IV-7. “Comparative Study of Social-Ecological Resilience in Southeast Asia” (H25-26 FY2013-2014)


  • Project Leader : Naito Daisuke (Center for International Research Institute)
  • Collaborators : Kozan Osamu (Kyoto University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies)
  • : Abe Kenichi (Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Center for Research Promotion)
  • : Yanagisawa Masayuki (Kyoto University, Center for Integrated Area Studies)
  • : Kume Takashi (Ehime University, Faculty of Agriculture)
  • : Tomita Shinsuke (The Pennsylvania State University, Researcher)
  • : Ubukata Fumikazu (Okayama University, Faculty of Agriculture)
  • : Shimamura Tetsuya (Ehime University, Faculty of Agriculture)
  • : Ishimoto Yuudai (Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Research Department)

Outline of Research

In Southeast Asia, local people tend to diversify their subsistence activities and engage in agricultural wage work. How should we evaluate socio-ecological resilience in such social and cultural environment? Most previous resilience studies have only been theory-based, and empirical studies are very limited. The group aim to identify the methods to evaluate, measure, and analyze how local people respond to shocks such as natural disasters, environmental changes and social transformation, upon communities where they have flexibility in subsistence activities and layered safety guards.

Description

The research group aims to carry out empirical studies on resilience in Southeast Asia. The group consists of researchers who have long conducted fieldwork in Southeast Asia and will conduct comparative studies on resilience based on accumulated data through interdisciplinary studies with other natural science researchers.

In 2014, the writing workshop on special issues “Resilience thinking in Southeast Asia” was held in June. Another writing workshop was also held in December. During this workshop, a draft journal article was prepared and reviewed. For each seminar, a guest speaker from in and out of the country will be invited to share ideas and further discussion.

Resilience studies have long been conceptual, but the group aims to illustrate examples of empirical research methods based on area studies. Areas of interest will not only be from Southeast Asia, but also on comparative studies with Africa to further our understanding of socio-ecological resilience and provide universal research methods. Our research results will be published in a special issue of Tonan Ajia Kenkyu.


House under ash from Merapi Mountain

Collecting stones and sand from river