8 th Euroseas conference Vienna, 11–14 August 2015

— Narratives and Diversity in Livelihood Adaptation to Resource Pressures in Feuang District, Lao PDR
Natalia Scurrah (The University of Sydney) 
Resource pressures in Lao PDR arising from large scale resource development projects necessitate livelihood adapta-
tion both by those directly and indirectly affected. The Nam Ngum River Basin has seen a particularly high rate of 
hydropower, mining and other developments with associated pressures on land, forests and water resources. As a 
result of inundation caused by the Nam Ngum 2 hydropower project, the establishment of Phonesavath Village in 
Muang Feuang District, Vientiane Province, has created significant livelihood challenges and some opportunities for 
more than 6,000 people who resettled there. It has also affected surrounding villages whose land and other resources 
have been shared with the newcomers. Our research explores livelihood responses to risks and opportunities created 
by resource development in Phonesavath and surrounding villages through narratives of livelihood change at the 
household level. It employs a combination of in-depth qualitative interviews and focus group discussions, as well as 
interviews with key actors in the resettlement and facilitated livelihood adaptation process. Two key sets of findings 
stand out.  First is that the adaptation experience of different households has been highly diverse, and that this can be 
linked to a range of “capitals” on which individuals and households have different capacities to draw.  Second is that 
the more successful adaptation has been a highly spatialized process, meaning that resources and opportunities are 
drawn from many different locations rather than from the very limited areas of land and other resources available in 
and around the village of Phonesavath.  In policy terms, the study finds that understanding these diverse and multi-
local livelihood strategies provides different options for facilitated livelihood adaptation to those commonly adopted 
in livelihood mitigation programs.
— Challenges and Potentials of Multi-Disciplinary Applied “Nexus” Research in Lao PDR
Philip Hirsch (The University of Sydney), Khamla Phanvilay (National University of Laos) 
This paper explores the role and challenges of multi-disciplinary research in examining, and seeking to influence 
policy on, a key development dilemma for a resource-rich and income-poor Southeast Asian country such as Lao 
PDR.  Simply stated, the dilemma is that rapid economic growth based heavily on large scale natural resource devel-
opment has had limited success in improving key health, nutrition and certain livelihood indicators of the country’s 
rural poor, and in many instances the strategy has undermined access to the land and natural resource endowments 
on which the poor depend most.  The “nexus” between water resource development for energy production and land-
based livelihood improvement is at the conceptual core of this approach.  While this nexus has increasingly taken 
centre ground in the framing of debates and studies of environment and development in the Mekong Region, this 

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paper explores the specific challenges and potentials of working across disciplines, particularly in an applied research 
context.  In particular, we report on the challenges of conducting and communicating research that employs a multi-
disciplinary perspective to examine linkages between resource development, rural livelihood change, food security 
and the nutritional wellbeing of rural people. 
— ‘Upland development’ in Laos and the Implications of Changing Land-Uses and Livelihoods 
Sarinda Singh (University of Queensland)
This paper examines changes to land-use and livelihoods in Laos, and whether these are equivalent to ‘upland de-
velopment’ that incorporates government policy commitments to poverty alleviation and sustainable forest manage-
ment.  It examines recent changes in poverty and livelihood activities at four ‘focal sites’, which are areas targeted by 
the government for upland development.  Fieldwork was conducted across 45 ethnic minority (mostly Brou) villages 
in the upland districts of Nong, Sepon and Phine in Savannakhet Province, near the Vietnam border.  Despite vari-
ability between the focal sites, three general trends are apparent in changes to land-use and livelihoods.  First, while 
government rhetoric continues to castigate swidden cultivation as the cause of deforestation and poverty, new land-
uses will likely entail much greater impacts than swidden.  Second, recent success in poverty alleviation is mainly due 
to villagers’ illegal logging of luxury timbers from National Protected Areas.  Furthermore, government plans for vil-
lagers’ new livelihood activities – especially, work on rubber plantations – are more often linked by villagers to nega-
tive impacts than poverty alleviation.  Third, while villagers’ perspectives of these changes are complex, they highlight 
the lack of effective governance for new land-uses and livelihoods and villagers’ increasing awareness of this failing.
