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Sustaining livelihoods in a palm oil enclave: Differentiated gendered responses in East Kalimantan, Indonesia
Author(s) -
Toumbourou Tessa D.,
Dressler Wolfram H.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/apv.12265
Subject(s) - livelihood , negotiation , resource (disambiguation) , palm oil , government (linguistics) , politics , economic growth , socioeconomics , political science , geography , sociology , economics , agroforestry , agriculture , social science , archaeology , computer network , linguistics , philosophy , computer science , law , biology
With large tracts of forested land planned for, or already converted to, industrial palm oil concessions, there is a need to better understand the gendered implications for, and responses by, communities affected by such landscape change. This paper examines the differentiated gendered responses and livelihood strategies of Dayak Modang women and men in a hamlet in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, surrounded by industrial palm oil plantations. Informed by feminist political ecology, we investigate how the compounding impact of industrial oil palm – the basis and outcome of enclavement – curtails livelihood options and reinforces gender differentiation in terms of access to and use of customary resources. Gendered inequalities and food insecurity dynamics emerge as a result. We show how, however, that despite gendered exclusions, Dayak Modang women use their own knowledge and practices to diversify livelihoods to negotiate emerging constraints over resource access and use. Our paper demonstrates that ways in which Dayak women ‘sustain livelihoods’ reflects forms of everyday negotiations and resistance to intensifying constraints over life and livelihood.