Economy of Interpellation. On the Relation between Indigeneity, State and Economy in Indonesia.

• Applicant: Dr. Timo Duile
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Asian Studies
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 400134948

The proposed research aims to contribute to current scholarly debates about indigenous rights and focuses on economic foundations of processes of recognition of indigenous groups in Indonesia. In the research’s focus are theories about the constitution of indigenous identity through interpellation (in the althusserian sense of the term) conducted by the state: The research aims to investigate how indigenous identities emerge through laws and discourses of the state and how the state tries to integrate indigenous communities into economic systems of capital accumulation. Taking the fact into account that indigenous groups are, on the other hand, highly dependent on their identity as the opposite of the state and the capitalist economy, the question is whether for these communities possibilities of avoiding the process of interpellation emerge when it comes to the economy. If that is the case, indigenous communities might establish alternative cultural and economic spaces. Or, are they doomed to become an integral part of the capitalist state? The proposed research aims to analyze theoretical approaches concerning the constitution of subjects through interpellation and the material base of the processes of subject-constitutions. The example of indigenous groups in Indonesia is an interesting object of research since currently bills concerning the recognition and classifications of indigenous communities are passed. Within that process, the relation between indigenous communities, the state and the economic frame is re-negotiated. By focusing on that processes, the research aims to provide a current and theoretical innovative contribution for the understanding of indigenous identity.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants