Kampung as Method
"Kampung as Method" emerges from the complexities of the messy kampung life that accommodates the knowledge(s) born from the everyday, the mundane, and the relational. At its core, The Art of Bothering, Meaningful Little Ironies, and Dis/Assembly form the foundation of Kampung as Method. They root from the whispers of gossip, the favours asked and granted, and the slow burn of community life.
Kampung Epistemologies: The Art of Bothering
Proximity is not just spatial, but relational. Neighbours are not just informants, but co-conspirators. And bothering—yes, bothering—is a research method.
And bothering—yes, bothering—is a research method.
- Drop-by visits
- Conversations and gossip sessions sparked by chance encounters
- Shared meals
- Meandering walks through kampung streets
- Favour-seeking

Bother, and be bothered
Prioritise relationality • Embrace gossip as knowledge • Seek favours • Slow down, stay awhile • Listen more, speak less
Neighbourhood Epistemology
Kampung epistemologies recognise that knowledge resides in relationships, not just individuals. By bothering, we tap into the collective knowledge of the neighbourhood, where stories, histories, and experiences intersect.
Appreciating the Bother
The word, "gapapa" (It's ok), with a smile, indicates appreciation for the researcher's presence. This bother-appreciation dynamic fosters trust, deepens relationships, and yields rich, contextual knowledge.
Knowledge does not live in archives, nor does it settle neatly in the minds of individuals. It lingers in alleyways, seeps into doorstep conversations, and drifts between borrowed chairs. It is relational, always in the making—woven through gestures, gossip, and the quiet understanding of everyday obligations. To research in the kampung is to recognise this: that knowing is not a solitary act but a shared practice, cultivated through entanglements of life lived together.
Bothering is a way of knowing. It is not an intrusion but a method, a practice of staying present, of listening, of allowing oneself to be interrupted. In kampung logic, bothering is an act of care. It acknowledges that relationships require maintenance, that trust is built not in singular, momentous exchanges but in the slow, cumulative weight of repeated encounters. It is the casual drop-by that turns into an afternoon of tea and talk, the errand that stretches into a long discussion of history, of politics, of personal sorrows and collective dreams. To bother is to make oneself available to the unpredictable rhythms of the everyday, to show up without expectation, to allow knowledge to unfold on its own terms.
Participation, then, is not an event but an ongoing entanglement. It is not contained within a survey, a structured interview, or a single ethnographic moment. It is lived. It happens in the unpredictability of neighbourly visits, in the stories exchanged between errands, in the laughter that lingers long after a conversation is over. To participate is to be drawn in, to move at the pace of the community, to understand that research does not extract knowledge but is instead shaped by the relationships it enters into.
Bothering takes many forms. There are the drop-by visits—unannounced, unscheduled, guided by the understanding that knowledge does not always come when called. There are the meandering walks, because knowing a place means walking it, slowly, alongside others. There is gossip, which is never just idle talk but a way of sharing, of testing, of holding knowledge in collective hands. There are shared meals, where reciprocity is exchanged as readily as food. There is the seeking of favours, because trust is not given freely but built through obligation, through the quiet assurance that one can be counted on.
The kampung itself is an archive, but not in the way that archives are usually imagined. Knowledge is not stored in books or documents but in relationships, in the interwoven stories of those who inhabit its spaces. To research here is not to collect information but to be shaped by the flows of neighbourhood life. To bother is to recognise that knowing is always reciprocal: to ask is also to answer, to listen is also to be heard. A smile and a quiet gapapa—"It's okay"—signal that one's presence, the bother of it, is welcome. This bother-appreciation dynamic does more than produce knowledge; it builds trust, deepens relationships, and opens up ways of knowing that cannot be written down, only lived.
To research in this way is to surrender to the slow work of knowing-with-others. It means prioritizing relationality over efficiency, conversation over conclusions. It means embracing gossip as knowledge, seeking favours and owing them, slowing down, staying awhile. It means listening more, speaking less.
To bother is to participate, to be entangled, to become part of the story rather than just its observer. It is to accept that knowledge, like relationships, cannot be rushed—that it emerges in its own time, in its own way, in the spaces between people.
Bother, and be bothered.
Meaningful, Little Ironies as a Way of Seeing

Plampitan is a world of ironic harmony. Knowledge is not a product, but a process: ironic, messy, iterative, and contextual. Kampung as Method abandons the expectations of tidy conclusions, instead embracing the kampung's untidy, unfolding narratives.
