We Are Not In The Same Boat: Mining Expansion, Environmental Crisis and Class Dynamics in Rural Halmahera

Dian Silviani, Muchtar Habibi, SIP, MA, Ph.D.

2025 | Tesis | S2 Administrasi Publik

Accumulation by dispossession (ABD) and environmental crisis have been the focus of land grabbing research over the past decade. However, their effects on agrarian class dynamics in rural areas remain understudied. Based on the context of capital expansion in one of Indonesia’s mining sites, Halmahera, this study  demonstrates  that ABD in the process of land grabbing not only drives proletarianization, but also other forms of agrarian class transformation, thereby reshaping patterns of production within the agrarian classes. Complementing existing metabolic rift literatures, this study  offers empirical accounts on how environmental crisis has a different impact on different agrarian classes. It is argued that coping with environmental crisis needs to start with class analysis in a specific context. 

Accumulation by dispossession (ABD) and environmental crisis have been the focus of land grabbing research over the past decade. However, their effects on agrarian class dynamics in rural areas remain understudied. Based on the context of capital expansion in one of Indonesia’s mining sites, Halmahera, this study  demonstrates  that ABD in the process of land grabbing not only drives proletarianization, but also other forms of agrarian class transformation, thereby reshaping patterns of production within the agrarian classes. Complementing existing metabolic rift literatures, this study  offers empirical accounts on how environmental crisis has a different impact on different agrarian classes. It is argued that coping with environmental crisis needs to start with class analysis in a specific context. 

Kata Kunci : Land Grabbing, Metabolic Rift, Class Dynamics, Indonesia