Following the severe forest fires of 2015, the Indonesian government adopted a stance characterizing traditional fire practices as malicious and Indigenous populations as inherently careless agents. State policy subsequently enforced fire prohibitions, intense surveillance, and detentions, concurrent with the introduction of environmental and developmental initiatives aimed at decoupling fire from the traditional life practices of Indigenous communities. These punitive actions are argued to be misdirected, stemming from an overemphasis on ignition-centric fire studies that often reinforce the marginalization of Indigenous peoples.

Consequently, this chapter shifts focus to examine the fire environment itself—the conditions that facilitate massive conflagrations. Utilizing archival research and ethnographic fieldwork conducted since 2015, the text posits that the drastic ecological shift of Dayak territories into "firescapes" was instigated by frontierization strategies imposed upon the Dayak people and their peat forests.

These strategies have manifested predominantly through excessive timber exploitation dating back to the early 1970s and disastrous peat drainage designed to support rice cultivation, collectively creating a profoundly fire-prone ecology. This analytical framework is crucial for comprehending the rationale behind Indonesia's current fire governance, particularly how the Indigenous Dayak peatlands in Central Kalimantan have been transformed into a landscape subjected to external intervention and heavily controlled by fire prevention initiative.

Speaker

Sofyan Ansori is a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Research, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia. His research project examines relationships between humans and fires in light of the current climate crisis. Since 2015, his ethnographic work engages specifically with how Indigenous communities in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, navigate their thoughts and actions amid the recurring massive fires and the state’s ongoing desire to enforce anti-fire policies.

Discussant 

Anu Lounela is an anthropologist and university researcher in Global Development Studies and in Social and Cultural Anthropology, at the Faculty of Social Science, University of Helsinki. Her recent research examined environmental change, fire disasters and land-water-human relations in degraded tropical peatlands. This research has also looked at state formation and frontier making and territorialisation on the Indonesian side of Borneo. Her research on water and vulnerability (Academy of Finland) explored historically informed socionatural relations and social forms and transformations of wetlandscapes. This research connected with wildfires, which degrade local forests and gardens and open space for new commodity regimes in Central Kalimantan.

Moderator

Hatib Kadir is an environmental humanities researcher specializing in ecological crises in peripheral regions at KITLV. Over the past seven years, he has conducted research in coastal areas of the Eastern Indonesian archipelago, spanning from Maluku to West Papua. His work delves into the intersections of the Anthropocene, human and non-human interactions, and ecological disruptions caused by resource exploitation, infrastructure projects, political policies, human activities, settler colonialism, and invasive species.

Format, date, time & venue

This seminar is a hybrid event and will be held in the conference room of KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30, Witte Singel 27 A, Leiden and online via Zoom, on Thursday 13 November from 15.30 – 17.00 PM (CET).

Image

Photo: Sofyan Amsori.

Flyer