Methodology
Counter-impact analysis
I began this research with Poso Energy’s ANDAL (Environmental Impact Analysis Report) for what the company calls the “Poso River Improvement” (2019), which legitimise the lake’s outlet dredging as an improvement. However, this involved not only removing the riverbed but also enacting socio-ecological violence on the communities living there. This part of the investigation focuses on the dredging of the Poso lake outlet, where 2.5 million cubic meters were removed in 2019. This marked the point when Poso Energy’s socioenvironmental violence intensified, especially due to the floodgate operation in 2019, which submerged 426 hectares of farmland (266 hectares claimed by the Indigenous community). None of this was analysed in the ANDAL. Of the 185 pages, most describe the short-term technical effects of dredging and the empty promise of developing Poso Lake’s outlet area as a tourism destination.
open →Community testimony
The report serves to recollect the collective memories of their struggles over everyday life, a life marginalised and repressed by the state and corporations since the project began. By centering their voices within the spatial evidence, community voice becomes part of spatial knowledge. The archive collection includes open-source platforms like Facebook pages, local communities’ YouTube channels, local media outlets, and community archives gathered with collaborators.
open →Ethnographic Groundtruthing
In this research, I use groundtruthing to situate my spatial research with the communities living in the Poso hydroecologies. I borrow the term groundtruthing from remote sensing, where I analyze what happened through satellite images and use them as a starting point for deeper ethnographic research on the ground. The research began with participatory mapping involving three community members of Institut Mosintuwu, followed by participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and archive research as groundtruthing methods. The research mainly took place at the lake’s outlet and Sulewana village, where the mega dams are located, and in five villages (Peura, Sulewana, Tokilo, Meko, and Pamona) where socioecological violence occurred in the past two decades. During my visit, I also had opportunities to walk the land and sail on the water, which led me to reflect on the importance of the lake, river, and shore as part of community livelihood, living space, and the lake as a living being.
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