Oh yeah, shut your mouth!

So yeah, I forgot I wanted to write about how I remembered to shut my mouth.

I had a really sore throat for a week and a half. It was really annoying. Initially, I thought it was an infection. Rinsed it with mouth wash, losengers, drank plenty of water. Didn't get better.

Dust and smoke around the place was suggested to me as the cause of it. So, I shut my mouth; breathed through my nose. In a couple of days, I really noticed the difference. I wasn't sick, my throat was just irritated/inflamed.

Best you're glad you read this one.

Smashed through 'Storm of Swords'. Loved it. A Feast for Crows is more ponderous and frustrating to read. At least for me. Missing Dany and the Dragons. Though I like the focus on the Greyjoys.

Tired and lazy

So, I wrote an email to my supervisors, catching them up on what I've been up to in the first three weeks here. I wanted to write something similar here but I figured, I can't be bothered, sorry. I'm tired and it would be pretty repetitive for me. So, for your viewing pleasure, here is my email:

I hope this finds you well. Thought I would get in touch to update you on what I’m up to. I’ll keep this summary to dot points.

-          I’ve decided to focus on three fieldwork sites in the east of the country (Manatuto, Baucau, and Lautem), and two in the centre/west (Liquica and Ermera). This is based on ease of access, particularly if the weather (rain) becomes a factor, and also on contacts I have in each of these districts.

-          I am planing one long trip that will cover the major cities in each of the eastern districts. This will probably go for almost two weeks. I am negotiating the precise time to leave but I anticipate this will occur around the middle of September.

-          I will make separate trips to Liquica and Ermera either before and or after this eastern trip.

-          I want to do the majority of my fieldwork in the districts within the first three months of my trip; well before the rains may pose a problem for travelling. The three month point will be the beginning of November.

-          At this stage, I will need to leave the country and re-enter it due to Visa requirements. I will spend a few days back in Darwin and return by the middle of November at the latest. I have already applied for a two month extension on my current month long visa on arrival; this should come through early next week.

-          I anticipate needing to do follow up trips into the districts for interviews etc. I will time these based on my ability to travel during November, December, and January.

-          Whilst I am in Dili, I will continue to do interviews here and also I plan to make time to bash out a draft of chapter three.

-          I have spent the first three weeks in Dili catching up with my existing contacts here, and making new ones. I have a host of interviews lined up with people who are, to varying degrees, involved in political parties, or are engaged with issues related to the operation of political parties in society. For example, I will be doing my first interview Monday next week with the director of a civil society organisation that focuses on women’s issues and representation in the parliament.

-          It’s been a pretty busy time meeting people and fine tuning my research questions. I am sticking with the framework we discussed about gauging the degree of party institutionalism, though I am considering ways of making my own theoretical contribution to this approach. I am still developing this, and I’ll send you more precise details later, but I was mulling over the role of parties in a post-conflict, post-intervention context. The literature is fairly unanimous on the importance of institutionalised political parties in the broader project of post-conflict stability. While I think the framework I’m using is useful for establishing criteria for testing party strength, I am pondering ways of expanding this in ways that consider what kinds of identities are produced by parties; parties may be strong but what if they produce and seek to represent and struggle for narrowly defined identities that cause conflict? What role can parties play in producing identities that can bring about unity and stability? – which I think is what is fairly similar to what is going on here now in Timor. These are just preliminary thoughts…

-          I was thinking about Lia’s suggestion about how I organise chapters five, six, and seven. I had originally planned to make them focused on specific  parties, but I think it will be more interesting, and manageable to, to organise them according to different thematic topics. One could be about women’s representation and role in politics and society perhaps, or one with a focus on the political-economy (patronage) of the country…? Anyway, I’ll keep working on this as well.

-          More generally, I’m in pretty good shape. I’m living with a local family here (Lia, I’m staying with Carmen’s brother, Jorge). I’m getting around with taxis and walking. When it comes to district travel, I’ll take a bus, get a lift, or borrow a vehicle.

That’s about all I can think of for the moment.

Regards, Evan

Work Diary

Blog #4

I thought I might use this blog, among other things, to keep a log of things I need or intend to do. In this way, you, my faithful readers, will get an impression of what research I am doing here (yes, I am actually doing work, research is work, and so is a PhD thesis), as well as setting myself targets. I hope that setting myself up like this will provide me the structure and further incentive to complete these tasks. I guess I’ll feel that you can keep me accountable in a way; more psychological than any other form of pressure. I doubt any of you will come over here and berate me in person. You can always send me emails I guess… And I would always welcome visitors!

I had a very busy weekend. I think I already mentioned going to the baptismal after party in Hera. One of the tyres blew out on the way home but it was replaced with the spare is very short time. I was very impressed.

So, on Sunday, I went out to One Dollar Beach at the invitation of Jose to meet up with a group of students and other groups involved in ‘peace studies’. The morning started off with some difficulty; I knew that something was going on but I wasn’t sure what time. I was dozing, as one does on a Sunday morning, when I was given a call. My ride was ready to go immediately. I was given ten minutes to get organised. Fortunately the most important part of any morning, coffee, was prepared with some biscuits.

Eventually we got out to the beach. It really is quite beautiful, and there weren’t many people around. Had a bit of a swim, some lunch and some good conversations. I made quite a few contacts there and meet someone who might be able to help me out as a research assistant. I hope to have further conversations with the participants of this group in relations to my research.

