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Papers by Willem van der Muur
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 2019
Through the discourse of indigeneity, rural communities around the world are joining a global net... more Through the discourse of indigeneity, rural communities around the world are joining a global network of rural justice seekers. By articulating grievances collectively, they demand state recognition while seeking support from NGOs and international development organisations. In Indonesia, the manifestation of indigenous 'adat' politics is no longer confined to the national struggle for the recognition of land rights, but instead, has proliferated into many localised short term 'adat projects'. This introduction to the TAPJA special issue on adat demonstrates that both the rural poor and local elites can be the initiators or recipients of these adat projects but, at the current juncture, the latter are better positioned to benefit from such projects. The special issue shows that in Indonesia, where adat is often firmly entrenched in the state, the promotion of indigeneity claims can work in contradictory ways. Findings from across the special issue show that adat projects tend to reinforce the power of the state, rather than challenging it.
Mimbar Hukum - Fakultas Hukum Universitas Gadjah Mada, 2016
This article discusses governance as it appears in the making of a regional bylaw that grants leg... more This article discusses governance as it appears in the making of a regional bylaw that grants legal recognition to an indigenous adat community in South-Sulawesi. This process represents a move away from a traditional government approach. The coalition of legal drafters, which included state officials, community members and civil society, engaged in a joint effort of participatory law making. An analysis of this process addresses questions on how the decision-making process developed, what this meant for the outcomes and to what extent this new form of governance served the interests of all parties involved. Penulisan ini membahas proses pembuatan peraturan daerah yang memberikan pengakuan hukum atas sebuah komunitas adat di Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia. Proses tersebut merupakan sebuah gagasan baru tentang pendekatan partisipatif oleh pemerintah yang menjauh dari pendekatan pada umumnya. Gabungan tim perancang peraturan, turut menyertakan pejabat pemerintahan, anggota masyarakat dan...
Citizenship Studies, 2018
Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land... more Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land rights rarely empowers marginalized communities. This article develops an explanation for why this formal recognition of community rights actually has little substantive impact on local struggles over land in Indonesia. Employing almost two years of fieldwork on how rural communities employ indigeneity-based land claims in South Sulawesi, it argues that claims for land rights on the basis of indigeneity are settled not simply on the basis of law, but also on that of the relative bargaining positions and the character of informal linkages between communities, their mediators and local authorities. Indigenous status therefore must be understood as a privilege most likely to be obtained by those groups with relatively strong connections to influential state actors. In contrast, communities that are in conflict with local state actors tend be excluded from obtaining the status of indigeneity and hence the state is likely to deny them their land rights claims.
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 2019
Rural development advocates are increasingly favouring policies that recognise community land rig... more Rural development advocates are increasingly favouring policies that recognise community land rights in Indonesia, suggesting that recognition will protect forests and support livelihoods. In this article, we examine the effects of recognition by asking who benefits, and to what extent recognition impacts on livelihoods. Our case study focuses on an iconic site, the Kajang community of South Sulawesi, because advocates often point to that community as a model case. Based on over three years of field research on tenure and conflict among the Kajang, we highlight the discrepancy between the effects of recognition and existing livelihood realities. We show that communal territory in Kajang is a site of contestation, entangled in conflict over who can claim cultivation rights. We thus argue that representation of Kajang as harmonious forest communities governed by communal tenure is misleading. As advocates continue to promote similar policies elsewhere, we show that this kind of misrepresentation serves to further obscure the lingering land insecurity of rural Indonesians.
Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land... more Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land rights rarely empowers marginalized communities. This article develops an explanation for why this formal recognition of community rights actually has little substantive impact on local struggles over land in Indonesia. Employing almost two years of fieldwork on how rural communities employ indigeneity-based land claims in South Sulawesi, it argues that claims for land rights on the basis of indigeneity are settled not simply on the basis of law, but also on that of the relative bargaining positions and the character of informal linkages between communities, their mediators and local authorities. Indigenous status therefore must be understood as a privilege most likely to be obtained by those groups with relatively strong connections to influential state actors. In contrast, communities that are in conflict with local state actors tend be excluded from obtaining the status of indigeneity and hence the state is likely to deny them their land rights claims.
This article discusses governance as it appears in the making of a regional bylaw that grants leg... more This article discusses governance as it appears in the making of a regional bylaw that grants legal recognition to an indigenous adat community in South-Sulawesi. This process represents a move away from a traditional government approach. The coalition of legal drafters, which included state officials, community members and civil society, engaged in a joint effort of participatory law making. An analysis of this process addresses questions on how the decision-making process developed, what this meant for the outcomes and to what extent this new form of governance served the interests of all parties involved.
This thesis was written during my 6 months internship at the embassy of the Netherlands in Bangko... more This thesis was written during my 6 months internship at the embassy of the Netherlands in Bangkok, Thailand. I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to write it there. In particular, I would like to thank the following persons: Ambassador Joan Boer and my supervisor Peggy Vissers, for allowing me the time and space to write the thesis. I also wish to thank Chayanuch Thananart for helping me with the analysis of Thai legislation and other sources. Finally I would like to thank my thesis supervisor prof. James Mathis for his willingness to supervise from Amsterdam.
