Lowe, Celia Yale University Bajau peoples of the Togian Islands, Sulawesi, Indonesia are dependent upon marine resources for subsistence livelihoods. Management of such resources are based on the need for their utilization in livelihood. This research will document the convergence on Togian marine environments of extra-local forces for change and the impingement of these forces on local marine resource use. It will also explore dual processes of Bajau identity construction within these fields of shifting power relations and the effects of the relations on the biophysical spaces of marine environments. Extra local development plans typically overlay diverse local traditions including the regulation of marine resource space by coastal zone dwellers. The research, through ethnographic and archival field work, will explore the ways competing visions of spatial usage become reflected in biophysical environments and the implications of Bajau experiences with state and conservation programs for their use of sea products. The research will produce additional information on the social construction of nature and will contribute to knowledge concerning the state and conservation practice as reflected by local peoples survival on the margins of centralized state power.
