PhD Candicacy PPT

“Silence is no longer golden”: an

Ethnography of Informal ‘Gold Digging’

in Bombana District, Indonesia

Omar Pidani

Department of Anthropology, School of Culture,

History and Language, CAP

2

Outline

• Background

– Ethno-history of the District

– Gold Rush & The closure of People's Mining Area

– Drivers of Gold Rush in Bombana

• Research Questions

• Theoretical Orientation

• Methodology and Ethics

Bombana in Sulawesi Bombana Mainland

3

Sneddon’s Bungku-Mori

Group (1983)

4

5

Mokole (1918) Mokole (2014)

6

7

Land Category in Hukaea Laea Village Land category Definition

Inalahi pue

Inalahi popalia

Inalahi peumaa/kotoria

Olobu

Kura

Tana lapa/lueno

Bako

Sacred forest; where the spirit (Ntiwonua) lives; where spring (Mata bundu) is located;

no Moronene has can be found in Tawuna Ula & Mendoke mountain

Ibid; this type couldn’t be disturbed by the Moronene; permission from elders to enter,

otherwise will cause disaster; can be found in Ranongkohahi, Tutumponda, Pelawatia

area

Primary forest which can be used for farming, hunting or graveyard of Sangia or Mokole

Forest patch in the middle of savanna or river bank; some considered sacred, habitat

for certain animals

Regrowth forest which can be used for gardening; can be found in Hoki-hokio, Tinombo,

Langkaea, Sanggihoa, Sampe Tuwere, Laea, Tinombo, Pereua, Pokaea, Tali-Taliawa,

Hukaea, Watumelewe, Wambakowu, Lampinapa.

Savanna grassland

Mangrove forest

8

The map of the Hukaea Laea

Village in the National Park

9

Organisation structure in the

Moronene village of Hukaea Laea

Definition:

Puutobu: Village head

Limbo: advisor

Bonto: judge

Kamuta’a: healer

Totongano: land use coordinator

Kapala: hamlet head

10

Events that led to land dispute and eviction

• 1952: Incoming of Darul Islam/Tentara Islam Indonesia

(DI-TII)

• 1976: The Hunting Park Designation

• 1979/1980: The National Transmigration Program

• In 1990: the Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park

Designation

• 1997-2002: Clean swipe operation (Operasi sapu Jagat)

11

Prayer together before meeting with

the Sapu Jagat team

12

Negotiation with the Sapu Jagat

team

13

The Sapu Jagat team knocking

down the Moronene house

14

A Moronene man with the ruin of

his house

15

Smokes of burnt down houses in

the Hukaea Laea Village from afar

16

Establishment of the Bombana District in 2003

17

November 2008: Gold Rush Occured

18

Gold Rush in Tahi Ite Stream

19

Mining Camp in Wumbubangka

Gold digging in river (courtesy: JPNN)

20

21

Gold digging in land (courtesy: Yos Hasrul)

Landslide and casualties

22

License for mining for individual

miners

23

PT. Panca Logam Makmur’s

operation

24

Distribution of mining business

licenses (Izin Usaha

Pertambangan) in 2013 (courtesy:

JATAM)

25

Riot after the closing of the mining

area

26

27

Courtesy: Carsten Bundgaard

Drivers of Gold Rush

28

Pepper farm (left); A Moronene man collecting herbs from forest (right)

29

30

31

Courtesy: Carsten Bundgaard

A news article on local protest of

‘Penambangan Liar’ (Liar = wild;

illegal)

32

Research Questions

• Why do some people in the uplands of Bombana,

particularly the indigenous Moronene groups, choose to

become artisanal gold miners, while others do not?

• How is informal artisanal gold mining organized? How

does each mining organization create social and power

relations that encourage or discourage participation?

33

Theoretical Orientation

• Culturally-oriented Political Economy (William

Roseberry, 1984, among others)

• Structuration Theory (Bourdieu, 1973; Giddens, 1984)

– Bourdieu (1973): Field, Habitus, Interest, Capital

• Access (Ribbot and Pelluso, 1994)

34

Methodology and EthicsResearch Location

35

• Methods:

– Interviews, informal discussions and observations of

social relations and concrete events and rituals, as

well as cases and concepts clarification by

respondents

36

Thank You

37