::FY2003 Field Station Interim Report (October, 2003)
Indonesia (Makassar)
  (1) Opening of the MKSFS-UNHAS Joint Laboratory:
           The Makassar Field Station ("MKSFS") opened the MKS-UNHAS Joint Laboratory on September 9, 2003 on the campus of Hasanuddin University (UNHAS), which is expected to be a support base for research activities. TANAKA Koji (CSEAS) visited UNHAS and attended the graduation ceremony of undergraduate students who will become the driving force for MKSFS in the future. Then he met with the dean of the UNHAS Graduate School Program and the director of the UNHAS Institute of Environmental Studies, our counterparts, and signed an agreement on the establishment of the MSK-UNHAS Joint Laboratory. The dispatch of graduate students from ASAFAS through the MKSFS project began in FY2002, and now the support base for their research activities has finally been completed.

      This support base aims to be an "open study forum"for graduate students of ASAFAS and UNHAS to present the outcomes of their on-site research and education and to discuss proposals on their study contents. It is also a place not only for graduate students but for faculty members of both institutions to gain information on the supervision policy for students as well as to exchange information with local NGOs and other research institutions.

      By having this base become a front-line information base for South Sulawesi area studies, and with the aim to make it a place where we can constantly continue to think flexibly about what "area studies"mean, we intend to greatly develop South Sulawesi area studies.
  (2) The Research Environment of the MKSFS:
          The MKSFS has the following equipment:
  • A meeting room (with round table, chairs and bookshelves) and a workroom (See below).
  • Improvement of the Internet environment: A desktop PC was set up, a telephone line was installed (dial up connection), and a connection was secured through an Internet service provider.
  • A scanner was connected to the PC, allowing the digitalization of images and graphics to improve the environment for a digital data library.
  • Gathering of books and literature: By gathering books related to Eastern Indonesia, preparations are being made to allow people to freely read them in the meeting room (In December 2003 OKAMOTO Masaaki [CSEAS] worked to gather documents and data in Makassar).
      Preparations are being made to install a DVD recorder and a large monitor so that we can exchange views and make presentations while viewing videos and image data.

      In order to give public access to the books and literature, preparations are being made to open an MKSFS-UNHAS website (Japanese-English) with February 2004 as a target.
  (3) Support for Students' Research:
          Currently decentralization is being promoted in Indonesia. What changes are taking place in the East Indonesia region, which is a peripheral area of the country? The MKSFS was established with the East Indonesian region, centered around South Sulawesi, as its target for research and study, with the aim of providing support for research by graduate students on interesting research themes. The graduate students preparing for their doctoral dissertations are interested in a broad range of themes, including the use of ecological and environmental resources, changes in natural resource conservation, village reorganization and the involvement of NGOs, and social changes in urban areas in relation to local politics.

       In FY2003, the following graduate students were dispatched.
  • Andi Amri (enrolled in FY2000), "Utilization of Ecosystem Resources in the Brackish Water Region of the Telak Bone"
  • SHIMAGAMI Motoko (enrolled as a third year student in FY2003), "Village Reorganization in the Toraja Region and the Activities of NGOs"
  • KUSUDA Kenta (enrolled in FY2001). He has completed his on-site research in Makassar City on "The Oldest Professional Soccer Team in Makassar (established in 1915) and Its Mutual Relations with Local Politics," and is currently writing his pre-doctoral thesis. He is the prime candidate student to be dispatched in FY2004.

  (4) Collection and Dissemination of Information:
          Supporting the research activities of students is the primary task of the research activity base, of course, but at the same time we hope to make the MKSFS into a base for the dissemination of information that can contribute to the development of area studies on South Sulawesi.

