Products and Producers of Social and Political Change. Activism and Politicking in the Mentawai Archipelago is about a generation of young, formally educated and politically engaged Mentawaians.... Show moreProducts and Producers of Social and Political Change. Activism and Politicking in the Mentawai Archipelago is about a generation of young, formally educated and politically engaged Mentawaians. From the late 1990s onwards these people, whom I have called the Mentawaian elite, have been involved in a quest for more access to the resources of the local state. The introduction of decentralisation and regional autonomy has formed an important window of opportunity for the Mentawaian elite. Due to their intense lobby the Mentawai Archipelago became an independent district in 1999. Freed from decades of cultural, economic and political hegemony of the mainland oriented Minangkabau, the Mentawaians now saw themselves placed for the laborious task to built a new district from scratch. Divided over seven chapters, this thesis describes and discusses developments in anticipation of the new district as well as the intense politicking that characterised the first years of Reformation. This thesis offers an in-depth portrait of a generation of Mentawaians that is as much a product as well as a producer of social and political change. Show less
In this article, I elaborate the concept of narrative navigation to analyze the subjective and intersubjective ways in which people struggle through experiences of illness by constructing multiple,... Show moreIn this article, I elaborate the concept of narrative navigation to analyze the subjective and intersubjective ways in which people struggle through experiences of illness by constructing multiple, ambiguous and non-linear narratives that may continuously change, as they reposition themselves within changing circumstances. Drawing on ethnographic material on HIV care in Aceh, Indonesia, I show how subjunctivity and open-endedness are crucial narrative ways in which people living with HIV, their relatives, medical doctors and support group workers adjust to possibilities and limitations of care over time, thereby continuously negotiating what good care may be. Unfolding within a changing Indonesian healthcare system, their narrative navigations reveal caregiving to be a complex and contradictory process, thereby problematizing boundaries between good care and neglect. Show less
This research took place in South Sulawesi in order to investigate the implementation of jatropha projects in the period of 2006-2011. This research aims to understand the key factors that were... Show moreThis research took place in South Sulawesi in order to investigate the implementation of jatropha projects in the period of 2006-2011. This research aims to understand the key factors that were influential in the rise and fall of jatropha projects. The analysis was focused on jatropha actors’ motivations, strategies and experiences to understand what opportunities and benefits that were pursued by the involved actors and how the achievements of the opportunities and benefits redefine the failure of the projects. The findings were synthesized to draw a lesson learnt on what we can learn from the observed jatropha stories for the other miracle crops. Show less
This dissertation addresses the question of what it means to remake everyday life in the shadow of disaster. Focusing on the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, in the years after the devastating Indian... Show moreThis dissertation addresses the question of what it means to remake everyday life in the shadow of disaster. Focusing on the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, in the years after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, it explores how tsunami survivors have been remaking the everyday ever since that moment. Based on ethnographic research in the post-disaster years, the five chapters of this dissertation discuss various dimensions of the remaking of everyday life that were important to the tsunami survivors, including the reconstruction of houses, interactions between survivors, international organizations and the state, the narrative experiences of the tsunami, the process of grieving and its entanglement with Islam, the creation of collective memory and forgetfulness in urban space, and ideas about the future that build on notions of moral and socio-economic improvement. In these chapters the concept of subjectivity is used to show how individuals creatively shape their lives in the context of tremendous social, economic, and political changes. The dissertation concludes that the anthropology of disaster, that has up to now predominantly focused on post-disaster social change and continuity and on structural historical patterns of vulnerability and resilience, can be enriched by ethnographic studies of subjectivity. Show less
