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Center for Southeast Asian Studies > For Faculty > Religion & Diversity Initiative > Voicing Diversity Project > Our Land is the Sea (2018)

Our Land is the Sea (2018)

Our Land is the Sea (Indonesian title: Air Tanahku), the first film in the two-film Voicing Diversity series, is a 26-minute documentary about three generations of a Bajau family in Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia, who are navigating drastic cultural and environmental change. This film was written and directed by Dr. Kelli Swazey and Matt Colaciello of the Global Workshop.

Our Land is the Sea is currently being shown in universities and other public spaces around Indonesia in open forums to encourage discussion about the issues of religious and cultural diversity, indigenous rights, culture and environment, and conservation.

There are accompanying educational materials, including a reading list.

About the Project

The Voicing Diversity Project is a collaboration between the Center for Southeast Asian Studies UHM and the Center for Cross-cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University, a research and public education center that focuses on religious life in Indonesia and the diversity it contains.

The Voicing Diversity films were supported by a grant from the US Department of Education as part of the Center’s Religion and Diversity Initiative. The project aims at creating educational resources on diversity in Southeast Asia for educational institutions in the US and Indonesia.

Events

  • October 2018 – Film discussion; panel included filmmakers and Sampela residents featured in the film. The recording of this event can be viewed below or on YouTube via The Global Workshop.
  • September 2018 – Film premiered at the Bali International Film Festival
  • August 8, 2018 – Film Screening and Discussion at the @america center in Jakarta, Indonesia. This was part of the Road to Our Ocean Conference 2018. You can watch the recording of this event below or on our Vimeo page or on YouTube via @america.
  • June 2018 – Dr. Kelli Swazey talks about the project at TEDxUbud. You can watch the talk below or on YouTube.

Full Film

For those with issues accessing Vimeo, the film is also available on YouTube.

https://vimeo.com/298657387

Film Trailer

Our Land is the Sea: Official Trailer

Our Land is the Sea is a short documentary about three generations of a seafaring Bajau family in Indonesia facing drastic environmental and cultural change. Who will they become if they can no longer rely on the sea?

October 2018 Panel Discussion

Event was held at Lembaga Institute Perancis/Institute Francais Indonesia in Yogyakarta on October 10, 2018. Panelists include:

  • Dr. Dewi Candraningrum from UIN Sunan Kalijaga
  • Iskandar and Salma Maruning from Sampela, Wakatobi 
  • Dr. Kelli Swazey
  • MC: Azis Anwar Fachrudin, Public Relations Staff at CRCS 

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August 2018 Film Screening & Discussion

This is the recording of the August 8, 2018 premiere at the @america center in Jakarta.

https://vimeo.com/284816340

Dr. Kelli Swazey at TEDxUbud

Dr. Swazey discusses the film in her talk titled “How biodiversity and cultural diversity are inexorably linked”.

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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.