      Makassar is the largest city in the eastern region of Indonesia. The MKSFS hopes to work hard to collect local information and publications that are difficult to acquire in Jakarta and other major cities. Even in frontier regions, the living environment of people and ecology with highly mobile lifestyles and unique architectural cultures cannot escape the influence of urbanization and modernization, and are changing. The MKSFS is also working to record these changing societies and collect and digitize videos and photographs.
Egypt (West Asia)
  (1) Development and Improvement of the Field Station:
           In February-March 2002, near the end of FY2002, KOSUGI Yasushi, leader of the Cairo Field Station, visited Cairo, and together with graduate student YOKOTA Takayuki, who was engaged in field research there, worked to improve the apartment rented since January 2002 as a base in Cairo for the Field Station. The furnished apartment already had a desk, chairs, a bookshelf, etc. and it has been furnished to receive satellite TV transmissions. There are plans to record satellite TV footage on videotapes as needed for use in language training in Japan for the sake of on-site research. Digital versions of various Japanese dictionaries and encyclopedias were installed in the computer in the Field Station. Basic Arabic dictionaries, encyclopedias and documents were also acquired.

      At the end of February 2002, TONAGA Yasushi, a member of the Field Station, also visited Cairo with funding from outside the COE program. He used the opportunity to conduct on-site education with an Islamic district in Cairo's old quarter as a study area.

      A small workshop was held at the Field Station, and videotaped.

      During this fiscal year, in June - July, KOSUGI visited Cairo with funding from outside the COE program, and confirmed that the Field Station was functioning smoothly. In addition, the cooperative relationship with the Asian Research Center of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, the FS's counterpart institution, has been very favorable.

  (2) Dispatch of Students:
          YOKOTA Takayuki (enrolled in FY2000) and ARAI Kazuhiro (enrolled in FY2001) have been dispatched by the 21st Century COE Program. They are currently engaged in vigorous research on the revival of grassroots Islam, and Sufi, respectively. KAMIKIHARA Rie (enrolled in FY2002), whose trip to Egypt for field research was financed by another source, is also using the Field Station.

  (3) Joint Research:
          Research cooperation of various types has been implemented with the Asian Research Center of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University on the premise that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be concluded with the Center. In July 2003, with the full support of the Center, KOSUGI organized an international workshop "Moderates in the Islamic world: Their ideas and domestic/international agenda"at Cairo University (sponsored by a non-COE program).

      An official agreement was reached with Prof. Selim and the dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science for the conclusion of the MOU. In October 2003, when Prof. Selim visited Japan, it was agreed that the signing of the MOU and the ceremony thereof be done at the earliest possible date.
Ethiopia
  (1) Development and Improvement of the Field Station:
          SHIGETA Masayoshi visited Ethiopia from July 17 to August 15, and carried out maintenance of the room rented for the Field Station. At the same time, along with colleagues from Addis Ababa University, he engaged in preparations and consultations for the international workshop to commence on October 20, 2003.
  (2) On-Site Research by Students:
          The following ASAFAS graduate students were dispatched with support from the 21st Century COE Program, and the following graduate students used the Ethiopia Field Station (as of end-October 2003):
  • Students dispatched by the 21st Century COE Program: KANEKO Morie, NISHIZAKI Nobuko, Mamo Hebo, NISHI Makoto, KAWASE Itsushi and SAGAWA Toru
  • Students who conducted field research with funding from other sources: MORISHITA Keiko, SUZUKI Ikuno, Belle Asante and ITOH Yoshimasa
  (3) Joint Research:
          When SHIGETA Masayoshi visited Addis Ababa University, he talked with the director of the university's Institute of Ethiopian Studies about the possibility of future joint research, and specifically the implementation of a joint project. An agreement was reached during the talk that the former director and the current director of the institute would be invited to Japan in December 2003 and in July 2004, respectively, and that the current agreement for research exchanges would be reviewed.

      SHIGETA had discussions with the staff of the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, College of Social Sciences, Addis Ababa University, and agreed that support would be provided through the Ethiopia Field Station to the fieldwork conducted by master's course graduate students for their master's theses.