— Rethinking Regionalism: Regulatory State and Transboundary Hydropower Development on the Lower Me-
kong Mainstream
Ome Chattranond (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Transboundary hydropower development in the Lower Mekong Basin was initiated as a part of regionalism during 
the Cold War in Southeast Asia. Since 1990s, the regional economic integration has been promoted and incorporated 
emerging economies, including Lao PDR where its hydropower potential and strategic location for hydroelectricity 
export is attractive to foreign investment, especially from Thailand. However, as proposing large hydropower projects 
on the Mekong mainstream potentially cause transboundary impacts, the attention is drawn to the transboundary 
water governance that strong regional institutions and robust public participation have been limited. 
This study aims to understand how governments and other actors, i.e. transnational companies and NGOs, have been 
affected and pursued their interests through multilevel governance promoted by regionalism. The case study of Xaya-
buri Hydroelectric Power Project in Lao PDR, which is the first dam ever built on the Lower Mekong mainstream 
and developed by Thai companies with the support from Thai government, is employed to illustrate the multilevel 
governance under the context of regionalism. The methodology is based on a qualitative single case study with the 
fieldwork conducted both in Lao PDR and Thailand.
It argues that developmental regionalism in the Mekong River Basin is pushed in a direction of the regulatory state 
where its power is increasingly moved from the institutions of government to hands of developers who are not politi-
cally accountable. Transnational investment and reforming governance of hydropower development could represent 
how the regional governance affects this transformation within the state. Moreover, despite the fact that more actors 
has engaged in more levels of governance for transnational projects, the state pursues regionalism to legitimize and 
sustain its power over transboundary water resources and relations with more involving non-state actors.
— Diversity and Multi-Locality in Livelihood Adaptation to Resource Development: Narratives from Muang 
Feuang, Lao PDR
Lytoua Chialue (National University of Laos)
Resource pressures in Lao PDR arising from large scale resource development projects necessitate livelihood adapta-
tion both by those directly and indirectly affected. The Nam Ngum River Basin has seen a particularly high rate of 
hydropower, mining and other developments with associated pressures on land, forests and water resources. As a 
result of inundation caused by the Nam Ngum 2 hydropower project, the establishment of Phonesavath Village in 
Muang Feuang District, Vientiane Province, has created significant livelihood challenges and some opportunities for 

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more than 6,000 people who resettled there. It has also affected surrounding villages whose land and other resources 
have been shared with the newcomers. Our research explores livelihood responses to risks and opportunities created 
by resource development in Phonesavath and surrounding villages through narratives of livelihood change at the 
household level. It employs a combination of in-depth qualitative interviews and focus group discussions, as well as 
interviews with key actors in the resettlement and facilitated livelihood adaptation process. Two key sets of findings 
stand out. First is that the adaptation experience of different households has been highly diverse, and that this can be 
linked to a range of “capitals” on which individuals and households have different capacities to draw. Second is that 
the more successful adaptation has been a highly spatialized process, meaning that resources and opportunities are 
drawn from many different locations rather than from the very limited areas of land and other resources available in 
and around the village of Phonesavath. In policy terms, the study finds that understanding these diverse and multi-
local livelihood strategies provides different options for facilitated livelihood adaptation to those commonly adopted 
in livelihood mitigation programs.
 
XIV. Mixed Panels
Mixed panel I: Music, Youth and Medical Pluralism
— The Care and Protection Spectrum of Documentation in Indonesian New Music Practices 
Nuraini Juliastuti (Leiden University and KUNCI Cultural Studies Center)
Praise for the possibilities of collecting and preserving music data today are followed with laments for the obscurity of 
the collection. The durability of audio storage technology is fragile. After a certain period of time, the data collection 
can no longer be compatible with new gadgets; they become damaged or are discarded by their collectors. This para-
doxical situation, between permanency and temporality, informs the history of preserving and collecting practices. 
