Ariano, Dr. Wengki
Wengki Ariando is an activist-researcher who primarily conducts research in participatory action research settings. His main research interests include coastal and small island development, political ecology, marine conservation, climate change adaptation, and indigenous resource governance, with a particular focus on Sea Nomadic Communities in Insular Southeast Asia.
Before joining KTILV, Wengki served as a visiting scholar at Global Development Studies, Queens University Kingston, Canada, as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Government, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and at the Research Center for Society and Culture, National Research Center and Innovation Agency of The Republic of Indonesia (BRIN). Additionally, he was an Interdisciplinary Conservation Network Fellow in 2023 at Oxford University, United Kingdom. He was also an affiliated researcher at Center of Excellence on Migration and Development, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with various levels of government, NGOs, universities, the business sector, indigenous movements, and community-based organizations.
Wengki earned his Bachelor of Science (B.S) in Applied Meteorology from IPB University, Indonesia and his M.A. and Ph.D from the Interdisciplinary Program of Environment, Development, and Sustainability at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. His Ph.D research involved an ethnographic study during which he lived with the Sama-Bajau People in Wakatobi National Park for 14 months. He developed a model for integrating traditional ecological knowledge into the co-management of Locally Managed Marine Areas. During his Ph.D, he was affiliated with the Research Unit of Indigenous Peoples and Development Alternatives at Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute. His research group actively studies sea nomads in Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia and has mobilized resources for sea nomads’ research in the region.
Currently, Wengki is researching the intersectionality issues of political ecology, marine resource governance, and traditional ecological knowledge of Sea Nomads and related indigenous groups for his tenure at KITLV.
Selected Publications
Ariando W., Simarmata H.T., Adhuri D.S., Gamang di laut, tumbang di darat: Marginalisasi masyarakat nomad laut Indonesia, korban praktik pembangunan pesisir eksploitatif (in Bahasa). Jakarta: Palmerah Syndicate, 2025.
Ariando W., Stringing the islands: The Bajau in Wakatobi Islands, second edition. Jakarta: Palmerah Syndicate, 2024.
Ariando, W., Arunotai, N., book review – Sea nomads of Southeast Asia: From the pass to present (Berenice Bellina, Roger Blench, Jean-Christophe Galipaud, eds., 2021) SEAS–Kyoto University, 2024. DOI:10.20495/seas.13.2_406.
Ariando, W., Manan, Abdul., Coulson, J., Arunotai, N., ‘Institutional complexity around the locally managed marine area: A situation analysis of ‘The Bajau’ sea-oriented communities in Wakatobi’, International Journal of Conservation 14-2: 731-752, 2023. DOI: 10.36868/IJCS.2023.02.24.
Ariando, W., Santiadji I. W., Arunotai, N., The transition of co-management practices in a marine protected area: A view from the Bajau, seafaring nomadic community in Indonesia’, Journal of Ecology, Environment and Conservation 29-1: 346-361, 2023. DOI: 10.53550/EEC.2023.v29i01.003.
Ariando, W., Arunotai, N., ‘The Bajau as a left behind group in the context of coastal and marine co-management system in Indonesia’, Journal of Marine and Island Cultures, 11-1: 260-278, 2022. DOI: 10.21463/jmic.2022.11.1.18.