Willy Avriely Daeli

University of Florida

The Dayak at the Crossroads: Traditional Agricultural Practices and the Challenges of Changes in West Borneo, Indonesia

I earned a master’s degree from the University of Florida with a major in Forest Resources and Conservation funded by USAID-CIFOR fellowship. Under the guidance of academics who are experts in their respective fields, I sharpened my anthropological-forest conservation knowledge.

I believe that the knowledge I gained through this experience can contribute to responding to ongoing sustainability challenges in nature and forest management. Studying in the United States gave me important experiences of working with people from different disciplines and from different countries in an interdisciplinary and international context.

Further, it exposed me to current leading thinkers in a strong learning environment where I could improve my own work on research excellence. My bigger dream, or ambition, is to contribute to solving problems related to sustainable development in Indonesia, particularly in my capacity as a researcher. I aim to use this experience to apply what I have learned about working at the forefront of research, managing the differences of an interdisciplinary and internationally situated problem such as global environmental change in Indonesia.

THESIS
The Dayak at the Crossroads: Traditional Agricultural Practices and the Challenges of Changes in West Borneo, Indonesia

Change in agricultural practices in Kapuas Hulu, West Borneo, Indonesia cannot be separated from the influence of external and internal factors. External factors such as a burn ban policy, economic opportunities, and new knowledge of permanent plot agriculture as well as internal factors in the form of efforts to maintain their culture affect decisions about agricultural practices. This research uses mental model analysis through the combination of qualitative interviews and Conceptual Content Cognitive Mapping (3CM) to understand cognition structures that form the basis of decision making regarding family agriculture. Findings from this study suggest there is a complex combination Corpus component (local knowledge system), Praxis (local management), Kosmos (local beliefs), financial consideration, and external forces that interact with each other in the mental model of Dayak farmers. This combination results in various decisions about conducting agricultural practices.

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