Dr. Rupert Stasch  receives grant under the US Fulbright Scholar program for a 7-month research project in Papua. Rupert, an Anthropologist who currently teaches at University of Cambridge, UK, has had a long research interest in the region. In 2009, he published a book “Society of Others: Kinship and Mourning in a West Papuan Place.”

In his current project, Rupert is looking at the “Cross-Cultural Understanding between Tourists, Guides, and Hosts in Distrik Yaniruma, Papua.” Generally, the research will address all aspects of how it is that Korowai community, who lives in Distrik Yaniruma, and  foreign tourists intensely value their meetings with each other and coordinate their interactions smoothly, despite sometimes misunderstanding each other. Rupert will be supported by Universitas Indonesia and Institut Seni Budaya Indonesia (ISBI) Tanah Papua for this project.

Grant is completed in June 2018.