      The details of the international workshop held from October 20, 2003 will be made public in series on the website of the Ethiopia Field Station.
Cameroon
  (1) Development and Improvement of the Field Station:
          ICHIKAWA Mitsuo visited Cameroon from July 13 to August 14, 2003 and in cooperation with YASUOKA Hirokazu and SHIKATA Kagari, who were dispatched there during approximately the same period, engaged in the development and improvement of the Field Station established in the previous year in Dongo village along the Ngoko River (a tributary of the Congo), Eastern Province. In addition to the already existing building, another house was built using local materials, to serve as a lodging for female researchers.

       A large canoe was purchased, equipped with an outboard motor to be used for research fishing activities and research on migration routes among villages of the past. Furthermore, the electronic environment was improved with the installation of a solar power generator, computers, telephones, etc., and through this a communication network was established with Kyoto and with relevant institutions in Cameroon. The FS thus began transmitting up-to-date information.
  (2) Dispatch of Students:
          SHIKATA Kagari (enrolled in FY2000) is conducting basic research on the establishment of sustainable shifting cultivation in the rainforest, using the field Station. Also, INAI Hiroyuki (enrolled in FY2003), whose visit is privately financed, is using the Field Station to conduct research on a fishing community. In the forest, some distance from the Field Station, YASUOKA Hirokazu, who had been dispatched since the previous fiscal year, continued his research on the hunting activities of Baka pygmies. He returned to Japan in October 2003.

      Outside of ASAFAS, researchers and graduate students of the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University Graduate School of Science, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Yamanashi University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and other institutions, are using the Cameroon FS as a research base, and the Field Station is thus serving as a base for the Japanese researchers in this area. In November 2003, HATTORI Shiho (enrolled in FY2003) will be newly dispatched to conduct research on the Baka pygmies living in a nature preservation project areas.

  (3) Joint Research:
          Joint research with local researchers has been conducted since the middle of the 1990s, when research in Cameroon began. However, with the recent departure of Dr. Godefroy Ngima Mawoung, the counterpart of the Cameroon FS, from the Ministry of Science, as he moved to Yaounde University and the launch of the 21st Century COE Program, it became desirable to conclude a more formal academic agreement, and talks have continued since the previous fiscal year to this end. In July 2003, when ICHIKAWA visited Cameroon, he had talks with Prof. Andre-Marie Ntsobe, Dean of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Yaounde 1, and they reached an agreement to exchange an MOU on academic exchanges between the latter's department and ASAFAS.

      Researches are being carried out in close contact with WWF-Cameroon, which promotes nature conservation projects, Cameroon's Ministry for the Environment and Forests (MINEF), experts from the German government's aid organization (GTZ) who support the nature preservation projects, Cameroonian government officials, researchers, students, staff in charge of nature preservation promotion, and others. In December 2003, a joint seminar with these organizations and institutions will be held in Yokadouma, the capital of Bunha-Ngogo District, and HATTORI and SHIKATA, who are engaged in field research, will present their outcomes.
Kenya
  (1) Development and Improvement of the Field Station:
          OHTA Itaru visited Kenya from July 26 to September 15 and carried out maintenance of the apartment rented for the Field Station since June 2003. Specifically, he installed a computer, telephone and terminal adaptor, obtained a telephone number, made a contract with a provider and connected the computer to the Internet by ISDN, thus improving the electronic environment. He also improved the living environment by installing a desk, chairs, bookshelves and a whiteboard, securing a power source to deal with blackouts, establishing a security system for when the room is unoccupied and waxing the floor.

      The Station is also being used for storing equipment and materials needed for fieldwork.

      The Kenya FS's website, which is currently under construction, will be available within this fiscal year.

  (2) Support for Students' Fieldwork:
          NAKAMURA Kyoko (enrolled in FY1998), dispatched to Kenya by the 21st Century COE Program, and Sun Xiaogang (enrolled as a third year student in FY2001), who conducted field research in Kenya with funding from outside the COE program, are using the Field Station to organize and compile research materials.

      When OHTA was in Nairobi, he organized a seminar and held discussions at the Field Station.

