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Current and Recent Projects | Past Projects | Our Publications
Current and Recent Projects
Nation-Building Across Urban and Rural Timor-Leste
Nation-Building Across Urban and Rural Timor-Leste: Gender, Justice, Peace and Security, Development and Governance
A Conference to Reflect on 10 Years of Nation-Building in Timor-Leste
Dili, Timor-Leste
Dates: 8-10 July 2009
Organizers: Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University
NGO Forum Timor-Leste
Australian Volunteers International (AVI)
Charles Darwin University
Supporters: Caritas Australia Timor-Leste
AusAID
Asia Pacific Futures Research Network
Airnorth
Publications: Recommendations from Conference Participants in English and Tetun
Bilingual conference proceedings to come
This conference provided an opportunity for East Timorese and people from around the world to reflect, discuss and debate the nation-building process in Timor-Leste since 1999. In this context, nation-building in Timor-Leste is taken to mean the many different attempts since 1999 to ensure the political, economic and cultural integration of the population within the territory so as to fulfil the ambition of self rule in a stable and ongoing way.
Ten years after the 1999 vote for independence, this conference considered how nation-building is being experienced and responded to across urban and rural communities in Timor-Leste. Broadening the discussion beyond that of ‘state-building’, at the core of the conference was a consideration of the myriad ways the new republic has been ‘built’. Here ‘nation-building’ considers not only in terms of policy and programmatic initiatives but also grass roots experiences and perceptions of how Timor-Leste as a nation is seen and understood.
At this conference, nation-building was discussed in terms of what appears to be one of the most significant characteristics of contemporary Timor-Leste, namely the sharp distinction found between the urbanised capital and the rural communities where the majority of the population live. Dili has emerged as the centre for economic and political power in a way that is extraordinarily disproportionate with the remainder of the country, while rural areas often remain highly isolated and continue to be dominated by subsistence agriculture. Differences in access to services— running water and electricity, communication networks, adequate roads and transport, schooling and health—are among the more obvious differences alongside a lack of access to paid work or opportunities for business development. The distinction between the ‘centre’ and the ‘periphery’ is found in everyday discourse in Timor-Leste, where it is the norm for people to speak in oppositional terms about ‘Dili’ and the ‘foho’ (literally meaning mountain but used to refer to non-urban communities).
While acknowledging the sharp distinctions, the conference looked beyond assuming a straight forward urban/rural disconnect. Nor did it seek to understand this relationship simply from the ‘centre’. Firstly, this conference explored how rural communities have actively responded to the challenges of nation-building on their own terms. Secondly, the conference attempted to consider the ways in which the urban and the rural in Timor-Leste interconnect with one another, not just in terms of the movement of people or economic interaction, but also in terms of how national identity and culture is understood and projected.
Governance and Justice
Community Perceptions of Governance Structures and Justice Processes
Timeframe: 2008-ongoing
Researchers:
Dr Damian Grenfell
Carmenesa Moniz Noronha
Victoria Stead
Anna Trembath
Research Sites: Sub-district Venilale, Baucau district
Sub-district Fatumean, Covalima district
Sub-district Luro, Lautem district
Sub-district Dom Aleixo, Dili district
Sub-district Balibo, Bobonaro district
Funding: Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University
This project is concerned with how East Timorese communities view, understand and utilise or engage with governance structures and justice and conflict resolution processes in Timor-Leste, both customary and modern-bureaucratic. We disseminated two individual surveys in five sub-districts across Timor-Leste (see above). The research team worked in a variety of languages, including Tetun, Indonesian and local languages.
Vota ba Futuru
Vota ba Futuru (Voting for the Future): The Presidential and Parliamentary Elections 2007
Timeframe: 2007-ongoing
Researchers: Dr Damian Grenfell
Mayra Walsh
Victoria Stead
Kym Holthouse
Funding: The Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University
The Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Timor-Leste in 2007 provided an opportunity for research into the voter intentions of East Timorese. The aim of this project was not to find out who was voting for which party, nor was it a test of citizen knowledge. Rather, the research undertaken was an attempt to understand how citizenship might be concieved of in Timor-Leste; how do people make political decisions, how do they access information about different parties and the political process more generally, and in what respects do people see the process of democratic elections as positive.
