The persistence of precarity: youth livelihood struggles and aspirations in the context of truncated agrarian change, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Christina Griffin (), Nurhady Sirimorok (), Wolfram H. Dressler (), Muhammad Alif K. Sahide (), Micah R. Fisher (), Fatwa Faturachmat (), Andi Vika Faradiba Muin (), Pamula Mita Andary (), Karno B. Batiran (), Rahmat (), Muhammad Rizaldi (), Tessa Toumbourou (), Reni Suwarso (), Wilmar Salim (), Ariane Utomo (), Fandi Akhmad () and Jessica Clendenning ()
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Christina Griffin: University of Melbourne
Nurhady Sirimorok: Hasanuddin University
Wolfram H. Dressler: University of Melbourne
Muhammad Alif K. Sahide: Hasanuddin University
Micah R. Fisher: East West Centre
Fatwa Faturachmat: Hasanuddin University
Andi Vika Faradiba Muin: Hasanuddin University
Pamula Mita Andary: Hasanuddin University
Karno B. Batiran: Hasanuddin University
Rahmat: Hasanuddin University
Muhammad Rizaldi: Hasanuddin University
Tessa Toumbourou: University of Melbourne
Reni Suwarso: Universitas Indonesia
Wilmar Salim: Institut Teknologi Bandung
Ariane Utomo: University of Melbourne
Fandi Akhmad: University of Melbourne
Jessica Clendenning: Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society

Agriculture and Human Values, 2024, vol. 41, issue 1, No 19, 293-311

Abstract: Abstract Processes of rapid and truncated agrarian change—driven through expanding urbanisation, infrastructure development, extractive industries, and commodity crops—are shaping the livelihood opportunities and aspirations of Indonesia’s rural youth. This study describes the everyday experiences of youth as they navigate the changing character of agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing livelihoods across gender, class, and generation. Drawing on qualitative field research conducted in the Maros District of South Sulawesi, we examine young people’s experiences of agrarian change in a landscape of entangled rural, coastal and increasingly urbanised spaces. We find that young people aspire to secure, modern, and salary-based work, while continuing to seek and sustain intergenerational farming or aquaculture-based livelihoods. Youth take advantage of increased connectivity to diversify their incomes, yet their dependence on mobility also introduces new forms of gendered and class based precarity such as insecure working arrangements, disruption to education and violence (especially for young unskilled women and youth from financially insecure households). Our study highlights the persistent conditions of precarity that many young people encounter in both rural and urban settings, while challenging assumptions that youth are uninterested in rural futures.

Keywords: Rural youth; Livelihoods; Aspirations; Agrarian change; Mobility; Indonesia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10489-5

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