| Popis: |
This thesis provides a 'current history' of development in the village of Aih Nuso in Gunung Leuser National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia. Development in the Leuser region began in the late 1800s when the Dutch colonial regime implemented large-scale agriculture and conservation projects in the rural communities. These continued into the 1980s and 1990s as the New Order government continued the work of the colonial regime. The top-down model of development used by the state was heavily criticized, prompting a move towards community-based participatory development in the later 1990s. This thesis examines the most recent NGO-led development project, a micro-hydro electricity system, in the village of Aih Nuso to elucidate the following: 1) The social, economic, and political impacts of the project on the community. 2) The local people's perceptions of technology, modernity, electricity, and development. And, 3) To what extent is an NGO-led development empowering to this local community or is it just a guise that reinforces development hegemony and outside power. |
