TEDxUbud Talk: Dr. Kelli Swazey on Film Project

UH Anthropology alum Dr. Kelli Swazey speaks at the recent TEDx Ubud forum on her current film project featuring the Bajau people of Sampela, Wakatobi Archipelago, Southern Sulawesi. You can check out the trailer for the soon-to-be-released film (co-produced by CSEAS) on this page.

How biodiversity and cultural diversity are inexorably linked | Kelli Swazey | TEDxUbud

The Bajau community in Wakatobi Marine National Park in eastern Indonesia demonstrates how we can’t protect biodiversity without protecting cultural diversity. As Dr. Kelli Swazey explains in this talk, the Bajau people are grappling with the impacts of coral reef extinction, environmental degradation, and discrimination.

via TEDx on YouTube:

The Bajau community in Wakatobi Marine National Park in eastern Indonesia demonstrates how we can’t protect biodiversity without protecting cultural diversity. As Dr. Kelli Swazey explains in this talk, the Bajau people are grappling with the impacts of coral reef extinction, environmental degradation, and discrimination.

Documenting their story is part of the Voicing Diversity project, a collaboration between the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawai’i (CSEAS UHM) and the Center for Religious and Cross Cultural Studies (CRCS) at Gadjah Mada University. The project supports the production of digital resources on diversity in Southeast Asia for educational use in the US and Indonesia.  Kelli Swazey manages the Voicing Diversity project, a collaboration between the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawai’i (CSEAS UHM) and the Center for Religious and Cross Cultural Studies (CRCS) at Gadjah Mada University. The project supports the production of digital resources on diversity in Southeast Asia for educational use in the US and Indonesia. Swazey and digital storyteller Matt Colaciello’s documentary film focuses on a Bajau community in Wakatobi Marine National Park, who are grappling with the impacts of coral reef extinction, environmental degradation, and discrimination.

Swazey believes biodiversity and cultural diversity are inexorably linked. Her work insists we can’t protect one without defending the other. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx