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Insights from Fieldwork in Cambridge on Whaling’s Self-Policing Regime

March 18, 2026
By 31421

A month of SRG-funded research in Cambridge gave Swati Malik (Geneva Graduate Institute, 2020) access to IWC archives and whaling experts, illuminating how inspections evolved in the whaling regime and what a self-policing regime reveals about enforcement, accountability, and cooperation.

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My doctoral research examines how international treaties use inspections to enforce compliance, focusing on three regimes: chemical weapons disarmament, torture prevention, and whaling regulation. Each of these regimes approaches inspections differently—from the rigorous, treaty-empowered inspections under the Chemical Weapons Convention to the collaborative monitoring of the torture-prevention regime, and finally to the more limited and ad-hoc oversight in the whaling regime.

This article centers on the last of these inspection categories: the regulation of whaling under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW).

In October 2025, supported by a Sylff Research Grant (SRG), I conducted fieldwork in Cambridge to explore how the International Whaling Commission (IWC)—the treaty body established by the ICRW—handles inspections and compliance. This trip was the capstone of my comparative study, following earlier field research on the other two regimes. While my research on inspections in the other two regimes may be mentioned as part of the broader context of my PhD research, the narrative below focuses specifically on my Cambridge field visit.

My interest in inspections in the whaling regime stems from the striking contrast they provide to more institutionalized inspection systems in international law. Whaling has long been a flashpoint between conservation goals and state sovereignty. Unlike disarmament treaties that deploy professional inspectors, the ICRW relies heavily on member nations to police themselves, thus raising questions about accountability.

I chose to study the whaling regime because it illustrates a challenging scenario: how does a country ensure compliance with international conservation rules when oversight is largely voluntary? By delving into the archives of the IWC and speaking with experts in Cambridge, I hoped to uncover how this regime evolved, how it tries to monitor whaling activities, and what lessons its successes and failures hold for international law.

The SRG-funded fieldwork in Cambridge enabled me to access materials unavailable elsewhere and provided nuanced insights into whaling inspections that complement the other case studies in my thesis.

Accessing the IWC Archives in Cambridge

The IWC Secretariat is headquartered just north of Cambridge in the village of Histon. For several days, I commuted from my hotel to the Secretariat’s modest offices—a journey that underscored the unassuming setting of this global regulatory body. My primary objective was to examine inspection reports and compliance records that are not available online.

Victory House in Histon, which houses the International Whaling Commission’s headquarters. (Photo courtesy of the author)

Beyond observer reports, the archives contained internal meeting minutes and communiqués grappling with enforcement issues. Reviewing these historical records was a highlight of my fieldwork. In particular, I discovered evidence of how shortcomings in the regime’s inspection mechanism had real consequences.

One striking find was a file concerning the Soviet Union’s whaling activities, which included scientific papers from the early 1990s revealing that the USSR had grossly underreported its whale catches for decades. This revelation, which only came after the end of Soviet whaling, underscored the limitations of an oversight system that relied on national inspectors and honesty.

Cambridge’s Extensive Resources

In addition to the IWC archives, Cambridge’s extensive resources provided many supplementary materials for my research. The University of Cambridge houses multiple libraries and collections, which proved invaluable for gathering context and secondary literature on whaling. While there, I was able to consult historical publications on the whaling industry. I also accessed scientific reports on whale populations and their conservation status to understand the ecological backdrop against which the IWC made decisions.

Cambridge is also home to the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), which maintains archives on polar exploration and whaling. After visiting the Polar Museum, I spent time in SPRI’s library reviewing historical logbooks and photographs from Antarctic whaling expeditions. These materials were not directly related to legal inspections, but they enriched my understanding of the whalers’ world—the operational side that inspectors later tried to monitor.

An old engraving portraying a whaling chase by a small crew of rowers through rough surf—a scene of danger and adventure very different from the technology‑driven methods of modern whaling. (©Patstock via Getty Images)

Seeing century-old harpoon logs and sepia-toned photos of whaling ships in icy waters gave me a visceral sense of the industry’s heritage. This, in turn, helped me appreciate why establishing inspections was so contentious; whaling had deep economic and cultural roots, and external oversight was sometimes perceived as an affront to national traditions.

Another key component of my fieldwork was engaging with experts through interviews and informal conversations. Cambridge, with its vibrant academic community and proximity to the IWC headquarters, offered an excellent opportunity to speak directly with individuals knowledgeable about whaling governance. While there, I was also able to conduct two interviews with individuals who had been part of their respective countries’ whaling expeditions as inspectors on board whaling vessels.

Findings: The Whaling Inspection Regime under the ICRW

By the end of my fieldwork, I had assembled a detailed picture of how inspections (or the lack thereof) operate in the whaling regime. One key finding was that the ICRW’s approach has always been decentralized and state-led. Unlike the Chemical Weapons Convention, which employs independent inspectors, the ICRW from its inception placed the burden of verification on each member nation. These national inspectors were employed by their own governments, not by an international body—a fact that inherently limited their neutrality.

The International Observer Scheme (IOS) of the 1970s was the IWC’s attempt to remedy this weakness by adding a layer of third-party oversight. My research confirmed that the IOS did somewhat improve transparency—observers from different nations were able to cross-verify catches and occasionally caught discrepancies in logbooks. However, the scheme had a limited lifespan. It effectively ceased once the commercial whaling moratorium took effect in 1986–87, as there were fewer whaling operations to monitor (and political enthusiasm for maintaining observers waned when the focus shifted to simply stopping whaling).

After that, the IWC entered what might be called a “post-inspection” era. The moratorium meant that in theory there was not much to inspect, aside from scientific permit whaling and aboriginal subsistence whaling. In practice, however, certain countries continued significant whaling under exemptions. All oversight in these cases was done through paperwork—catch reports submitted by countries, scientific data, and occasional reviews—but there was nothing like the robust inspection regimes of other treaties.

My findings highlight several implications of this light-touch enforcement. For one, compliance becomes a matter of trust and diplomacy rather than verification. IWC meetings often devote time to “infractions reports,” where nations publicly report any violations (such as an accidental taking of a protected whale) and explain remedial actions. This process creates peer pressure, but there is no real penalty if a nation fails to self-report or justify its actions. Through interviews and documents, I learned that this system led to frustration among the IWC’s conservation-minded members.

Not all findings were negative, however, as the fieldwork also shed light on how the IWC has adapted its compliance approach in innovative ways. In recent years, the Commission has emphasized transparency and collaboration through tools such as voluntary DNA registries of whale meat (to detect illegal catches entering markets) and improved reporting requirements for scientific hunts.

While these are not “inspections” in the classic sense, they are mechanisms that contribute to accountability. One might say the IWC compensates for its lack of enforcement power by leveraging science and public opinion to keep countries in line.

When I compare the archival records from the 1970s with the whaling dynamics in 2025, it is clear there has been an evolution. The exploitative mentality of the mid-twentieth century has given way to a broader conservation ethos, resulting in some improvements in compliance. For example, no IWC member openly defies catch limits for endangered species today, which was not the case in earlier decades. Whale populations have benefitted, with many species beginning to recover under the moratorium. Thus, even a relatively weak inspection regime, paired with a strong norm like the moratorium, can have significant impact.

I spent a wonderful autumnal month in Cambridge happily hopping between colleges, libraries, bookstores, coffee shops, and the IWC’s headquarters. (Photo courtesy of the author)

In summary, my Cambridge fieldwork revealed that the whaling regime’s inspection system is fundamentally a story of trade-offs. On the one hand, keeping inspections state-led preserved national sovereignty and facilitated political agreement (many countries might have left the IWC if intrusive inspections were forced upon them).

Conversely, this choice left persistent gaps in enforcement, some of which were tragically exploited, as the Soviet example illustrates. These findings form a crucial part of my thesis’s comparative analysis, demonstrating how a weaker, voluntary inspection framework struggles to achieve the same level of compliance as the stronger, institutionalized inspections of other regimes. Yet, the whaling case also provides insight into alternative compliance tools—diplomacy, science, and public pressure—which are increasingly relevant in international law where formal enforcement often proves elusive.

Reflections and Broader Significance

This field visit to Cambridge was not just an exercise in data collection. It was also a journey that illuminated the human and societal dimensions of my research. Working in the archives and speaking with people on the ground deepened my appreciation for how international law functions in practice: through painstaking consensus-building, occasional bold leadership, and the quiet dedication of individuals behind the scenes.

I was struck by the universality and diversity of the human condition reflected in the whaling regime’s story. At its core, the idea of inspections in international treaties speaks to shared values: accountability, trust, and stewardship. Every nation, at least rhetorically, agrees that we must preserve ocean life for future generations and follow rules we have collectively set. This is a common thread of humanity—recognizing that some issues, like conserving whale populations, transcend borders and require mutual oversight.

At the same time, the implementation of that principle encounters the diversity of human perspectives and cultures. Whaling is not merely a practical activity, as it is woven into cultural narratives, national identities, and human livelihoods. What I witnessed through Cambridge’s documents and discussions is that an inspection regime must contend with these differences.

For example, the presence of an inspector on a whaling vessel may be perceived by one nation as an essential mechanism for the protection of global heritage, while another may view it as intrusive oversight that calls its way of life into question. The whaling case vividly demonstrates how one size does not fit all. This realization has made my research analysis more nuanced; rather than viewing the IWC system as simply “weak,” I now understand it as a product of compromise, an attempt (however imperfect) to respect diversity while still upholding a universal conservation objective.

These reflections also raise broader questions that make for a separate discussion: can international law find creative ways to enforce rules without alienating those who must abide by them? How do we build compliance mechanisms that are both effective and seen as legitimate by different communities? These questions go beyond whaling, as they touch on the very nature of global cooperation.

On a personal note, my time in Cambridge taught me the value of stepping outside the narrow confines of my academic research and engaging with the narratives and people behind the law. Inspections, whether in disarmament or human rights or whaling, are tools by which we act as trustees—we check on each other to uphold a common good. This fieldwork reinforced for me why this topic matters for our shared planet.

