This presentation will introduce archaeobotanical work conducted recently in southern China and Mainland Southeast Asia. The research spans a timeframe from 9,000 to 1,300 years ago, shedding light on human-plant interactions during the middle Holocene until the early historical period. The long-ranging time scale makes this study the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive view of truly long-term plant-use strategies in this region. These findings contribute toward addressing academic debates and deepening our understanding of how plant resources supported and shaped different cultural groups. The micro-remains study revealed three major episodes, each with distinct characteristics of plant-based subsistence strategies, that substantiate new factual knowledge and build new discussions.
1. Since at least 9,000 years ago (and likely much earlier), hunter-gatherer societies in southern East Asia have used a broad spectrum of flora species, showing an increasing reliance on geophytes from the middle Holocene. This research provides new evidence to support the hypothesis that southern China and Mainland Southeast Asia may have been early centres for practicing horticulture of taro and yams.
2. Around 4,500 years ago in Mainland Southeast Asia, the appearance of rice in northeast Vietnam indicates the first contact between hunter-gatherers and early farmers. After a few centuries, approximately 4,000 years ago, agricultural societies greatly expanded in Vietnam. These agriculturists, originally from southern China, practiced mixed rice and millet cropping. Both rice and millet farming played important roles in the early farming societies of Southeast Asia.
3. Around 2,000 years ago, cultural influences from South Asia became apparent, particularly in the southern part of Mainland Southeast Asia. At least 8 types of spices were recovered from the grinding stone tools excavated from the Oc Eo site in southern Vietnam. Oc Eo was one of the busiest international trading entrepôts of the ancient Funan Kingdom during its time. The Funan people prepared and cooked South Asian cuisines, such as "curry." Plant species and culinary cultures were introduced and translocated through well developed maritime trading networks in the early centuries AD.
By positioning the coalitions as the focus of this research, Anita seeks to have some questions addressed: Given that Indonesian electoral system still has many shortcomings (such as prevalence of vote buying, minimum women representations, and other issues), why do civil society organizations concentrate on mitigating disinformation in the next Presidential election? How do they organize themselves? What efforts and actions do they take? How do they manage the division of labour? What challenges do they face in their efforts? Do they receive backlashes from malicious actors? How far is the reach of their efforts? Do their efforts affect the election process? To what extent are their efforts successful and effective in mitigating disinformation?
Equally important as understanding the disinformation in election phenomenon, understanding civil society’s efforts in mitigating it can uncover the importance of civil society in defending democracies against disinformation. Furthermore, it can help to understand the width and depth of disinformation in Indonesia, and the possibility of preventing it from further eroding democracy.
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