Plantation Life book Launch
2021. Association for Southeast Asian Studies (UK).
ASEAS(UK) speak to Tania Murray Li and Pujo Semedi, authors of Plantation Life: Corporate Occupation in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Zone. Li and Semedi theorize “corporate occupation” to underscore how massive forms of capitalist production and control over the palm oil industry replicate colonial-style relations that undermine citizenship. In so doing, they question the assumption that corporations are necessary for rural development, contending that the dominance of plantations stems from a political system that privileges corporations.