Paper short abstract:

For the purpose of this paper I will situate adaptation to social change as the cause and environmental variations as consequences of the former, to then argue that coastal narratives of change strategically regulate the matrix of the socio-ecological environments and challenge linear causality.

Paper long abstract:

Through the analysis of recent ethnographic research carried out amongst sea farers and the coastal peoples of Nain Island, Indonesia, I will explore perceptions and understandings of 'change', a concept and a series of processes embedded in daily life. For the Bajo, change is always beneficial and does not pertain to any domain in particular, change is a defining feature of being a Bajo and being a Bajo is not detachable from being in a Bajo environment. But what constitutes a Bajo environment? By looking at opposing narratives of the shrinking mountain, this paper will look at how processes of eco-semantic expansion can impact on the identity of coastal communities.