Various visions of the industrialized future: anxiety, aspiration, and Chinese nickel investment in Indonesia

Abstract

This paper, which examines the affective landscape created by Chinese nickel investment in Indonesia, seeks to better understand how actors at various scales and networks respond to China’s global rise. While state-centered perspectives dominated analyses of responses to China’s global action, we want to unpack Indonesians’ anxious and hopeful reactions across multiple fragmented but interconnected contexts. The majority of the involved actors, whether national, regional, or local, associate Chinese investment with the nickel industrialization project. Nonetheless, each actor, standing on a different scale and network in front of the project, has their own set of interests and visions for their future with it. National policymakers are establishing it as a symbol of national development success, while others on a national scale are criticizing it, citing how it marginalizes local communities and destroys their environments. On the other hand, local communities and workers are readjusting to industrialization in ways that betray their national actors’ expectations, envisioning their everyday future with the presence of a new giant bringing opportunities and uncertainties.