Epistemologies of Participatory Research on Social Development Programs in Southeast Asia – MORNING SESSION
Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
Thursday 11 September 2025, 9 am – 5 pm
This project comes at a pivotal moment in the history of social development research in Southeast Asia. For several years now, development aid agencies have been undergoing a normative change, promoting greater autonomy and participation within their programmes for populations that had previously been seen simply as ‘recipients’ (Elinoff 2021), a process that has been further accelerated since 2021 by the tragedy of the war in Myanmar and the post-Covid era. But recent geopolitical changes, and in particular the suspension of US aid, have brought many development programmes to a halt. Researchers in the region are partly dependent on these programmes, and are also affected by new national policies on higher education and research (Welch & Aziz 2022) that may promote short-term results with economic impact instead of fundamental research with uncertain outcomes. In the Anthropocene era, the climate emergency adds another challenge to participatory approaches, pushing them to embrace an ecological and decolonial viewpoint, some of them adopting a regenerative framework merging human rights with the rights of nature.
These ongoing reconfigurations raise questions about the future of participatory research epistemologies. The aim of this study day is to take stock of the work carried out by teams who have developed a wide range of participatory approaches over several decades in four countries in the region (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand), and to outline the prospects for the months and years ahead.
00:00 Welcoming words of Prakorn Siriprakob, Dean the Faculty of political science, Chulalongkorn University
06:18 Welcoming words of Jérémy Jammes, Director of IRASEC
14:30 Welcoming words of Gabriel Facal, Deputy Director of IRASEC and scientific organizer
21:30 Presentation of AltDev Program, Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS-UP Diliman)
23:08 Alternative Development : Narrating People’s Struggles, Documenting Community Initiatives. Presentation of Maria Dulce Natividad
36:58 Presentation of Rafael Vicente V. Dimalanta
50:39 Presentation of Eunice B. Santiago
1:03:58 Presentation of Simeona Martinez
1:32:21 Presentation of Yulia Sugandi - Center for Transdisciplinary & Sustainability Sciences, IPB University, and Governing Council, Future Earth
1:33:27 Relational Science as Epistemologies in Transdisciplinary Research in Papua (Yulia Sugandi)
2:32:40 Discussion by Jean-Christophe Castella – Research Institute on Development (IRD)
2:44:06 Reaction of Maria Dulce Natividad
2:51:46 Reaction of Eunice B. Santiago
2:55:19 Conclusion by Jean-Christophe Castella
2:59:44 Reaction of Yulia Sugandi
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Music :
"Sneaky Adventure" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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