In the case of whaling, the societal contribution of better inspections (or analogous oversight) could mean the difference between whales’ survival or extinction and between a fair global agreement or a collapse back into unregulated exploitation of the ocean’s living resources.

The author recently defended her doctoral thesis at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. She is very grateful to the Sylff Association for fully funding her studies at the Institute for two academic years between 2020 and 2022 and also for twice awarding grants that enabled her to undertake research visits to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. (Photo courtesy of the author)

Conclusion

This fieldwork proved indispensable to my recently concluded PhD journey, allowing me to complete the comparative puzzle of inspections in international law by providing deep insights into the whaling regime—a case where both the cracks and potential of international oversight are on display.

In closing, I am grateful for the Sylff Association’s support that enabled this fieldwork. Without being on-site in Cambridge, I would have missed crucial evidence and perspectives that now enrich my thesis chapter on inspections in the whaling regime. By focusing on whaling—an issue that at first might seem niche or historic—I ended up exploring questions that lie at the heart of how we manage our global commons and uphold international norms.

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Building a Circular Future in Yogyakarta with Community-Driven Waste Solutions

March 10, 2026
By 29783

As Indonesia faces a national waste emergency, a grassroots initiative in Yogyakarta is showing how public awareness and community engagement can turn waste from an environmental burden into an economic resource.

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Indonesia is currently facing an unprecedented waste crisis. In response to the escalating situation, the government of Indonesia has officially declared a national waste emergency. According to data released by the Ministry of Environment, national waste generation has reached 143,824 tons per day, a figure that continues to rise along with population growth, shifting consumption patterns, and rapid urbanization.

For decades, Indonesia has relied heavily on landfills—locally called Tempat Pembuangan Akhir (TPA)—as the primary solution for waste disposal. However, this approach has proven unsustainable. Many landfills across the country are now operating beyond capacity, forcing several regions to shut them down entirely. The closure of these facilities has resulted in widespread waste accumulation along roadsides, in residential areas, and at temporary dumping points, often producing strong odors and posing serious health and environmental risks.

In some regions, the response has been disturbingly superficial. Piles of uncollected waste are merely covered with tarpaulins and treated with special odor-reducing liquids, offering only temporary relief and failing to address the core problem. These conditions underscore the urgent need for systemic change in how waste is managed in Indonesia.

Lack of Public Awareness

Rima Amalia Eka Widya, a 2019–20 Sylff fellow at Gadjah Mada University, points out that the current waste emergency did not emerge overnight. Instead, it is the result of long-standing structural issues compounded by limited public understanding of proper and responsible waste management.

“The waste problem in Indonesia has existed for a long time,” Rima explains. “What makes it increasingly unmanageable is the lack of public awareness and knowledge about how to manage waste correctly and wisely, starting from the household level.”

Rima believes that waste is still widely perceived as something to be discarded and forgotten, rather than as a material resource that can be managed, processed, and transformed into economic value. This mindset, she argues, has slowed progress toward sustainable waste solutions and placed an overwhelming burden on downstream facilities, such as landfills and waste processing sites.

CircuLife: Transforming Waste into Opportunity

Motivated by these challenges, Rima initiated a community-based program under Sylff Leadership Initiatives 2025, titled “Community-Driven Waste Management and Circular Economy in Yogyakarta (CircuLife).” The initiative seeks to reframe waste not as a problem but as a potential driver of environmentally friendly local economies.

Through CircuLife, Rima and her team work directly with communities in Yogyakarta to promote practical and accessible waste management practices. The program emphasizes that sustainable waste practices do not require advanced technology or large financial investments. Instead, meaningful change can begin with simple innovations, behavioral shifts, and consistent community engagement.

“Our goal is to show communities that waste can be managed locally and sustainably,” Rima says. “With the right knowledge and continuous assistance, people can transform waste into an economic resource rather than an environmental burden.”

Community members in Yogyakarta participate in the Waste Management Workshop Series, bringing together students, cleaning service workers, environmental activists, residents, waste collection managers, and village government representatives.

A Multi-Stakeholder Approach

One of CircuLife’s defining strengths is its collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach. Recognizing that waste management cannot be addressed by communities alone, Rima actively involves a wide range of partners, including village governments, academics and researchers from Gadjah Mada University, waste banks, managers of temporary waste collecting sites (Tempat Penampungan Sementara, or TPS), innovative environmental startups, national and local media outlets, and environmental activists and community organizers.

By bridging academic knowledge with grassroots practice, CircuLife functions as a platform that connects research-based innovation with real-world application. This collaboration also ensures that local voices and lived experiences inform program design and implementation.

Systemic Weaknesses in Waste Management Practices

The situation at many TPS facilities in Yogyakarta highlights systemic weaknesses in current waste management practices. Most TPS receive waste in mixed form, with organic and inorganic materials combined. This significantly increases the workload for TPS staff, who must manually sort waste before processing.

In some areas, a single TPS serves approximately 700 households and receives more than 2 tons of waste per day. Such volumes are extremely difficult to manage, especially when organic waste dominates the waste stream. As a result, organic waste often accumulates around TPS facilities, creating unsanitary conditions and triggering complaints from nearby residents.

Rima notes that this bottleneck is largely preventable. “If organic waste were managed at the household level, TPS facilities would not be overwhelmed,” she explains. “The problem is not only infrastructure but also behavior and understanding.”

Accumulated waste at a TPS site in Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta, caused by equipment failure and heavy reliance on an incinerator used to dry and burn organic waste.

Empowering Communities through Simple Innovations

Despite the severity of the problem, Rima remains optimistic. She emphasizes that many people are unaware that organic waste can be processed using simple, low-cost methods, such as composting, biopores, or maggot-based systems. These techniques are accessible to households and do not require specialized equipment.

Through workshops, hands-on demonstrations, and continuous mentoring, the CircuLife team introduces these methods to communities and supports them during the adoption process. The focus is not merely on sharing knowledge but also on building confidence and long-term commitment. “People often think waste management is complicated or expensive,” Rima says. “But once they see that it can be done simply and independently, their perspective begins to change.”

Participants practice making compost from household and livestock organic waste using simple, low-cost methods.

Changing Mindsets, One Household at a Time

Central to CircuLife’s philosophy is the belief that waste management must begin at the smallest unit: the household. According to Rima, households play a decisive role in determining whether Indonesia can overcome its waste emergency.

She encourages a three-step approach: (1) waste segregation at the source, (2) independent processing of organic waste, and (3) channeling of residual and recyclable waste to TPS or local waste banks. By adopting these practices, households can significantly reduce the volume of waste entering the waste management system, easing pressure on TPS facilities and landfills alike. “Households are not just waste producers; they are key actors in the solution,” Rima emphasizes.

CircuLife as a Sustainable Educational Platform

Beyond the immediate project period, CircuLife is designed as a long-term educational platform. Rima envisions the initiative continuing beyond the SLI period, serving as a bridge between academic innovation and practical policy implementation.

The CircuLife team actively seeks to collaborate with government institutions and nonprofit organizations to scale successful models and adapt them to other regions. By doing so, the initiative aims to contribute not only to local improvements in Yogyakarta but also to broader national strategies for waste management. “We want CircuLife to become a connector,” Rima explains, “linking universities, communities, policymakers, and civil society in addressing waste issues at both local and national levels.”

CircuLife serves as a platform for education on economically valuable waste management, including transforming vegetable and fruit organic waste into eco-enzyme, a versatile biotechnological innovation.

Toward a Circular Future

At its core, CircuLife promotes the principles of the circular economy, where materials are reused, regenerated, and reintegrated into economic cycles. This approach challenges the linear “take-make-dispose” model that has dominated waste management practices for decades.

By empowering communities, strengthening local institutions, and fostering cross-sector collaboration, CircuLife demonstrates how grassroots leadership can contribute meaningfully to national and global sustainability goals.

As Indonesia grapples with its waste emergency, initiatives like CircuLife offer a hopeful reminder that transformative change often begins at the community level—driven by knowledge, collaboration, and a shared commitment to environmental responsibility.

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Democratic Regression and Impunity for Human Rights Violations in Indonesia

March 5, 2026
By 26719

Indonesia’s post‑1998 reforms promised justice, democratic consolidation, and a break from authoritarian rule. Prabowo’s ascent to the presidency, however, raises questions about accountability and human rights protections, writes Yance Arizona (University of Indonesia, 2011), even as formal democratic procedures remain intact.

Introduction

Indonesia’s democratic transition following the collapse of Suharto’s New Order in 1998 was widely regarded as one of the most successful reform experiences in Southeast Asia. Constitutional amendments, direct elections, decentralization, and the establishment of independent institutions—notably the Constitutional Court and the strengthening of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM)—marked a decisive break from authoritarian rule. These reforms were expected not only to institutionalize democracy but also to address the legacy of gross human rights violations committed during the New Order, particularly the escalation of state-sponsored terror in its final years.

Indonesian President Suharto announces his resignation in May 1998 amid student-led protests and widespread riots. (© Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

More than two decades later, however, the promise of accountability remains largely unrealized. Instead of democratic consolidation, Indonesia is experiencing a gradual democratic regression, as recorded by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index (2024). This aligns with the normalization of impunity for serious human rights violations. The election of Prabowo Subianto, the former son-in-law of Suharto, as president in 2024 represents a critical juncture in this trajectory. Although achieved through democratic procedures, his victory carries profound symbolic and political implications. Prabowo’s alleged involvement in the kidnapping and enforced disappearance of pro-democracy activists in 1998 has never been meaningfully addressed through judicial or non-judicial mechanisms. His ascent to the presidency thus raises fundamental questions about the substance of democracy, the integrity of transitional justice, and the future of human rights protection in Indonesia.

This article argues that Prabowo’s presidency not merely reflects unresolved failures of past accountability but actively consolidates a political environment in which impunity becomes normalized. Democratic procedures increasingly operate without democratic substance, while the state’s approach to security, governance, and dissent reveals a return to authoritarian logic reminiscent of the Suharto era. In this context, prospects for resolving gross human rights violations in Indonesia appear increasingly bleak.

