Global Human Rights Hub fellows
Yohanes Damaiko Udu
Blog posts by Yohanes Damaiko Udu
By: Yohanes Damaiko Udu
Published:
As tourism transforms Labuan Bajo into a global destination, what happens to the communities who have long called it home? Centered on the story of a local artist resisting the loss of her land, this blog explores the deeper social, cultural, and ecological consequences of rapid development. It raises urgent questions about who benefits from “progress” and who is left behind—offering a powerful reflection on land, identity, and resistance in a changing world.
By: Yohanes Damaiko Udu
Published:
Indonesia’s development push in Labuan Bajo has ignited a profound struggle over land, naming, and power—one that reveals how the state uses language and tourism planning to dispossess Indigenous communities. Through fieldwork with seven affected villages, this piece uncovers how government-imposed names like Bowosie Forest and Parapuar overwrite ancestral toponyms, enabling land seizures, criminalization, and ecological disruption under the banner of “sustainable tourism.” At its core, the essay shows how renaming becomes a tool of domination—and how communities resist through memory, activism, and the reclamation of their own knowledge systems, asserting their sovereignty in the face of ongoing colonial violence.
More about Yohanes Damaiko Udu
Yohanes Damaiko Udu is a graduate student in the Master of Arts program in social justice and human rights at Arizona State University. He holds a philosophy degree from Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Indonesia, where he developed interests in socio-political philosophy, critical pedagogy, and human rights. As a scholar-activist, Yohanes has carried out advocacy-based research on the social and environmental impacts of extractive industries and state-driven development projects in Eastern Indonesia, particularly on Flores Island.
His current research examines the contested conversion of the Bowosie Forest in Labuan Bajo into a tourism zone, a transformation that threatens ecological sustainability and Indigenous land rights. He also studies women-led resistance to a geothermal project in Poco Leok, framing both struggles within broader debates on environmental justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and development politics. Through ethnographic fieldwork and public writing, Yohanes seeks to amplify community voices and reimagine human rights toward more just and sustainable futures.
Fellowship year
2025–26 Cohort
