Pics from Baucau

Fieldwork district trip update

End of my tether

I’ve been on the road for a little over a week now. Nine days including today. I’m really feeling it. Fatigue and weariness is setting in.

I’m in Los Palos, the district capital of the District of Lautem. I’ve only been here twenty-four hours and I’m sitting in the restaurant of the hotel I’m staying at; the Roberto Carlos Hotel. I don’t think it’s named after the football player, it’s the name of the guy who owns it. Apparently he comes from Angola.

I’m gonna rewind a little first. Last time I wrote, it was a Monday evening, must have been the 16^th. A lot has happened since then: I think I mentioned I had visited the CNE office and had started to make connections with political actors in Manatuto. Well, the following day, my research assistant and I headed off to visit the local FRETILN guy.

He wasn’t home. Great, this is fieldwork remember. We had a chat with his son, I believe, and he said he would get in touch when he got back. The guy was in Dili, of course… Well, strike that one. We did have an appointment with a guy from CNRT in the afternoon so I made ready for that. Getting to this guy’s place took ages. Oh boy, it was warm, about 1.30 in the afternoon. Must have taken at least half an hour. Had to stop several times to ask people how to find his place. I’ve got some photos of a prominent landmark nearby… I’ll put them up soon.

Fortunately, this guy turned up only shortly after the appointment we made and we held our interview outside, in the yard. With the kids, rooster, chickens, pigs and dogs around. I’ve checked the audio and I can clearly hear his answers but you can’t help but notice the background noise. This is fieldwork in Timor-Leste. Keeping it real.

That went pretty well, and we made our way back home. On this return trip, we noticed a house with a Partido Democratico (PD) flag flying above it. Well, why not ask? Turns out, the president or something of the local PD branch lived there. On the spot interview was asked, and agreed to. Bonus.

Manatuto is really a sleepy little town and we were struggling to find interview subjects. I was honestly over the place. No disrespect, it’s a lovely little place, with a nice beach but it wasn’t turning out to be a good research site. Still, three interviews is a start. More than I started with. And the place was noticeably hotter than Dili.

Wednesday we departed for Baucau. A city I had eventfully visited for one memorable night last year. My fears of waiting around in the midday heat for potentially hours on end were thankfully dashed; we caught a bus literally straightaway. What good fortune! We bundled in, somehow found space for bags and us, and my legs!!!

A short walk from the terminal in Baucau led us to my good friend and colleague’s house. Augusto is an amazing person and I could not have achieved in Baucau what I did without his help, and his family’s hospitality. First thing in the morning, we departed for the CNE office, having learned our lesson from Manatuto. They helped us find a couple of people and we started making phone calls and making appointments. Most of the interviews I got, however, were through Augusto’s personal connections. Emphasises the point that it really is about who you know.

Thursday produced two interviews: first with Frenti Mudanca, then with a trip to the beach to meet someone from PST. One frustrating aspect of this research has been trying to get a gender balance in my interviews. Most of the people I interview are males, and I was pleased the PST representative was a female.

Friday started off, well, not that well. A visit to a FRETILN household produced no interview, the father and mother are both involved, but the father was apparently away, according to one of his kids. She said they would call us when he came back. Got the impression that could be a week away. There was a meeting with some important people, including political types in the morning and we thought if we hung out there, we could find someone. The meeting started at 9 and because these things tend to go on, we went back home and rested.

We went back at 11. We waited, and waited, and waited. Wasn’t until at least 1pm that they left. We got hold of the FRETILN guy who was supposed to be away and he agreed to talk straightaway. We didn’t have time to waste because we had another appointment with a PD representative immediately afterwards. Plenty of walking ensued. We had no transport, though we got some timely and gratefully appreciated lifts with Augusto. Got that one down, great, two interviews. Although exhausted, another opportunity had presented itself during the first interview of the day. The mother I referred to earlier is not only in FRETILN, but she is a member of parliament and member of OPMT, the organisation within FRETILN that represents women politicians. We scrambled back, completely stuffed, but firing on adrenaline. She was fantastic, though I had to cut down on my questions; she was a real politician. I asked her one question, she gave me three answers at once. She had a message and she enjoyed sharing it with us. They were kind enough to offer some of the home grown passionfruit too; lovely! Three interviews in one day; hurrah.