Democracy Without Accountability

Formally, Indonesia continues to function as an electoral democracy. Elections are held regularly, political parties compete, and leadership changes occur through constitutional mechanisms. Yet democracy in its substantive sense requires accountability, the rule of law, and the prevention of abuses of power. The persistence of impunity for gross human rights violations represents a fundamental rupture in this framework.

Since the Reformasi (post-1998) period, successive governments have failed to ensure accountability in major cases, including the 1965–66 mass killings, enforced disappearances in the late 1990s, the Trisakti and Semanggi shootings, and systematic abuses in Papua. Despite extensive investigations conducted by Komnas HAM, these cases have consistently stalled at the prosecutorial stage. The Attorney General’s Office has repeatedly refused to pursue them, reflecting not technical incapacity but political reluctance to confront powerful military and political elites.

Prabowo’s election must be understood against this background of structural impunity. His political rehabilitation was possible precisely because the process of transitional justice remained incomplete. The absence of legal consequences enabled his return to formal politics, his normalization as a public figure, and eventual rise to the presidency. This trajectory demonstrates how impunity perpetuates itself across generations of power.

Electoral Victory and the Normalization of Impunity

A visual contrast in the political career of Prabowo Subianto: on the left, his 1998 dismissal from the military following allegations of involvement in the abduction of pro-democracy activists; on the right, his 2024 receipt of an honorary general badge from President Joko Widodo, shortly after winning the presidential election with Gibran Rakabuming Raka—Jokowi’s son—as his running mate.

Supporters of Prabowo often argue that his electoral victory confers democratic legitimacy and should put past allegations to rest. This argument conflates electoral success with moral and legal exoneration. Democratic elections determine who governs, but they do not absolve responsibility for serious crimes. When democratic mandates are used to shield unresolved allegations of gross human rights violations, democracy itself becomes an instrument of impunity.

The political narrative surrounding Prabowo’s presidency emphasizes reconciliation without truth, stability without justice, and development without rights. Human rights violations are reframed as historical controversies, national security necessities, or unfortunate excesses of the past that should not impede national unity. This narrative undermines the principle that crimes against humanity are not subject to political compromise or historical amnesia. Elevating a figure associated with an unresolved past to the highest executive office sends a powerful message that accountability is optional and that power can erase responsibility.

Militarization of Civil Governance

One of the clearest indicators of democratic regression under Prabowo is the expanding role of the military in civilian governance. Although Suharto’s central doctrine of dwifungsi ABRI—the “dual function” of the military in both the defense and civilian spheres—was abolished under Reformasi, its logic is re-emerging through legal and institutional practices. Revisions to the Military Law in 2025 now permit active officers to occupy several civilian posts, while retired and active military figures increasingly dominate ministries and state-owned enterprises.

This militarization has profound implications for human rights. Military institutions prioritize command, hierarchy, and security rather than democratic deliberation and rights protection. When military actors dominate civilian spaces, governance tends to privilege order over accountability.

In regions such as Papua, this approach has intensified repression. Militarization there aligns with government projects to clear approximately 2 million hectares of land for food production through deforestation, despite opposition from Papuan indigenous communities. Security operations continue to be framed as responses to separatism rather than potential sources of human rights violations. The normalization of military involvement reinforces institutional cultures that historically enabled impunity.

Criminalization of Dissent and Reversal of Direct Local Elections

Another telltale sign of democratic regression is the systematic narrowing of civic space. Activists, students, and civil society organizations increasingly face surveillance, intimidation, and criminal prosecution for protests and expressions critical of government policy. Demonstrations are frequently met with excessive force, arbitrary arrests, and charges under vague criminal provisions. After the mass protest in August 2025, 13 people died due to violence by security forces, and 703 individuals were detained and prosecuted. They are political prisoners who were tried for their legitimate expression in public. This pattern reflects a governing philosophy that treats dissent as a threat rather than a democratic resource. Laws on public order, electronic information, and national security are used to silence critics, creating a chilling effect on political participation. Many targeted activists are those who consistently demand accountability for past human rights violations. By criminalizing their actions, the state suppresses both contemporary dissent and collective memory of past injustices.

Protestors in Surabaya clash with police in August 2025. Government buildings were torched and the homes of parliament members were looted in Indonesia following a violent crackdown on civil dissent. (© Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images)

The proposal to revert the selection of regional heads from direct elections to appointments by regional legislatures represents another significant democratic setback. Direct local elections were one of the most tangible achievements of Reformasi, enhancing political participation, accountability, and local autonomy. While the system has its flaws, its abolition would concentrate power within political elites and weaken popular control over local governance.

The justification for this reversal often rests on efficiency, cost reduction, or political stability. Yet these arguments obscure the broader democratic implications. Removing direct elections diminishes citizens’ ability to hold local leaders accountable and reinforces oligarchic control over political processes. It also aligns with a broader trend toward centralization and elite-driven decision-making.

In the context of human rights, this shift is particularly concerning. Local elections have often provided avenues for marginalized communities to influence governance and challenge abusive practices. Their removal would further distance decision makers from affected populations, reducing opportunities for rights-based advocacy at the local level.

Rewriting History and the Failure of Transitional Justice Mechanisms

The rehabilitation of authoritarian figures illustrates the depth of democratic regression. President Prabowo’s decision on November 11, 2025, to grant national hero status to former President Suharto represents an official rewriting of history. Suharto was forced to resign in 1998 amid mass protests against corruption, repression, and widespread human rights violations. Honoring him erases victims, understates suffering, and legitimizes authoritarian governance.

This revisionism reshapes collective memory and signals that justice is subordinate to political power. It also reflects the broader failure of Indonesia’s transitional justice framework. Judicial mechanisms have been ineffective, while non-judicial initiatives have been delayed or diluted. Under Prabowo’s leadership, meaningful accountability appears increasingly unlikely, given his personal history and reliance on military and elite support. Without accountability, the structural conditions that enabled past abuses persist, embedding impunity within political culture.

Indonesia’s experience reflects a broader global trend in which democratic procedures are used to legitimize authoritarian practices. Elections and constitutional forms remain intact, but their substance is hollowed out. Democracy becomes a shield for power rather than a constraint upon it. Under Prabowo, democratic mandates coexist with policies that weaken civilian control, suppress dissent, and reinvent authoritarian legacies. As a result, Indonesia risks consolidating an illiberal democracy in which elections legitimize authority while justice remains perpetually deferred.

Bibliography

Aspinall, Edward, and Ward Berenschot. Democracy for Sale: Elections, Clientelism, and the State in Indonesia. Cornell University Press, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctvdtphhq.

Crouch, Harold. The Army and Politics in Indonesia. Cornell University Press, 1988. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctvv417br.

Power, Thomas P. “Jokowi’s Authoritarian Turn and Indonesia’s Democratic Decline.” Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 54, no. 3 (2018): 307–38. doi:10.1080/00074918.2018.1549918.

Robinson, Geoffrey B. The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965–66. Princeton University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc774sg.

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Building Emotionally Safe and Inclusive Schools in Samburu County, Kenya

February 25, 2026
By 33015

Using an SLI award, Jayne Warwathia Chege (University of Nairobi, 2012–14) organized a project in northern Kenya to strengthen teachers’ ability to integrate social and emotional learning into everyday classroom practice while also addressing the often-overlooked issue of teacher well-being and professional development.

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Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.
—Aristotle

In many parts of Kenya, schools operate within difficult social, cultural, and environmental conditions that strongly influence how learners experience education. Teachers today are expected to do far more than teach academic content. They are expected to guide behavior, instill values, protect learners from harm, respond to emotional distress, and prepare young people to participate responsibly in society. Yet, the support systems available to teachers have not evolved at the same pace as these expectations. In Samburu County, this gap is especially visible.

Teachers in the county face the dual responsibility of implementing the competency-based education (CBE) curriculum while responding to ongoing challenges such as tribal conflicts, learner emotional distress, school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV), harmful cultural practices, environmental pressures, and limited access to counselling and psychosocial services. Many schools serve communities affected by poverty, insecurity, and long-standing social norms that place learners—particularly girls—at risk. It was within this context that the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Training of Trainers initiative was developed and implemented.

Funded by a Sylff Leadership Initiatives (SLI) grant and implemented by the community-based organization Persons of Influence, the project aimed to strengthen teachers’ ability to integrate social and emotional learning into everyday classroom practice while also addressing the often-overlooked issue of teacher well-being.

SEL aligns closely with the goals of CBE by supporting values education, emotional awareness, communication skills, ethical decision-making, and responsible citizenship. However, early engagement with teachers and education stakeholders revealed a major concern: while teachers understood the importance of learner well-being, very few had received structured opportunities to update their skills, reflect on their practice, or learn how to respond to the growing emotional and social needs in their classrooms.

The author leading a session on self-awareness.

For many teachers, professional development opportunities are limited and narrowly focused on syllabus coverage and examinations. Training on mental health, emotional well-being, child protection, or trauma-informed teaching is rare. Yet, teachers regularly encounter learners dealing with grief, neglect, violence, early marriage, poverty, and emotional withdrawal. In the absence of structured support and clear guidance, teachers often rely on personal judgment and experience, carrying the emotional weight of these challenges largely on their own.

Over time, this accumulation leads to fatigue, frustration, and burnout. The SEL Training of Trainers initiative responded directly to this reality by placing teacher well-being at the center of the conversation, guided by a simple but powerful reminder that ran throughout the program: you cannot pour from an empty vessel.

Interactive and Reflective Approaches

The project began with a stakeholder engagement forum that brought together teachers, curriculum support officers, Ministry of Education officials, and civil society partners. The forum underscored the need for integrating SEL into schools, but it also revealed serious gaps. Participants spoke openly about the prevalence of SRGBV, the difficulty of identifying learners with mental health challenges or learning disabilities, and the absence of clear referral pathways to health and social services. These discussions made one point clear: schools are being asked to manage problems that go far beyond the classroom, often without the tools, authority, or institutional backing to do so effectively.

Using insights from this engagement, a team of trainers developed a five-day SEL Training of Trainers program that focused on practical application rather than theory alone. Specialists in child protection, gender-based violence, mental health, and inclusive education were invited to support specific sessions. The training methods were interactive and reflective, using role plays, real-life case discussions, guided journaling, group work, and school-based planning. These approaches allowed teachers to connect the training to their daily experiences and to reflect honestly on their own emotional health and leadership roles.