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 2019
Through the discourse of indigeneity, rural communities around the world are joining a global net... more Through the discourse of indigeneity, rural communities around the world are joining a global network of rural justice seekers. By articulating grievances collectively, they demand state recognition while seeking support from NGOs and international development organisations. In Indonesia, the manifestation of indigenous 'adat' politics is no longer confined to the national struggle for the recognition of land rights, but instead, has proliferated into many localised short term 'adat projects'. This introduction to the TAPJA special issue on adat demonstrates that both the rural poor and local elites can be the initiators or recipients of these adat projects but, at the current juncture, the latter are better positioned to benefit from such projects. The special issue shows that in Indonesia, where adat is often firmly entrenched in the state, the promotion of indigeneity claims can work in contradictory ways. Findings from across the special issue show that adat projects tend to reinforce the power of the state, rather than challenging it.
Mimbar Hukum - Fakultas Hukum Universitas Gadjah Mada, 2016
This article discusses governance as it appears in the making of a regional bylaw that grants leg... more This article discusses governance as it appears in the making of a regional bylaw that grants legal recognition to an indigenous adat community in South-Sulawesi. This process represents a move away from a traditional government approach. The coalition of legal drafters, which included state officials, community members and civil society, engaged in a joint effort of participatory law making. An analysis of this process addresses questions on how the decision-making process developed, what this meant for the outcomes and to what extent this new form of governance served the interests of all parties involved. Penulisan ini membahas proses pembuatan peraturan daerah yang memberikan pengakuan hukum atas sebuah komunitas adat di Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia. Proses tersebut merupakan sebuah gagasan baru tentang pendekatan partisipatif oleh pemerintah yang menjauh dari pendekatan pada umumnya. Gabungan tim perancang peraturan, turut menyertakan pejabat pemerintahan, anggota masyarakat dan...
Citizenship Studies, 2018
Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land... more Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land rights rarely empowers marginalized communities. This article develops an explanation for why this formal recognition of community rights actually has little substantive impact on local struggles over land in Indonesia. Employing almost two years of fieldwork on how rural communities employ indigeneity-based land claims in South Sulawesi, it argues that claims for land rights on the basis of indigeneity are settled not simply on the basis of law, but also on that of the relative bargaining positions and the character of informal linkages between communities, their mediators and local authorities. Indigenous status therefore must be understood as a privilege most likely to be obtained by those groups with relatively strong connections to influential state actors. In contrast, communities that are in conflict with local state actors tend be excluded from obtaining the status of indigeneity and hence the state is likely to deny them their land rights claims.
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 2019
Rural development advocates are increasingly favouring policies that recognise community land rig... more Rural development advocates are increasingly favouring policies that recognise community land rights in Indonesia, suggesting that recognition will protect forests and support livelihoods. In this article, we examine the effects of recognition by asking who benefits, and to what extent recognition impacts on livelihoods. Our case study focuses on an iconic site, the Kajang community of South Sulawesi, because advocates often point to that community as a model case. Based on over three years of field research on tenure and conflict among the Kajang, we highlight the discrepancy between the effects of recognition and existing livelihood realities. We show that communal territory in Kajang is a site of contestation, entangled in conflict over who can claim cultivation rights. We thus argue that representation of Kajang as harmonious forest communities governed by communal tenure is misleading. As advocates continue to promote similar policies elsewhere, we show that this kind of misrepresentation serves to further obscure the lingering land insecurity of rural Indonesians.
Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land... more Despite a widening legal scope for indigenous rights, the invocation of indigeneity to claim land rights rarely empowers marginalized communities. This article develops an explanation for why this formal recognition of community rights actually has little substantive impact on local struggles over land in Indonesia. Employing almost two years of fieldwork on how rural communities employ indigeneity-based land claims in South Sulawesi, it argues that claims for land rights on the basis of indigeneity are settled not simply on the basis of law, but also on that of the relative bargaining positions and the character of informal linkages between communities, their mediators and local authorities. Indigenous status therefore must be understood as a privilege most likely to be obtained by those groups with relatively strong connections to influential state actors. In contrast, communities that are in conflict with local state actors tend be excluded from obtaining the status of indigeneity and hence the state is likely to deny them their land rights claims.
This article discusses governance as it appears in the making of a regional bylaw that grants leg... more This article discusses governance as it appears in the making of a regional bylaw that grants legal recognition to an indigenous adat community in South-Sulawesi. This process represents a move away from a traditional government approach. The coalition of legal drafters, which included state officials, community members and civil society, engaged in a joint effort of participatory law making. An analysis of this process addresses questions on how the decision-making process developed, what this meant for the outcomes and to what extent this new form of governance served the interests of all parties involved.
This thesis was written during my 6 months internship at the embassy of the Netherlands in Bangko... more This thesis was written during my 6 months internship at the embassy of the Netherlands in Bangkok, Thailand. I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to write it there. In particular, I would like to thank the following persons: Ambassador Joan Boer and my supervisor Peggy Vissers, for allowing me the time and space to write the thesis. I also wish to thank Chayanuch Thananart for helping me with the analysis of Thai legislation and other sources. Finally I would like to thank my thesis supervisor prof. James Mathis for his willingness to supervise from Amsterdam.