       During this fiscal year, two students, SAKAI Kikuko and SHIRAISHI Soichiro (both enrolled in FY1998), are to be dispatched for field research funded by the 21st Century COE Program.

  (3) Joint Research:
          OHTA Itaru had discussions with the director of the Institute of African Studies of the University of Nairobi about the possibility of future joint research, and specifically the implementation of a joint project. It was agreed that efforts would be made to invite the director to Japan in May 2004. As for the timing of the visit, consideration is being given to the end of May, when the Annual Meeting of the Japan Association for African Studies is scheduled to be held.

       Work has been done under the theme of "For the Co-Existence of Settlers and Community People: A Recommendation from the Republic of Kenya," a research project in cooperation with the Institute of African Studies subsidized by a research grant from the Toyota Foundation. One student, who took part in the above project and is in the master's course of Nairobi University, was given substantial supervision. OHTA Itaru read the master's thesis submitted by the student (currently under examination with the defense yet to come) and had discussions with him at the Field Station.
Zambia
  (1) Development and Improvement of the Field Station:
          ARAKI Shigeru visited Zambia and Namibia from October 18 to November 16, 2003, and rented a room at the residence of a Japanese national who works with the Japanese Embassy in Zambia. The computer and electronic environment was improved for information gathering and cooperative research. Preparations are underway to construct a participatory database using GIS. In the next fiscal year or thereafter, when the functions of the Field Station are improved, a stand-alone office will be established.

      ARAKI Shigeru had discussions with Dr. E. Murenga, Director of the Institute for Economic and Social Research, University of Zambia (the counterpart of the Zambia FS) toward creating a cooperative system for operating the Field Station.

  (2) Dispatch of Students:
          At present, MARUYAMA Junko (enrolled in FY1999) and MURAO Rumiko (enrolled in FY2000) are engaged in field research in Botswana and Zambia, respectively. Araki, provided on-site education to MURAO jointly with Dr. Murenga.
  (3) Joint Research:
          Dr. Murenga and Prof. Chidumayo of the School of Natural Sciences, University of Zambia, have committed themselves to providing cooperation for the workshop on "Socio-Economic Changes and Community Changes in Southern Africa"to be held in Lusaka in FY2005. A preliminary study was also conducted toward a joint research in the common research field. At present, necessary procedures are being taken to invite Dr. Murenga as a visiting associate professor of ASAFAS.

      In Namibia, research has been undertaken on farming community changes in Ovamboland, Northern Namibia and preparations are underway to conduct a workshop together with local counterparts.
Tanzania
  (1) Development and Improvement of the Field Station:
          IKENO Jun visited Tanzania from July 19 to September 1, 2003, and ITANI Juichi from October 18 - November 16. They engaged in the management and operation of the Field Station as well as the improvement of the security system.

      Satellite telephones and an Internet connection were introduced. Computers for data organization and compilation as well as equipment for seminars and fieldwork have also been installed.

      During the next fiscal year, the electronic environment will be further upgraded and a website constructed.
  (2) Dispatch of Students:
           During this fiscal year, a total of four students will be dispatched to Tanzania under the 21st Century COE Program. They are OGAWA Sayaka (enrolled in FY2000; October-February), KONDO Fumi (enrolled in FY1999; October-December), David Mhando (transferred and enrolled into the Program in FY2002; December-March) and HASEGAWA Tatsuo (enrolled in FY1999; February).