Meaningful, Little Ironies
1. Attending to the "ironies that work": Focusing on "smooth tensions" or "working contradictions", often-overlooked aspects of kampung life.
2. Embracing Paradox: Recognising and analysing contradictions as meaningful, rather than resolving them.
3. Contextualising Complexity: Understanding ironies as embedded in kampung dynamics.
Ironies work in the Kampung—Sharing keeps privacy; kampung-loving youth wanting to leave; blend of hierarchical and egalitarian elements; simultaneously harming and preserving the environment; ngerumpi (gossiping), often maligned, fosters social cohesion; doing nothing, strategically, allows residents to be more productive; the kampung itself nestled between skyscrapers and shopping malls, embodying the city's complex dance between tradition and modernity; narrow alleys, lined with traditional houses, are traversed by tourists/walkers in search of "authenticity"... promoting community-led initiatives promote cultural heritage, while relying on external funding that undermines local agency.
These everyday ironies, often overlooked, offer profound insights into the kampung's complexities.
Beauty of Irony
Kampung as Method celebrates ironies,where disparate elements coexist. These ironies reveal Plampitan's adaptive spirit, its ability to reconcile contradictions. They challenge dominant narratives and invite us to rethink assumptions about community, productivity, and sustainability.
The kampung's ironies were not just a reflection of global forces, but also of local desires. Residents sought progress, yet clung to the familiar rhythms of the past. They navigated the tensions between cultural preservation and economic survival.
Plampitan is a world of ironic harmony. It refuses the neatness of singular truths, unfolding instead in layers of contradiction—where tensions do not demand resolution but simply exist, smooth and unresolved, woven into the fabric of daily life. To know the kampung is to learn how to sit with these ironies, to recognise them not as flaws but as a way of being, a logic in themselves.
Knowledge here is not a product to be extracted but a process—iterative, contextual, and always a little messy. Kampung as Method does not search for tidy conclusions but instead follows the kampung's own rhythms, its own untidy, unfolding narratives. Ironies are not problems to be solved; they are meaningful in themselves. They work. They make life move.
Attending to these "ironies that work" means focusing on the contradictions that sustain rather than collapse—those paradoxes that hold kampung life together in ways that may seem improbable, yet remain entirely functional. Sharing, for instance, does not erase privacy but sustains it. The youth, fiercely attached to their kampung, long to leave it. Hierarchies persist alongside egalitarian gestures. The kampung harms the environment as much as it preserves it. Ngerumpi—gossiping—while often dismissed as idle talk, is in fact the glue that fosters social cohesion. Doing nothing, strategically, can sometimes be the most productive course of action.
And then there is the kampung itself, a contradiction made visible. Wedged between skyscrapers and shopping malls, its narrow alleys, lined with traditional houses, host wandering tourists searching for an elusive "authenticity." Community-led initiatives promote cultural heritage while relying on external funding that, paradoxically, erodes local agency. These contradictions are not errors to be corrected but realities to be understood.
Irony is not just present in the kampung—it is what makes it work. It reveals how the past and present negotiate their coexistence, how residents embrace progress while holding onto the familiar rhythms of tradition. The tension between cultural preservation and economic survival does not resolve itself neatly but instead becomes a space of constant navigation.
Kampung as Method is an embrace of these ironies, an invitation to see them not as obstacles but as insights, not as dysfunctions but as adaptations. It is an approach that challenges dominant narratives, refusing singular explanations of community, productivity, or sustainability. In this way, the kampung offers more than just a site of study; it offers a way of seeing—a way of attending to the world that does not smooth over paradox but lets it live.
Dis/Assembly as Being
Fractured Worlds
Social cohesion is forged and broken, economic resilience is tested, and environmental sustainability hangs in the balance.
- Challenge static notions of community
- Highlight power struggles and social tensions
- Inform practical strategies for community engagement and intervention
Forces of Forging and Fragmentation
Assembly
Gatherings, festivals, and everyday interactions, community is forged. Yet, these assemblies are fleeting, susceptible to disassembly by forces of urbanisation, conflict, or economic disruption. Spatial arrangements, too, reflect this ephemerality – shared spaces and communal kitchens are constantly reconfigured.
Disassembly
Disassembly processes – spatial fragmentation, social fragmentation, economic disruption, and environmental degradation – rupture kampung life. Urbanisation and gentrification splinter communities, while market fluctuations and poverty destabilise economic networks.
The most compelling insights arise where disparate worlds collide
Cite as:
Andal, A. G. (2024). Kampung as Method. https://urbanfuturings.webnode.page/kampung-as-method/