Learning from greenpeace: Activist habitus in a local struggle

Abstract

This paper traces the ontogenesis of a specific environmental campaign in Indonesia. A highly effective struggle to save the local city forest was instigated by young activists in Bandung who had previously been involved with Greenpeace Indonesia. The data comes from interviews, a focus group and ethnographic fieldwork. The paper illustrates the point that when youth get involved in a highly structured environmental protest movement like Greenpeace, the skills, network resources and confidence they gain there can later be deployed to great advantage in a local conservation campaign. That phenomenon can be understood using the notion of radical habitus derived from the theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu. Its creation was reinforced by the dispositions developed through the young activists’ previous involvement in Greenpeace training and activism. In the end, the development of the radical ecological habitus of young activists is formative for shaping a radical disposition, which can be deployed in the domain of protest.