Indigeneity and the State in Indonesia: The Local Turn in the Dialectic of Recognition

When the indigenous peoples’ movement emerged in the 1990s and grew stronger in the wake of reformasi, people formally termed “backward” and “primitive” suddenly emerged as political actors. This article traces the relationship between the state and the idea of the original, sometimes referred to as the autochthonous, sometimes as the indigenous, in Indonesian history and analyses how these relationships are reflected in legislation on land issues, the major concern of recent indigenous movements. In a second step, the article deals with current political strategies of the indigenous movement (AMAN), concluding that the movement is shifting its efforts from the “centre” (national legislation), to the provinces and the margins, a process we term the “local turn” in the indigenous people’s movement in Indonesia. By drawing on the example of Enrekang, South Sulawesi, the contribution shows how peraturan dearah (local regulations) provide a basis for recognition within the margins of the Indonesian nation state.