Land Relations Between Access, Exclusion and Resistance in Jambi Province, Indonesia
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A post-frontier in transformation: land relations between access, exclusion and resistance in Jambi province, Indonesia Dissertation zur Erlangung des mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Doktorgrades "Doctor rerum naturalium" der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen im Promotionsprogramm Geowissenschaften/Geographie der Georg-August University School of Science (GAUSS) vorgelegt von Dipl. Geogr. Barbara Beckert aus Erlangen Göttingen 2016 Betreuungsausschuss Prof. Dr. Christoph Dittrich Abteilung Humangeographie, Geographisches Institut, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften und Geographie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Prof. Dr. Heiko Faust Abteilung Humangeographie, Geographisches Institut, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften und Geographie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Mitglieder der Prüfungskommission Referent: Prof. Dr. Christoph Dittrich Abteilung Humangeographie, Geographisches Institut, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften und Geographie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Heiko Faust Abteilung Humangeographie, Geographisches Institut, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften und Geographie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Weitere Mitglieder der Prüfungskommission Prof. Dr. Lasafam Iturrizaga, Abteilung Physische Geographie, Geographisches Institut, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften und Geographie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Jun.-Prof. Dr. Dirk Felzmann, Arbeitsbereich Geographie und ihre Didaktik, Geographisches Institut, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften und Geographie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Dr. Lukas Giessen, Abteilung für Forst- und Naturschutzpolitik und Forstgeschichte, Fakultät für Forstwissenschaften und Waldökologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Dr. Markus Keck, Abteilung Humangeographie, Geographisches Institut, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften und Geographie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Tag der mündlichen Prüfung Donnerstag, 02.02.2017 I Summary Since the early twentieth century, forests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra are converted into large plantation areas for the cultivation of boom crops, such as rubber and oil palms. This land use transformation goes along with land conflicts. Local actors are often deprived of access to land by new actors entering the scene, searching for land access. However, land conflicts do not only occur in the context of deforestation, at the edges of rainforests, in so-called frontier areas. They also occur in areas that have been converted from forests to agricultural land decades ago, so-called post-frontiers. Jambi province, located in the center of the island of Sumatra, stands as an example for such a highly dynamic post-frontier. Access to land is constantly negotiated between different powerful actors on different scales, leading to exclusion and resistance. In this dissertation, conflictive land relations in the post-frontier are analyzed and explained based on three research questions: (1) How did Jambi province transform into a dynamic post-frontier? (2) Which processes lead to conflictive land relations between access and exclusion in the post-frontier? (3) How does resistance against adverse land relations influence the post-frontier? In order to tackle these questions, a novel conceptual framework on conflictive land relations in the post-frontier is developed, which builds on political ecology and post-frontier research, on the theory of access and powers of exclusion framework and the terrains of resistance approach. Empirical qualitative research was conducted in seven research villages in two research areas in Jambi province, located in vicinity to the Bukit Duabelas National Park and the Harapan Rainforest conservation concession of PT REKI. Research revealed that since the Dutch colonial era plural legal orders exist in Indonesia, which means, that codified state laws and customary laws exist in parallel. Land has been allocated to concession areas in an uncontrolled manner in the past decades and today there is an overlapping mosaic of resource governance and territorial control in Jambi province, which characterizes the post-frontier. Different kinds of actors are struggling for access to land, and conflictive land relations between access, exclusion and resistance are fostered by plural legal orders and the non-recognition of customary land. However, reclaiming customary land has become a powerful tool for indigenous resistance, especially when local actors are supported by national and international NGOs. It is argued that the post-frontier will be further transformed in the next couple of years by indigenous land claims and resistance. II Table of contents Summary ..............................................................................................................................................I Table of contents .................................................................................................................................II List of figures ..................................................................................................................................... VI List of tables ...................................................................................................................................... VI List of maps ....................................................................................................................................... VI List of pictures ................................................................................................................................... VI Acronyms ......................................................................................................................................... VIII Glossary ............................................................................................................................................. XI Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 990 ....................................................................................... XIV Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................ XV 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Framing the research ......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research goal and research questions ............................................................................... 6 1.3 Outline ................................................................................................................................ 7 2. Conceptualizing conflictive land relations in the post-frontier ...................................................8 2.1 A political ecology approach .............................................................................................. 8 2.2 Post-frontiers as spaces of exception .............................................................................. 10 2.2.1 A traditional understanding of frontiers .................................................................. 10 2.2.2 A contemporary understanding of frontiers ............................................................ 12 2.2.3 Defining post-frontiers ............................................................................................. 16 2.3 Land relations between access and exclusion ................................................................. 17 2.3.1 Access, property, power and authority: an interdependence ................................. 18 2.3.2 Powers of exclusion .................................................................................................. 23 2.3.2.1 The four 'powers of exclusion': regulation, force, market and legitimation ....... 25 2.3.2.2 Key processes in the context of access and exclusion ......................................... 27 2.4 Resistance in the context of conflictive land relations .................................................... 28 2.4.1 Terrains of resistance ............................................................................................... 28 III 2.4.2 Escalation of land conflicts ....................................................................................... 30 2.5 The conceptual framework in the present research context ........................................... 33 3. Methodological research approach ......................................................................................... 35 3.1 The need for a qualitative research approach ................................................................. 35 3.2 Research process and research village selection ............................................................. 36 3.3 Methods of data collection .............................................................................................. 41 3.3.1 Triangulation ............................................................................................................ 41 3.3.2 Participant observation and informal conversations ............................................... 43 3.3.3 Problem-centered interviews on different scales .................................................... 43 3.3.4 Participatory research tools ..................................................................................... 46 3.4 Peculiarities, challenges and drawbacks in conducting field research in Indonesia ........ 48 3.5 Data analysis ....................................................................................................................