This research project started with survey-based interviews being conducted with a cross-section of the population in Dili over the days just prior to the second Presidential vote. This method of short survey-based interviews was augmented by a limited set of in-depth semi-structured interviews. The same process of undertaking both survey-based and semi-structured interviews was repeated just prior to the Parliamentary vote, with the research location shifting to Venilale in the Baucau district.
It is hoped that while a small study Vota ba Futuru will allow for a more critical debate regarding the nature of East Timorese democracy.
Community Security and Sustainability
Community Security and Sustainability
Timeframe: July 2007-July 2009
Researchers:
Dr Damian Grenfell
Mayra Walsh
Carmenesa Moniz Noronha
Anna Trembath
Kym Holthouse
Research Sites: Aldeia Luha Oli, sub-district Venilale, Baucau district
Aldeia Nanu, sub-district Fatumean, Covalima district
Aldeia Sarelari, sub-district Luro, Lautem district
Aldeia Golgota, sub-district Dom Aleixo, Dili district
Funding: Irish Aid Timor-Leste
Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University
Global Cities Institute, RMIT University
Oxfam Australia
Concern Worldwide
Publications: Final Four-Site Report in English (Report and Cover) and Tetun (Report and Cover) (July 2009)
Initial Two-Site Report in English (Report and Cover) (August 2008)
This project was framed by a concern for how communities in Timor-Leste are able to maintain security and sustainability. The concept of 'community security' allows for a consideration of both direct threats, such as social conflict, violence and property destruction, as well as the ability to achieve those things that might be understood to enable a good life, such as access to adequate shelter, food, health, education and cultural expression. 'Community sustainability', a framework used by the Globalism Research Centre in our research across the globe, refers to the ways in which communities hold themselves together in a durable and coherent form over a period of time, even in the face of substantial challenges and under periods of intense change.
Our research attempted to illuminate contemporary conditions and patterns of social life in Timor-Leste by focusing particularly on one of the most localized forms of community, namely the aldeia, rather than on the nation-state. Despite nation formation and national identity, localized forms of community remain extremely important in Timor-Leste. In terms of work, family, mobility and levels of identity, it is more localized forms of community that provide both the primary material and cultural basis of social life for a very large number of people. Analysis at this level also allows for another way to understand the national conditions of Timor-Leste, if such communities are taken as fairly representative of local communities across the nation.
Our research was undertaken in four sites across Timor-Leste: aldeia Luha Oli (sub-district Venilale, Baucau), aldeia Nanu (sub-district Fatumean, Covalima), aldeia Sarelari (sub-district Luro, Lautem), and aldeia Golgota (sub-district Dom Aleixo, Dili).
With this project we generated a broad empirical foundation, one of use to communities, governments and other institutions in assessing policy directions. It will help to develop durable links between communities and researchers, government agencies and NGOs, providing information for communities themselves in enacting their own sustainability goals. And it will challenge some of the current theoretical trends that reduce community either to a form of social capital or to a residual concern in the putatively more important task of enhancing economic development.
Methods used included various individual and household surveys, semi-structured interviews, photo-narrative, and temporal, spatial and family mapping techniques. Project staff worked across various languages, including Tetun, Bahasa Indonesia and local languages.
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Past Projects
After the Violence?
After the Violence? Truth, Reconciliation and National Integration in Timor-Leste
An Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant
Timeframe: 2007-2008
Chief Investigator:
Dr Damian Grenfell
Research Team:
Mayra Walsh and Victoria Stead
Publications:
Various; see Publications below
With the closure of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) and the dissemination of its findings across 2006, this project examined the impact of CAVR on national integration. By focusing particularly on how CAVR sought to find 'the truth' regarding political violence that had occurred between 1974 and 1999, as well as to secure the reintegration of past human-rights offenders back into society, the central role of the Commission in underpinning the transition to a new nation was considered. The project asked whether the cycles of violence have been genuinely broken in Timor-Leste in relation to that period and how organizations such as CAVR contribute to building a durable peace in post-conflict societies.While the project focused on CAVR, the socio-political crises that began in 2006 and the Presidential and Parliamentary elections of 2007 were drawn into the study so as to help answer the underpinning questions of the project that relate to the nature of nation-formation in a post-conflict Timor-Leste.
