Participatory action research, learning in small peasant resistance and the politics of rural dispossession in Indonesia by Hasriadi Masalam A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Adult Education Department of Educational Policy Studies University of Alberta © Hasriadi Masalam, 2018 ii ABSTRACT The agro-extractive regime pursued by the corporatized state and the pervasive expansion of capital accumulation has turned the rural frontier of Indonesia into an agrarian war zone. This is marked by the proliferation of serious challenges by small peasants and indigenous peoples who are ‘in the way’ of the neoliberal state apparatus and market imperatives being imposed by a globalizing colonial capitalism. It would therefore be a political if not ethical oversight to remain oblivious to the perseverance of small peasant and indigenous ways of learning in resistance to the violence of development dispossession (DD) by the postcolonial development state and the market. This study sought to contribute towards organizing, networking and learning in social action in anti-dispossession struggles addressing agro-extractive related DD in Sulawesi through Participatory Action Research (PAR), while engaging in and seeking to understand the multiple modes of small peasant and indigenous learning and knowledge production processes embedded in resistance to DD in rural Indonesia. The study derives its’ primary significance from practical PAR interventions in anti-land dispossession struggles in Sulawesi in the face of agro-extractive expansionism addressing DD in the ‘post colony’ and especially in relation to learning and knowledge production and networking in and around these struggles. PAR collaborations were made in this regard with small peasant struggles to address palm oil and coconut plantation DD in Sulawesi between May 2015 – February 2016 and is ongoing. The theoretical and conceptual significance of the study is in relation to, both, the development of movement-relevant knowledge and theoretical conversations with Marxist and anti-colonial perspectives, including the potential for cross-pollination of ideas between these perspectives. iii Preface This thesis is an original work by Hasriadi Masalam. The research project, of which this thesis is a part, received research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board, Project Name “PR, adult learning and development in Indonesia”, No. Pro00060879, February 2, 2016. Abridged sections from Chapter Two and paraphrased findings from Chapter Five have been published as Masalam, H. (2017). Our Crops Speak: Small and Landless Peasant Resistance to Agro-Extractive Dispossession in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. In Kapoor, D. (Ed.), 2017. Against colonization and rural dispossession: local resistance in South & East Asia, the Pacific and Africa. London, UK: Zed Books. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Dip Kapoor, not only as my Ph.D. supervisor but also as a teacher and friend throughout the years. The influence of his enthusiasm and commitment to the wretched of the earth will last beyond this academic project. I am grateful to my thesis committee members and external examiner: Dr. Sourayan Mookerjea, Dr. Steven Jordan, Dr. Sara Carpenter, Dr. Alexandre Da Costa, Dr. Dia Da Costa, Dr. Robyn Rodriguez, for their valuable and substantive comments on the thesis draft. I thank the University of Alberta, Department of Educational Policy Studies administration, for their assistance and financial support in the course of the degree, and LPDP (Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education) for the research grant in the final leg of this study. I am most indebted to the people of Baras, especially to Syaiful, for welcoming me to his home and accompanying me to navigate the “jalan tikus’ inside the palm oil plantation, and Bohotokong, especially to Ustad Aminullah S. Tahumil and all ORTABUN members, and the supporting land rights activists of the Karsa Institute (Ewin Laudjeng, Budi Budiansyah, Florensius Bawu, Fred A Tokandari, Rahmat Saleh), and the Luwuk based activists (Maskur Labuan, Yusuf Kiki, Sarif Mang), for their admirable persistence and support in this participatory and action-oriented inquiry. My highest appreciation also goes to my colleagues at Inininawa for the comradeship since the early days of my intellectual and political formation. This thesis would certainly not possible without the unconditional love and patience of my wife, Mellanie Febrista, by keep challenging me to go “beyond the impossible” and reminding “which side am I on” in this constant struggle against injustices. I am also enormously grateful to my parents, H. Masalam and Hj. Nursiah, who have taught me to build strong roots and wings. v Table of Contents ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………ii PREFACE..