UNHCR 2014 Statelessness Research Award interviews... Helen Brunt

"Now is a unique and pertinent time to research statelessness from multi-disciplinary perspectives and through a variety of lenses including natural and social sciences. Furthermore, within the Sustainable Development Goals discourse, statelessness raises particular concerns because of the serious ecological threats to our planet, the vulnerabilities associated with statelessness, and the way that inequalities are reinforced by the condition."

In this series of blog posts, we are asking the students honoured in this year's UNHCR Awards for Statelessness Research about their experiences studying the phenomenon on statelessness and their research findings. Fourth in the series is Ms. Helen Brunt who received a Certificate of Appreciation from the jury for her graduate thesis Stateless Stakeholders, seen but not heard? The case of the Sama Dilaut in Sabah, Malaysia, written in completion of her degree in Anthropology and Development at the University of Sussex (United Kingdom).

Could you summarise, in 2 or 3 sentences, what your research was about?

Natural resource management and statelessness are two growing areas of academic study yet remain, so far, under-researched in combination. In my Masters dissertation I explored their relationship. Through the lens of statelessness, I investigated how some stakeholders are marginalised from participatory processes, how the condition of statelessness affects the extent to which meaningful participation in marine conservation management can occur, and how institutions involved in this management perceive and respond to stateless people. I used a case study of the Sama Dilaut (also referred to as ‘Bajau Laut’), stateless people without political recognition in Malaysia, to challenge some of the assumptions that marine protected areas (MPAs) can provide a win-win solution for conservation and sustainable development.

What first got you interested in the problem of statelessness?

As a passionate environmentalist, in 2004 I was thrilled to be offered my ‘dream job’ coordinating a community and marine conservation project in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. While I was engaged with indigenous peoples’ issues, ten years ago I was ignorant to the plight of people with no nationality and no human rights protection, things that I as a British citizen took for granted. However, over the course of the next 8 years I became increasingly aware of the implications of statelessness through first hand experiences and close involvement with the Sama Dilaut, largely stateless group but who have for centuries lived in boats and on islands in the waters now overlaid by the current nation-states of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, yet are not considered to be citizens of any country. Today, many Sama Dilaut find themselves living in marine parks or ‘conservation zones’ and, although a key stakeholder group, rarely participate in management decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods. My research interests were therefore motivated directly by my personal experiences.

Why did you choose this particular research topic?

Whilst living in Sabah, on an almost daily basis, I saw out of one eye the dire state of our planet from an environmental perspective, and from the other, I saw people who were unable to move freely, be legally employed or married, access affordable healthcare, receive an education or make their voices heard. I saw such inequalities and barriers to inclusion of the Sama Dilaut in Malaysian society as being reinforced and perpetuated by their stateless status. Through my research I wanted to move anthropological and conservationist theories of stakeholders beyond what I saw as the problematic frameworks of ‘community’, ‘marginalised or minority groups’, and ‘resource users’ which I felt overlooked a lack of recognition by the state and thus denial of access to rights and representation allowed by citizenship.

I took the opportunity of dissertation research to examine in more detail the implications of statelessness on peoples’ every day lives, and to question whether ‘community participation’ is ever really possible due to the complexities of power dynamics, issues of visibility and audibility, conflicting interests, as well as the quality of participatory processes. I also examined how stateless people in Sabah are portrayed by the state, NGOs and other stakeholders, how the Sama Dilaut interact with management authorities and NGOs, and what some of the perceptions and processes are that serve to sustain the stateless position of the Sama Dilaut.

I titled my dissertation ‘Stateless Stakeholders, Seen but not Heard?’ as although the Sama Dilaut may be ‘seen’ through documentaries about their traditional lifestyle and livelihoods, and ‘consulted’ by NGOs espousing ‘participatory’ approaches to natural resource management, as stateless people they are not ‘heard’ by those whose decisions affect their lives, and thus they remain peripheral in every sense of the word.

Could you briefly describe how you went about your research? E.g. did you base it on existing sources – and were they easy to find? Did you do fieldwork or interviews – and what was that like?

I chose my research topic due to my existing personal connections and because marine conservation reflects many of the broad environmental and social issues facing protected area managers. I also felt that there was a need to draw out formal and informal connections which reflect power dynamics and relations between different stakeholders, including the lived experiences – their reality – of people living in an area where there are restrictions to accessing the resources on which they depend.

I approached my research using qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis (a ‘mixed methods’ approach), drawing from both primary and secondary sources. My principle sources were the work of academics from the fields of natural resource management, statelessness and participation, as well as published and unpublished material from policy makers and practitioners working in marine conservation, including data I had collected while coordinating the Semporna Islands Project from 2004 until 2012. I also conducted an additional 2 months of fieldwork in 2013, which involved conventional anthropological techniques of participant observation, as well as interviews with key stakeholders. Fieldwork was the part of my research that I found the most inspiring.

What was the greatest challenge you had to deal with in undertaking your research?

One challenge I had to deal with was logistical. Despite being meticulously planned, 3 months prior to my departure, my fieldwork trip threatened to be seriously disrupted by an ‘incursion’ of my field site in eastern Sabah by armed rebels from the southern Philippines, who were pursuing a 300-year old claim to the region. Fortunately, the UK government’s travel advisory was lifted just weeks before I commenced my fieldwork but it brought to the forefront some of the challenges of conducting social research in unstable areas and with vulnerable people.

Another challenge I faced was a personal one. As the coordinator of a multi-stakeholder project, I had held a unique and interstitial position, through which I developed an awareness of the complexities surrounding the multiple divisions of ‘insider:outsider’ at a micro-level. Subsequently, I realised the need to reflect on my own positionality. The opportunity to return to the field after a year away, and the research and writing of my Masters dissertation, allowed me the time and space for this.

Could you briefly summarise your main findings or conclusions – or what you think is the most important outcome of your research?

My analysis of the nexus of statelessness, participation and stakeholders revealed that environmental management is a complex domain involving power constellations and competing demands for natural resources as well as equitable benefit sharing. The ability of different stakeholders to communicate their views is a vital component to the process. However, in my research I found that a disjuncture has emerged between marine conservation managers and the stateless Sama Dilaut, a key stakeholder group.

In reality, their vulnerable position as stateless people is driven by various physical, economic, political and social barriers to meaningful participation in natural resource management, all of which overlook the unique aspect of their statelessness. I also exposed the interstitial position of conservation NGOs at ‘brokers’ who mediate in ‘participatory’ processes.

Have you found it rewarding to research statelessness – why/why not?

Research and writing my Masters dissertation was one of the most rewarding and cathartic periods of my life so far. During the process I reflected on the complex social dynamics and personal dimensions at the locale in which I was involved.  I became enlightened to the many advantages that the inclusion of ethnographic research can bring to conservation and development. I am now fortunate enough to be working with the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, and am deeply committed to elevating statelessness on regional and international platforms, and advocating for the rights of stateless people around the world.

What tips would you give to students who are getting involved in statelessness research to help them? E.g. are there particular questions you think they should be looking at or methodological issues they should consider?

Echoing Dr Jason Tucker, and as identified during the First Global Forum on Statelessness commemorating the 60^th anniversary of the 1954 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, now is a unique and pertinent time to research statelessness from multi-disciplinary perspectives and through a variety of lenses including natural and social sciences. Furthermore, within the Sustainable Development Goals discourse, statelessness raises particular concerns because of the serious ecological threats to our planet, the vulnerabilities associated with statelessness, and the way that inequalities are reinforced by the condition. Following Amal de Chickera’s article, I would also encourage more holistic and ethnographic studies on statelessness by a wide spectrum of researchers (including the stateless themselves) in order to unveil the multitude of human stories behind ‘statelessness’.

GUEST POST: Stateless Stakeholders, Seen But Not Heard

Natural resource management and statelessness are two growing areas of academic study yet remain, so far, under-researched in combination. For my Masters dissertation I explored their relationship by using the condition of statelessness[1] to investigate how some stakeholders are marginalised from participatory processes and I challenged some of the assumptions that marine protected areas (MPAs) can provide a win-win solution for conservation and sustainable development.

My research interests were motivated by personal experiences garnered during eight years involvement in a marine conservation and community initiative in the Malaysian state of Sabah, northeast Borneo. During that time, I observed first-hand the implications of being stateless – not being a citizen of any country and having no place to belong. The Sama Dilaut (also known as Bajau Laut and sometimes referred to as ‘sea gypsies’) are a largely stateless community whose members have for centuries lived in boats and on islands in the waters now overlaid by the current nation-states of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Presently, many Sama Dilaut find themselves living in marine parks or ‘conservation zones’ and, although a key stakeholder group, rarely participate in management decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods. I took the opportunity through my dissertation research to examine more closely the consequences of statelessness on peoples’ everyday lives through exploring questions such as what are some of the implications on resource use, and conservation management and policy? How are ‘stateless’ people in the Malaysian state of Sabah portrayed by the state, NGOs and other stakeholders? How do the Sama Dilaut interact with management authorities and NGOs? What perceptions and processes serve to sustain the stateless position of the Sama Dilaut?