Amidst the paradoxes, three stories — Nirmana Records, Save Lokananta, and Irama Nusantara, tell the fate of music 
as a cultural product as well as how the collector/fans make a variety of efforts that acquired in different caring and 
protecting practices. 
Nirmana Records is a record company, which specializes in producing vinyl. It is propelled by nostalgia, a longing, 
which is evoked by the thingness of music. Irama Nusantara is a digital archive project on Indonesian popular music. 
The project website stores the digitized music compiled from hundreds of old records. Save Lokananta is an online 
campaign for raising public awareness of the neglected Lokananta – the first and state-owned record company in Solo. 
Such paradoxes imply the ability to discard and devalue something. The stories indicate the undoing of the disposal 
acts. How can the undoing process be explained? What criteria used in deciding whether something is important or 
unimportant, hence documented or neglected? This presentation is a reflection on what collection, or a document and 
archives, mean in an age where obtaining, collecting, retrieving, and preserving seem to be perpetually contextualized. 
— Social Media, Online Public Sphere and Youth Civic Participation: Malaysian Youths example
Samira Rahimi Mavi (University of Vienna)
The participant of youth in civic and politic issues has become continues agenda in line with growing social media 
among scholars. Public sphere and civic participation is essential for a strong democracy. And it is even more criti-
cal for a multi-cultural society. A dynamic society demands active citizens who are sensitive towards the matters of 
public concerns, and effort to taking action for a useful solution on their own accord. Youth, as the future developers 
are central in involvement with civic activities and take imperative part in every society.  Today’s young generation 
experiences new different spheres within which they are informed at the remarkable pace about what is happening 
the world around them.  This is online media and surrounding technologies has opened a new public sphere to whom 
are seeking to contribute his or her part in public concerns. . Malaysia, however, is one of those with the supply of 
broadband internet that has facilitated young generation for easy online activities. But, the underlying question is that 
whether and how these online instruments contribute for civic activities. Some studies suggest that internet by pro-
viding public sphere and flowing free information for content media users is good potential to exchange information 
and increasing civic and politic activities. However, skeptics caution that technologies not universally accessible and 
ones that frequently gets distracted by variety of entertainments and activities which restrict the capability of social 
media encouraging civic participation. The aim of this study is to narrowly trace the effect of social media on civic 

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participation by using the Malaysian example. The research draws upon the theory of Public sphere and the theory of 
civic engagement.
— Medical Pluralism in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia: A Preliminary Report from the Field
Fadly Husain (Medical University of Vienna)
Coexistence of multiple medical traditions is a common phenomenon throughout the world. There are some differ-
ent medical traditions intertwined, biomedicine, indigenous medicine and alternative medicine. To examine on what 
terms the medical systems cooperate and compete one another and how these medical providers apply and justify 
their treatment methods, I had conducted a qualitative study by interviewing 31 indigenous healers, 17 health officials 
and three alternative therapists in WNT, Indonesia. 
In the fieldwork I found types of indigenous healers with different specialties such as bonesetter, traditional midwife, 
traditional masseur, children and cancer healer. Biomedicine is fully controlled and regulated by the government. The 
health offices in this province are given the responsibility to organize and plan regional health programs. It includes 
regulating health official staffs and health care facilities in the area. Alternative medicines can be found a few types 
of therapy that includes Islamic based therapy, cupping and exorcism, acupressure and chiropractic, as well as herbal 
medicine. 
In collaboration with other medical systems in particular biomedicine, only traditional midwife that has a partnership 
program with the official midwife. 
