A Future without Forest? Future Making, Environmental Change and Socio-Economic Transformations in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Michaela Haug
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422448541

The project "A future without forests? Future-Making, Environmental Change, and Socio-Economic Transformation Processes in East Kalimantan, Indonesia" explores the different and partly contradictory visions of the future that underlie current changes in forest use in Indonesia and that drive them in different directions. Starting from the forested hinterland of East Kalimantan, the applicant and her staff member examine dominant narratives and practices of future-making. Empirical as well as theoretical findings of the project have fed into several publications that are in various stages of preparation and publication. In addition, lectures have been given, panels and workshops have been organized, and various public events have been carried out. The Indonesian government's decision to relocate the seat of government from Jakarta to East Kalimantan has turned out to be a key factor influencing practices of future making. After being paused due to the Covid 19 pandemic, construction activities as well as discussions and speculations about the new capital are currently picking up speed. The city, which is imagined as a smart, green, high-tech metropolis, is becoming an influential factor. Mega-infrastructure projects are underway while land speculation and protests by environmentalists against the expected negative ecological consequences reflect the diverse hopes and concerns of the population. The central objective of the proposed continuation project is to understand which dynamics unfold in East Kalimantan as a consequence of the capital relocation. It further aims to explore how hopes, fears and expectations associated with the new capital influence social, economic and ecological transformation processes. What narratives, rumors, and images are circulating? How does the new capital (e.g. through infrastructure projects) already manifest itself in the lives of different individuals and groups? What are its implications for future forest use and environmental change in its immediate vicinity (e.g. through land clearing and road construction) and in the hinterland (e.g. through increased extraction of natural resources or dam construction for electricity)? The staff member focuses on processes of future making in the rural context of the East Kalimantan hinterland, while the applicant investigates the dynamics triggered by the new capital primarily at the provincial and national levels. The project explores social, economic and ecological transformations as manifestations of future making and focuses on the hopes, fears and expectations of local actors. With this approach, the project exceeds previous anthropological research on transformation processes in Indonesia and provides new empirical and theoretical insights. It contributes to the emergent field of an anthropology of the future and enriches debates on deforestation, the impact of mega-infrastructure projects on rural areas, and the desire for "green" development.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants