Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies, Vol 2, No. 1, Spring 1998

In the summer of 1997 I conducted a short research project which consisted of the collection of commercial tree resins1 (damar) in the markets (pasar) of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The objective of the study was simply to determine the local name(s) (Indonesian as well as local), intended use(s), and perceived source(s) (botanical, geographic and/or ethnic locality) of each specimen. Upon successfully completing that phase of the project, I returned to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa where I conducted a follow-up library investigation of the data I had gathered. Results from both phases of this on-going research are provided here together with a synthesized version of my fieldnotes.