From Communal Fields to Corporate Frontiers: Extractive Agribusiness and the Cultural Displacement of the Dayak Kenyah

¹ Department of Social Development, Mulawarman University, Samarinda, Indonesia
² Kalimantan Social Development Network (JAPSIKA), Samarinda, Indonesia
³ Islamic Communication and Broadcasting Department, State Islamic University of Sultan Aji Muhammad Idris, Samarinda Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: sri.murlianti@fisip.unmul.ac.id

Abstract

East Kalimantan is known as a major coal producer in Indonesia. Studies of local communities around mining areas in this province often reveal conditions of powerlessness, disconnection, and acute poverty rather than prosperity. However, Umaq Harapan Village (a pseudonym) in Kutai Kertanegara Regency presents a unique situation. A long history of agrarian transformation due to corporate expansion has trained villagers to organize themselves and negotiate with the company. This research aims to investigate how this village successfully compelled the company to provide material and non-material compensation that benefits the village. A qualitative approach was chosen to obtain in-depth narrative data, collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) involving 25 informants. The study found that the actors' power successfully compelled the company to provide monthly compensation per household, electricity supply, clean water installations, and agribusiness partnerships with the village. This compensation led them to choose to grow vegetables on a small scale around their settlements, instead of tending to their fields/rice fields. This model weakens the indigenous community's food system and cuts off the intergenerational transmision of local knowledge, creating acute dependency.