The first Environmental Research & Policy Group Seminar on Traditional Knowledge, Represantation of ‘The Indegenous’ and Plannning for the year 2009 was held on (Wednesday) 18 February 2009. The seminar was held at 2.00 p.m. at the main meeting room, 3rd floor building of School of Social Sciences, UMS. The seminar was jointly organised by the Research Unit for Ethnography and Development and The School of Social Sciences with the support from Assoc. Prof Dr. Fadzilah Majid Cooke (Previous Head of the Unit) and our new head of unit Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rosazman Hussin.
The Prsenters was;
Presentation 1:
USING LOCAL AND EXOGENOUS KNOWLEDGE TO MAKE
REMOTE VILLAGES ATTRACTIVE FOR TOURISTS
By,
Clotilde Luquiau
Doctoral School “Environment, Culture and Societies in the Past and the Present” (milieux, cultures et sociétés du passé et du présent ED 395), CASE Research Center upon Southeast Asia, UMR 8170. Paris X Nanterre.
Abstract
The Kinabatangan lower floodplain (State of Sabah, Malaysia) is a remote area that has been experiencing dramatic changes for the last 20 years. As a part of my Ph.D. work, I have analysed the changes in the local communities of Abai and Bilit and they appear to be different. For instance, in Bilit which is connected to the rest of Sabah by a sealed road, less people seem to have specific local knowledge but more people are able to speak English. In Abai, which is only accessible by boat, more people have traditional activities as handicraft or knowledge about the forest but less are able to speak English. Handicraft skills and English are only a few examples of the changes occurring in these communities. My presentation will firstly analyse the distribution of these knowledge, then I will present an explanation of this distribution. Finally, this study could enable us to focus on the useful knowledge that could help the local people to get more benefit out of the tourism economy.
Professional Biography – Clotilde LUQUIAU
I was born and educated in France. I graduated with a Bachelor degree in Geography at the University of Nantes. My Masters thesis, conducted in the University of Paris X Nanterre, concentrated on the new decentralisation in Mali (Africa) and studied how people manage resources in the Niger Inland Delta. My interests include how local communities adapt to changing environments in terms of development, how they cope with global goals established by the international community, such as protecting biodiversity, when they need to find ways to sustain their everyday life locally. I am currently pursuing Ph.D. studying the impact of tourism on the lower floodplain of the Kinabatangan. I am studying the organisation of the tourism in this area , the way this activity is spreading and the various impacts it has on the lower floodplain of the Kinabatangan, mostly in the villages of Abai, Sukau, Bilit and Batu Puteh.
Presentation 2:
INDIGENOUS FRAMES OF REFERENCE
Translating the Past into a Politics of the Future
By,
Dr. Olivia Guntarik, RMIT UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE.
olivia.guntarik@rmit.edu.au
Abstract
Rusty Peters is an Aboriginal artist, from the Jirrawun ethnic group in the East Kimberly region of northern Australia, known for the controversial political commentary he expresses in his art. His painting, Gamerre: What’s This Museum?, demonstrates potently the contradictions between western and indigenous knowledge systems. As a multilayered work, the painting reminds us that European models of art collecting and display have not always recognised indigenous ways of knowing. The work also points to the important potential of exhibition material to shape thinking. In today’s climate of change, what is the way forward for museums in representing indigenous history, culture and identity? My paper will respond to this question by drawing from indigenous worldviews and a range of scholarship (including Malaysian) to critically reflect on the possibilities and political implications of representing indigenous peoples in contemporary museums.
Professional biography
I was born in Malaysia and educated at Melbourne University and La Trobe University, Australia. I currently work as a lecturer at RMIT University in Australia. I am interested in cultural memory and the agencies that emerge out of sites of memory. I am interested in how museums remember the past. My work draws on a range of illustrated histories from family narratives, cultural festivals, museum archives and contemporary indigenous art. Since the late 1990s I have been researching on indigenous heritage, material culture, and gender and cultural politics in Australia and the northern region of Borneo. I have also researched museums and memorials in New Zealand, Japan, China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
Presentation 3:
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND SPATIAL PLANNING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTION AND POWER RELATIONS THEORY
By,
Gaim James Lunkapis
Department of Environment and Geography
Macquarie University, 2109 NSW, Australia
Eml: lunkapis@yahoo.com
Abstract
My presentation develops a perspective of resource management and spatial planning on the basis of strategic linkages between Habermas’ theory of communicative action and Foucault’s theory of power relation. Previous attempt to apply these theories within resource management and spatial planning have mostly centered on how power relation influenced planning and management decision and how communicative actions have facilitated public participation. In conjunction with these former applications, this presentation inspired revision to advance these theories to the current practice of resource management and spatial planning in Malaysia and aimed to : a) contribute to the growing number of resource management and spatial planning theories and literatures with regional perspectives; and b) to respond with several specific enabling tools useful for resourse managers and spatial planners towards achieving a win-win situation for the state and for the people.
Professional Biography – Gaim James Lunkapis
I was trained as Physical Geographer with B.Sc. in Geography from SIU, MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the ISU and MSc in Remote Sensing and GIS from UPM. My career starts as State Town Planner from 1988 to 2003 and thereafter joined the academic staff of the Geography Programme at Universiti Malaysia Sabah. I was the Project Manager and Research Officer for the DANCED-Malaysian sponsored project, the Integrated Coastal Zone Management and the Environmental Local Plan for Sabah (1996-2003). It was during this attachment that I had the opportunity to work with local and international researchers with diverse outlook towards resource management and spatial planning initiatives. It was also from these experiences that motivated me to do further research on these subjects from a ‘different perspective’. My broader aim is to engage in relevant research and contribute to positive social change.
