Reversing Academic Extractivism: Returning Knowledge to Women Environmental Defenders in Indonesia
Convener: Rizki Anggarini Santika Febriani
Co-convener: Noer Fauzi Rachman
The term extractivism was originally used to describe the economic extraction of raw materials in Latin America in the 1990s and 2000s (e.g., studies by Gudynas). The concept has been expanded to critique broader capitalist and colonial relations. In its critique of coloniality and exploitative knowledge production, this panel invites reflection on extractivism in academia that has emerged over the past decade. The panel focuses on encompassing the “extraction” of data, intellectual labor, and indigenous knowledge by Western academic structures. Academic extractivism is used in the humanities and social sciences to describe exploitative research practices—often referred to as “academic extractivism.” It refers to the appropriation of knowledge from the Global South or marginalized communities without reciprocity or benefit sharing. This panel arose from complaints that researchers who come to collect data pursue their own research interests without benefiting the communities or social movements from which they source their data. Concerns also arise about whether the knowledge collected and presented by researchers is beneficial or harmful, and how and where that knowledge is distributed. This panel aims to critique ongoing academic extractivism, particularly in research that uses local populations, local women, and indigenous communities as sources. This is not only about research results not being returned to their sources and communities, but also about how research contributes to communities’ struggles to save their living spaces from the expansion of extractivism. By exploring research papers by women who oppose extractivist projects and are known as Indonesian ecofeminists, the researchers on this panel invite an understanding of how extractivism operates in various dimensions, especially in the academic world. Through a collective process with indigenous and local women as environmental human rights defenders who oppose mining in Kendeng, Central Java, and in Mollo, East Nusa Tenggara, and develop agroecology as an alternative to extractivist economic models, the panel further calls for the decolonization of knowledge by reversing the flow of academic extractivism through promoting collaborations centered on equity, ethics, and reciprocity.