       In addition, six ASAFAS students are conducting field research in Tanzania with funding from outside the COE programs. Each of these students makes frequent use of the Field Station as a base for preparations to obtain official research permits, getting ready for field research, collecting documents and materials and compiling and organizing materials, holding meetings, etc. In November 2003, a public seminar was organized in the Field Station, and attended by those living in Tanzania as well as dispatched students.
  (3) Joint Research:
          IKENO and ITANI consulted with faculty of the SUA (Sokoine University of Agriculture) Centre for Sustainable Rural Development on a future cooperation system. They also discussed the creation of a system for joint research, while supporting ASAFAS students. The Centre has requested that the ASAFAS students make presentations at the seminars held on a regular basis. Members of the Center plan to participate actively in the seminars to make them into an opportunity for information exchanges and joint research.
Malaysia
  (1) Development and Improvement of the Field Station:
          From February 9-11, 2002, NAGATSU Kazufumi and KATO Tsuyoshi visited the Institute of Malay World and Civilization (ATMA) at the National University of Malaysia. They met with ATMA director Prof. Shamsul, and (1) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ASAFAS and ATMA, (2) rented an office to be used as a field station, and (3) discussed cooperation for constructing an electronic database of literature related to Malaysian studies. As a result, it was approved that an office would be set up to be used as a field station for the 21st Century COE Program from August 2003.

      ASAFAS and ATMA are currently examining the contents of the MOU, and plan to sign it by February 2004. With regard to the literature database, it was decided to give ATMA's portal site, PADAT (Malay World Studies Database) the right to publish relevant papers from CSEAS'journal, Southeast Asian Studies.

      At present, ASAFAS students dispatched by the 21st Century COE Program as well as others who are conducting on-site research through other funds are organizing documents in the Field Station, and the FS is being used as a place to have discussions with researchers from ATMA.

      NAGATSU will be dispatched to Malaysia on December 18-27, and KATO on December 19-23, and they will prepare the computing environment in the Field Station, which has already been rented.

       As one of the activities of the Field Station, work is being done to digitize: (1) government publications of North Borneo (present day Sabah State) during the colonial period, (2) government publications on delivery care in Malaysia, and (3) Islamic teachings written in Malay using the Jawi script.

      There are plans to issue the outcomes of on-site education as well as some electronic data on the website, which is currently under construction.

  (2) Dispatch of Students:
          As of October 2003, field research is being carried out in Malaysia by KATO Yuko (enrolled in FY2000), who was dispatched with funds from the 21st Century COE Program, as well as by KAWANO Motoko (enrolled in FY1999) and NAITO Daisuke (enrolled in FY2003), who were sent with non-program funding. They have all used the Field Station at the National University of Malaysia to collect and organize materials.

       During their trip in December 2003, NAGATSU and KATO planned to visit the research sites of KATO Yuko and KAWANO Motoko in Bangi, Selangor State and Suburan Takil, Terengganu State, and carry out on-site education.

  (3) Joint Research:
          During FY2004, there are plans to hold carry out joint study meetings at the Field Station, at the initiative of graduate students KATO Yuko and KAWANO Motoko, with students from the National University of Malaysia and the University of Malaya. NAGATSU, KATO and ISHIKAWA Noboru will give support to this plan on the site.

      Preparations are currently underway to prepare an environment that allows ATMA's Malay research literature database and the electronic data created by the Field Station to be accessible from both websites.
Laos
  (1) Establishment of Field Station and Progress of the Research Themes:
          Laos is one of the few places in Southeast Asia where nature remains in abundance and on the global level it is very important in terms of biodiversity conservation. There is thus strong international pressure to conserve its natural resources, whose use is being tightly restricted, producing major changes in the livelihoods and lifestyles of the local people. Conflicts between policies based on the global perspective and the way of life of the local community have come out in the open. At the Laos Field Station (hereafter Laos FS) we are doing field-based research on the relationship between the local community and use of natural resources in the face of these big changes.

      Preparations for the Laos FS were initiated at the application stage of the 21st Century COE Program and were done in close contact with the counterparts. On May 30, 2002 an agreement was concluded between Kyoto University and the National University of Laos, after which discussions were held with the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the National University of Laos. An agreement was reached with the Faculty of Forestry on September 27, 2002 and on December 13, 2002 activities formally began as the 21st Century COE Program's Laos FS. In FY2002 UBUKATA Fumikazu was dispatched from December 13, 2002 to March 25, 2003 to the Field Station as a COE research fellow.

