipelago, which contains 2 of the 34 biodiversity hotspots identified globally, rampant commercial exploitation is jeopardizing species and livelihoods. While protected areas remain the only hope for the imperilled biota of the Malay Archipelago, this protection requires consideration of the sustenance needs and economic aspirations of the local people. Putting forward the views of all the stakeholders of protected areas – conservation practitioners and planners, local community members, NGO activists, government administrators, biologists, lawyers, policy and management analysts and anthropologists – this book fills a unique niche in the area of biodiversity conservation, and is a highly valuable and original reference book for graduate students, scientists and managers, as well as government officials and transnational NGOs.

Understanding tourists: Interpretations from Indonesia

Abstract Most Manggaraian people on the island of Flores in Eastern Indonesia have only recently, been exposed to tourists visiting their island. This paper suggests that the host population has tried to understand tourists within the context of their experiences with foreigners over several centuries, and has created a space for tourists within their cultural world that is akin to special guests, including spirits. The argument illustrates how tourism cannot be understood as having an impact on a passive culture, but instead how local people create their own strategies for dealing with innovations, as well as maintaining a continuity with their past cultural ideas.

Limiting Tourism and the Limits of Tourism: The Production and Consumption of Tourist Attractions in Western Flores

The Limits of Tourism: An Empty Meeting Ground?: Are we being encouraged to preserve our culture just so we can be an exotic object for tourists? (question at a seminar given by the author, Ruteng, June 14, 2002).

Sailing to Komodo: contradictions of tourism and development in eastern Indonesia

Tourism is often pinpointed as a sector of growth for countries in the developing world, and this perspective has been readily accepted in Indonesia. Government officials in poorer sections of the country, such as Nusa Tenggara Timur province (NTT) in eastern Indonesia, have high hopes for the role that tourism can play in developing these poorer regions. This is not surprising, given the increasing renown of the Komodo National Park, just west of the island of Flores, where the world famous Komodo dragons reside. However, how exactly tourism is supposed to raise the standard of living and aid in development in NTT province is often unclear. In this paper I want to critically look at ideas about tourism and development in NTT, by focusing on the ‘Sail Komodo’ yacht rally, a major tourism event that took place from August to September 2013. Sail Komodo was as a marine tourism event expected to boost tourist numbers, lift the standard of living of people in this province and lower poverty levels. I critically analyze this event within the context of a ‘mega event’, and show how the contradictory ideas about how the event was meant to lead to prosperity for the poor can indicate the sometimes misguided relationship posited between tourism and development.

Talk of Corruption in Eastern Indonesian Communities: Reactions to Local Government in the Post-Suharto Reform Era

Eastern Indonesia, most notably Nusa Tenggara Timor province, has been frequently referred to as the poorest region in Indonesia and claims have recently been made that it is the most corrupt as well. The spread of corruption in the post-Suharto period, with the introduction of regional autonomy and decentralisation, has often been commented on; but what is corruption? How do people define it? This paper uses an anthropological lens on corruption to suggest that with the spread of ideas of ‘good governance’ and ‘democracy’, one significant way that local communities in NTT province engage with the state and define corruption is as an abuse of power and non-consultation with the populace. This has become particularly acute with the government belief that new investment opportunities in the reform era will become a road to development and prosperity for local communities, who are, however, seen to be unable to provide for themselves or seek their own ways out of poverty. Several regional governments in NTT province have taken advantage of new laws put into effect in the reform era to award mining concessions to domestic and foreign mining companies. A swell of protest has arisen across the province, however, and an increasing critique of poor government and corrupt practices focuses on these mining contracts.

