Erwiza Erman is a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jakarta, Indonesia. She is also a lecturer in the History post-graduate programs of the University of Indonesia, Jakarta and at University of Hasanuddin, Makassar, and an external examiner for PhD students of the University of Malaya’s Department of History. Since 2004, she has been coordinator of the Indonesian delegation in conferences about small-scale mining held in Sri Lanka and the Philippines. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (ASSR), University of Amsterdam. After earning her PhD in 1999, Erwisa was a visiting research fellow at various institutions including: Dept. of Anthropology and History, University of Amsterdam, April–June 2000; International Institute of Asian Studies (CLARA-IIAS), Amsterdam, February–May 2001; Institute of Social Studies, Den Haag, September–December 2002 and December 2003–January 2004; Graduate School of International Development, University of Nagoya, Japan, February–May 2003; and The Royal Netherlands Institute for South East Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden, May–August 2004. She wrote more than 60 articles on socio-political and economic aspects of Indonesian history, but over the last ten years, she has been focusing her research on socio-economic and political aspects of mining sector. Erwisa also has published two books about labor conditions, labor relations and labor politics in tin and coal mining companies in Sumatra, Indonesia. Her publications about mining examine, among other things, the role of women in a mining community, coping with crisis in pepper and tin mining communities, conflicting actors in coal exploitation and marketing, land conflicts between a mining company and local community, and the deregulation of tin trade and creation of a local shadow state.
During her time at University of California, Berkeley, Erwiza plans to study mining and environmental issues. These two issues are being hotly debated in Indonesia. The debate is not yet settled, because of a tug of war between actors in different state institutions, mining companies and at the community level. In Indonesia, the economic crisis of 1997 and the political transition from authoritarian regime to democracy have left problems concerning control over mining exploitation, overlapping areas of mining exploitation by big mining companies and small-scale mining activities, environmentally unfriendly mining exploitation, unhealthy and unsafe working environments, and extraction of deposits from the protected forest. All these issues have harbored complicated conflicts among and between actors in various institutions and agencies.
While in Berkeley, Erwiza plans to:
Set up contacts with Berkeley departments and researchers that are involved in issues related to mining sectors, mining conflicts and environmental issues.
Find out about research conducted at Berkeley on control over mining activities, environmental politics, land conflicts and mine working environments.
Review the literature on issues mentioned in #2 (above); learn from the experience of others and the theory related to these issues.
Participate in discussions and exchange ideas and experiences with colleagues about mining and environmental issues in Africa and Latin America, especially Nigeria and Brazil.
Develop and discuss methodology for training activities for research that will occur in Indonesia next year.
Erwiza Erman is a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jakarta, Indonesia. She is also a lecturer in the History post-graduate programs of the University of Indonesia, Jakarta and at University of Hasanuddin, Makassar, and an external examiner for PhD students of the University of Malaya’s Department of History. Since 2004, she has been coordinator of the Indonesian delegation in conferences about small-scale mining held in Sri Lanka and the Philippines. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (ASSR), University of Amsterdam. After earning her PhD in 1999, Erwisa was a visiting research fellow at various institutions including: Dept. of Anthropology and History, University of Amsterdam, April–June 2000; International Institute of Asian Studies (CLARA-IIAS), Amsterdam, February–May 2001; Institute of Social Studies, Den Haag, September–December 2002 and December 2003–January 2004; Graduate School of International Development, University of Nagoya, Japan, February–May 2003; and The Royal Netherlands Institute for South East Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden, May–August 2004. She wrote more than 60 articles on socio-political and economic aspects of Indonesian history, but over the last ten years, she has been focusing her research on socio-economic and political aspects of mining sector. Erwisa also has published two books about labor conditions, labor relations and labor politics in tin and coal mining companies in Sumatra, Indonesia. Her publications about mining examine, among other things, the role of women in a mining community, coping with crisis in pepper and tin mining communities, conflicting actors in coal exploitation and marketing, land conflicts between a mining company and local community, and the deregulation of tin trade and creation of a local shadow state.