In my research I drew upon both primary and secondary sources, principally the work of academics in the fields of natural resource management, statelessness and participation, as well as published and unpublished material from policy makers and practitioners working in marine conservation. I also conducted fieldwork in Sabah in July 2013, using a mixed methods approach including conventional anthropological techniques of participant observation, as well as interviews and discussions with key stakeholders, building upon qualitative data collected prior to starting my Masters. During my fieldwork I worked closely with Dr. Greg Acciaioli, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology from The University of Western Australia (UWA), who is part of a bilateral collaborative research project between UWA and The University of Queensland, titled ‘Stateless stakeholders: facilitating participatory governance in the Coral Triangle’. Despite being meticulously planned for several months, my fieldwork trip threatened to be disrupted by an ‘incursion’ of my field site in eastern Sabah by armed rebels from the southern Philippines, who were pursuing a 300-year old claim to the region. Fortunately the British FCO travel advisory was lifted weeks before I commenced my fieldwork but it brought to the forefront some of the challenges of conducting social research in unstable areas and with vulnerable people.

I believe that now is a unique and pertinent time to research statelessness from multi-disciplinary perspectives and through the lens of conservation and natural resource management. Within the post-2015/MDG discourse, statelessness raises particular concerns because of the serious ecological threats to our planet, the vulnerabilities associated with statelessness and the way that inequalities are reinforced by the condition. During the process of my dissertation research and writing I have reflected on the complex social dynamics and personal dimensions at the locale in which I was involved.  I have become enlightened to the many advantages that the inclusion of anthropology can bring to conservation and development and as such, have become deeply committed to elevating statelessness on the international development agenda and advocating for the rights of stateless people around the world through my professional and personal endeavours.

Helen Brunt, discussing her dissertation work 'The Case of the Sama Dilaut in Sabah, Malaysia' earning her an MA in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation. School of Global Studies, University of Sussex 2012-2013

[This blog first appeared on Sussex Global and was re-posted with the permission of the author]

First survey responses indicate NHRIs continue to assist stateless people

With survey responses continuing to come in the team decided to embark on supplementary research on what action NHRIs had recently taken on the subject matter of statelessness. Delving into Annual Reports from NHRIs, the team were able to uncover information on the numerous contexts in which the issue of statelessness has recently arisen. For instance the Malaysian NHRI recently addressed the issue of statelessness in the context of protecting the rights of vulnerable children as part of research for a report for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Another example is the recent involvement of the Belgium NHRI, in partnership with the UNHCR, in a ‘mapping statelessness in Belgium’.

We intend that the research into recent action by NHRIs on statelessness will form a key part of the eventual report produced from this study. Discussions with the Netherlands NHRI have revealed repeated interest in finding out about what other NHRIs are doing in relation to the issue of statelessness, and we consider it to be one of the key goals of the study.

Meanwhile, we have also drawn up a list of priority countries that we are particularly interested in receiving survey responses from. This list was determined based on five criteria:

1.       Having a large statelessness population

2.       Nationality laws that discriminate based on gender

3.       The country's position in relation to the statelessness conventions

4.       Recent major reform of nationality laws affecting stateless populations

5.       Other, including countries that had initially expressed interest in the survey, and countries where issues relating to statelessness were known to exist or to have previously existed.

Those countries identified as priority countries, were sent an email on the 26^th July, stating why we believe they would be interested in the results of a study on statelessness and the role of NHRIs, and requesting that they answer the survey at the earliest possible convenience.

In the meantime we would like to thank everyone who has supported and assisted the project so far. We are looking forward to being able to produce a report that can both assist NHRIs on the issue of statelessness, and continues to shine a spotlight on the issue.

Monica Neal, Summer Research Intern, Statelessness Programme

GUEST POST: Childhood in the Migrant City

What are the implications of statelessness for children’s everyday lives? Does the experience of statelessness differ qualitatively from that of ‘illegality’? How do children of migrants and refugees come to terms with the implications of their ‘foreign’ status as they grow up in a country largely hostile to their presence?

These are the some of the questions that I am currently exploring through fieldwork with children in the Malaysian state of Sabah, northeast Borneo. During the 1970s and 80s, thousands of Filipinos arrived in Sabah as refugees from the civil war in the southern Philippines. Later, many more Filipinos came to the state as economic migrants. At the same time, thousands of Indonesians have arrived to work on plantations, in factories or in domestic service, often following old networks of connectivity between Borneo and Sulawesi. Many of these foreign workers and refugees have married and had children in Sabah. However, a combination of different factors (including parents’ undocumented status and uncertainties regarding processes of registration) means that many of these children are stateless.