So, five down and one more planned for Saturday morning. One turned into two as it transpired. We interviewed a CNRT representative before a meeting he was at. In attendance was another person, who used to be involved in PSD, but was only prepared to speak as a political observer of the Baucau District. No worries. I left Baucau with ten interviews in total. Reasonably happy with that.

Today, Monday… back to CNE, in Los Palos. Augusto knew the guy there and he helped us out find people. Frustrating as one person was in Dili, one wasn’t prepared to talk, and the other had their phone off. Luckily, a representative from FRETILN was available almost straightaway. Smashed it. Have got one lined up for tomorrow, fingers crossed.

In closing, I think I’ve hit a wall with this trip. I’m really feeling flattened and short on energy. Having to walk an hour to the CNE office didn’t help of course. I don’t feel that there’s too much more I can do here. Also, I’m feeling a bit unwell so it’s time to go back to Dili. Cutting my trip short a little but I think I’ve been quite productive. Anyway, that’s all folks for the moment. Take care.

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Pics from Manatuto

Down and Out in Manatuto

My time in Manatuto

I had a nearly disastrous start to my trip here, which threatened to seriously derail my entire fieldwork trip to Timor-Leste. Catching a cab to the Lecidere bus terminal wasn’t a problem. What happened next, though, was really unsettling and upsetting. There were about five buses stationed around the bus terminal and what I didn’t realise at the time, having never taken public transport here before, was that the operators of the buses vigorously compete for customers. There’s no real line. As such, people from about three different buses fought over me.

I thought that there was a system of sorts (silly me), and that when someone offered to take my backpack to the bus to Manatuto, I thought everything would be organised. WRONG. This guy ran off with my backpack (containing my laptop, camera, e-reader, digital recorder and all the charging equipment, amongst other things) and disappeared into one of the buses. I grabbed my larger bag, which had clothes and other bits and pieces, and began to chase him. When I arrived at the bus at the head of the line, I frantically looked around for this guy and my backpack. Couldn’t see the guy, or my bag. I started to freak out. Then someone else grabbed my larger bag and ran off into one of the buses. Someone else from another bus attempted to take it from him – not to give it to me – but in order to take it to a different bus. Retrieving that bag took a lot of effort and strength to extract it from these guys. Then I had the task of searching for my backpack.

I was beginning to freak out. I had no idea where it was. If I lost it, I would be up shit creek without a paddle. I started using Indonesian, demanding to have my bag, and got angry. I was scared that it was hidden away somewhere, maybe someone was going through it, maybe it was in a bus that was about to leave. I didn’t know. Fortunately, it eventually appeared in a bus and someone picked it up for me. Phew. # Relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I retreated to the shade near one of the stalls and called my assistant to check he was on his way. There was no shortage of buses and  began to relax. I happened to run into a Timorese guy who spoke some English. We talked a little; he had a friend from Melbourne visiting and was keen to show me photos of her. He got excited when I told him I was staying in Manatuto for a few days. We exchanged numbers and agreed we could meet up in Manatuto.

The bus ride was okay. I had breakfast, coffee beforehand, and I had water with me. I was facing the front, with just enough leg space that I didn’t get cramps. It’s roughly a two hour trip. The suspension was okay but the winding road eventually got to me and I got a little sick in my stomach. A can of sprite helped settle my stomach.Amanu

Oh my, Manatuto is noticeably hotter than Dili. It really is, at least for me. The next bit of good news was that the home stay was a very nice little place with AC! Had my own bathroom and large bed to myself. They also organise all our meals. Apparently there is very little food options here during the day. I’ve spotted one Warung and one restaurant here so far.

I took a walk around in the evening, the weather is very amenable after 5pm. Took a walk to the ocean and had a wander around. Photos will appear soon.

That was Sunday.

Monday, we started work. We met with my friend from the bus, Amanu, and I did my first interview. We arranged another interview with someone he knew here, which didn’t actually happen as it turns out. Amanu was going to bring him in the afternoon for the interview, but he retuned alone. His friend wasn’t actually here!