………………………………………………………… ……………………………iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT………………………………………………………………………....iv TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………………….........v LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………...........viii LIST OF DIAGRAMS……………………………………………………………………….......ix LIST OF MAPS………………………………………………………………………...................x LIST OF PHOTOS……………………………………………………………………….............xi CHAPTER ONE: Introduction…………………………………………………………………....1 Research purpose and questions …………………………………………………………….....3 Research Methodology ……………………………………………………………...................4 Significance of the Research ………………………………………………………..................6 Delimitations and Limitations ………………………………………………………................7 Key Assumptions ……………………………………………………………………...............8 Key terms …………………………………………………………………………….............10 Organization of the thesis ……………………………………………………………………12 CHAPTER TWO: Literature review………………………………………………….................15 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………..15 Part One: From the East India Company to Indonesia Inc.: Historical and contemporary trajectories of development dispossession (DD) in rural Indonesia ………………………….16 The colonial origins of the agro-extractive regime ……………………………….............18 Agro-extractive induced DD in the post-independence era: Palm oil and coconut plantations …………………………………………………………………………...........23 Resistance to agro-extractive induced DD ………………………………………………..31 Part Two: Conceptual literature and perspectives on ABD, resistance to ABD in the ‘post colony’ and learning in social action........................................................................................34 Accumulation by dispossession …………………………………………………………...35 Empirical studies on ABD………………………………………………………..41 Coloniality of power and land dispossession in the ‘post colony’..……………………….43 Race and colonial capitalism …………………………………………………………..44 Colonial capitalist development and market violence …………………………............46 Resistance to colonial ABD: Conceptual possibilities in relation to the rural ‘post colony’ ……………………………………………………………………………………………..49 Anti-colonial perspectives on peasant resistance………………………………………51 Resistance as counter-hegemony ………………………………………………………53 Resistance as infra-politics ……………………………………………………………………56 Subaltern Studies perspectives on resistance ………………………………………….58 Indigenous settler-colony perspectives on resistance…………………………………..62 Empirical studies on rural resistance to ABD………………………………………..64 Perspectives on critical adult education and learning in social action ……………......................66 Marxist perspectives ……………………………………………………………...........67 Civil societarian perspectives …………………………………………………………………69 Learning in social action in indigenous and small peasant anti-rural DD struggles in the ‘post colony’ ……………………………………………………………………….70 vi Empirical studies on learning in rural resistance to DD.……..………………...74 Summary ………………………………………………………………………………..........76 CHAPTER THREE: Methodology ……………………………………………………………...78 Thirdworld-ist PAR Methodology …………………………………………………………...78 Tracing the genealogy of Thirdworld-ist PAR.………………………………………….78 Thirdworld-ist PAR and learning in resistance addressing DD………………………………83 Doing PAR……………………………………………………………………………………86 Phase One: PAR design phase…………………………………………………………...87 Phase Two: Identification of PAR projects, research site and participants……………...89 Research sites and participants………………………………………………………....91 Phase Three: PAR activation as action-reflection-action cycle……………………….....92 Collective learning, data generation analysis and emerging knowledge for social movement………………………………………………………………………...93 Emerging knowledge for social action…………………………………………..98 Validity and positionality in PAR...…………………………………………….....................99 CHAPTER FOUR: Setting PAR in motion with KARSA land activists………………………102 Establishing PAR ground through mutual learning…………………………………………103 Forging relations behind the PAR praxis……………………………………………….103 Tracing the making of anti-perampasan tanah activisms……………………………...106 Reflecting on historical learning in huaka activism…………………………………….111 Discussing and engaging research questions………………………………………………..114 Preparing the PAR engagement in Baras……………………………………………………121 CHAPTER FIVE: PAR and learning in resistance addressing palm oil DD in Baras…………124 Regional contexts of dispossession and local land struggle in West Sulawesi……………...124 Collective analysis and knowledge production about DD and resistance to DD in Baras….128 Engagements with the land struggle constituents in Baras……………………………..129 Identification of potential interventions………………………………………………...135 Collective analysis on the political-economic contour