Competition process can be observed when the government applies traditional treatment in public health centers and 
alternative methods in hospitals. 
Alternative medicine also presents a treatment technology options that are not offered by biomedicine and traditional 
medicine.
Conflict occurs when the indigenous healer dealing with health official. Resistance intervention and refusal to cooper-
ate come about due to a lack of communication between practitioners.
In conclusion, coexistence of medical systems is ideal situation since holding the same goal in improving public 
health. The most important thing is how they work together and build communication to achieve the goal without 
reducing the role of other medical systems.
Mixed panel II: Comparative Literature, Decentralization and Photojournalistic Activism
— Countering History as an Indo in Indonesia and a Mulatto in Martinique: A Comparative Analysis on Racially 
Mixed Individuals in The Weaverbirds by Y. M. Mangunwijaya and Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau
Shaffira Gayatri (University of Warwick), Civita Patriana (The London School of Economics and Political Science)
Following the end of colonialism and the formation of an independent nation, the official version of history is ac-
cordingly constructed by the ruling government. However, the officialisation of a singular history as outlined by the 
victorious party oftentimes excludes the marginalised groups’ narratives. It is to fulfil this gap that fiction taps in to 
“recover the past” by recreating the events of history as known by the marginalised. In fiction, the novelist holds a dou-
ble role as both a narrator and a writer (or re-writer) of history, creating an alternative discourse and thus challenging 
the accepted version of history. By analysing two postcolonial novels, The Weaverbirds by Y. M. Mangunwijaya and 
Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau, this paper compares the distinctive roles of racially mixed individuals in two formerly 
colonised countries, Indonesia and Martinique respectively, in countering the dominant version of history. This paper 
argues that the unique position of Indos, or Indonesian Eurasians, and mulattoes (of mixed European and African 
lineage), who often occupy a privileged yet problematic position within society, provides them with a liminal space 
that allows them an unconventional outlook. Their problematic cultural identities and struggles to adjust with society 
during the colonial and post-colonial periods are highlighted in these novels, symbolising the non-mainstream ver-
sion of events that are often silenced by the public and those in power. This paper concludes that it is only by reading 
all these “separate strands” of history, as materialised in fictions, memories and other forms of narratives, that one can 
truly understand the formation of a nation and the complexity of its history, woven by numerous strands of subjectivi-
ties and narratives.

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— Decentralisation and Social Protection Distribution: A Multi-Dimensional Taxonomy of Indonesian Prov-
inces
Dharendra Wardhana (King’s College London)
In this paper we discuss the equitable distribution of central government resources. This is currently done with a 
formula that includes the following variables […]. We develop an alternative - a multi-dimensional taxonomy of 
districts. This is based on (i) level of economic development including future growth prospects (ii) levels of poverty 
and future prospects for the poor based (iii) human capital levels (iv) local tax base and (v) something on governance 
[if possible]. The underlying normative assumptions are that resources should be used in a social efficient way – to 
go to districts with high or weak prospects for poverty reduction and economic development whilst at the same time 
governance-efficient – resources should not go to districts who have a better off taxable population (to strengthen tax 
and accountability) and districts with governance [or corruption levels] below a certain threshold. A cluster analysis 
produces X types of districts in Indonesia. We find that of the XXX districts in Indonesia, X are type 1, x are type 2, x 
are type 3 and so forth. We then consider what the analysis means for the equitable distribution of central government 
resources to the districts and compare this with the current distribution of resources. We discuss any mismatch. To 
the authors’ knowledge the only current classification of Indonesian districts is by oil & gas versus non-oil and gas.
— Visible Peace: Photojournalistic Activism and Its Contribution to Peace Communication in Thailand’s Deep 
South Turmoil (2004-Present)
Worathep Akkabootara (Thammasat University)
For the purposes of this conference, I would like to share about and offer a critical, yet hopeful perspective on the 
work of Deep South Photojournalism (DSP), a group of photojournalists based in Thailand’s south who are working 
to build understanding of, and contribute to peace building processes in the ongoing conflict between the government 
and separatist groups in Thailand’s southernmost provinces from Patani, Yala and Narathiwas . 
