Exploring the relationship between climate change, violence and inequality under contemporary neoliberalism: A case study of Papua, Indonesia

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My PhD project asks how climate change interplays with violence and inequality under contemporary neoliberalism. I will address this primary research question through analysing a case study of Papua, Indonesia. The Papua region is made of two provinces which are named, according to the official government terms, Papua and Papua Barat. I plan to explore three key subquestions within this region: 1. What impact has climate change had on the Papuan population in terms of rising violence and inequalities? 2. How has Indonesia's status as an 'emerging market' affected responses to climate change in Papua? 3. What gendered, ethnicised and racialised impact has long-term extractive industrialisation had in Papua? My hypotheses include that climate change has exacerbated violence and inequality in the region of Papua due to the undercurrent of extractive capitalism, which is based on a long history of colonialism, racism, and sexism. I will consider how climate-related violence and inequality has escalated between groups in society but also between the state and society, subjugating the marginalised indigenous population further. To explore my core research questions, I propose to use a framework of intimacy-geopolitics and postcolonial feminism, and an interdisciplinary and mixed methods approach drawing on both quantitative and qualitative analyses. I will draw on academic literature and local climate records, and propose to develop a unique analysis via data collection from archives, and surveys or interviews with local people within Papua as appropriate. Crucially, surveys and interviews will be gathered via a participatory approach, working with local and regional NGOs such as Jaringan Advokasi Sosial dan Lingkungan Tanah Papua (JASOIL) - a local NGO, working with regional NGOs like PUSAKA and international NGOs such as Forest Peoples Programme, to support indigenous and farming communities impacted by palm oil plantations in Papua (Forest Peoples, 2011). Each interview or survey would be designed specifically to the locality, taking account of cultural, lingual and structural differences. I will discuss in detail with my supervisor the ethical and practical considerations and ensure that I conduct the research in the most appropriate and least invasive way possible. The key sources I plan to consult include academic literature surrounding problems of environmental racism, which show how climate change disproportionately impacts the marginalised in the Global South, and former colonies based upon extraction and inequality. In particular, Tilley's (2020) and Pulido's (2017) postcolonial work will be central to this project in terms of how I approach the research and analyse my findings. Further, the research will build upon literature surrounding racial capitalism and super-exploitation under capitalism based upon race, ethnicity, gender and geopolitics (Sassen, 2014; Jackson, 2014; Bhattacharyya, 2018; Mies, 2014; Federici, 2012; Virdee, 2019; Howson, 2018). My proposed research project is important, timely and original. The project aims to make an empirical contribution to an emerging body of work on the security impacts of climate change in Southeast Asia (Krampe and Nordqvist, 2018). Particularly, the project seeks to advance the research on the Papua region in relation to the social consequences of climate change (350 Pacific, 2016), by looking in more depth at the interrelationship between climate change, violence and inequality. The project also hopes to develop a unique analysis through a combined theoretical framework of intimacy-geopolitics and postcolonial feminism. Theoretically, the research seeks to raise awareness of the importance of Papua's forests not just as an economic asset but as something that needs protecting for anthropocentric (and ecocentric) reasons. My research pursues tangible transformation, primarily for those facing direct consequences in the Papua region.