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  • Walking along a freshly cut road through the jungle. West Kalimantan, Indonesia. © David Meschede
  • Performance of an agricultural ritual among the Dayak Benuaq. East Kalimantan, Indonesia. © Michaela Haug
  • Planting Tengkawang trees for future generations. West Kalimantan, Indonesia. © David Meschede
Future-Making, environmental change and socio-economic transformations in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

About our project

Processes of rapid and profound social and environmental change characterize the remaining rainforest areas of Indonesia. We explore these transformations as manifestations of future making und place the aspirations of local actors at centre stage. Future making refers to the ways in which visions and expectations of the future inform action in the present und how consequently the future is produced in the present.

Taking East Kalimantan as a point of departure, we study practices of future making in an interplay of numerous actors, various interests, and institutional settings linked across manifold scales. We explore diverse visions of the future and values linked to aspirations for a “better” life. Furthermore, we investigate how visions of the future are expressed, in which temporal and spatial frames of reference they are placed and how they are translated into practice.

The research team, consisting of Michaela Haug and David Meschede, studies different visions of the future along various scales. David Meschede explores future making among Dayak villagers in the regency of Mahakam Ulu, while Michaela Haug focuses on practices of future making on regency, provincial and national level.

Past Events

Online lecture, 3 January 2022

Online lecture, 3 January 2022

From Fierce Resistance to Quotidian Ways of Everyday Politics in Indonesian Borneo
Online Roundtable, 22 November 2021

Online Roundtable, 22 November 2021

Just Transition in der Palmölindustrie: Eine erste Annäherung
GSSC Online Roundtable, 8 June 2021

GSSC Online Roundtable, 8 June 2021

Indigenous Communities Experiencing and Responding to Covid-19
GSSC Online Roundtable, 7 December 2020

GSSC Online Roundtable, 7 December 2020

Young Voices: Envisioning Sustainable Futures
Webinar, 23 November 2020

Webinar, 23 November 2020

Future-Making: Environmental Change and Socio-Economic Transformations in Indonesia
 GSSC Online Workshop, 29 October 2020

GSSC Online Workshop, 29 October 2020

Alternative Palm Oil Futures - Oil Palms as Part of Diversified Livelihoods?
EASA Network Meeting, 12-13 December 2019

EASA Network Meeting, 12-13 December 2019

Perspectives and stories in a world of facts and figures?