I arrived in Malaysia in August 2012 and will be here until August 2013 conducting fieldwork with the children of Indonesian and Filipino migrants and refugees. Based in the city of Kota Kinabalu, my primary methodology is that of participant observation: talking to children (in Malay), observing as much as possible of their lives, meeting their families and friends. Each week, I visit a number of different learning centres that provide education to the children of Indonesian and Filipino migrants. Through these learning centres I have got to know a wide range of children with very different experiences of illegality, exclusion and belonging, and with quite varied connections to their parents’ home country. I have discovered that families often have mixed statuses, for example, with some siblings having Malaysian citizenship (often through complex processes of ‘adoption’) and others being stateless, or with mothers sacrificing their own legal status in order to prioritise paying for their children’s documents.

Of course, uncovering children’s own perspectives on illegality and citizenship is by no means straightforward. I am currently working with children aged 8 to 18 and hope that working with this range of ages will allow me to track the gradual emergence of understanding amongst children about their situation. In addition to the conventional anthropological techniques of participant observation, I am also employing a range of different methods designed to engage children and to utilise their strengths. These include drawings, worksheets (for example, asking children to compare Sabah and their parents’ home country) and simple questionnaires. These methods have to be continually adjusted for different levels of literacy, and, as far as possible, I always try to discuss children’s individual answers with them. I have held brainstorming sessions with groups of children where each child is given different-coloured ‘Post-It’ notes to write down or draw what, for example, they are worried about. Recently, because of some difficulties in gaining access to urban children’s lives away from school, I have been lending children digital cameras and asking them to take photographs of what is important to them. After giving them copies of the photos they take, I also ask them to comment, in written or verbal form, on why they chose that picture. One girl photographed the welding workshop where her father works and where her family lives in a small, makeshift house. Next to this she wrote, ‘I don’t have any friends where I live’. Another photographed herself on top of a pile of rubble in the quarry where she lives and wrote, ‘I think this quarry is quite a beautiful view, don’t you?’

Not only are learning centres excellent venues for meeting and talking with children, education itself is a key concern of my research. Although Malaysia is a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it maintains a reservation on Article 28, the obligation to make primary education compulsory and available to all. Since 2002, ‘foreign’ and undocumented children have had virtually no access to public education. In my fieldwork so far, I have talked to many young people who remember when their education was cut short and they were asked to leave Malaysian government schools. I have also researched parents’ strategies for finding schooling for their children, have visited the different learning centres available to undocumented and stateless children in the city, and have spoken with children who have stopped or never been to school. Given the broader exclusions of statelessness, I am hoping to be able to write about both the possibilities for education to offer a route to personal ‘freedom’, and the constraints on the life-enhancing potential of education in the migrant city of Kota Kinabalu.

However, whilst researching the exclusions and problems that children face, I am also keen to counter the assumption, found in some advocacy work, that stateless or undocumented children are somehow ‘lost’, or lacking an identity. Although many children speak about the boredom of immobility, of being confined to the home because they cannot travel freely, they also have strong family ties and a strong sense of their family’s cultural background. When I gave out ‘holiday diaries’ to a group of Indonesian children, I was struck by how many of them wrote about food-filled visits to a wide range of extended family members in Sabah. Attending Filipino weddings, I have seen Suluk children competently and confidently performing traditional dances to large audiences. Other children record these dances on mobile phones and play them back at later occasions, discussing the merits of different dancers. I have also been reminded of the contingencies of national identity by an 11 year-old boy who, when asked what ethnic group he was from, looked fiercely at me and exclaimed, “I am a person from here!”

Work – particularly that of parents – is a key, emerging theme of my research. Many parents work very long hours, often every day of the week, and children become used to taking care of younger siblings, or to helping parents at their workplace. In my final months of fieldwork, I plan to focus my attention on children’s own work. I will be looking at three main groups, assessing the importance of work, and the relative impact of statelessness or illegality on work experiences and choices. These are: those teenagers who have finished school and are working full-time, those children who combine part-time work with schooling, and those who are working and have had no or little schooling. Such places of work include coffee shops, factories, car washes, and furniture workshops, and promise to yield further insights into the everyday lives of children growing up in a migrant city.

 

Catherine Allerton, Lecturer in Anthropology at the London School of Economics

[Catherine can be reached at c.l.allerton@lse.ac.uk]

 

 

 “This is my old house. I don’t have any friends where I live.” (13 year-old Indonesian girl)

 

A Suluk/ Tausug girl’s photo of the Filipino squatter settlement where she lives.