Project Leader	Ohashi Atsuko (Kyoto University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies)
Collaborators	Yanagisawa Masayuki (Kyoto University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies) Tanaka Koji (Kyoto University) Asmita Ahmad (Hasanuddin University, Agriculture Faculty) Oda Nara (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, World Language and Society Education Centre) Hoyeon Jo Asian (Osaka University, Graduate School of Humanities)
Research Project	The Potential of the FieldNote Archive for Deepening the Concept of “Southeast Asian Development Path”: Taking an Example from South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Countries of Study	Indonesia

Outline of Research

The project consists of the following two activities in FY 2023: fieldwork in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and historical studies on the development path of South Sulawesi. The former is a comparative analysis of agricultural landscapes using materials obtained in the 1980s and those to be obtained through fieldwork that Koji Tanaka will conduct. The results will be arranged in the Field Note Archive, a geographical informatics tool developed by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. The latter analyzes information on the allocation of local government officials, trade values, and the population around 1850, the late 1920s, the early 1980s, and the first half of the 2020s. Based on these analyses, the results will be compared with the development path of Java Island, which was created in the last FY, to obtain a hypothesis regarding the development path of South Sulawesi.

Purpose of Research, Its Significance and Expected Results, etc

This study aims to hand over a part of the research achievements accumulated in the 1970s through the 2010s by the CSEAS to the young generation from the perspective of applying it to current global circumstances. The field of Southeast Asian area studies, which has explored an alternative academic arena to the conventional modern Western paradigm, is considered a useful framework for coping with existing global challenges such as climate crises and regional development. In particular, the concept of the “development path of sustainable humanosphere,” which was advocated by CSEAS(i), seems to be an effective tool to strengthen this understanding.

The concept of the “development path of sustainable humanosphere” was also developed into a new concept,  “South Asian Development Path,” to prioritize securing the foundation of human life in the study of Indian history. This new concept is effectively applied to depict the new, concise, and comprehensive history of India from ancient times to national issues in the 2020s of India today (Tanabe 2022, Sugihara 2019). In this study, in addition to land, capital, and labor, securing water and energy sources, as well as the inclusion of diversity in society, were proposed as important elements of “the South Asian Development Path.”

Southeast Asian countries have pursued industrialization while exporting primary products and often importing capital, food, and energy sources. Therefore, it is considered to be effective to add ’trade’ to the six elements mentioned above in order to strengthen the concept of the “development path of sustainable humanosphere” for Southeast Asia and the “South Asian Development Path. “The “trade,” as one of the elements, will be an important key to compare and relate this Southeast Asian path to existing Western-type, East Asian, and South Asian (Indian) development paths.

These comparative studies of development paths are expected to explain the historical background of current global issues and provide an understanding of solutions. Furthermore, they are expected to provide the young generation with historical narratives that can trigger the resonance of young generations interested in the urgent issues of our time.

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i)  the project “In Search of Sustainable Humanosphere in Asia and Africa” (2007-2012) of  CSEAS

Akio Tanabe. 2022. “The South Asian Path of Development: A Historical and Anthropological Perspective.” in Kazuo Mino and Tadashi Yagi eds. The Cultural Basis of Economic Growth in India. Springer. pp.1-27.

Kaoru Sugihara. 2019. “Multiple Paths to Industrialization: A Global Context of the Rise of Emerging States.” in Keijiro Otsuka and Kaoru Sugihara eds. Paths to the Emerging State in Asia and Africa. Springer. pp.1-33.