Micah R. Fisher

Fieldwork, storytelling, and the politics of the environment across Asia and the Pacific

Growing up in rural Indonesia, I came early to the nuances of environmental governance — relative to state development resources, cultural identity, and globalization. My professional work began in post-disaster reconstruction: organizing students after Hurricane Katrina, then living alongside communities in Aceh rebuilding from the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Those years led me toward a systems-based interest in vulnerability, resilience, and the politics of recovery. I went on to work on city planning, resource management, and climate diplomacy across the Asia-Pacific, before completing my PhD in Geography at UH Mānoa in 2019.

My site is named after the dalang — the shadow puppet master who gives voice to many characters and holds the whole narrative together. I think of engaged fieldwork similarly: the researcher as someone who makes space for many stories, not who tells the story for others.

I currently serve as Editor-in-Chief at Forest and Society, hold affiliate appointments at UH Mānoa's Department of Geography and the Faculty of Forestry at Hasanuddin University in Indonesia, and serve as Secretary on the executive committee of the American Institute for Indonesian Studies.