Abstract

Together with Shun Deng Fam, a graduate student in Biological Anthropology at CASS, I am working on a project concerned with the dam-induced displacement and resettlement of 15 longhouse communities from the Balui River in upland Sarawak to an area known as Asap. The move was necessitated by the construction of the Bakun Hydro-electric dam, which is powered by the 700 km2 Lake Bakun. It is now over sixteen years since resettlement and between us we have covered the period from 1999 to 2016, constantly monitoring changes in the circumstances of the settlers and the diaspora. Drawing upon a variety of sources, from historical, fieldwork based research from 1987 to present, contemporary fieldwork, to  social media, we intend to complete an article originally formulated by myself on the politics of hope and renewal in the BRS. With Fam’s assistance, I examine the current circumstances of numerous developments from the central Sarawak district of Belaga, especially Lake Bakun. I should add that the primary focus of my current research is on the markets of the region: from the Belaga Bazaar established in the late 19th century, to the fresh food markets in the new resettlement site and the fish and game market located on the edge of Lake Bakun. Following the economist Layton, I am interested in the effects of disruptive change on macromarketing systems. While value exchange is central to a macromarketing systems approach, it is in the context of everyday life that one sees trade working out, and it is here that the impacts of disruption make themselves felt. This is where my interests intersect with that of Shun Deng who is interested primarily in the political ecology of the Lake. Together we here expand our research into the political economy of trade and tourism in the region by expanding on our earlier discussion of ecotourism and ethnotourism to incorporate primitivist tourism and by examining each of these in turn under the rubric of the political economy of trade and tourism to determine what are the most significant factors in recent changes in the economy of the Bakun Resettlement Scheme and the surrounding region. Crucial to the development of our argument are political relations, gender relations, the opening of the Murum Dam and the use of Facebook and the internet. 

Jennifer Alexander is a researcher affiliated with the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. 

Shun Deng Fam is a graduate student from Archaeology and Anthropology, CASS.

S2 2016 Series Speakers

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Date                  Speaker
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Jul 27          Jane Ferguson
Aug 3          Alison Witchard
Aug 10        Hans Baer
Aug 17        Simone Dennis
Aug 24        Debra McDougall
Aug 26        Michael Hertzfeld
Aug 31        Robbie Peters
Sep 21         Zazie Bowen
Oct 5           Jennifer Alexander and Shun Deng Fam
Oct 12         Bonnie McConnell
Oct 19         Francesca Merlan
Oct 26         Avail
Nov 2          Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen
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