Essentially, my goal here is to gather data on the strength of political parties, in so far as they have strong roots and presence here. In other words, measuring the degree of institutionalisation of parties in society. How far have parties penetrated the minds and lives of ordinary people? That’s a pretty basic description of it. The framework I’m drawing on is more detailed and systematic than that. One of my advisors suggested that to make my thesis and contribution to the literature more interesting and involved, I should consider coming up with something new, something unique from the case of Timor-Leste. He suggested something along the lines of post-conflict, post-intervention kind of material. I think there is a way to link these ideas to the subjects raised, for example, by the peace studies group. How can parties act as vehicles for stability and forging consensus over an inclusive national identity. This is all just me throwing ideas around at this stage, though. I’m doing more reading around it at the moment.

I’m keen to get some interviews done, get the ball rolling and build up some momentum. I’ve got a couple of provisional interviews already arranged so that makes me feel more relaxed. I’m going to be aiming to have some case studies outside of Dili. So much of the political focus is on Dili I find. This is another way to help make an original contribution to the literature, while also getting a broader and more representative sample of data. I’m thinking of Baucau, Liquica, and Aileu at the moment. Reckon that’s a reasonable range of case studies from across the geographic and political map of Timor. Maybe Oecussi if I can organise it.

What else is going on…? I’m looking at writing some material on the benefits of reforms to the electoral system. I might leave this to another blog… Hmmm. I seem to be in good shape. Getting plenty of decent food; rice, fish or meat, veges and salad. Not drinking much. Not needing a nightcap of Smirnoff any more, which is a relief. Time is going so quickly!!!

My old Timor blog; Our Man in Dili

http://evanineasttimor2012.blogspot.com/

In case you missed it, this was my blog from my trip here last year!

Random thoughts on whatever

Blog #3

I went to Hera today. It’s not too far out from Dili; maybe 25 minutes. I went with my friend and colleague Jose and his family. There was a baptismal party which they were invited too, and when Jose invited me, I thought it would be a nice thing to do. We weren’t going for the baptism itself, just for the festivities after it had concluded.

It was also my first excursion outside of Dili during this trip and it was interesting to see some of the changes to the place. The road to Hera had improved significantly for one thing. Hera didn’t look that different. It’s a lovely little area close to Metinaro and it had a very pleasant and relaxed feel to it. There was plenty to eat and drink and a good time was had by all it seemed. There were so many dogs around. So many. This is in stark contrast to most places in Indonesia. Cats, conversely, seem to be everywhere in Indonesia and almost nowhere in at least Dili. 

To be honest I wasn’t sure what I was going to write in this blog. Nothing too significant has happened… I just thought it would be good to get in habit of writing something. You never know what might come out once you get into the flow of things…

I’m reading two fictional novels at the moment. It’s nice to read stuff outside of work and study. The books are ‘Storm of Shields’ (Game of Thrones) and ‘Wolves of the Calla’ (The Dark Tower series). They’re both fantasy novels and it’s really material to escape into. I’m ripping through both of them.

I’m just gonna write whatever comes to me so this is going to be really a scatter gun blog.

It’s nice not to be in Australia at the moment with the election campaign going on. One has to make an effort to follow it and I usually don’t go any further than read the headlines in the Guardian (Australian version, obviously). It seems that Abbot is on his way to be the Prime Minister, which I find very depressing. But, having said that, Labour has been disappointing on so many levels… I don’t know, feel like there needs to be a clean out of politics in general. Much of the discourse is so disheartening and selfish… Anyway, enough of me having a whinge.

As far as work is going, I’ve been getting in contact with a lot of people I met when I was here last time. Most of next week is booked up with meetings. Hoping they lead to making new contacts and further meetings. I’m looking forward to getting some interviews done too. Bit nervous and just want to get on with it. I’m also still adjusting to work and life here. It can get very warm here and it seems to take a lot out you. I find myself very tired and fatigued during the day sometimes. In terms of food, I’m eating pretty well, though probably too much rich, particularly later in the day. I’m also getting exercise, hitting the gym (aiming for 2-3 times per week) and walking around too.

I’m gonna sign off for the moment, heading out to dinner soon. Stay tuned!

Ramble...

So, I'm back in Timor-Leste (East Timor). Glad you've decided to follow my quaint little blog.

This is Tuesday afternoon, 13 August, 2014. I'm at Esplanada doing a bit of writing and planning. I always intended to start up another blog but hadn't thought too much about when I was actually going to start it. Well, here I am, I've got a few spare minutes before meeting one of my amigos and I thought, why not?

I don't think there will be many photos put on this blog; uploading them can take some time. I'll do my best, however.

This is my first week here and I am slowly adjusting to life here. I'm pretty settled in my accommodation, a very nice place with some great local friends. I've got my internet dongle thing setup, have two local numbers, joined the gym, worked out how to vote in the upcoming federal election... and what else? Hmmm.... starting to catch up with friends and contacts here in preparation for my upcoming fieldwork. I won't go into too much detail now but I plan to make some trips into a few different districts to gather data for my PhD. Everything is still kind of fuzzy and I'm giving myself a bit of time to adjust to life here. At this stage, I've decided to not by a motorcycle. Going to stick with taxis, walking, lifts etc to get around Dili.

I've struggled a bit with sleep but I hope I've turned a corner on it. Valerian root has done nothing for me, while I must confess Smirnoff Vodka does seem to be working. Hope this does not become a regular thing. I'm not drinking much, just a nip before bed. The heat isn't too bad; just the middle of the day which is brutal (12-3) is the worst. Cools down nicely around 4pm. Me thinks this will be the time I go to the gym. Today's midday workout was brutal. So warm in there. Completely wrecked afterward. Anyway, I'm going to sign off for now. Speak soon, hope you're all well.

Love and regards, Maun Evan

Our Man in Dili is back!

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