Policy Options for Oecusse
Research Project into Impacts of Economic Development and Border Policy Options for Oecusse, Timor-Leste
Stage One: Terms of Reference for Stage Two of Study, for Oxfam Australia, Timor-Leste
Timeframe: June 2007-January 2008
Researchers: Kym Holthouse and Dr Damian Grenfell
Consultancy for: Oxfam Australia, Timor-Leste
Publications: Report in English and Indonesian (report and cover)
This study was commissioned by Oxfam Australia as the first stage of a two-part research project. The project brief for this stage (Stage One) was to provide a scoping study of socio-economic issues related to economic and border policy options in the enclave of Oecusse, Timor-Leste and to develop a suitable Terms of Reference (ToR) for a more in-depth future study.
In a three-week timeframe, researchers from the Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University undertook investigative work in both Oecusse and Dili. They spoke with a wide variety of people from a range of organizations so as to ascertain and document the dominant discourses about the material conditions, prospects and aspirations that shape the day-to-day lives and opportunities of those living in the enclave. The researchers also sourced and examined documents that are often difficult to access but that bear upon and provide context for the major discourses present in current-day Oecusse.
This report presented a preliminary picture of the complexities and challenges faced by the Oecusse community and those organizations working to provide it with support, recognizing both the history of the Timor-Leste nation generally and the specific and unique characteristics of Oecusse district. As part of this scoping study, four major areas of discourse circulating with regard to Oecusse have been delineated: governance and autonomy; Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and foreign investment; agriculture and forestry; and border issues and solutions. The report also outlined a series of recommendations that provide clear options into further research about to what extent future economic development may align with the needs and interests of Oecusse communities.
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Our Publications and Research Outputs
. Grenfell, Damian, 'Governance, Violence and Crises in Timor-Leste: Estadu Seidauk Mai', in David Mearns, ed., Democratic Governance in Timor-Leste: Reconciling the Local and the National, Charles Darwin University Press, Darwin, 2008.
. Grenfell, Damian, Mayra Walsh, Anna Trembath, Carmenesa Moniz Noronha and Kym Holthouse, Understanding Community: Security and Sustainability in Four Aldeia in Timor-Leste (Report and Cover), The Globalism Research Centre, Melbourne, 2009 (Also available in Tetun - Report and Cover).
. Grenfell, Damian, Mayra Walsh, Carmenesa Moniz Noronha, Kym Holthouse and Anna Trembath, Community Sustainability and Security in Timor-Leste: Sarelari and Nanu, The Globalism Research Centre, Melbourne, 2008.
. Grenfell, Damian, 'Reconciliation: Violence and Nation-Formation in Timor-Leste', in Damian Grenfell and Paul James, eds, Rethinking Insecurity, War and Violence: Beyond Savage Globalization?, Routledge, London, 2008.
. Grenfell, Damian, 'Truth, Reconciliation and Nation Formation in "Our Land" of Timor Leste', in Phillipa Rothfield, Cleo Fleming and Paul Komesaroff, eds, Pathways to Reconciliation: Between Theory and Practice, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2008.
. Grenfell, Damian, 'The Violence of Nation-Formation in Timor-Leste', presentation to Democratic Governance in Timor-Leste: Reconciling the Local and the National Conference, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia, 7 February 2008.
. Holthouse, Kym and Damian Grenfell, Social and Economic Development in Oecusse, Timor-Leste, Globalism Institute, Melbourne, 2008 (Also available in Indonesian - Report and Cover).
. 'Recommendations from the "Nation-Building Across Urban and Rural Timor-Leste" Conference', Globalism Research Centre, RMIT University, Melbourne, 2009. (Also available in Tetun)
. Trembath, Anna, 'Review of Independent Women: the Story of Women's Activism in East Timor', International Journal of Feminist Politics, vol. 10, no. 2, 2008, pp. 271-73.
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