GIS Summer School on Local Heritage
Atauro, Timor Leste • 17th-29th August 2019
Ariadna Burgos, Elisabeth Habert, Kelly da Silva, Daniel Simiao
The GIS Summer School on Local Heritage was held from the 17th to the 29th August 2019 in Timor Leste and was organized in the frame of the Popei-Coll ANR project “Cultural policies, local heritage and collaborative approaches in Eastern Insulindia” and in collaboration with the National University of Timor Leste (UNTL), the University of Brasilia (UnB), the Secretariat de Estado Arte e Cultura (SEAC) and the French Institute of Timor Leste (IFI-TL). The school was funded by the French Institute of Timor Leste (IFI-TL), the ANR Popei-Coll and the Laboratory of Local heritage, globalization and environment PALOC, UMR 208 IRD-MNHN.
The Summer School was intended 1) to provide students with concepts, methods and tools to collect and analyze geographical, socio-ecological and historical data, and 2) to train students to QGIS, a free and open source software for Geographic Information System (GIS) applications.
The Summer School involved four supervisors (Ariadna Burgos and Elisabeth Habert from IRD and Daniel Simiao and Kelly da Silva from the University of Brasilia) and eleven students of which three were technical staff from SEAC, seven from UNTL and one student from Peace University of TL (UdP). Students benefited from a highly personalized training combining theoretical and practical courses on anthropology and QGIS. These activities were carried in Atauro Isalnd (17th to 24th August) and in Dili (25th to 29th August).
Figure 1: Fieldwork was carried in the north part of the island in the villages of Akrema and Uaroana
Three days of theory and four days of fieldwork activities were held in the villages of Akrema and Uaroana (Fig 1) the last two days of fieldwork students worked their data and prepared presentations as preliminary feedback for the local communities. In Dili students spent four days analyzing and combining their data, producing maps and preparing power point presentations for the local communities and UNTL-SEAC colleagues. Students presented their findings in front of 43 assistants in the Peace Center (UNTL Caicoli) and received certificates. One extra day (the 29th of August) was consecrated to a critical analysis of their own work and the production of maps for the local communities (Akrema and Uaroana). Three students went back to Atauro with A. Burgos to present the findings and last produced maps in the village of Akrema. In Uaroana K. da Silva and three other students will be presenting findings during the month of October (date to confirm). Large maps of Akrema and Uaruana were printed and handed back to the communities.
© IRD-MNHN-Université Brasilia.
Graduation ceremony for participants in the field school.