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.

Through the fieldwork, I situate my research more on the communities’ embodied knowledge, memories, and resistance as a countermapping method against mega hydropower frontierisation in Poso.