Role play on responsible decision-making.

Baseline assessments conducted at the onset of the training showed clear gaps. Most participants had limited understanding of the core SEL competencies or familiarity with the core values of the competency-based curriculum. Confidence levels were low when it came to recognizing emotional distress, responding to sensitive cases, or navigating referral systems. Many teachers also acknowledged that they struggled to manage their own stress, despite being expected to remain calm, patient, and supportive in difficult situations.

At the same time, teachers expressed a strong willingness to learn. Attitudes toward SEL were positive, and participants showed openness to new ways of thinking about teaching and learning. By the end of the training, post-assessment results showed clear improvement. Teachers demonstrated a better understanding of SEL concepts, greater confidence in facilitating discussions about emotions and behavior, and stronger ability to integrate SEL into lesson planning and classroom routines. Awareness of referral pathways for mental health concerns and SRGBV cases also improved, enabling teachers to respond more responsibly and ethically.

The project placed strong emphasis on continuity beyond the training itself. Each participating school developed a simple SEL action plan outlining activities, responsibilities, and timelines. Teachers committed to embedding SEL into lessons, assemblies, clubs, and everyday interactions with learners. A community of practice was also formed through a shared WhatsApp group, allowing participants to share experiences, ask questions, and support one another. This peer network helped reinforce the idea that change in schools is sustained through shared responsibility rather than individual effort.

Ms. Mirriam facilitating a session on self-management.

Equipping Teachers to Create Supportive Spaces

A few challenges were encountered during implementation. Limited resources, higher-than-expected attendance, and environmental conditions such as prolonged drought affected some planned activities, including school greening initiatives. At the school level, weak enforcement of child protection and SRGBV policies, combined with limited access to counselling services, made immediate application difficult in some cases. These challenges highlighted the limits of short-term training and the need for stronger institutional support and follow-up.

Despite these constraints, the project demonstrated the value of investing in teachers as whole people, not just curriculum implementers. When teachers are given space to learn, reflect, and receive support, they are better equipped to guide learners through difficult emotional and social realities. More importantly, they are better placed to model integrity, empathy, and responsible behavior.

After all, CBE was not modeled on examination results; it was meant to shape young people who can think critically, relate respectfully to others, make ethical choices, and participate meaningfully in their communities. The SEL Training of Trainers initiative demonstrated that when teacher well-being is prioritized and teachers are given opportunities to retool, schools become safer, more supportive spaces. In contexts like Samburu County, where social challenges and education are deeply intertwined, such approaches are essential for raising engaged, empowered, and ethical citizens as envisaged by CBE.

Group photo of participants in the SEL Training of Trainers program.

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Legian at Night: Reflections on Luxury Tourism and Local Life in Bali, Indonesia

February 25, 2026
By 29430

In a preliminary report on his SRG study into Bali’s luxury tourism, A. Faidlal Rahman (Gadjah Mada University, 2008–09) offers his personal thoughts on how upscale visitor experiences rely on the labor, lives, and adaptability of the local community.

* * *

My current research into “Luxury Experience, Empowerment, and Their Impact on Tourist Satisfaction” did not begin with data or theory. It began with night-time walks through the streets of Legian—a vibrant, beachfront district in southern Bali.

As night falls, Legian comes alive. Neon lights flicker on, music spills from bars and cafés, and the sidewalks fill with people speaking different languages. For many visitors, Legian is a place to be free, have fun, and enjoy the nightlife.

But as a Sylff fellow who has stayed in many of Bali's fancy hotels, I see Legian a little differently. This area shows how luxury tourism, urban development, and local life are interconnected, even amid the crowds and noise.

As I walk down Legian's main street, music is everywhere—some quickly fading away and others loud enough to shake the pavement. Small bars with live bands sit next to older buildings and longstanding local shops. Tourism workers stand in front of restaurants and attractions, serving food, guiding guests, or just watching the night unfold.

Live music fills the streets of night-time Legian.

Many electrical wires crisscross above the street—a reminder of how quickly this neighborhood has grown, often outpacing institutional planning. Legian’s layout is imperfect and improvised, shaped by flexibility, compromise, and the routines of daily life.

This field experience is important to me on a personal level. My interests go beyond just academic work. I can see how upscale travel is planned and managed by watching how luxury hotels operate. But Legian prompts a deeper question: who sustains this luxury?

Legian as a Place to Learn

The atmosphere inside Legian’s fancy hotels feels calm and controlled. Service follows international standards. Building design takes into account local traditions. Each guest gets personalized attention, and a sense of orderliness reinforces the feeling of richness.

But as soon as I step outside the hotel grounds, the mood changes. Big tourism businesses operate alongside local shops, informal vendors, and local residents. Life is busier, more fluid, and more interactive outside the hotel walls. It becomes clear that luxury tourism never exists in isolation.

Many hotel workers I met lived in Legian. During the day, they work in highly professional, polished hospitality environments. At night, they return to neighborhoods that have been heavily shaped by tourism. For them, the nightlife in Legian is not entertainment—it is a part of daily life.

Even though my time in Legian was limited, I was able to see how local life and international tourism interact. The people working behind the scenes—hotel staff, suppliers, small business owners, long-established shopkeepers, and informal transport drivers—are the ones responsible for making guests feel like they are in luxury. Their labor is the reason why tourism works.

The unhurried atmosphere of Legian’s nightlife.

This experience has changed how I approach the study of tourism. Thanks to my SRG award, I was able to slow down, hear more stories, and spend more time in the field. I learned that finding quick fixes do not always lead to the best solutions; understanding a place comes from small, everyday moments, such as short conversations with employees heading home late at night, watching how the street changes from hour to hour, or noticing the contrast between the quiet of hotels and the noise of the streets outside.

This experience also made me think about the social responsibility of researchers in the global academic community. The support I received from Sylff was not only a personal benefit but also reminded me that knowledge should ultimately contribute to society. Legian makes this clear. Tourism is more than just an industry; it also involves people, jobs, homes, and the environment.

What I saw in Legian can be found in tourist destinations all over the world. Global competition and rapid growth often put a strain on local life and identity. These challenges are not unique to Bali—they are part of a larger global tension between luxury tourism, sustainability, and community well-being.

Legian taught me that tourism is not simply about visitor numbers or revenue. It is about who benefits, who has to adapt, and who bears the consequences. The crowded sidewalks, late-night businesses, and multitasking employees are reminders that tourism is much more complicated than it looks.

Every night that I walked through Legian, I saw how global issues like sustainability and the search for authenticity play out in the details of everyday life. For people who live and work in tourist areas, these are not abstract concepts but everyday realities.

For me, Legian has become a place to learn. I now understand that tourism is a constantly evolving social phenomenon—not just an industry or a visitor’s experience but a space where people, values, and global responsibilities intersect.

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Harmony across Cultures: A Music and Arts Festival in the Suburbs of Paris

January 26, 2026
By 33110

Pianist Florent Ling (Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris, 2024–26) co-organized a festival of classical music and the arts, bringing free concerts, workshops, and community programs to a culturally diverse district of suburban Paris—proving that cultural inclusion can inspire lasting engagement and creativity.

* * *

I am Florent Ling, a classical pianist raised in the suburbs of Paris and trained at some of the world’s leading music universities. As a French citizen of Asian descent, born in a neighborhood where access to classical music and other art forms often considered elitist was limited, I decided early on to make their democratization and transmission a major focus of my work. My upbringing instilled in me the conviction that access to culture can profoundly shape a young person’s sense of belonging, aspiration, and self-expression.

While the neighborhoods where I grew up are known for their cultural diversity, classical music continues to be perceived as elitist, distant, or irrelevant to daily life. This perception perpetuates a cycle of exclusion in which children and families from underrepresented or working-class backgrounds have limited opportunities to encounter the arts in empowering and inclusive ways. These are the reasons why I felt a personal responsibility to address this gap by creating a festival that would bring classical and multidisciplinary artistic experiences directly to the communities that shaped me.

With this vision, the project Sido & Co: Harmonies Croisées was conceived as a multicultural, interdisciplinary festival combining high-quality performances, educational workshops, and community-rooted initiatives. The name “Sido” was inspired by the two music notes si and do, while “& Co” reflects the project’s ambition to open music to other art forms and broader audiences.

Supported by Sylff Leadership Initiatives, the project evolved over several months of preparation into a four-day festival held from November 6 to 9, connecting the 10th district of Paris with its surrounding suburban areas for this inaugural edition. In co-direction with Camille Théveneau—whose experience in local cultural policy enriched the project’s reach—we were able to bridge institutional, geographical, and symbolic distances between Paris and its suburbs, which was an essential aspect of the festival’s mission.

An evening of “Cordes en Cœur” at the 10th district city hall, November 7, 2025.

The opening event marked an important milestone in this effort. Thanks to strong support from the municipality of the 10th district, we were able to host our main concert in the prestigious city hall, offering completely free admission. The program featured six classical musicians, all from suburban and culturally diverse areas. The event was an overwhelming success, drawing over 200 attendees, including families and children from the suburbs who were personally invited through schools and community partners, such as the Conservatoire de Malakoff, where I currently teach. The atmosphere was both celebratory and intimate, demonstrating that when artistic excellence is made accessible, new audiences respond with great enthusiasm and curiosity.

Around this central event, we developed a series of socially engaged activities that embodied the festival’s multidisciplinary and inclusive philosophy. Perhaps the most meaningful was Prolégomènes Dumky, a music-theater show for children built around Dvořák’s “Dumky” Trio. Featuring three professional musicians who themselves grew up in suburban environments, the show humorously and tenderly portrayed the behind-the-scenes process of chamber music rehearsals, from negotiations and challenges to the moments of inspiration that shape artistic collaboration. Because the piece demystifies classical music while honoring the lived experiences of the performers, it resonated powerfully with schoolchildren.

A packed house of enthusiastic young listeners attended the music-theater performance of Prolégomènes Dumky.