Photojournalism not only has aesthetic value that attracts the viewer, but within contemporary media, it continues to 
be able to effectively facilitate  communication and build understanding from other dimensions in areas of conflict. 
Comprehensive meaning and thorough understanding of the daily situation is often achieved by photojournalists, 
unlike the majority of mass media imagery which focuses only on the most severe conflict and the loss of life and 
property, displaying partial truths, handpicked from a much more complex situation. 
The past decade has seen the rise of independent media, disseminating information to the public about the three 
southernmost provinces of Thailand. For example, one group which is focused on in this research is DSP, a group of 
photojournalists who aim to communicate the whole truth and facilitate the formulation of deeper understandings of 
the current situation.
The main aim of this research is to re-evaluate media strategies which are expected to aid understanding of the 
situation in the south, focusing on media publicization dating from the 2004 firearms stolen by the separatist to the 
present day.  The fundamental role of photojournalism in situations such as the tension in Thailand’s deep south can-
not be overlooked. Within its complex quality as not only an art form, but as a form of communicating truths and 
fictions, photography offers a complex yet vital lens through which the public views the current turmoil. Specifically 
photojournalism ignites public interest and creates a sentiment in society that wishes to witness and comprehensively 
understand conflict situations. ??This research is a work in progress, part of my Master’s Degree thesis in Anthropol-
ogy. Collaborating with DSP media activists, and participating in development programs and exhibitions across the 
country, my work aims at elaborating on the connection between aesthetics in the media and the communicative im-
pact from photojournalism, often created by local actors. Local photojournalists have intimate, hands on knowledge 
inaccessible to foreign or metropolitan media. Further, their integration into the local social fabric permits them to 
work in a loosely knit network of photographers, reporters and film makers and local scholars.
As a result, the understanding of  photography’s political contribution goes hand in hand with its contribution  to 
peace building processes. The work of groups like DSP another factor which will lead to a more comprehensive under-
standing of the situation when compared to working in other sectors blocked by bureaucratic policy, administration 
and security, which inevitably blocks but does not yet fully censor active creative contribution from all media. There 
are still many ways that the media can get closer to society, through art and free journalism. Through effective chan-
nels focusing on a more social and cultural dimension, this form of media helps illustrate situations more clearly, such 
as the devout Muslim community and religious rituals often found in multi-ethnic Islamic communities.

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It is clear that further studies are needed to clearly see how straight photojournalism overlaps with informative art and 
how both mediums aim to convey the truth. What is clear is that society is able to reflect the truths and negotiate in a 
peaceful manner, yet whether this will speed up or slow down the process towards peace is yet to be known.
— Social Constructions of Crime and Violence in East Timor
James Scambary (Australian National University)
Over a decade after the end of a 25-year war of resistance against Indonesian occupation, East Timorese society 
continues to exhibit high rates of interpersonal violence. Apart from endemic gender-based violence, sporadic and 
low-intensity communal conflict continues in both rural and urban areas. Intergroup violence in East Timor is com-
monly viewed in development and academic discourse through the lens of social deprivation theories, and as a recent 
and urban phenomenon. Local constructions of violence, however, have a much more complex historical and cultural 
provenance. Reflecting patterns in other Pacific and Melanesian societies, acts such as vigilante violence, for example, 
are often locally understood in terms of restorative or distributive justice. East Timor’s ubiquitous martial arts groups 
can also be better understood in cultural terms, such as kinship identity, than as a response to poverty and youth 
alienation. Focussing on the patterns and dynamics of communal conflict and the social composition of youth gangs 
in East Timor, this paper argues that to design more effective interventions, a more ethnographic approach is required 
to understand the roots of crime and violence in East Timor.