Oh well, this happens. And in fieldwork, this is a regular occurrence. I should expect that there are no guarantees about meeting people. Regardless of how hard you work to organise meetings with people, you must accept that sometimes things don’t work out as planned. People disappear to Dili or other places at very short notice. Or they are busy. Or they are coming back later… etc…

Another option was to talk to a person who lived nearby the home stay. A guy who was involved in a political party, which I will not name here. My assistant went over and had a chat with this guy to see if he would be interested. Now, the response from this guy really surprised me, though the English translation I got of what he said isn’t perfect, but the gist of it surprised me. The gist of his response was that he was too good and important to speak to us. Our status and researchers and students did not impress him. He said we knew nothing about political parties, that we had no power. He didn’t have anything to say to us. When I heard this, I was shocked. This struck me as arrogant and very lame. The guys sounds like a wanker, I don’t want to interview people like this. That was my immediate reaction. Now, I don’t care, whatever. Maybe some of it got lost in translation but I was not impressed at all.

I was feeling rather down and out at that point. Not a lot was working out for me here. I had no contacts here and I must admit coming through Manatuto was an exploratory mission. Very hit and miss, maybe we would meet people here, maybe not. In my wanderings I had not seen any visible signs of political offices here and I began to wonder about what party structures existed here at all. We found the office of the national election commission (CNE) here and a colleague of mine knew that guy who worked there. Good news was that he had just arrived from Dili and he has so far been amazingly helpful. Really goes to show the importance of personal contacts here. Thus far, we have a list of the political parties in Manatuto and the relevant contacts for each of them. We’ve called the people we would like to talk to, and paid a visit to the house of one of the district coordinators here. There are no official office for the parties here, but rather, the district coordinators run the affairs of the parties through their homes. Identifying these houses is difficult, there are not necessarily any identifying markers on the houses but the guy from the CNE had helped us find them.

The plan for the rest of our time here is: pay a visit to the district coordinator of CNRT in the afternoon after he finishes work. The coordinartor of FRETILIN was not at his house but we chatted to someone there and he said he would call us if he returned. Better than nothing. We have a plan to visit the CNE office tomorrow afternoon as well to meet someone who is supposed to arrive there in the afternoon. He will be able to supply us with the manuals of the political parties in Manatuto. Hopefully this occurs and will give me something really tangible to analyse.

I also think a second trip will be necessary. Now we have contact details and meet a few people, a second trip may yield more results. Time will tell if I feel if it is necessary, but I’m open to the idea. I’ll have time in December to come back for a few days perhaps. I also plan to make another trip to Baucau, probably at the same time. Los Palos, I’m not sure. It does involve more time travelling, and I’m not sure how expensive it will be in terms of accommodation. Decisions  like this will be made in the fullness of time, in consideration of how my other interview go, particularly in the other districts I plan to visit, Ermera and Liquica.

Okay, that’s it for the moment. Hope you’re all well. Ate logo.

Map of Timor

East Side Story

So, I’m planning my first substantive trip into the districts to do fieldwork. Last year, I made a few short trips to the city of Baucau and the town of Quelicai in the district of Baucau, and the city of Liquica and town of Maubara in the district of Liquica. These were made in order to follow some of the electoral campaigns occurring during the presidential election. The trip to Quelicai was quite an adventure; you can read about it in my previous blog which I’ve attached a link to somewhere else in this blog.

This trip, I will visit perhaps four or five cities or towns: Manatuto and Laclubar in the district of Manatuto, the city of Baucau, and Com and Los Palos in the district of Lautem.

I have employed a research assistant, Benjamin, to accompany me. He is a university student and a relative of a good friend and colleague, Augusto. They are from Baucau and have been very helpful in assisting me in organising this trip. Benjamin is not going to translate for me during the interviews; rather, he will be there to help me travel around, meet people, make introductions and generally make my life easier in conducting my research. I did not look forward to the prospect of doing all of this by myself and having someone to accompany me will take a lot of stress away and facilitate the process in general I hope.

