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.