FASS Staff Profile

DR ERB, MARIBETH
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Appointment:
OTHERS
Office:
AS1/03-29
Email:
socmerb@nus.edu.sg
Tel:
6874 3825
Fax:
6777 9579
Homepage:
http://profile.nus.edu.sg/fass/socmerb/
Tabs

Brief Introduction

Maribeth Erb has been a member of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology since 1989. In recent years she has taught courses on tourism, the environment, theme parks and qualitative methods. She has been doing research in Eastern Indonesia since the early 1980's on a range of topics that have informed and intersected with her teaching. Tourism has been growing in eastern Indonesia, and has been rebounding strongly post-pandemic. In particular her work has looked at tourist local interaction and changing ideas of hospitality; however with tourism growth has come also conflict, both over control of tourism businesses as well as the impacts on the environment. In the 21st century, expansion of the extractive industries has also led to conflicts between local communities, government and mining companies over these environmental impacts and access to land.


Teaching Areas

  • Tourism and Culture: A Global Perspective (SC4211)
  • Qualitative Data Analysis (SC5103)
  • Disney and the Theme Park World (GET1041/GEX1023)

Current Research

Tourism developments and changing ideas of hospitality; mining, the environment and local conflict.


Research Interests

  • Tourism and Hospitality
  • Theme Parks
  • Kinship, Marriage and the Person
  • Ritual and Social Change
  • Mining and Environmental Movements

Publications

BOOKS/MONOGRAPHS AUTHORED

  •  

    2018    Theming Asia: Nature, Culture and Heritage in a Transforming Environment, edited by Maribeth Erb and Ong Chin Ee, Routledge.

    2009    Deepening Democracy in Indonesia: Direct Elections for Local Leaders, edited by Maribeth Erb and Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, ISEAS Publications

    2007    Biodiversity and Human Livelihoods in the Malay Archipelago, edited by Navjot Sodhi, Greg Acciaioli, Maribeth Erb and Alan Tan Jie Kin, Cambridge University Press.

    2005    Regionalism in Post-Suharto Indonesia, edited by Maribeth Erb, Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, and Carole Faucher, London: Routledge-Curzon.

    1999 The Manggaraians: Guide to Traditional Life Styles, Singapore: Times Editions.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

  • 2020 “Violence as Tourist Spectacle in Eastern Indonesia: Exploring the Imaginaries of Pain, Identity and Power in Manggaraian Tourism Encounters”, in Front and Back Stage of Tourism Performance: Imaginaries and Bucket List Venues, edited by Francis Reimer, Taylor and Francis.   
  • 2018 “Dying in a Strange Land: Tourism, Hospitality and Promises to the Dead”, in Leisure and Death: Lively Encounters with Risk, Death, and Dying, edited by Adam Kaul and Jonathan Skinner, University of Colorado Press.
  • 2018 “Missionaries and Mining: Conflicts over Development in Eastern Indonesia” with Fransiska Widyawati, in The Mission of Development: Religion and Techno-politics in Asia, edited by Catherine Scheer, Michael Feener and Philip Fountain, Brill.
  • 2009  “Indonesia and the Quest for Democracy”, with Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, in Deepening Democracy in Indonesia: Direct Elections for Local Leaders, edited by Maribeth Erb and Priyambudi Sulistiyanto, ISEAS Publications.
  • 2008 “Tourism as Glitter: Reflections on Domestic Tourism in Indonesia”, in Asia on Tour: Exploring the Rise of Asian Tourism, edited by Tim Winter, Peggy Teo and T.C. Chang.
  • 2007  “Adat Revivalism in Western Flores: Land Wars, Sacrifice and Being a ‘True Catholic’”, in The Revival of Tradition in Indonesian Politics: The deployment of adat from colonialism to indigenism, edited by Jamie S. Davidson and David Henley, London and New York: Routledge.

ARTICLES IN JOURNALS

  • 2021 “Exploring a Social Geology Approach in Eastern Indonesia: What are Mining Territories?”,  with Adonara Elizabeth Mucek and Kathryn Robinson, Extractive Industries and Society 8:  89-103.
  • 2017  “Theming Asia: Culture, Nature and Heritage in a Transforming Environment”, with Ong Chine Ee, Tourism Geographies 19 (2): 143-167.
  • 2016  “Mining and the Conflict over Values, in Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, Eastern Indonesia”,  Extractive Industries and Society 3: 370-382.
  • 2015  “Sailing to Komodo: Contradictions of Tourism and Development in Eastern Indonesia”, Austrian Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 8:143-164.
  • 2014 “Borders and Insecurities in Western Flores: Contesting Territory on the Margins of the State”, Asian Journal of Social Science 42 (1): 122-163.

     

Other Information



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