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Paper short abstract

Multimodal collaboration in Tasik Chini transforms hackathons and an i‑doc into relational terrains where Indigenous and academic worlds meet. Through care and reflexive practice, the project gestures toward resilient possibilities in polarised times.

Paper long abstract

The authors reflect on a transdisciplinary research collaboration in the Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve, Malaysia, where an international team and Indigenous co‑researchers experimented with multimodal anthropology to explore Disaster Risk Resilience (DRR). Through hackathon‑style workshops and the co‑creation of an interactive documentary (i‑doc), the project sought to unsettle conventional research habits and generate shared spaces of knowledge‑making that honour Indigenous epistemologies. Multimodal approaches—combining sound, image, narrative, mapping, and embodied practice—became tools for negotiating difference, revealing assumptions, and enabling forms of dialogue that exceed textual or policy‑driven modes of engagement.

In a context marked by legal constraints, linguistic plurality, and uneven power relations, the team used multimodality not only as a method but as a relational practice. Drawing on informal interviews and recorded conversations, the paper examines moments of awe, confusion, and productive friction through ethics of care. These moments illuminate how vulnerability, reflexivity, and sensory engagement can help researchers navigate polarised worlds where institutional timelines, disciplinary expectations, and community rhythms often collide.

The paper argues that resilience emerges not simply from integrating Indigenous insights into existing DRR frameworks, but from reconfiguring research relationships, accountability, and storytelling practices. By foregrounding co‑creation and multimodal experimentation, the project in the Tasik Chini biosphere offers a positive, situated example of how transdisciplinary teams can work across epistemic divides. The i‑doc is presented both as a research output and as a methodological proposition for building more ethical, imaginative, and collaborative futures.