Friday, December 5, 2008

New Format

Hello Every body,
After long rest for blogging, here I am back. Because I am in Indonesia right now, this blog will use two language for Indonesian audience. The first publishing for this new form is my photographic collection 2007-2008. Please have look and enjoy the visual tale blog.

Setelah sekian lama istrahat, blog ini kembali lagi, Karena Saya sekarang sudah tinggal di Indonesia maka posting blognya akan mengunakan dua bahasa. Publikasi pertama adalah koleksi photo 2007-2008, Silahkan menikmati galery saya di blog si pencerita visual

Tabik,

Sapril

Appilajarak Photographic Gallery


Galeri digital ini adalah koleksi foto perjalanan dari tahun 2006-2008. Lokasi hunting tersebar di beberapa negara, Indonesia dan Amerika. Silahkan menikmati

Field Research in Ammatoa Kajang, South Sulawesi



Koleksi foto ini adalah kumpulan foto selama riset/penelitian di kawasan Ammatoa Kajang, Sulawesi Selatan. Riset ini merupakan riset untuk master degree di Universitas of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. Riset ini menghasilkan data tentang adanya hubungan antara eksistensi budaya dan kondisi lingkungan hidup di suatu kawasan. Berubahnya budaya suatu komunitas akan berpengaruh pada lingkungan begitupun sebaliknya. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian antropologi dengan menggunakan metode etnografi visual serta participatory research yang melibatkan orang-orang Ammatoa.
Sebagai data sekunder, sebuah film etnografi, lebih khususnya ekologi etnografi dapat diakses di youtube dengan menklik http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAdAmFc1wPs
Terima Kasih buat Thamrin dan Utta yang telah menjadi co-videographer serta seluruh masyarakat Ammatoa yang dengan ramah dan sabar menemani penelitian ini.
Selamat menikmati semoga bermanfaat

Friday, April 20, 2007

The Ammatoa people--a clip of "people inside the frontier" by Sapril Akhmady



Synopsis:
People Inside the Frontier: viewing culture and environment among the Ammatoa people in South sulawesi Indonesia
This story begins at a time when the Ammatoa people are feeling deeply disturbed about ongoing changes in their community. They feel as if they are facing currents of transformation that will fundamentally affect their culture and their traditional way of life. The system of agriculture has been changed, machines for activities like paddy pounding have been introduced, modern roads have been built around villages, and customary land has been taken away. Underlying all these changes is the fact that traditional knowledge has been lost and that the younger generation is less concerned about retaining this knowledge. They are increasingly aware, however, that the influence of schooling and formal education among the present generation has brought new values and new materialistic perceptions. Many Ammatoa fear that these alterations are leading their community far away from their traditional unpretentious life style, where they are taught to live in a spiritually simple manner.
So what they are doing?

In fact, the history of the Ammatoa people shows clearly that they are able to deal with change. They have their own strategies that have enabled them to survive and which have made them known as a specific cultural community, a community that still maintains the cultural heritage of its ancestors. Through culturally complex adaptation, they really have proven that they can survive even when influences from outside have been extremely destructive. Legends and mythology recount Ammatoa history from pre-colonial times during the Gowa kingdom, through the colonial era to the post-colonial “orde baru” (New Order).
These stories are not just accounts of communal successes, for they tell of the loss of customary land, and the cultural domination of outsiders. On the other hand, firm belief in the truth of the Pasang among the Ammatoa represents a cultural triumph, and helps explain their ability to survive in the Tana Toa village, even though their numbers are small.
The most pressing question is whether the Ammatoa will be able to survive into the next phase, when we think about all the changes among the people themselves, and the very different conditions now when compared with the past. The Ammatoa have many perceptions about their society, but they firmly believe that “if custom is lost, if the sacred forest is destroyed, that finally will be the end of human beings.” It remains to be seen whether the Ammatoa can continue to maintain a culture based on the close relationship between spiritual life and the environment when some of the most far-reaching changes are coming from within their own community. In the end this will depend on the Ammatoa people themselves.



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Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Emancipate your mind from mental slavery

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