Indigeneity as a sphere of differences: State enclosure and counter-enclosure of rural spaces in Indonesia

Abstract

Indigenous people are often perceived as being tied to specific bounded territories and leading ecologically sustainable lives that are distinct from their modern counterparts. This imagery stems from the fact that indigeneity, as argued in this paper, emerges in response to state enclosure. Modern states violently exert full, flat, and even land control over certain territories. The common manner through which this control is countered is by incorporating this concept of control and then assigning the territories to local rural communities. Such efforts are visible in the work of non-governmental organizations, scholars, and officials advocating for rural communities whose livelihoods are intruded upon by state and capital. As a result, the advocated rural communities adopt a conception of territory that contradicts their previous ones. Being intensely contested by the state, extractive companies, or neighboring communities, the legitimacy of this emerging modern-indigenous space is asserted by demonstrating the cultural differences of the designated indigenous communities.