Re-claiming Shared Identity and Restoring Hope for the Survival of the Remaining Commons in Papua, Indonesia

Abstract

Indigenous communities live daily with the legacies of historical and contemporary dehumanisation in the form of colonisation, coloniality and globalisation. As a Papuan woman who is a descendent of colonised settlers, I have experienced the pain of mixed identities and the struggle to define myself, and have been trapped by the politics of identity. My work as an adult educator for social justice is a means to reconstruct my self-conception and reclaim my “self,” at the same time as I support others in their journey of selfreidentification. Regaining self and collective identity is pivotal for building social movements to dismantle injustices.