Land tenure issues in Timor-Leste are complex and deeply shaped by the nation’s history. Taking an insider’s perspective, this socio-legal research studies the development of the Timorese formal... Show moreLand tenure issues in Timor-Leste are complex and deeply shaped by the nation’s history. Taking an insider’s perspective, this socio-legal research studies the development of the Timorese formal land tenure system from independence in 2002 to 2018. It shows how political, legal, and administrative decisions on land administration are made, what and who influences them, which problems and dilemmas politicians and state officials face, and how the formal land tenure system works in practice. It does so through the investigation of five analytical themes: political environment, lawmaking, legal framework, institutional framework, and social relationships and practices. The result is a portrait of a young nation grappling with the enormous task of creating a land tenure system that can address the needs of its citizens in the wake of centuries of socio-political tumult and huge fluctuations in resources, while seeking to find its place on the world stage as a new nation.By studying the development of the Timorese formal land tenure system, this book engages in the larger academic debate about the role of state systems in addressing – but also causing or aggravating – various social problems, such as insecurity, poverty, inequality, destruction of nature, and cultural and social estrangement. Show less
This book describes the end result of a research in Laut_m between 2010 and 2014, as part of a research project on Adult Literacy Education in Timor-Leste. This book focuses on the Fataluku... Show moreThis book describes the end result of a research in Laut_m between 2010 and 2014, as part of a research project on Adult Literacy Education in Timor-Leste. This book focuses on the Fataluku language that is spoken in Laut_m District, specifically in the sub districts of Lospalos and Tutuala. Fataluku is a non-Austronesian language that can be considered endangered, because most speakers of younger generations prefer Tetum of Fataluku. By means of a study on the national language policy, Laut_m__s linguistic landscape, Fataluku language attitudes and uses, and through a case study on adult literacy classes, this book discusses the change of an endangered unwritten language into a language that is written. This book shows that the planned education language policy does not yet apply correctly in Laut_m. Although the national language policy anticipates Portuguese and Tetum to become the languages of teaching, it turns out that Fataluku is till being used with that particular function in education. Show less
This work is the first comprehensive description of Makalero, a language spoken by approximately 6,500 speakers in the Iliomar subdistrict, in the south-east of the Republic of East Timor. Makalero... Show moreThis work is the first comprehensive description of Makalero, a language spoken by approximately 6,500 speakers in the Iliomar subdistrict, in the south-east of the Republic of East Timor. Makalero has been classified as belonging to the Trans-New Guinea family, making it one of the westernmost Papuan languages. While it retains scattered derivational and inflectional processes, it is largely isolating in structure. Underlying the organisation of discourse at a very basic level is the rigid structure of the Makalero clause, which allows for the expression of two verbal arguments at most. A characteristic feature of this clause structure is the presence of two distinct, mutually exclusive argument positions within the verb phrase, the first of which is reserved for undergoers, while the second may express either undergoers, or location and manner information. The description brought forward in this dissertation is not couched in a particular theoretical framework, although insights from several linguistic theories are adduced to support the analysis. The appendices provide transcripts of several Makalero texts as well as a Makalero-English and an English-Makalero word list. Show less
