Room 1 - [Roundtable] Documenting Palm Oil

Thursday, June 20, 2024, 9:40 - 11:10 AM (EDT) // 8:40 - 10:10 PM (WIB) 

Authors: Salah Hassan and Dion Ginanto

The intensified growth of the palm oil industries disrupts village communities, breaking their historic relationship to the land and undermining their traditional food production and livelihoods. These transformations have contributed to the displacement and dispossession of increasing numbers of villagers who have migrated to cities. Some research suggests that the community approach aimed at limiting palm oil production in Jambi Province may serve as a model for other locations facing similar problems. This round table presents an overview of the different projects by Indonesian and US scholars who are documenting the environmental, social, political, economic, and cultural impact on Indonesia of the global palm oil industry. The discussion will explore the difficulties faced by local communities in the face of expanding plantations. Arfan Aziz, faculty at UIN Jambi, documents the conflict between rural farmers and agri-business interests. MSU graduate students April Best and Ayaat (Yoyo) Ismail and UIN Jambi graduate student Faizah Nurul will present three graduate student produced short documentary videos and a new online project on palm oil. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Dion Ginanto (UIN Jambi).

Keywords: palm oil, sustainability, documentary film

Roundtable Session Chair/Moderatior:

Dion Ginanto, UIN Jambi

 

Roundtable Presenters:

Arfan Aziz, UIN Jambi

Tira Marina, UIN Jambi

April Best, Michigan State U

Ayat (Yoyo) Ismail, Michigan State U

Nurul Faizah, UIN Jambi