Hatib A Kadir is an environmental humanities researcher specializing in ecological crises in peripheral regions. 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.

While documenting the ecological decline in these regions, Hatib also investigates the arts of indigenous communities' resiliency in navigating ecological challenges, uncertainty, and resource depletion.  

Driven by a conviction that human and non-human interactions are not limited to economic interests, Hatib advocates for interdisciplinary collaboration. He seeks to bridge the humanities—anthropology, history, and the arts—with indigenous knowledge systems and scientific disciplines such as biology, ethnobotany, and human geography. His vision is to foster holistic approaches to understanding and addressing today’s pressing environmental challenges.Hatib finished his Ph.D from the Department of Anthropology at University of California at Santa Cruz one year and a half before the Pandemic Covid 19 hit the world.  

In 2023–2024, Hatib was a postdoctoral fellow at Global Studies, Aarhus University, under the Multispecies Intellectual History project. Since 2022, he has served on the editorial board of Cultural Anthropology.

Selected Publications

Kadir, Hatib & Anna Tsing, 'Possession/Dispossession: Making property at the edge of the anthropocene', Theory, Culture & Society, 2025.

Kadir, Hatib, 'Recurrent frontiers: Land dispossession, illegal resource extraction, and environmental degradation in Sorong, West Papua', International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 55(2), 197–218, 2024.

Kadir, Hatib, 'Multispecies marginality: Mangroves and migrant Papuans in the margins of urban colonisation', The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 35(1), 2023

Hatib, Kadir, '(Re)building interethnic relations through sharecropping in post-conflict Maluku', The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 24(2), 2023.

Hatib, Kadir, 'Swindling in the shop',  Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 179(1), 90–114, 2023.

Hatib, Kadir, 'From pengusaha (businessperson) to penguasa (ruler): Migrant traders and the politics of hospitality in Indonesia', Southeast Asian Studies, 12(1), 2023.

Hatib, Kadir, 'Women’s grievances and land dispossession: Reading landscapes through Papuan independent films', eTropic: Journal of Tropical Studies, 21(1), 2022.

Hatib, Kadir, 'Migrant traders in the marketplaces (pasar) and their domination in the post-conflict society of Maluku province, Indonesia', The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 20(2), 2019.