Malaysia RPCV Gene Ammarell, an associate professor of anthropology, relocated, along with his wife Bonnie Edwards to do research on Fishing Technologies among the Bugis in the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi
Professor recalls study of sustainable fishing in remote society
2004-10-18
By Lauren Coyle
Athens NEWS Campus Reporter
An Ohio University anthropologist constructed a research station and researched sustainable fishing in Indonesia last year as part of his research sabbatical.
Gene Ammarell, an associate professor of anthropology, relocated, along with his wife Bonnie Edwards to do research among the Bugis in the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. He conducted his research on a small island off the mainland called Balobaloang, home to about 750 people.
The Bugis, who sail their tall ships across Indonesia in search of cargos, are the people whom the colonial Dutch originally referred to as "bogeyman," creating the long-lasting term.
"When I told the Bugis about this legend that parents tell to children who misbehave -- that 'the bogeyman's going to come get you'" Ammarell recalled, "they said, 'Well, that's funny, because when our children misbehave, we tell them that the Dutch are going to get them.'"
While in Balobaloang, Ammarell worked with locals to construct a house in which he and his wife lived during their stay. He subsequently donated the house as a research station to Hasanuddin University in South Sulawesi, which has a memorandum of understanding with OU. Graduate students and researchers from both Hasanuddin University and OU work in conjunction on projects concerning the island.
"This memorandum creates a relationship between OU and Hasanuddin University, so we can work together to focus on the political ecology of the island," Ammarell explained. "And this research station can serve as housing for students from either university who would like to do research on the island in the future."
Some friends of Ammarell donated money to buy supplies and equipment for the school on Balobaloang, which children attend from first through sixth grade. They may go to the mainland for secondary school, but it is very expensive.
Ammarell's research last year, which was funded by a Fulbright-Hays fellowship, concentrated on the Bugis' fishing technologies, as well as the crucial fish resources that are rapidly being depleted by bombing of the coral reefs.
"Some fishers will drop bottle bombs into reefs to stun and kill many fish at a time," Ammarell said. "This obviously destroys the reef, which is the fish's habitat. People on Balobaloang do not do this because they realize that the fish will disappear if they do so, but there are problems with those from elsewhere doing it, sometimes very near to Balobaloang."
Reefs near other islands suffer bombings, Ammarell said. Bottle-bombing is not the only destructive method that is used. Another mode of quickly obtaining fish, which also destroys resources, is cyanide poisoning.
Ammarell explained that the coral reef in Indonesia is "just as important as the rain forest," and Indonesia often has been called the "lungs of the world." The Nature Conservancy and other non-governmental organizations are currently working to preserve the region's coral reefs.
"The coral reefs of Indonesia are the epicenter of life in the sea," Ammarell said. "There is still enough left now that the reef can be repaired. However, people estimate that if the bombing, as well as sea warming, continue, then the reefs will be gone in about 10 years."
This is a crucial matter for inhabitants of Balobaloang, whose sustenance is based upon the fish they catch and rice that is imported from the mainland. In addition, many people's livelihoods rely upon selling their fish in mainland markets. They also ship cargo goods among islands.
Ammarell found that political corruption, including the paying off of law enforcement, fed the continuation of the problematic bottle-bombing.
"What really struck me was the incredible complexity of the problem," he said. "Anthropology is about trying to disentangle the complexity, but, as I started getting into the research, I realized how many political problems surrounded the situation."
TWO OU GRADUATE STUDENTS also conducted research on the island. Rita Steyn, a master's student in biological sciences, focused on the coral reefs. Amelia Hapsari, a master's student in telecommunications and native of Java, assembled a participatory documentary on the bombing problem, talking to natives, bombers, local officials and governmental officials on the mainland.
"Some of the bombs were actually putting cracks in the mosque on the island, so Amelia even went and talked to the people at the mosque," Ammarell recalled. "She took her footage to the mainland to show the government officials, then she'd film their responses and show the people on the island. She created this communication between the government and the people on the island that had been absent."
Hapsari's film will debut this spring in Athens, as well as in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies.
Ammarell had studied on Balobaloang in the late '80s and early '90s for his doctoral research. At that time, he was interested in indigenous modes of navigation, particularly as sailors utilized astronomy to find their way. Ammarell has taught a Tier III course at OU, entitled "Culture and the Sky," which revolves around this topic.
"I had always been interested in astronomy, ever since I was a kid," Ammarell said. "As a cognitive anthropologist, I'm also very interested in how people conceptualize their world. I look at the cognitive maps that people have of their environment."
Ammarell earned a Ph.D. and master's from Yale University, as well as master's in general science and a B.S. in elementary education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He entered the Peace Corps after receiving his bachelor's degree and taught science and math in Malaysia.
When he returned from the Peace Corps, he entered what he terms a "classic hippie commune" in Franklin, Ohio. He returned to Colorado to earn his master's, and then taught in a planetarium for five years.
"My favorite questions came from 5- or 6-year-olds, when they would ask things like 'Why is it warmer at noon when the sun's high above the horizon than at dawn when it's closest to the earth?'" Ammarell said. "These questions really revealed how they perceived what they were seeing around them."