Thanks to our close collaboration with local elementary schools, we were able to welcome four different classes to this event, totaling over 100 children across the two performances. One of the highlights of these sessions was the post-show interaction between the young audience and the musicians. Children asked perceptive, often surprising questions—not only about the instruments or the music but also about perseverance, teamwork, and what it means to be an artist. These simple exchanges created a sense of proximity that is rarely offered in traditional concert formats.

Miniconcerts featuring Duo Théveneau were presented during the festival for healthcare workers at Lariboisière and Saint-Louis Hospitals.

Another key component of the Sido & Co Festival was the project’s engagement with local hospitals, further advancing our commitment to accessibility. Inspired by the belief that artistic experiences can offer comfort and human connection in challenging environments, we organized performances in two hospitals. A pair of musicians visited Hôpital Saint-Louis and Hôpital Lariboisière to present short musical programs for patients, families, and medical staff. These moments of pause, beauty, and shared presence were warmly received by both institutions, which quickly expressed a desire to renew the collaboration in the future. Bringing music into healthcare settings reaffirmed our conviction that the arts can serve as a vital form of social care, especially for individuals who cannot easily access cultural events.

The festival also featured two multidisciplinary evening events in a contemporary art gallery: “Raices,” a concert blending folk and classical music performed by two musicians of Hispanic descent, and L’Histoire du Soldat, an epic tale combining music and theater. These events attracted a remarkably diverse audience: regular gallery visitors, artists, long-time residents from nearby neighborhoods, and new suburban participants who had learned about the festival through earlier events. These enriching encounters illustrated one of our festival’s core intentions: to create shared spaces where people from different backgrounds feel equally invited and represented.

Behind the scenes, the festival was also shaped by the long-term “Résonances Personnelles” workshop, which took place over the preceding months at the suburban Conservatoire de Malakoff. Working with local teenagers, we explored how personal histories, musical influences, and spoken narratives can intersect to create new forms of artistic expression. This workshop was essential not only for artistic reasons but also because it offered young people an opportunity to take ownership of the project and see their creativity valued. By inviting them to all festival events as part of the workshop and enabling exchange with different artists, we were able to broaden their artistic perspectives.

The “Raíces” concert for voice and clavichord.

By the end of the four days, the festival had welcomed nearly 400 participants across all events, including more than 100 children. Beyond the numbers, the most meaningful outcomes lay in the strengthened relationships among artists, cultural institutions, municipal partners, and schools that collaborated in this first edition. Teachers reported that their students continued discussing the performances days after attending; hospital staff shared that the musical sessions had lifted the spirits of patients and medical staff alike; and many first-time audience members expressed their desire to return for future programs.

Perhaps the most encouraging sign of the project’s long-term impact is this clear demand we received for continuity. Multiple partners, including schools, hospitals, gallery spaces, and municipalities, have already requested opportunities to collaborate again. The festival demonstrated that when artistic experiences are brought directly to communities and shaped with their realities in mind, they generate lasting enthusiasm and engagement.

Ultimately, Sido & Co: Harmonies Croisées has established a replicable model for community-based artistic events that can be strengthened and expanded in future editions across both urban and suburban contexts. The project reaffirmed the transformative potential of culturally inclusive artistic practices and reminded us of our responsibility as artists and educators to make the arts accessible, empowering, and reflective of the diversity of the communities we serve.

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Survey Research Sustainability at Risk from Interviewer Supply-Demand Imbalance

January 22, 2026
By 31317

The growing demand for high-quality survey data and the shrinking supply of qualified interviewers are creating a bottleneck that threatens the reliability, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability of survey operations, caution Blanka Szeitl (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2023) and co-authors Gergely Horzsa and Anna Kovács.

Gap between Standardization and Practice

In Hungary, large numbers of surveys are conducted each year. The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) alone collects around 1.2 million questionnaires annually (KSH 2021), and when market and political polls are included, the total likely exceeds 3 million (Szeitl 2024). This magnitude highlights the importance of survey research and the need to examine its quality. This study focuses on a specific aspect of survey quality: the effect of those collecting the responses, that is, the interviewers.

Survey research is built on the idea that interviews can be standardized so that all respondents are asked the same questions under the same conditions, producing data that reflect real attitudes rather than interaction effects. For decades, this has been treated as a gold standard in survey methodology. Methodological literature emphasizes scripted wording, neutral tone, consistent behavior, and minimal deviation from protocol as key factors in reducing error (Cannell and Kahn 1968; Groves et al. 2009).

However, research has also shown that interviews are inherently social interactions in which meaning is co-constructed by interviewer and respondent. More recent papers recognize interviewers as social actors whose behavior is shaped by training, labor conditions, organizational environments, and the challenges of obtaining cooperation in an era of declining trust (West and Olson 2017).

Despite this, most empirical work on interviewer effects remains quantitative, focusing on measurable outcomes such as nonresponse patterns, response distributions, or measurement error, while qualitative insights into how interviewers understand their roles and manage difficulties remain limited. Interviewers work in complex social environments, deal with distrust and emotional strain, and respond to organizational pressures that rigid standardization cannot fully anticipate. Therefore, deviations from standardization may not exclusively be “errors” but also strategies that make data collection possible.

Based on 50 semi-structured interviews with survey interviewers and fieldwork instructors in Hungary (Figure 1), my SRG study explored these dynamics from the perspective of the interviewers who directly shape the interaction between research and the public. Rather than judging interviewers against methodological ideals, the research focused on how they conduct interviews and how their adaptations affect data quality.

Figure 1. Interview Locations during the SRG Study

Source: Created by the authors.

Interviewers in a Shifting Labor Environment

Most interviewers entered the field because it offered autonomy, flexible hours, and supplementary income.

By then, the child was already getting quite big, and I had less to do. And my husband is extremely independent, so I didn’t have to look after him. I had time, and sewing, handicrafts, and things like that didn’t tie me down. That’s how I got into it. [survey interviewer]

Very few younger people enter the field today, with interviewers describing the profession as one that “only older people do now.” Some attribute this to generational differences in motivation, while others point to the declining appeal and worsening conditions of fieldwork.

An image of an older female interviewer collecting data for a survey. Source: Freepik.

Most interviewers work on freelance or zero-base-rate contracts, receiving payment only after projects are completed and approved by clients. Several recalled waiting three to nine months for payment, with no formal guarantee of compensation. Payment for this work has also fallen markedly since the 1980s.

So we left him the radio log in paper form, whether he wrote down what he listened to on the radio correctly or incorrectly, we went, collected it, and in 1985 we got 100 forints for it. Then I went . . . and bought some cakes for the family, took them home, and we happily stuffed ourselves with income from one radio log, right? Today, people get 1,200 forints [3 euros] or 1,500 forints [4 euros] for one questionnaire, which is in fact the price of just a slice of cake, right? I’m just saying that if we compare it that way. [survey interviewer]

Interviewers also reported unpredictable workloads. Assignments arrive with little notice, deadlines are tight, and the amount of work varies from month to month. At the same time, the broader survey environment has become characterized by low trust. Respondents, increasingly skeptical of unknown organizations and wary of sharing personal information, are more likely to refuse participation. Interviewers also perceive a growing mistrust from research organizations and clients, expressed through GPS tracking, audio monitoring, and detailed scrutiny of their behavior. These forms of surveillance were described not only as stressful but as a sign that interviewers are assumed to be untrustworthy until proven otherwise.

Yet, interviewers are expected to perform complex emotional labor, like managing rejection, navigating suspicion, calming anxious respondents, and persisting in the face of hostility or indifference. This emotional labor remains largely unrecognized and unsupported within research organizations.

Many people [new survey interviewers] ran away from me screaming because they said it was a job that would destroy your nerves, your soul, everything. [survey field instructor]

Interviewers also face numerous practical obstacles. Sampling files frequently contain outdated or incorrect addresses, forcing interviewers to spend hours searching for households that no longer exist or have long since moved. Poorly designed questionnaires—lengthy, repetitive, or written in unclear language—exacerbate the frustration of respondents.

You leave in the morning, and you don’t know what you’re going to do, whether you’ll need ten days, or one, or two. [survey interviewer]

These structural issues place interviewers under constant time pressure, pushing them to find ways to navigate the demands of fieldwork while still producing usable data. The interviews reveal that this navigation often involves informal practices that deviate from strict standardization.

Adaptive Strategies for Securing Cooperation

Interviewers routinely adjust, soften, or reinterpret standardized procedures to build rapport, sustain cooperation, and complete their assignments. One major theme is the restoration of the human element of the interaction. Interviewers emphasize patience, empathy, and interpersonal warmth as essential tools for overcoming suspicion. Many describe the early moments of contact as a kind of emotional negotiation. Through small gestures of understanding, they work to shift the interaction from a defensive posture to one of openness.

An image of a survey respondent by the gate of his house. Source: Freepik.

Another strategy involves making selective decisions about where and when to conduct interviews. Interviewers often avoid neighborhoods they perceive as hostile or unsafe, instead prioritizing areas where they expect cooperation to be higher. While these choices improve efficiency, they also carry implications for sample representativeness.

Interviewers also describe numerous ways of managing questionnaire length. Some shorten interviews by summarizing or selectively skipping redundant or confusing items. Others take quick notes during the interaction and complete data entry of the full answers later at home. These adjustments enable interviews to proceed in a reasonable time frame, particularly with tired or hesitant respondents.

Personalization is also widespread. Interviewers frequently rephrase questions, offer clarifications, or gently guide respondents toward appropriate categories when questions are complex. Far from seeing these practices as violations of protocol, interviewers view them as essential for respondent cooperation.

Implications for Survey Research

Taken together, these findings reveal a fundamental tension between the ideal of standardized interviewing and the realities of fieldwork. Deviations are not random errors but practical responses to time pressure, mistrust, and limited organizational support. Some strategies improve respondent understanding and reduce refusals, while others risk introducing bias. Shifting the focus from standardizing interactions to standardizing outputs, such as coding, documentation, and reporting of deviations, could help preserve data quality while allowing interviewers the flexibility needed in the field. Achieving this requires investment in training, fair compensation, and supportive organizational structures.

