ABSTRACT of the Speaker:
The forests of Indonesia have long been a space of political confrontation. Rich in timber, water, and mineral deposits, they are home to an estimated 40 million people in forest- dependent customary law communities. This paper focuses on the contemporary remnants of colonial- era policies in forest law in Indonesia and how, over its seven decades of rule, the Indonesian state has slowly undermined its own power in these spaces. In particular, this paper explores the way that the confusing, conflicting, and corrupt statutory legal system in Indonesia has undermined itself and its own power over the “political” forests of Indonesia. Contributing to the current literature on legal pluralism, indigenous politics, and land conflicts, I explore how this process has contributed to the persistence of customary law in Indonesia. In order to do this, I use the case study of the Kasepuhan customary law community in West Java and Banten provinces on the island of Java, Indonesia. The historicizing of statutory and customary forest law in Indonesia highlights the limits of state legal ambiguity before citizens start turning away from statutory law and, in this case, look for stability in customary law (or adat in Indonesia) in order to govern everyday life.
SPEAKER
Rebakah Daro Minarchek, Ph.D (Assistant Teaching Professor in the Integrated Social Sciences program and the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington)
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