Paper short abstract:

Anthropologists have long been viewed as mediators between local communities and environmental governance institutions. This paper examines this role, by reflecting on personal experiences in the field, as a researcher observing the impacts of a coral restoration program in Indonesia.

Paper long abstract:

Anthropologists have long been viewed as mediators between local communities and environmental governance institutions. Working at the grassroots, anthropologists have served as cultural brokers, advocates, and change makers, providing nuanced perspectives on local issues that can lead to more equitable outcomes of interventions. Although this unique position presents numerous opportunities, it equally brings challenges and complexities, many of which are laden with power asymmetries. In this paper I discuss the influence of power on this liminal intermediary position. By reflecting on my own experience as an ethnographer working in a small island community in Indonesia where a marine conservation intervention took place, I examine this mediating role, its influence on relations between conservationists and community, and the subsequent “blurring of lines between allegiance to project and duty to humanity” (Unterberger, 2009, p. 2).