Challenges in Trans-disciplinary and Value Critical Research on Social Movements

ISS students blogging from the field

Tags: Indonesia , Civil Society Building

ISS MA-student in Human Rights and Development Cyprianus Jehan Paju Dale (read profile here) is currently in Papua to conduct research on key actors of social movements in Papua. He explores the leading discourse of indigenous people of Papua on development and human rights. Cypri’s is grappling with the ‘western’ concept of ‘social movement’ in the Papuan context. How is it understood in Papua and by whome? And what about the ethics of research: how to analyze your research findings and critique practices of the movement while you have become attached to your informants and touched by their narratives of personal struggle?

By Cypri Jehan Paju Dale

The complex historical, social, political, economic and cultural context of Papua makes this easternmost region of Indonesia a place for all sorts of movements, including the political struggle for political independence. Since a long time indigenous people of Papua have been fighting against transnational mining corporations and land domination by plantations and non-Papuan migrants. Generally the Indonesian government perceives these movements as “separatist” or “anti-development”, while the local people and the advocacy groups perceive their struggles as part of a movement for human rights and social justice. Local civil society advocacy groups (including NGOs and Church based initiatives) are working for empowerment of the Papuans who are marginalized and suffer from various spectrums of rights violations through the way development is done in Papua. Many governments programs violate the economic, social, cultural and ecological integrity of the Papuans and are therefore rejected.

Most researches on Papua tend to make a strict distinction between civil society initiatives and human rights advocacy for political movements. However, since 1998, there is a tendency to converge movements in Papua where the actors from NGOs, church, adat (indigenous communities), and political groups focus on the dignity of the Papuans who are marginalized in political, economic, and cultural development of Indonesia. Taking this divergence and convergence into account, there exists a tremendous challenge for trans-disciplinary study for social movements, development and human rights. How to understand the political, economic, cultural dynamics of the Papua within national and global interlinkages?

To open myself for this challenge, I decided not to define a fixed pre-fieldwork working definition of “social movement”. Rather, I categorized the actors in Papua into five groups: adat (indigenous communities) movement, faith-based advocacy movements, NGO movements, youth-students movements, and pro-independence/political movements, including the guerrilla. I selected prominent leaders and institutions from these five groups for interviews and focussed group discussions to identify their main discourse on development and human rights: both their critiques to the state lead market driven development and the alternatives they proposed.

I had apparently arrived at the right moment. Just two weeks before, all spectrums of the movements in Papua held a public consultation in what they called the Musyawarah Besar (great assembly) where the leaders (1) handed back the Special Autonomy Law of Papua (the basis for Papuan legal status in the Unitary State of Indonesia) to the central government, (2) demanded a Referendum to vote over independence of Papua,(3) called for the close down of huge exploitative corporations, and (4) requested to stop the migration of non-Papuan Indonesians to Papua. The Musyawarah Besar was followed by a series of mass mobilizations and public discussions. It was the right moment to get people talking about my research topic.

I have not only met leaders and activists, but also ‘the struggling community’. Their stories have particulary touched me. I spent time in the indigenous villages and I visited a “transmigration area”, where the indigenous people have lost their forest and now live in a palm plantation area. I visited the Amungme tribal communities, who are now living in another tribe’s area (Komoro), because their mountains and forests have been taken by the government and corporations for mining. I walked with some young men from the Amungme tribes along the river which is now badly poluted by the tailing from the mine. I listened to their stories of memories in the past and their desperation of their uncertain future. I also had time to observe how the Papuans do not have space to live and work in the cities and chat with mama-mama pedagang pinggir jalan (the street ventor mothers), who have to sell their products under the sun outside a modern supermarket in the capital city.

I also spent time with Mama Yosepha, a prominent indigenous women leader who was awarded Yap Thiam Hien human rights award and Goldman environment award because of her struggle against rights violations and enviromental degradation related to the operation of US-based Freeport mining corporation. After following her for three days in her activities, she told me: “Anak laki-laki (My Son), please bring my voice wherever you go...”. A family who invited me for a dinner in their house said a prayer: “God, bless this young man who came to this land for his research. May he bring the People of Papua in his heart and mind.” After hearing all their stories, and after being treated so well by these people, how should I critically position myself in this reseach?