16 Desember 2014
Ruang Sidang 1 FIB UGM – Pukul 09.00
Pemateri: Timo Markus Duile
(PhD Candidate, University of Bonn, Germany)
Judul:
“Nature and Identity: Dayak movements within the context of ecological conflicts in West-Kalimantan”
Moderator:
Mark Philip Stadler, MA, MSc
(PhD Fellow at Asian Dynamics Initiative, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen)
Nature in the Indonesian province of West-Kalimantan is contested in at least two ways: First, it is contested as a resource, especially since palm oil plantations found their way into West-Kalimantan and capital seeks for new strategies of accumulation in this part of the Indonesian periphery. A massive loss of forest and an accumulation of land in the hands of palm oil companies since the 80s are the result. Secondly, nature is contested in a discoursive-symbolic way: Actors are arguing about the very meaning of nature. The hegemonic meaning of nature that takes nature as an ensemble of resources and as the opposition of human society is challenged by indigenous actors like AMAN or the Pontianak-based Institut Dayakologi.
Alternative interpretations of nature became an important source for neo-traditional Dayak identity, since these interpretations helps indigenous activists to distinguish themselves from their constitutive outside, that are, the state of Indonesia as a neo-extractivist regime, palm oil companies and modernity with its premises of the distinction between nature and culture.
How do indigenous actors, then, conceptualize nature in contrast to hegemonic perceptions of nature and how can these conceptualization challenge ownership structures and strengthen traditional identities? Referring to Phlippe Descola’s ontological concept of animism and naturalism, indigenous activist’s concepts of nature are analyzed and it will be discussed whether their draft of nature and identity can challenge the threats indigenous societies are confronted with.