The current landscape of survey data collection can be conceptualized as an inverted pyramid (Figure 2), reflecting the increasing structural imbalance within the field. At the top are the researchers, representing a relatively large and growing group of professionals who design studies, interpret data, and set methodological standards. Below them are the research companies, whose role is to manage projects, coordinate fieldwork, and ensure quality control. Further down are the survey agencies, which are responsible for the operational aspects like recruitment, scheduling, and supervision of interviewers.

At the very bottom of the inverted pyramid are the survey interviewers: the group that is, paradoxically, both the smallest in number and the most crucial for the execution of survey research. Despite being the backbone of high-quality empirical data collection, their availability has been declining rapidly. This shrinking base creates a structural vulnerability: the entire system depends on a diminishing pool of fieldworkers, whose work conditions, motivation, and professional support have deteriorated in recent years. The imbalance between the expanding demand for high-quality data and the contracting supply of qualified interviewers results in a bottleneck that threatens the reliability, cost-effectiveness, and timeliness of survey operations.

Figure 2. Survey Research Pyramid

Source: Created by the authors.

The inverted pyramid thus illustrates a systemic tension: while academic and commercial expectations toward survey quality and methodological rigor continue to rise, the human infrastructure required to deliver these standards is weakening. This structural mismatch poses one of the most significant contemporary challenges for the sustainability of survey research.

The results of this study are presented in detail in two manuscripts. One focuses on the local history, formation, and development of the interviewer network (in Hungarian; current version available here), while the other examines how the factors influencing survey quality can be grouped (current version available here).

Blanka Szeitl, far right, with members of her research group.

Read about the research group

References

Cannell, Charles F., and Robert L. Kahn. 1968. “Interviewing.” In The Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by Gardner Lindzey and Elliot Aronson, 526–95. Vol. 2. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Groves, Robert M., Floyd J. Fowler, Mick P. Couper, James M. Lepkowski, Eleanor Singer, and Roger Tourangeau. 2009. Survey Methodology. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH). 2021. Activities of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, 2020–2021. Technical report. Budapest: Hungarian Central Statistical Office.

Szeitl, Blanka. 2024. Surveying the Human Population: Errors and Their Corrections. PhD diss., University of Szeged.

West, Brady T., and Kristen Olson. 2017. “Interviewer Effects in Survey Data.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Survey Research, edited by David L. Vannette and Jon A. Krosnick, 329–47. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Service Learning as an Innovative Pedagogy in Indonesian Higher Education

January 19, 2026
By 32013

SRG 2024–supported research led by Obby Taufik Hidayat (Universiti Malaya, 2023) examined the first pillar of the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision, proposing the adoption of service learning as an innovative pedagogy to strengthen students’ knowledge, skills, and character.

* * *

Education is widely recognized as a fundamental factor in developing well-rounded individuals. Indonesia’s aspiration to become a leading nation across various sectors by the centennial of its independence in 2045—as outlined in its Golden Indonesia 2045 vision—rests on equipping individuals to tackle diverse challenges. According to economic data from the Ministry of Education and Culture, Indonesia is projected to benefit from a demographic bonus, providing an ample source of human capital for development. Between 2030 and 2045, approximately 70% of the population is expected to be of productive age (15–64) (Irfani et al. 2021). Educational transformation will thus be essential for developing intelligent and principled citizens to achieve the vision’s goals.

In 2020, the ministry introduced the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM), or Freedom of Learning and Independent Campus, policy, which emphasizes experiential learning. One program that operationalizes this aspect of MBKM is Kuliah Kerja Nyata (KKN), or the Community Service Program. While KKN has often been identified as a service-learning initiative, its current implementation at Indonesian universities does not adequately incorporate the essential components of service learning, instead primarily emphasizing community service or volunteerism and often lacking integration with university courses or curricula (Hidayat and Balakrishnan, 2024). There has thus been reduced emphasis on student learning outcomes.

In contrast, service learning aims to enhance students’ mastery and understanding of theoretical knowledge acquired in the classroom by providing hands-on experience in community service projects and fostering meaningful reflection on these experiences. Strengthening the connection between academic content and community engagement can ensure that student learning is not only maintained but also enriched through service initiatives (Salam et al. 2019). Accordingly, this study aims to improve KKN by integrating service-learning principles to develop value-based graduates in a diverse environment.

A qualitative multiple-case study design was employed to explore the application of service learning within the KKN program. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews, observations, and document reviews involving two KKN groups: one following the usual approach and the other implementing service-learning elements introduced by the researcher. The researcher then compared the two groups, and the data were analyzed using content analysis and manual thematic analysis.

Semi-structured interviews and observations of participants in this research.

Furthermore, during data collection, given the limited research on service learning in Indonesia and the need to enhance international understanding, the researcher attended the 2024 IARSLCE Asian-Pacific Conference X International Conference on Service-Learning at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) as both a presenter and participant in several workshops. This event represented a collaborative initiative among international associations dedicated to advancing service-learning research and promoting community engagement in the Asia Pacific region.

In addition, the workshop shown below was part of the preconference session at the international conference. During this event, the researcher gained new insights into service learning from several international experts in the field. These discussions helped broaden understanding of the philosophy, key elements, and objectives of service learning. They also facilitated comparative analysis of service learning across several countries, yielding new perspectives that have become a crucial part of service-learning research in Indonesian higher education.

The preconference workshop on Setting a Global Research Agenda for Service Learning at PolyU, Hong Kong.

Meaningful Experiences: Findings from Community Projects

Both the lecturer and students in this study reported that service learning, as an experiential approach, strengthens compulsory, community-service-based courses like KKN. Although KKN incorporates hands-on learning, service learning is seen as more structured and effective for integrating experiential learning in community service settings. This observation aligns with Tan and Soo (2020), who assert that academic experiential learning plays a key role in cultivating responsible citizenship. Therefore, service-learning programs are designed to deepen students’ understanding of theoretical concepts introduced in the classroom through practical application.

The findings of this study indicate that a defining characteristic of service learning is its emphasis on experiential learning, which integrates community-service activities with students’ prior classroom knowledge. This aligns with experiential learning theories advanced by several scholars. Dewey (1938) advocated for “learning by experience” and examined the broader role of academic institutions in community development. Kolb (1984) conceptualized experiential learning as a holistic process integrating observation, empowerment, reflection, experience, and action through behavioral development across diverse contexts.

Kolb further defined experiential learning as a process of exploration and engagement that connects prior knowledge with new understanding, encouraging sharing, reflection, and cognitive processing. In the context of service learning in Indonesia (see figure below), learning is more effectively sustained through conceptual and process-oriented approaches, which sharpen critical thinking skills and enhance intrinsic motivation for discovery. Experiences that contribute positively to the learning process are considered valuable.

The characteristics of service learning in the KKN program begin with students identifying societal problems or issues they intend to address. Next, students engage directly and meaningfully with the community. In the third stage of experiential learning, they integrate their personal experiences with the theoretical knowledge acquired in the classroom. This process enables students to generate new knowledge by developing original ideas or concepts, which are then shared to address community challenges. In the final stage, students reflect on their societal experiences through critical and creative thinking. According to Hinchey (2004), students who reflect on their learning experiences become active learners, and those who engage in extensive reflection continue to expand their knowledge. Balakrishnan et al. (2022) noted that increased experiential engagement enhances students’ capacity for reflection, thereby facilitating the development and accumulation of knowledge, values, and skills.

Implications for Pedagogy and Policy

The findings of this study suggest procedures for improving KKN implementation in higher education, which could strengthen its role as a service-learning approach in Indonesia. Service learning encourages students to apply theoretical knowledge, values, and skills within real-world community contexts, thereby supporting and strengthening local communities. The figure below presents an overview of the study’s results and outlines a procedure for implementing service learning in Indonesia. This approach seeks to enhance KKN by transforming it into an innovative pedagogy that positively impacts both students and the community.

Service-learning pedagogy is essential because it provides a structured environment in which students can apply classroom knowledge to real community situations. Through direct engagement, students gain practical experience and insights. Their active participation encourages reflection and empowerment and enhances the learning process. By engaging in reflection, students reconstruct knowledge and deepen their understanding (Balakrishnan et al. 2022). In a multicultural society, such reflection plays a vital role in cultivating individuals who embody the core values of Pancasila—the five principles that form Indonesia’s foundational ideology—an attribute that will be critical for future graduates.

Therefore, it is crucial to recognize and integrate service learning into KKN programs. Specifically, these programs should incorporate hands-on community engagement, reflection activities, and collaborative problem-solving, consistent with the philosophy and principles of service learning. Findings from this study can provide a valuable reference for shaping educational policies in Indonesia. University rectors, deans, and lecturers can use these findings to help design policies that prioritize these elements. Such policies will elevate KKN to international standards of service learning.

Incorporating service learning into KKN programs will help produce graduates with strong academic qualifications who are well-prepared to contribute to a multicultural society. This effort matches the broader goal of transforming higher education and supports the realization of the first pillar of Golden Indonesia 2045: advancing human development and the progress of science and technology.

References

Balakrishnan, Vishalache, Yong Zulina Zubari, and Wendy Mei Tien Yee. 2022. Introduction to Service Learning in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press.

Dewey, John. 1938. Experience and Education. New York: Kappa Delta Pi.

Hidayat, Obby Taufik, and Vishalache Balakrishnan. 2024. “Service Learning in Higher Education Institution towards Character Education Curriculum: A Systematic Literature Review.” Jurnal Kurikulum & Pengajaran Asia Pasifik 12 (2): 9–21.

Hinchey, Patricia H. 2004. Becoming a Critical Educator: Defining a Classroom Identity, Designing a Critical Pedagogy. Counterpoints Education Series, vol. 224. Peter Lang.

Irfani, Sabit, Dwi Riyanti, Ricky Santoso Muharam, and Suharno. 2021. “Rand Design Generasi Emas 2045: Tantangan Dan Prospek Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan Untuk Kemajuan Indonesia.” Jurnal Penelitian Kebijakan Pendidikan 14 (2): 123–34. https://doi.org/10.24832/jpkp.v14i2.532.

