Stefanie Steinebach | University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim (original) (raw)

Papers by Stefanie Steinebach

Göttinger Beiträge zur Ethnologie, 2012

Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, May 27, 2017

Land grabbing in relation to boom-crop production or nature conservation triggers displacement an... more Land grabbing in relation to boom-crop production or nature conservation triggers displacement and dispossession of local communities as well as rural resistance often culminating in violent conflicts over land. In Indonesia, company-initiated oil palm production on debatable territories also stimulates migration into these contested rural areas by individual farmers who seek to become part of the boom-crop economy. Based on discussions on land grabbing and land rights this article deals with the appropriation of land by independent migrant farmers and their role as another new party in conflicts over land. The role of rural migrants in land conflicts in Jambi Province, Sumatra is shown through two case studies. The case studies highlight the importance of customary local elites and their strategic employment of social identity and political authority to facilitate land seekers' access to contested land. The local elites transcend conceptual boundaries to generate a profitable counter-business with a set of individual stakeholders and brokers who profit from the dispossession of the masses. The case studies reveal that the migrants' presence is essential to rural resistance and a contested resource of economic and political benefit to various stakeholders at the same time.

This volume presents the results of five years' research on the processes of the propertisation o... more This volume presents the results of five years' research on the processes of the propertisation of culture that have been carried out by the Research Unit 772 on The Constitution of Cultural Property (speaker: Regina Bendix), sponsored by the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). 1 Our research focused on the certification and heritisation of culture (nominations and listing of tangible and intangible UNESCO World Heritages) during the first three years. Since 2011, we have been investigating how "culture", or more specifically adat (concepts of traditional ways of life and values), is shaped and deployed by various actors in Indonesia to define their identities, reclaim rights and property, and reposition themselves in the multi-ethnic state of Indonesia since the fall of the Suharto regime (1998). A workshop entitled "Adat between state governance and self-determined indigeneity in Indonesia" was held at Göttingen University in October 2011. The preliminary results of the most recent anthropological research on adat or rather on "indigeneity" in Indonesia were presented by scholars at this workshop, including our much-valued research fellow from Jakarta, Fadjar Ibnu Thufail, from the Göttingen projects, and also by a scholar from Bonn University. Since the struggles for recognition of a special adat particularly of "indigenous groups" in Indonesia can only be understood against 1 The research on which the chapter by Steinebach is based was carried out during a project within the Collaborative Research Centre 990, "Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems (Sumatra, Indonesia)", also based at Göttingen University. 4 Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin the background of international conventions and aid programmes for the promotion of indigenous peoples, two scholars from the International Law Department of Göttingen University (Katja Göcke and Maria Victoria Cabrera Ormaza) were invited, as well as the well-known Indonesian lawyer and indigenous peoples activist, Sandra Moniaga, to present their perspective on the issue of indigeneity. The present volume mirrors this anthropological-international law cooperation and exchange of views on indigeneity. We are grateful that two lawyers from Indonesia, Yance Arizona and Erasmus Cahyadi, wrote an insightful paper on the current state of affairs on a special law on indigenous peoples in Indonesia. Francesca Merlan, the renowned anthropologist from the National University in Canberra and an expert on "indigeneity", spent a month as a Fellow of the Research Unit at Göttingen in June 2013. We all benefitted tremendously from her lectures, the comments she gave on earlier versions of several chapters and her insights. She has written an Epilogue to the volume from an encompassing, comparative perspective. I would like to thank her for writing this important chapter, for her commitment and the fruitful discussions we had in a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere. This research only took place with the great help of our research partners in Indonesia: the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in Jakarta as a counterpart, and especially the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples (AMAN) and its General Secretary, Abdon Nababan, the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), particularly the Samdhana Institute and several other NGOs and their representatives, as well as the many adat communities in different provinces in Indonesia. All of these allowed and helped the anthropologists to carry out their research. We would like to express our gratitude to all of them. Terima kasih banyak! All this work would not have been possible without the sponsors. I would like to thank first and foremost the German Research Council for generously sponsoring all the research projects mentioned, the Volkswagen Foundation (Volkswagen Stiftung), Hannover, for supporting the workshop in 2012, and also the Volkswagen Stiftung and the Ministry for Science and Culture of the Federal State of Lower Saxony and Göttingen University for the research professorship (Niedersachsenprofessur) they granted me. It is thanks to this professorship and its endowment that many complementary journeys, additional research, meetings, the temporary employment of additional research staff and assistants, as well as this publication became possible.

