Social Sciences students return from trip to Southeast Asia

Ten postgraduate students from the School of Social Sciences have returned from a six week trip to Indonesia and Thailand to learn about the complexity of post-disaster recovery processes in different cultural, political and economic contexts. The trip was generously supported by the Prime Minister’s Scholarship for Asia (PMSA) programme, with co-funding from the Faculty of Arts.

The multi-disciplinary group comprising students from Development Studies, Social Anthropology and Media, Film and Television visited Aceh Province in northern Sumatra and Phang Nga Province in southern Thailand, two of the provinces most heavily affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Accompanied by Dr Jesse Hession Grayman in Indonesia and Professor Andreas Neef in Thailand - both from the Faculty’s Development Studies programme - the students got first-hand insights into long-term rehabilitation of small businesses, tourism and infrastructure following one of the worst mega-disasters in Asia.

They also visited reconstruction projects following the aftermath of recent earthquakes in Yogyakarta (Java) and learned about Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) – both novel and controversial approaches to mitigate climate change and related natural disasters – during a field trip to a USAID-funded carbon emission reduction project in northern Thailand.

At the New Zealand Embassy in Jakarta the students learned about ‘disaster diplomacy’ as a new approach adopted by New Zealand development practitioners and diplomats. In Bangkok, the New Zealand Ambassador to Thailand, Reuben Levermore, gave the students a vivid account of his involvement in the emergency response in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan that devastated several communities in the Philippines in 2013.

The trip deepened the students’ understanding of the impacts of disaster response and recovery, where supply-driven humanitarian intervention is not always compatible with the needs and aspirations of communities and individuals and where local elites benefit disproportionately from emergency aid. A particular focus of the trip was how the livelihoods of marginalised groups such as ethnic minorities, indigenous people, orphans and the landless poor have been affected by disaster recovery processes.

The students were able to discuss their experiences in a panel at the 4^th International Conference of International Relations and Development (ICIRD) at Mahidol University, Salaya, Bangkok and at a concluding joint graduate seminar at Chiang Mai University’s Regional Center for Social Sciences and Sustainable Development (RCSD), where they gave presentations alongside Master of Arts students from Myanmar and Vietnam.

In his closing remarks, Associate Professor Chusak Wittayapak, the director of Chiang Mai University’s MA in Development Studies programme, stated that “this seminar could be the starting point of a very productive collaboration between our programme and the University of Auckland’s School of Social Sciences.”

 “This trip has been a mind-blowing experience,” reported Lillian Hanly, a postgraduate student in Media, Film and Television who maintained a blog throughout the six-week journey. “I didn’t know anything about international development prior to this trip. Now I have begun to understand the importance of contributing to more equitable development processes, particularly in the aftermath of major disasters.”

Andrea Merino Ortiz, a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) student and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Social Anthropology programme confessed that “this trip has tested my limits in terms of being confronted with human suffering, poverty and social injustice. But it has also been an incredible inspiration for my future research and teaching.”

Juan Parada Diaz, who studies Screen Production and has documented the journey, said that “this trip has been very exhausting and at times I felt that it exceeded my capacity to process all the information. But if I think about it, I wouldn’t want to miss any of the experiences I had during these amazing six weeks.”

The PMSA awards aim to build knowledge and understanding of New Zealand’s trading partners in the Asian region, and develop linkages with these countries. There are two scholarship rounds each year, with application deadlines in March and September. The next round of applications will close on Wednesday 30 September 2015.

Applications are invited from individual students and from academics for group study programmes such as the one undertaken by these students from the School of Social Sciences.

University staff who are interested in learning more about this funding opportunity can contact Ross Crosson at r.crosson@auckland.ac.nz.

Find out more about the Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia

Read the PMSA University of Auckland Development Studies 2015 blog