Abstract. On visits to rural Indonesia it is apparent that the advances made possible by technical engineered solutions, are rarely at the same pace as the human captivation of technical development. This uneven pace has limited the application of labour-saving equipment and efficiency. It is suggested to be of primary importance to advance technical application skills among communities as part of the continuous advancement cycle in our human environment. A creative approach to inclusive technology and internal transfer of equipment knowledge in society, reduces barriers and could diminish structural or societal undesired situations. Earlier theoretical concepts provide us a lens for describing the practices of habitus, conceptualization of social capital and integrated systems thinking. The interrelationship and complexities in technical and social systems requires to be investigated. This paper aims to describe those, combined with technological applications in an empirical ethnographic approach. The study analyses the negotiations of community members with the available technology. It intends to foster a better understanding of the various cultural-economic values by exploring the systems thinking theory, with a focus on rice cultivation in Indonesia, Japan and Australia. This research suggests that cultural, economic and technical advances vary considerably and human expectations are strongly influenced by local culture.
This article aims to show the development of local identities and of local government political interests, as captured by clans and élite groups in Mentawai, West Sumatra, Indonesia.An ethnographic analysis was made of those islands in the Indian Ocean, which contain a high diversity of clan dialects/ languages and new élite groups that have emerged as a result of young academic Mentawaians returning from the mainland.MASKOTA DELFI completed her Ph.D. at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences at Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. She was a visiting scholar at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, and completed library research at KITLV in Leiden, The Netherlands. She is associated with Andalas University, and her main research interest includes ethno-medicine, food security, and traditional tattoos. As part of a national research orientation, she was also in the Indonesian part of Borneo, where she investigated food traditions, shifting cultivation, and land management of several Dayak groups. JOHAN WEINTRÉ has recently submitted his doctoral thesis at the Flinders University Asia Centre in Australia, with a research focus on natural resources, social capital, and governance in Indonesia. As a previous visiting guest lecturer in Indonesia and former associate at several research institutions, he has been able to visit several remote locations in the archipelago. His research interests are focused on small communities, to investigate their self-developed resource management systems and governance structures, which have evolved from their particular environment and social settings.
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