... Marwin; Pintat, Jens; Schenk, Tim-Florian; Schreiber, Sarah; Tjark, Franke; Tietjen, Gesa; We... more ... Marwin; Pintat, Jens; Schenk, Tim-Florian; Schreiber, Sarah; Tjark, Franke; Tietjen, Gesa; Weltring, Wiebke; Zeise, Annika; Zimmermann, Mario. ... So muss nicht nur in räumlicher Hinsicht von einem Flickenteppich gesprochen werden (Boeckh/Stallmann 2007), sondern auch in ...

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Jun 1, 2017

Environmental and social transformations in Jambi province, Indonesia, are inextricably interlink... more Environmental and social transformations in Jambi province, Indonesia, are inextricably interlinked. Large-scale agro-industrial development and nature conservation policies equally alienate local communities from their agricultural lands and turn land into a scarce resource. Consequently, access to agricultural land becomes increasingly contested, not only between communities and state institutions or companies but also among communities themselves. To secure or restore local 'indigenous' land rights against land grabbing and green grabbing by states and companies, indigenous land titling has become a powerful tool all over the world. Ongoing activities of indigenous land titling in Indonesia have been largely perceived as an act of justice by indigenous and land rights activists and affected communities. Yet, a challenging step towards titling is the identification of who is and who is not 'indigenous'. This highly political process creates ethnicity-based identities tied to rights and possibilities around land as a contested resource. Based on a case study of a national park in central Jambi, this paper shows that what is perceived as an act of justice against the state can also produce injustice among local communities by heavily impacting and transforming local social structures and relations.

Die Orang Rimba sind eine Gruppe semi-nomadisch lebender Regenwaldbewohner in Jambi (Sumatra, Ind... more Die Orang Rimba sind eine Gruppe semi-nomadisch lebender Regenwaldbewohner in Jambi (Sumatra, Indonesien). Für die Orang Rimba ist der Regenwald eine Welt der Götter, Geister und Ressourcen, in der das Leben eigenen Gesetzen folgt. Der Regenwald als Lebensraum bestimmt die Existenz der Orang Rimba als ethnische Gruppe und ihre ethnische Identität. Ihre Lebensweise macht die Orang Rimba zu einer marginalisierten Minderheit im Vielvölkerstaat Indonesien, in dem der Regenwald als Gegenteil von Modernität und Zivilisation konstruiert wird und damit nicht als ein dem Menschen angemessener Lebensraum gilt. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Diskurse und Prozesse, welche die ethnische Identität der Orang Rimba in Verbindung mit ihrem Leben im Regenwald hervorbringen. Dabei spielt die Interaktion der Orang Rimba mit verschiedenen Akteuren auf lokaler, nationaler und globaler Ebene und deren Interessen am Wald eine zentrale Rolle. Um die Eigenschaft von Identität als dialektischem Prozess...

Adat and Indigeneity in Indonesia

Environmental and social transformations in Jambi province, Indonesia, are inextricably interlink... more Environmental and social transformations in Jambi province, Indonesia, are inextricably interlinked. Large-scale agro-industrial development and nature conservation policies equally alienate local communities from their agricultural lands and turn land into a scarce resource. Consequently, access to agricultural land becomes increasingly contested, not only between communities and state institutions or companies but also among communities themselves. To secure or restore local ‘indigenous’ land rights against land grabbing and green grabbing by states and companies, indigenous land titling has become a powerful tool all over the world. Ongoing activities of indigenous land titling in Indonesia have been largely perceived as an act of justice by indigenous and land rights activists and affected communities. Yet, a challenging step towards titling is the identification of who is and who is not ‘indigenous’. This highly political process creates ethnicity-based identities tied to right...

Forest Policy and Economics, 2017

Indonesia has attracted increasing global attention in recent years due to concerns over large-sc... more Indonesia has attracted increasing global attention in recent years due to concerns over large-scale deforestation. The island of Sumatra in particular is severely affected by the rapid expansion of monoculture cash crops. Since Dutch colonial times, land tenure regulations here have generally favored such resource exploitation. The current National Development Plan continues to see Sumatra as a center of resource production in order to eradicate poverty and accelerate national development. This developmental focus, however, is accompanied by contested land use scenarios. Taking a historical perspective, this research discloses different layers of past and present land tenure regulations to understand present contestations of land use, resource exploitation, and their social consequences. Based on a village case study, the research demonstrates how different political eras and their accompanying land tenure approaches are inscribed in today's local landscape. We found that de jure regulations which were added to customary laws created a situation of legal pluralism. Our case study explains how local actors craft institutional arrangements in a process of institutional bricolage to use 'their' resources.

Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public.

The rapid expansion of the oil palm area in many tropical countries has raised concerns about its... more The rapid expansion of the oil palm area in many tropical countries has raised concerns about its negative impact on local communities, food security, and on the environment. While the expansion of oil palm in early stages was mainly driven by large private and public companies, it is expected that smallholders will outnumber large estates in the near future. For policy formulation it is hence important to better understand who these smallholders are and why they have started to cultivate oil palm. In this paper, we used a rich dataset collected in the province of Jambi, which is one of the most important production areas for oil palm, to analyse smallholders' decision making by combining qualitative, quantitative, and experimental methods. We identified agricultural expertise, lacking flexibility in labour requirements, availability of seedlings, and investment costs as the major constraints for farmers to cultivate oil palm. Important reasons for oil palm cultivation are the h...

The Harapan region is governed by a web of regulations. The corresponding allocation of land is i... more The Harapan region is governed by a web of regulations. The corresponding allocation of land is informed by the demands of the international market and Indonesia's policy to supply it with the products needed. Thus, human interactions with the rainforest transformation systems are largely determined by external economic drivers. Taking the anthropology of globalization as a starting point, our paper outlines the relationships between international demands, state regulations, the allocation of land, and the way local people, whose rights have been disregarded for decades, and migrants make use of it locally, often in conflict with the state and concession holders.

Form, Macht, Differenz, 2009

Da willst Du wirklich hin? Als Frau, so ganz alleine? Im Regenwald?" stirnrunzelnd und kopfschütt... more Da willst Du wirklich hin? Als Frau, so ganz alleine? Im Regenwald?" stirnrunzelnd und kopfschüttelnd betrachteten mich meine Mutter, Schwester, Freundinnnen und Freunde, als ich sie über meine geplante Feldforschung im Regenwald von Sumatra informierte. Verwöhnt durch ein akademisches Umfeld, in dem die Rezeption (de)kon struktivistischer Geschlechtertheorien mittlerweile zur Etablierung von Genderstudies oder Geschlechterforschung als eigenen Studiengängen geführt hat, schienen mir auf meinem Geschlecht basierende Zweifel an meinem Vorhaben fast als Unverschämtheit. Die Bedeutung des Geschlechts während der Feldforschung, vor allem hinsichtlich der Möglichkeiten und Restriktionen für die teilnehmende Beobachtung, wurde bereits vielfach in der ethnologischen Literatur diskutiert. Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin (2002) beispielsweise betrachtet dieses Thema in ihrem Artikel "Gender: Verkörperte Feldforschung" vor dem Hintergrund ihrer eigenen 30jährigen Forschungserfahrungen in unterschiedlichen Kontexten. Mit diesem und anderen Artikeln zum Thema Geschlecht im Feld hatte ich mich vor meinem eigenen Feldaufenthalt in Sumatra intensiv beschäftigt und fühlte mich bestens vorbereitet. Die Komplexität meiner Genderidentität und ihre Bedeutung für den Verlauf der Forschung sowie die daraus resultierenden Ergebnisse wurden mir jedoch erst während meines Feldaufenthaltes deutlich. In diesem Beitrag werde ich die Bedeutung von Gender und den Prozessen des Aushandelns der eigenen Genderidentität als Ethnologin im Feld vor dem Hin

the-world-of-news.homepage.t- …, 2000

... Kuhr, Anja; Linde, Mark; Mießner, Michael; Nasse, Carolin; Pettig, Marwin; Pintat, Jens; Sche... more ... Kuhr, Anja; Linde, Mark; Mießner, Michael; Nasse, Carolin; Pettig, Marwin; Pintat, Jens; Schenk, Tim-Florian; Schreiber, Sarah; Tjark, Franke ... Die zwei Studien über Armut in Deutschland (Hanesch ua 1994; Hanesch ua 2000), die der Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund und der ...

