Nature Reads: Remembering Nanga Jela, an Iban Homeland

For this month's Nature Reads, together with co-host Surin Suksuwan (co-founder, Sunda Shelves), we speak to author and anthropologist Dr. Christine Padoch, whose new bilingual book Pemulai ke Nanga Jela / Return to Nanga Jela takes us back to an Iban longhouse community in Sarawak that once stood above the Engkari River, a landscape that was later submerged by the Batang Ai Dam. Through her time living among the Iban community in the 1970s, Christine documented their extraordinary relationship with the land, from cultivating dozens of rice varieties to maintaining traditions deeply rooted in place. She joins us to talk about the book, her fieldwork, and what this story of Nanga Jela can still teach us about culture, memory, and our connection with nature. Nature Reads on Earth Matters is the show where we explore the stories behind books that bring us closer to nature and the world around us. Every month, we team up with the good folks at Sunda Shelves, an independent bookstore and café with a passion for wild places and thoughtful reads.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.