Kolb, David. A. 1984. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Salam, Maimoona, Dayang Nurfatimah Awang Iskandar, Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim, and Muhammad Shoaib Farooq. 2019. Service Learning in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review. Asia Pacific Education Review 20 (4): 573–93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09580-6.

Tan, Soo Yin and Shi Hui Joy Soo. 2020. “Service-Learning and the Development of Student Teachers in Singapore.” Asia Pacific Journal of Education 40 (2): 263–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2019.1671809.

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Guatemalan Farmworkers in Canada: Migration, Land Inequality, and Development

December 12, 2025
By 30645

Guatemalan participation in Canada’s Agricultural Stream program has surged nearly 200% since 2016, highlighting migration’s role in rural survival and development. But Chris Little (York University, 2019–21) reports that growing uncertainty over migration pathways is raising questions about sustainability and inequality.

A rural Guatemalan community with high levels of out-migration. Author’s own work.

Guatemalan participation in the Agricultural Stream (AS) of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has increased by 194% since 2016, a pace far outstripping the 77% growth in migrant farmworker numbers overall (Statistics Canada 2025).

With almost 20,000 Guatemalan AS participants in 2024, this migration flow is small compared to the huge flow of irregular migrants from Guatemala to the United States but is still a significant component of the 19.1% of Guatemalan GDP made up by remittances in 2024 (World Bank 2025).

Yet in the current hemispheric political context, with migration pathways being called into question and in some cases curtailed, the role of migration in Guatemala’s development may be changing.

Most workers who migrate from Guatemala under the AS are smallholder farmers, or campesinos, in their home communities. In my doctoral dissertation, tentatively titled Finca Logic: Hemispheric Agrarian Change and Guatemalan Migrant Farmworkers in Ontario, I am exploring the relationship between agrarian change and labor migration in the Americas through the case study of the growing population of Guatemalan migrant farmworkers in Ontario greenhouse agriculture.

Drawing on over 100 interviews, I take a labor-centered approach to analyzing the impact of transnational labor migration on the organization of agricultural production at both ends of the migration journey—Ontario and Guatemala.

Interrogating the “Triple Win” Paradigm

Temporary migrant labor programs are often posited to be beneficial to the sending country, the receiving country, and the migrants themselves—so-called circular or “triple win” migration (Rannveig Agunias and Newland 2007; Castles and Ozkul 2014; Wickramasekara 2011).

While there are undoubtedly benefits to all parties engaged in migration—remittances for the migrant, foreign exchange for the sending country, labor for the receiving country—the results of participation for the migrant workers themselves appear to be much more complex and contradictory than this framework might suggest.

My doctoral dissertation research critically interrogates the “triple win” paradigm. It investigates the socioeconomic conditions that shape Guatemalan campesinos’ migration practices and the developmental impacts of participation in the AS, particularly with regard to land distribution. I seek to understand the Guatemalan side of the temporary migration story, which is under-researched compared to the AS and its sister program, the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) in general, and where much more attention has been paid to the specific experiences of the more longstanding participant nationalities, particularly Mexican and Jamaican.

Through my research, I find that the developmental possibilities for participants in the program are often mixed and frequently severely constrained by the immediacy of day-to-day subsistence needs for workers and their families and the effects of the highly unequal distribution of land in Guatemala.

This situation is compounded by two other factors: the vulnerability of temporary migrant workers to losing access to employment through the program and, in a wider respect, the limited number of spaces relative to demand for the program, even amidst the significant growth in Guatemalan participation and the AS overall.

Often, participants compared their experiences to the nature of irregular migration to the United States, which was generally framed as offering increased possible reward but at much greater possible risk.

The “Land Question”

Guatemalan participants in the AS face deeply unequal land distribution as campesinos in their home country. This “land question” is demonstrated by the fact that just 2.5% of the total number of farms control some 65% of arable land, while another 88% of farms share a mere 16% of arable land (Lopez-Ridaura et al. 2019).

In other words, a huge number of campesinos have access to a remarkably small proportion of arable land, while a small number of large landowners predominate. Unequal land distribution in Guatemala, compounded by extractive projects and the dispossession and repression associated with them (Alonso-Fradejas 2012; 2021; Konforti 2022; Little 2024; Nolin and Russell 2021), is the crux upon which rests a society profoundly unequal in broader economic and political terms as well.

Due to constrained possibilities for rural development and sustainable livelihoods, Guatemalans turn to labor migration as a survival strategy—both through participation in the AS and in the much larger irregular flows to the United States. My doctoral dissertation research historically situates this dynamic, placing the interview data collected within the lineage of campesino labor regimes in Guatemala and the different ways in which the struggle over the means of social reproduction has taken place between campesinos and the ruling class.

In the twentieth century, violent repression of land reform efforts was the basis for the 36-year-long Guatemalan Civil War. Following the peace accords signed in 1996, the land question has remained unresolved and a key area of social conflict and inequality within the country, with the individualized form of land reform pursued through the accords criticized as insufficient to change the dynamics of land distribution in any substantive way (Gauster and Isakson 2007; Granovsky-Larsen 2013; Palma Murga 1997; Short 2008).

Floriculture in a campesino community with high out-migration. Author’s own work.

Fieldwork and Emerging Concerns

The 2024 SRG award enabled me to return to Guatemala in June–July 2025 to follow up on some of the threads that had emerged from my primary round of fieldwork in 2024. I have been able to speak with government representatives, social movement actors, and people from communities that have been impacted by high rates of out-migration. This process involved targeted engagement with participants who could deepen the findings from my first round of fieldwork, which have demonstrated the heterogeneity of experiences for Guatemalan campesino participants in Canada’s TFWP-AS.

In particular, I found that government actors and social movement representatives shared concerns regarding the sustainability of Guatemala’s reliance on migration as a mode for development. These concerns were bolstered by interviews with workers and members of communities with high rates of TFWP-AS participation.

These participants recognized the need to look for alternatives given the uncertainty over migration possibilities in general and the limited availability of places in documented migration programs such as the TFWP-AS.

This underscores the importance of conducting labor-centered research on temporary migration programs, as the heterogeneity of experiences and the impact of remittances could be missed without developing a more granular picture of the community level. I am currently in the process of continuing to review and process the findings from this round of fieldwork and to integrate them in a process of comparison with prior findings. These will allow me to understand the potential developmental impacts of changes or limitations in migration possibilities for Guatemalan campesinos, both with regard to migration to Canada and also to the United States.

The SRG grant has also enabled me to strengthen my working relationship with Guatemalan research assistants, with whom I intend to collaborate on further projects that will follow a participatory research approach. One key aspect of the research—confirmation that workers understand their situations and prospects in ways that outsiders cannot—is the driving force behind my plans for further research beyond the doctoral dissertation that I am currently working on completing.

Toward Food Sovereignty

I returned to Guatemala in late October to visit two organizations working to defend land rights and promote food sovereignty for campesinos. With this experience, I am in the process of developing ideas for dissemination of my dissertation findings in a manner that can inform and support movements toward food sovereignty and providing alternatives to temporary labor migration for campesinos where communities seek such alternatives.

Support from the Sylff Association has been integral to deepening my understanding of the complex and shifting reality of rural life in Guatemala amid temporary migration flows. It will continue to bear fruit as I conclude this portion of my research and utilize it as a foundation for further investigation and action.

References

Alonso-Fradejas, Alberto. 2012. “Land Control-Grabbing in Guatemala: The Political Economy of Contemporary Agrarian Change.” Canadian Journal of Development Studies 33 (4): 509–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2012.743455.

Alonso-Fradejas, Alberto. 2021. “Life Purging Agrarian Extractivism in Guatemala: Towards a Renewable but Unlivable Future?” In Agrarian Extractivism in Latin America, edited by Ben M. McKay, Alberto Alonso-Fradejas, and Ezquerro-Cañete. Routledge.

Castles, Stephen, and Derya Ozkul. 2014. “Circular Migration: Triple Win, or a New Label for Temporary Migration?” In Global and Asian Perspectives on International Migration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08317-9_2.

Gauster, Susana, and S. Ryan Isakson. 2007. “Eliminating Market Distortions, Perpetuating Rural Inequality: An Evaluation of Market-Assisted Land Reform in Guatemala.” Third World Quarterly 28 (8): 1519–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590701637375.

Granovsky-Larsen, Simon. 2013. “Between the Bullet and the Bank: Agrarian Conflict and Access to Land in Neoliberal Guatemala.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (2): 325–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2013.777044.

Konforti, Lazar. 2022. “‘Nosotros No Comemos Caña’: Defence of Territory and Agrarian Change in the Polochic Valley, Guatemala.” Thesis, University of Toronto. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/125620.

Little, Chris. 2024. “The Extraction of Migrant Labor-Power.” In The Labor of Extraction in Latin America, edited by Kristin Ciupa and Jeffery R. Webber. Latin American Perspectives in the Classroom. Rowman & Littlefield.

Lopez-Ridaura, Santiago, Luis Barba-Escoto, Cristian Reyna, Jon Hellin, Bruno Gerard, and Mark van Wijk. 2019. “Food Security and Agriculture in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.” Food Security 11 (4): 817–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-019- 00940-z.

Nolin, Catherine, and Grahame Russell. 2021. Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala. Between the Lines.

Palma Murga, Gustavo. 1997. “Promised the Earth: Agrarian Reform in the SocioEconomic Agreement.” In Negotiating Rights: The Guatemalan Peace Process. Accord 2. Conciliation Resources.

Rannveig Agunias, Dovelyn, and Kathleen Newland. 2007. Circular Migration and Development: Trends, Policy Routes, and Ways Forward. MPI Policy Brief. Migration Policy Institute.

Short, Nicola. 2008. The International Politics of Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Guatemala. Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/product/openreader?id=none&isbn=978113704 0848.

Statistics Canada. 2025. “Table 32-10-0221-01 Countries of Citizenship for Temporary Foreign Workers in the Agricultural Sector.” Table 32-10-0221-01. May 9. https://doi.org/10.25318/3210022101-eng.

Wickramasekara, Piyasiri. 2011. “Circular Migration: A Triple Win or a Dead End.” SSRN Scholarly Paper No. 1834762. Social Science Research Network, February 1. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1834762.