Oil palm plantations have expanded rapidly in the last decades. This large-scale land-use change ... more Oil palm plantations have expanded rapidly in the last decades. This large-scale land-use change has had great impacts on both the areas converted to oil palm and their surroundings. Howev-er, research on the impacts of oil palm agriculture is scattered and patchy, and no clear overview ex-ists. Here, we address this gap through a systematic and comprehensive literature review of all ecosys-tem functions in oil palm plantations. We compare ecosystem functions in oil palm plantations to those in forests as forests are often cleared for the establishment of oil palm. We find that oil palm planta-tions generally have reduced ecosystem functioning compared to forests. Some of these functions are lost globally, such as those to gas and climate regulation and to habitat and nursery functions. The most serious impacts occur when land is cleared to establish new plantations, and immediately after-wards, especially on peat soils. To variable degrees, plantation management can prevent or redu...

Nature Communications, Oct 11, 2016

Smallholder-dominated agricultural mosaic landscapes are highlighted as model production systems ... more Smallholder-dominated agricultural mosaic landscapes are highlighted as model production systems that deliver both economic and ecological goods in tropical agricultural landscapes, but trade-offs underlying current land-use dynamics are poorly known. Here, using the most comprehensive quantification of land-use change and associated bundles of ecosystem functions, services and economic benefits to date, we show that Indonesian smallholders predominantly choose farm portfolios with high economic productivity but low ecological value. The more profitable oil palm and rubber monocultures replace forests and agroforests critical for maintaining above-and below-ground ecological functions and the diversity of most taxa. Between the monocultures, the higher economic performance of oil palm over rubber comes with the reliance on fertilizer inputs and with increased nutrient leaching losses. Strategies to achieve an ecological-economic balance and a sustainable management of tropical smallholder landscapes must be prioritized to avoid further environmental degradation.

Biological Reviews, Aug 11, 2016

Oil palm plantations have expanded rapidly in recent decades. This large-scale land-use change ha... more Oil palm plantations have expanded rapidly in recent decades. This large-scale land-use change has had great ecological, economic, and social impacts on both the areas converted to oil palm and their surroundings. However, research on the impacts of oil palm cultivation is scattered and patchy, and no clear overview exists. We address this gap through a systematic and comprehensive literature review of all ecosystem functions in oil palm plantations, including several (genetic, medicinal and ornamental resources, information functions) not included in previous systematic reviews. We compare ecosystem functions in oil palm plantations to those in forests, as the conversion of forest to oil palm is prevalent in the tropics. We find that oil palm plantations generally have reduced ecosystem functioning compared to forests: 11 out of 14 ecosystem functions show a net decrease in level of function. Some functions show decreases with potentially irreversible global impacts (e.g. reductions in gas and climate regulation, habitat and nursery functions, genetic resources, medicinal resources, and information functions). The most serious impacts occur when forest is cleared to establish new plantations, and immediately afterwards, especially on peat soils. To variable degrees, specific plantation management measures can prevent or reduce losses of some ecosystem functions (e.g. avoid illegal land clearing via fire, avoid draining of peat, use of integrated pest management, use of cover crops, mulch, and compost) and we highlight synergistic mitigation measures that can improve multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously. The only

Göttinger Beiträge zur Ethnologie, 2012

Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, May 27, 2017

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Jun 1, 2017

Adat and Indigeneity in Indonesia

Environmental and social transformations in Jambi province, Indonesia, are inextricably interlink... more Environmental and social transformations in Jambi province, Indonesia, are inextricably interlinked. Large-scale agro-industrial development and nature conservation policies equally alienate local communities from their agricultural lands and turn land into a scarce resource. Consequently, access to agricultural land becomes increasingly contested, not only between communities and state institutions or companies but also among communities themselves. To secure or restore local ‘indigenous’ land rights against land grabbing and green grabbing by states and companies, indigenous land titling has become a powerful tool all over the world. Ongoing activities of indigenous land titling in Indonesia have been largely perceived as an act of justice by indigenous and land rights activists and affected communities. Yet, a challenging step towards titling is the identification of who is and who is not ‘indigenous’. This highly political process creates ethnicity-based identities tied to right...

Forest Policy and Economics, 2017

Form, Macht, Differenz, 2009

the-world-of-news.homepage.t- …, 2000

Nature Communications, Oct 11, 2016

Biological Reviews, Aug 11, 2016