CLiF explores how coastal communities in East and Southeast Asia respond to climate change, pollution, and infrastructural change with creative solutions. It focuses on coastal areas in Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, where erosion, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution, overfishing, climate change, and infrastructural development create challenges for livelihoods, health, and safety. Through in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, the project examines not only how residents are affected but also how they take action: they develop new income sources such as ecotourism, organise protests, use art, and perform rituals that strengthen cultural identity. CLiF combines methods and insights from anthropology, environmental humanities, area studies, and religious studies, and actively collaborates with local communities in its research.
This seminar introduces the project and its main objectives. The three core members each present one of their prospective case studies. First, Florence Durney presents material from Indonesia, where coastal communities are facing large-scale marine environmental crises. In response, they are mobilising different constellations of faith, civic organisations, and government. This work package will examine how differentially resourced and scaled communities are dealing with beach crises in Eastern Indonesia, focusing on responses to plastics pollution and mangrove cover change.
Second, Marius Palz discusses coastal armouring in Japan. Seawalls, artificial reefs, and so-called tetrapods are part of a strategy by Japan’s national and regional governments to “protect” coastlines from erosion and settlements from flooding, and they will most likely become even more common in the future. But this form of coastal development has not been without conflict, as illustrated by examples from southern Japan, where villages experienced social friction over whether to endorse or reject coastal armouring projects.
Third, Aike Rots presents material from central Vietnam, a region characterised by rapid urban development, mass tourism, and growing economic prosperity, but also by beach erosion, plastic pollution, and an increasing number of devastating typhoons. Authorities have tried to respond to such challenges through infrastructural projects, while local residents have developed new ritual techniques for creating alliances with nonhuman actors such as gods, spirits, and bodhisattvas. These different responses may be seen as complimentary rather than contradictory.
After the seminar, we will serve beverages and snacks.All welcome!
Please register here: https://nettskjema.no/a/667234 by November 23, 2026.