Jakarta: Taking the field seriously

Emma Colven, Samuel Nowak, Dimitar Anguelov, Dian Irawaty, Eric Sheppard and Helga Leitner
Additional contact information
Samuel Nowak: Geography Department, King’s College London, London, UK
Dimitar Anguelov: Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, UK
Dian Irawaty: Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Eric Sheppard: Rujak Centre for Urban Studies, Jakarta, Indonesia
Helga Leitner: Department of Geography, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Environment and Planning A, 2024, vol. 56, issue 3, 988-995

Abstract: We respond as the Jakarta Collective to Prathiwi Putri’s constructive critique of Leitner and Sheppard’s research on Jakarta’s kampungs, to make visible the broader cluster of scholarship surrounding their research. Deploying six binaries, postcolonialism versus neoliberalism, non-capitalism versus capitalism, agency versus structure, displacement versus dispossession, and individual versus collective action, Putri suggests that Leitner and Sheppard stress the former while neglecting the latter. By taking the field seriously, we argue that the research of the Collective approaches these dialectically, teasing out their complex interrelations. Changes in Jakarta’s kampungs reflect its hybrid more-than-capitalist political economy, at the intersection of US and Chinese influence. The displacement of kampungs and kampung residents’ practices subsidize capitalism but they also contest its norms. Residents’ agency is significant; some gain but others lose, they act individually but also collectively. Highlighting more-than-capitalist practices opens up possibilities for alternative futures rather than simply documenting capitalist hegemony.

Keywords: More-than-capitalist practices; informality; Southern urban theory; displacement/dispossession; the political (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X241233907 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:56:y:2024:i:3:p:988-995

DOI: 10.1177/0308518X241233907

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning A
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().