Email: ma734@cornell.edu

Affiliation: Cornell University

Nationality: Indonesian

Political authority, subjects, and agrarian transformation in Indonesia's population resettlement and agri-food megaproject

Abstract

First enacted in 1905 by the Dutch colonial government to improve the welfare of colonial subjects, state-led population resettlement, or "transmigration," is arguably Indonesia's longest and largest development program in terms of scale and impact. In contemporary Indonesia, resettlement has been integrated into agricultural megaprojects through the establishment of new transmigration villages and the incorporation of lands already cultivated by—and the labor of—transmigrants. However, both resettlement and agri-food megaprojects have fallen short of their goals, as Indonesia still relies on rice imports to feed its 270 million citizens (Dwi 2024), and landless poor remain concentrated in Java (Fearnside 1997). Intriguingly, the Indonesian government has continued implementing agri-food megaprojects and resettlement despite variegated opposition, even as both programs have been reconfigured in response to socio-environmental changes. Who becomes authorized to govern change, who is required to enact changes on the ground, and what subjectivities emerge amid environmental transformation?

This paper addresses these questions by examining the Food Estate project in Kapuas Regency, Central Kalimantan—a site of transmigration programs since the 1960s and agri-food megaprojects since the late 1990s. Data collection includes 100 interviews with transmigrants, indigenous locals, extension officers, experts, and officials, alongside participant observation during farming activities, official field visits, and meetings at the agricultural extension office between September 2024 and February 2025.

This paper, which contributes to the political ecology literature on the state (Neumann 2004; Scott 1998; Wolford et al. 2013), proceeds in three parts. First, it historicizes the struggle for political authority in Indonesia, which shifted from a centralized New Order regime to decentralization in the late 1990s. Grounding the analysis in Central Kalimantan, I juxtapose the divergent evolution of transmigration and agri-food megaprojects: while the former has been decentralized and now prioritizes intra-province resettlement, the latter remains a "national strategic program," mobilizing military and police personnel to oversee food security initiatives. Examining the most recent additional resettlement in the area in 2021, I argue that intra-province resettlement represents a form of negotiation between indigenous locals and the state, reflecting broader politics of belonging, rights, recognition, and resistance in the context of diminishing customary land territories.

Second, diverging from theories of subject formation that overly emphasize either domination or resistance, this study reveals the messy outcomes of subjectification processes by illustrating the lived experiences of five transmigrant interlocutors who identify with different ethnicities. This analysis troubles the rationale of transmigration, which historically resettled primarily Javanese migrants to peripheral areas, based on colonial assumptions that certain bodies were more suited for agricultural labor (Besky 2021; Li & Semedi 2021).

Third, this study demonstrates how the micro-politics of subjectification, resource use, and struggles over authority are both shaped by and shaping broader political economies and biophysical transformations (Nightingale 2018). By attending to accounts of the failures of agri-food megaprojects—attributed to struggles in governing non-human elements, particularly water and pyritic soil, and unruly subjects—this research highlights the complex entanglements between state planning, environmental conditions, and social dynamics.

Bio

Made Adityanandana (Aditya) is a PhD candidate in Development Sociology at Cornell University. His research focuses on migration, food security, and agrarian transformation, with a geographical emphasis on Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia. Aditya's dissertation examines the incorporation of land and labor in a state-led population resettlement program into a recent agri-food megaproject in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Originally introduced by the Dutch colonial government in the 20th century, resettlement has continued under the Indonesian government for various socio-demographic, political, and economic rationales. By analyzing a recent food security initiative, his research explores the potential and limitations of distributive policies in ensuring the reproduction of smallholders and securing food production. His dissertation research is supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, and the R-Adhikarya "Niche" Award.

Aditya earned an MA in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, where his thesis examined agrarian conflict over a tourism megaproject in his home island of Bali, Indonesia. His work has been published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Society for the Anthropology of Work, and The Jakarta Post. At Cornell, he is a member of the Political Ecology Lab (led by Dr. Jenny Goldstein), the Agrarian Studio (organized by Dr. Sarah Besky), and the Southeast Asia Program. Before beginning his PhD, he was a lecturer in the Department of Agribusiness at Udayana University. He has continued his teaching training by assisting in courses such as Introduction to Global Development, Environmental Sociology, and Critical Global Citizenship at Cornell.