I’m not exactly sure who precisely I will talk to when I arrive at these locations. The idea is to find out what political party structures exist, if any, exist at the district and sub-district level. Even if I find little or nothing going on there, that in itself tells me something. I have a feeling most of the action is really going on in Dili, and that the big people don’t spend too much time at the lower levels. Previous studies tend to really focus solely on Dili, which is understandable to certain extent, but I want to find out about the presence and penetration of parties at a broader, national level. I hope that with Benjamin, I will be able to make contacts with people at the local level and get their perspectives on political life.

I’m not sure how much I’ll find out there; it could be a very frustrating time. However, this is fieldwork and there’s no real way of knowing for sure until I do it. I’ll spend a few days in Manatuto, a few in Baucau (including some time at the beach), and four or five days in Lautem. I won’t have internet access so you’ll have to wait until early October to hear from me again.

Just some random other pieces of stuff going on in my life here: I’m reading Gordon Peake’s new book on Timor, ‘Beloved Land’, which I totally recommend to anyone interested in finding out more about Timor-Leste. Also smashed through the latest Game of Thrones book so looking forward to book six, which could still be some time off from appearing. Also reading Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot’. Leading a fairly quiet, studious life. I don’t have a lot of money and I’m approaching the sharp end of my PhD; it’s all going to count. I still have a vague social life, mainly meeting people for lunch of after work. It’s easy, and expensive, to get into the ex-pat scene.

I’m walking a lot here and hitting the gym twice a week, which I hope will keep me sort of in shape. Pleased to have hit 140kgs on the deadlift, about 1.5x my bodyweight. Frustrated by having to use the smith machine for squats; there are no other options. Other muscle groups are coming along ok. Just treading water really, hate to lose the gains I made thus far. I hate being asked where I work. I don’t work, I’m a researcher!!! ;-) My office could be anywhere, City Café, Katuas Hotel, Esplanada, Food L Do, R n R Café etc.

Think that’s about it. My email is evan.hynd@gmail.com my number here is +670 7891 0206

Oh yeah, promise photos from my trip, ate logo.

this week...

Blog #4:

Week four; what I did.

It is a cliché but time is flying by here, particularly compared to my trip here last year. I remember things seemingly taking forever to happen, days just dragged by. I was doing stuff but I didn’t have precise research project and I wasn’t especially busy. Now, I feel like I have no time at all; that I won’t have enough time to get what I want to get done. I’m not panicking, I know this is just a perception issue. I’m putting probably undue pressure on myself. It’s not as if I’m not being productive, not giving this my best shot. It’s more about the challenge of doing ethnographic fieldwork. 

This is an almost an unlimited amount of work I could do here. Literally. I could spend years here doing research, collecting data, and I may not (still) come up with a satisfactory argument. This is the world of social science, it’s a world of grey and uncertainty. I struggle with uncertainty, and how am I supposed to write a thesis based on research in such an ambiguous environment? 

I’m trying to be realistic about what I can actually really do here. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy meeting friends and contacts here, and have also began extending my network to meet new potential interviews subjects. Sometimes I hit dead ends, sometimes things don’t work out to plan, but that’s fieldwork. I had one interview, and one group discussion this week, and I’m meeting another person today that could be useful. My list of contacts keeps expanding; some will work out, and some won’t. It’s a real snow ball effect.

The language issue is a challenge: I have questions prepared in Tetum, sometimes I can get away with Indonesian or English sometimes. I had a translator for the group discussion on Wednesday which worked pretty well. I’m recording everything so I’ll have to work out the best way to get transcriptions done. I know one person who I should be able to employ to do the Transcriptions. I feel that my Tetum is good enough to get the gist of what people say when they answer my questions, and I think I’ll be able to follow the essence of what I’ll read in the transcriptions. I may well need help to get the precise detail drawn from the responses though.

Just got a phone call from a contact of mine (breaking news!). He might be able to help me out when I go out for a district trip. I’m planning to go East to visit three districts to do interviews. I would love to have a research assistant to be there to help out with language issues and more generally to have someone there to support me. I’ll write about this more soon. Anyway, I better head off for lunch. Ate logo