Theming Asia: culture, nature and heritage in a transforming environment

ABSTRACT This paper introduces a special issue on Theme Parks in Asia with reflections on how the various theoretical ideas on theming and theme parks that are found in the social science literature can help us to understand the proliferation of theming and theme parks in contemporary Asia. How does theming create a specific spatial and social form that has meaning in a transforming Asia? We trace here the rising importance of theming in places of consumption, education, entertainment and everyday life and argue that further attention is needed to understand the transformation of ideas of culture, nature and heritage within the context of theme park development in Asia. We look at arguments that suggest that theming is part of human cognitive processes, that it creates a frame that gives the content a particular order and meaning; we also consider theming within the context of theories of Disneyization and the ‘experience economy’ in leisure and tourism to explore how ‘new’ experience-based consumerism, and the designing of coherent ‘imagineered’ spaces, plays a role in ordering our social worlds. We also examine how debates over the authenticity or superficiality of theme parks, and more generally in cultural display and preservation, can take on new twists in Asia. We do this by drawing on a review of postmodernist perspectives on themed parks to show how theme parks in Asia can be better understood through nuanced inquiries into the ways cultural, natural and heritage images and icons are cited, referenced and projected, departing from a simple ‘copy’ versus ‘original’ dichotomy. Finally, we position and introduce the papers included in this special issue and suggest further possible research into such a fertile research field.

Borders and Insecurities in Western Flores

Creating and guarding boundaries is one of the pervasive features of modern states. Many boundaries have been contested in the Southeast Asian region between states, and boundaries are always locations of great insecurity for states, and for the people who live on them. The case to be explored in this paper is about boundaries that are not international, but local boundaries between districts within the nation state of Indonesia, in the eastern region of western Flores. The years of political change in Indonesia have created considerable attention to the creation of new boundaries, with the “pemekaran”, or “flowering” of new districts. This has caused the revival of concern over the actual boundaries of western Flores districts, resulting in various extreme instances of boundary contestation and protection. One contestation revived a much older dispute of the eastern boundary of the western Flores district of Manggarai, which dates from the time of the beginning of the Indonesian modern state. In this paper it will be queried what makes internal, domestic boundaries important, including how they are complicated by issues of ethnicity, foreign investment in natural resources, and religion, all of which can create considerable insecurity for the local communities who live near and on these contested borders.

Introduction Eastern Indonesia under Reform: The Global, the National and the Local

The boundaries of what has constituted “Eastern Indonesia” have shifted depending on the historical, cultural, political, or economic context. We review various ways that Eastern Indonesia has been understood, to overview the different ways of delineating and approaching this fascinating part of Indonesia in order to introduce this special issue. The intention of this special issue, however, is not to attempt to clearly define Eastern Indonesia once and for all, but to open up via these various historical and contemporary concerns with Eastern Indonesia, new ways of grappling with this region in the present Post-Suharto era. The current social and political transformations offer a great deal of opportunity to reflect on the way global and national flows of people, money, notions of governance and religious ideas, are so crucial to understanding and making sense of the current dynamics in the region. By focusing our attention on how these global and national influences intersect with the local, we want to bring out how they are appropriated and manipulated by local communities; at the same time they may undermine and transform what is taking place at the local level.

Biodiversity and Human Livelihoods in Protected Areas: Acknowledgements

Protected areas have emerged as major arenas of dispute concerning both indigenous people and environmental protection. In the Malay Archipelago, which contains 2 of the 34 biodiversity hotspots identified globally, rampant commercial exploitation is jeopardizing species and livelihoods. While protected areas remain the only hope for the imperilled biota of the Malay Archipelago, this protection requires consideration of the sustenance needs and economic aspirations of the local people. Putting forward the views of all the stakeholders of protected areas – conservation practitioners and planners, local community members, NGO activists, government administrators, biologists, lawyers, policy and management analysts and anthropologists – this book fills a unique niche in the area of biodiversity conservation, and is a highly valuable and original reference book for graduate students, scientists and managers, as well as government officials and transnational NGOs.

Biodiversity and Human Livelihoods in Protected Areas: Frontmatter

Protected areas have emerged as major arenas of dispute concerning both indigenous people and environmental protection. In the Malay Archipelago, which contains 2 of the 34 biodiversity hotspots identified globally, rampant commercial exploitation is jeopardizing species and livelihoods. While protected areas remain the only hope for the imperilled biota of the Malay Archipelago, this protection requires consideration of the sustenance needs and economic aspirations of the local people. Putting forward the views of all the stakeholders of protected areas – conservation practitioners and planners, local community members, NGO activists, government administrators, biologists, lawyers, policy and management analysts and anthropologists – this book fills a unique niche in the area of biodiversity conservation, and is a highly valuable and original reference book for graduate students, scientists and managers, as well as government officials and transnational NGOs.