ABSTRACT
Bali’s UNESCO World Heritage Site was designated in 2012 due to increasing calls to protect the subak, a traditional water management system that embodies Bali’s cultural practices. It is unique in its designation as a Cultural Landscape, which includes people living within and constantly reshaping the site. The site’s designation created an increasingly popular tourism destination at the main viewing site in Jatiluwih, and consequently resulted in competing interests about future directions of development and site management. Confusion emerged about governing authority between top-down institutional mechanisms and bottom-up cultural institutions. Our research takes place amidst the questions about future development and conservation trajectories by engaging on the often overlooked local perspectives on conservation and development. Through a framing of participatory governance and engaged methodologies, we employ a photovoice approach with a multi-generational group among the community to re-center the views about World Heritage Site management towards local perspectives. In the process, we unveil new clashes and local struggles in the inherently top-down policies to administer World Heritage Sites. The research was conducted over a six-month period and included bi-monthly facilitation of storytelling told through participant photos. Our findings show that photovoices can be a powerful methodology for engaging often overlooked voices, particularly in policy initiatives to designate, recognize, and empower local cultural institutions on natural resources management. Nevertheless, we point to three key areas that are essential throughout the process: (i) a carefully planned facilitation approach rooted in empowering local knowledge sharing, (ii) a focus on going beyond the photos to elicit narratives at the outset, and (iii) early engagement on the advocacy elements of getting local voices heard.