      A liaison office was set up on the 1st floor of the Research Building of the National University of Laos' Faculty of Forestry. It is equipped with one computer, a work table, a book case and a specimen case, which are being used by faculty and students dispatched there.

      The Laos FS has begun to be used as a research base for faculty and graduate students of not only ASAFAS, but the university as a whole, particularly the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Letters, Graduate School of Agriculture, and Primate Research Institute.
  (2) Support for Graduate Students' Field Research and Outcomes of On-Site Education:
          The graduate students who have made use of the Laos FS with on-site education assistance to date and their research themes are as follows.
  • KOSAKA Yasuyuki (ASAFAS): "Secondary succession of vegetation and land use system in Savannakhet Province, Laos"
  • KURODA Yosuke (ASAFAS): "Study on in-situ conservation of wild rice vegetation"
  • Thatheva Saphangthong (ASAFAS): "Land use systems in the Northern Laos"
  • Anoulom Vilayphone (ASAFAS): "Valuation of non-timber forest products and forest management practices of Kham people"
  • Souksompong Prixar (ASAFAS): "Village forest management after land and forest allocation in Laos"
  • MATSUURA Miki (ASAFAS): "Changing Livelihood Activities and Peasants' Living Strategies in Northern Laos: Case study from a paddy-based village in Namor District, Oudomxay Province"
  • YAMAMOTO Makiko (ASAFAS): "Development Process of Sate-owned Rubber Farms and Life Histories of Immigrant Laborers in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China"
  • HIROTA Isao (Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University): "Shifting cultivation system in northern Laos"
  • NAKATSUJI Susumu (Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University): "Land use in a village under shifting cultivation in Laos"
      Concretely,research assistance is given to graduate students in deciding their research theme and deepening discussion of their research plan and the contents of their research through, concretely, accompanying students to the field, local seminars, and daily discussions at the liaison office and exchange of views via e-mail. This assistance is recorded, where appropriate, on digital photos and stored on CDs.

  (3) The State of Joint Research with Local Research Institutions:
          At present, on-going research projects include one on vegetation on agricultural land and forests in Savannakhet Province in the south (KOSAKA, SAYSANA); one on fish species composition and fisheries in the same province (IWATA); and one tree growth rings in secondary forests in the same province and the other on trade in non-timber forest products in Louang Namtha Province (ANOULOM, TAKEDA). In addition, plans are underway to conduct surveys on changes in land use in the Nam Theun River Basin (Mr. Houngphet, UBUKATA), the development process of a handicraft production and distribution systems in rural villages in the suburbs of Vientiane (MUSHIAKI, Sukurati, UBUKATA).

      Presently joint research is chiefly being conducted with the faculties of forestry and agriculture of the National University of Laos, but we are thinking of actively linking up with other faculties of that university as well as with research institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture an Forestry and Ministry of Information and Culture, and others.

      The research project "Building a Model for Regional Eco-History in Tropical Monsoon Asia,"of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology's Research Institute for Humanity and Nature has also been launched, with the National University of Laos as the local host, and we plan to deepen our links with this project.

  (4) Seminars and Workshops:
          Local seminars were held four times in 2003: February 17, March 3, March 12, and August 5. At the first one, the research plans of two graduate students (HIROTA and MATSUURA) were presented. The second was a brainstorming session by counterparts and TAKEDA, UBUKATA and KOSAKA on future studies at the Field Station. The third seminar was a special lecture (on ecology) for Laotians by Dr. KATO Makoto (Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University). The fourth was a student seminar with eleven participants (MASUNO, AKIMICHI, KOBAYASHI, IWATA, MATSUURA, MUSHIAKI, KOSAKA, UBUKATA, HIROTA, ANOULOM and TAKEDA).
  (5) Document Collection and Setting Up of Information Network:
          We are collecting appropriate basic documents, concentrating on official statistics, as well as our own information on health care and livelihoods. With regard to information networks, we have occasional exchanges with other faculties and the research promotion section of the University, as well as exchanges and trading of information with embassy staff (on regional security, for example).
 
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