AMINEF and Universitas Indonesia (UI) invite those with an interest in environmental studies to a research presentation by US Fulbright Student Researcher Matthew Libassi on October 1, 2018 at FISIP UI, Depok.

Matthew Libassi is a doctoral candidate in the department of Environment Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. Matt’s research explores the structure and socio-cultural context of the informal small-scale gold mining economy in West Java. This research is supported through an affiliation with the Anthropology department at Universitas Indonesia.

All are welcome as this event is open to the public and free of charge.

A short summary of the research:

Small-scale, informal gold mining has mushroomed in countries worldwide in recent decades. Indonesia, a nation where an estimated 1 million people are connected to the industry, is a leading example. The expansion of this activity within Indonesia has been accompanied by an increasingly level of scrutiny from environmental and public health researchers, but few of these analyses offer insight on the everyday realities within the industry. Such data is needed to explain the industry’s persistence, understand its current trajectory, and formulate effective management policies. Matthew’s recent research examines small-scale mining’s social and historical entanglement in the communities around the Pongkor gold mining region of West Java. This research explores the emergence of mining norms in the region and highlights how shifting social contexts have affected the trajectory of mining in the region. Effective efforts to address the challenges associated with small-scale mining should incorporate such social and historical specificities to improve management efforts.