World Bank. 2025. “Personal Remittances, Received (% of GDP).” BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS. World Bank. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS.

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Doctor Knows Best? Medical Authority and Maternal Roles in Socialist Hungary

November 27, 2025
By 33043

How did medical authority shape motherhood in twentieth-century Hungary? Fanni Svégel (Eötvös Loránd University, 2025) explores the rise of “scientific motherhood,” tracing how expert-driven childcare practices redefined maternal roles and reinforced gendered expectations through state policy.

* * *

My brother Pali’s development was recorded in a diary, a large squared notebook, with special attention devoted to his movements. He was left unbound, free to kick without swaddling—something I later learned had also been done with me. By now it is clear that they [the parents] were followers of Emmi Pikler’s method of infant care.[1]

Péter Nádas, an internationally renowned contemporary Hungarian writer, recalled in his novel how such practices were common among the Budapest middle class in the 1940s. His personal memory reflects a broader trend: the professionalization of child-rearing and motherhood in mid-twentieth-century Hungary. What had once been a marginal practice of the interwar elite—keeping detailed records of a newborn and encouraging free movement and exploration—became widespread under state socialism, due in part to Emmi Pikler’s influential childcare manuals. This model of “scientific motherhood” established a medicalized framework of childcare that helped define the ideal of “righteous motherhood.”[2]

This article examines how medical knowledge production influenced the normative concept of the good mother in twentieth-century Hungary, turning previously marginal practices into mainstream norms. It also examines how family mainstreaming came to place primary responsibility for care work on women, tracing the historical roots of “righteous motherhood” at the intersection of state population policy and medicalization.

Family Mainstreaming and the Rise of Medical Authority

In recent years, Hungary has taken a prominent role globally as an initiator of international treaties and conferences aimed at reframing human rights and serves as a laboratory for “family mainstreaming.” In these “pro-family” narratives, child welfare becomes a powerful rhetorical tool justifying the illiberal government’s actions.[3] But what are the historical roots of family mainstreaming, and why has the prioritization of the family often come at the expense of gender equality?

State population policy is closely intertwined with dominant narratives of motherhood. Cross-regime examinations of twentieth-century family policy reveal the continuity of expectations placed on women as primary caregivers. Hungary has a long history of state-provided maternal benefits, and from 1967 onward, working mothers were allowed to stay at home with their babies for up to three years. The childcare allowance—which is still offered today—reinforced traditional gender roles, placing a double burden on women as both workers and caregivers.[4] At the same time, the concept of appropriate care work evolved under the influence of medicalization.

The pediatric ward at the National Social Security Institute (OTI), Áruház Square, Csepel, 1949. ©Fortepan / Kovács Márton Ernő

The construction of expert knowledge in child-rearing intersects with medical knowledge production and the prevailing power structures. This framework assumes that knowledge originates from trained professionals, interpreting it as reliable and scientific. In contrast, the concept of authoritative knowledge is more permissive regarding the source of knowledge, acknowledging the agency of laypeople in shaping childcare practices.[5]

This raises the question: who owns knowledge? At the beginning of the twentieth century, the image of the good mother became increasingly tied to expertise, as child welfare and caregiving professions evolved, opening space for women as professionals in medical environments.

These women—midwives, nurses, and physicians—occupied intermediate positions within the power hierarchy, bridging the state and ordinary people. These lower-level agents, with varying degrees of autonomy, helped shape the notion of expertise.[6] Consequently, the twentieth century marked the first time in modern history that women could emerge as authorities on matters concerning the female body, influencing both public and private reproductive discourse. This professionalization tendency was caught between inherited knowledge, folk medicine, customs, and highly medical approaches.[7]

The differences in types of knowledge lead to a second question: what is the source of knowledge? With professionalization, knowledge about pregnancy, childbirth, child-rearing, and intimacy moved beyond the personal spheres of family, kinship, and friendship, and books became a central medium for its transmission. This shift signaled modernization, generating tensions as it distanced individuals from the knowledge and customs of previous generations. The consolidation of medical authority, alongside the widespread distribution of books, transformed women’s relationships with their bodies. On one hand, they became more vulnerable within healthcare institutions; on the other, they gained access to more reliable information about pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care.

Emmi Pikler and the Scientific Turn in Childcare

In the twentieth century, child-rearing was transformed into a scientific enterprise, managed by experts. Among them was Emmi Pikler (1902–1984), a pioneering pediatrician whose work in postwar Hungary reshaped infant care under socialism and beyond. As a physician and childcare specialist, Pikler played a significant role in developing infant care practices and institutions in the post–World War II era. Of Austro-Hungarian Jewish origin, Pikler was connected to interwar reform education and left-wing intellectual circles. Upon receiving her medical diploma in Vienna, Pikler returned to Hungary and opened a private practice in Budapest. After World War II, she was appointed director of the Lóczy Residential Infant Home—an institution built on socialist state ideals—where she developed her distinctive caregiving model.[8]

Pikler’s first book, What Does the Baby Already Know?, was published in 1940, providing advice for young mothers on early development. Her second childcare manual, Mothers’ Book, was first published in 1956 and reissued several times until 1985, thus spanning almost the entire socialist period. Based on the narrative analysis of these volumes, this article examines two debated aspects of her method: the “cry-it-out” approach and scheduled breastfeeding.

What Does the Baby Already Know? devoted particular attention to what Pikler termed “raising children to cry,” by which she referred to the tendency of inexperienced parents—especially mothers—to respond to an infant’s crying with immediate soothing, rocking, or holding. In her view, such practices unintentionally conditioned children to cry more often and therefore represented an inadequate way of addressing infant behavior.

She argued that infants who were allowed to cry until about six months of age later developed greater autonomy and problem-solving abilities. During this early stage, Pikler regarded caretaking practices such as prolonged holding or “unwarranted” rocking—unless driven by a physical need—as a form of spoiling. Her position on crying was not exceptional in its time but rather aligned with prevailing conceptions of the child as an individual requiring discipline and order.[9]

Maternal Love versus Caregiving Skills

In Mothers’ Book, Pikler distinguished maternal love from caregiving, framing the latter as a skill to be learned rather than an instinct directly tied to affection. She argued that the consistent presence of a primary caregiver—ideally the mother—was most beneficial for the infant, enabling the formation of a secure and intimate bond. She emphasized regularity and precision in routines of feeding, bathing, and sleeping, thereby promoting a stable and predictable daily rhythm for the child.[10] Although, from the late 1940s, Pikler served as the head of a residential infant home for children who lacked family care, her manual was directed at parents rather than institutional caregivers.

The second debated issue in Pikler’s book concerned scheduled breastfeeding. From the early twentieth century onward, medical literature recommended feeding infants five to six times a day at three-hour intervals—a practice justified by concerns for health preservation and hygiene.[11] In this framework, the physician decided what was beneficial for the child’s well-being, and the “good mother” was one who followed medical instructions. Mothers’ Book also placed particular emphasis on the necessity of medical supervision. In the 1963 edition, scheduled feeding (every three hours) was still recommended; by the 1980s, however, revised editions advocated feeding on demand, thereby aligning with the prevailing scientific consensus.[12] In Pikler’s view, infants were calmer within a stable and predictable routine.

In both books, motherhood was framed as a learnable ability grounded in expert knowledge, explicitly distancing care from instinct or “natural” affection. Drawing on the concept of “rational love,” What Does the Baby Already Know? advanced the view that learning proper caregiving was the mother’s duty, since only through such acquired competence could an infant’s needs be adequately recognized and met.

Caring labor was conceived as both an integral aspect of motherhood and a learnable process, regarded as essential for the construction of socialist society. Emmi Pikler thus sought to institutionalize a new, medically informed model of child-rearing, in which maternal competence was subordinated to the authority of medical expertise. In doing so, she built on the historical legacy of maternalist policies that linked caregiving to motherhood, while simultaneously promoting a professionalized form of caregiving.

[1] Péter Nádas, Világló részletek I (Budapest: Jelenkor, 2017).

[2] Risa Cromer and Lea Taragin-Zeller, “Reproductive Righteousness of Right-Wing Movements: Global Feminist Perspectives,” Women's Studies International Forum 105 (2024): 102947, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2024.102947.

[3] Andrea Pető and Borbála Juhász, “Legacies and Recipe of Constructing Successful Righteous Motherhood Policies: The Case of Hungary,” Women's Studies International Forum 103 (2024), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277539524000232.

[4] Éva Fodor, The Gender Regime of Anti-Liberal Hungary (Palgrave Pivot, 2020).

[5] Brigitte Jordan, “Authoritative Knowledge and Its Construction,” in Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, eds. Robbie E. Davis-Floyd and Carolyn Fishel Sargent (University of California Press, 1997), 55–79.

[6] Zita Deáky and Lilla Krász, “Lészen az Istennek áldásábúl magzattyok…” Születés és anyaság a régi Magyarországon, 16. század – 20. század eleje (Budapest: Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont Történettudományi Intézet, 2024).

[7] Fanni Svégel, “The Role of Women as Agents and Beneficiaries in the Hungarian Family Planning System (1914–1944),” Journal of Family History 48, no. 3 (2023): 338–353, https://doi.org/10.1177/03631990231160222.

[8] Fanni Svégel, “Anyaság és gyereknevelés a professzionalizáció és a politika szorításában: Pikler Emmi munkássága,” Opuscula Theologica Et Scientifica 3, no. 1 (2025): 231–260, https://doi.org/10.59531/ots.2025.3.1.231-260.

[9] Emmi Pikler, Mit tud már a baba? (Budapest: Medicina Könyvkiadó, 1959), 9–13.

[10] Magda László and Emmi Pikler, Anyák könyve (Budapest: Medicina Könyvkiadó,1963).

[11] Zsuzsa Bokor, “‘Separation Is Required in Our Special Situation’: Minority Public Health Programs in Interwar Transylvania,” Hungarian Historical Review 12, no. 3 (2023): 395–432, https://doi.org/10.38145/2023.3.395.

[12] László and Pikler, Anyák könyve.