Storytelling as a methodology for decolonising transport: insights from Banjarmasin

Abstract

This article positions storytelling as both a method and a stance for advancing decolonial perspectives in urban transport research, using the case of Banjarmasin’s inland waterway transport (kelotok) system. Mainstream transport research frameworks often privilege technical efficiency, ridership figures, and cost-effectiveness, leaving little space for local narratives, embodied knowledge, and cultural meaning. This study challenges that paradigm by showing how storytelling, a participant-led and multi-sensory process, can surface the social, cultural, ecological, and spiritual dimensions of everyday mobility. Fieldwork took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning remotely through Wha..