Nonhumans in the practice of development: Material agency and friction in a small-scale energy program in Indonesia |
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Affiliation: | 1. School of Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands;2. Science Policy Research Unity (SPRU), University of Sussex, United Kingdom;1. College of Electrical Engineering, Northeast Dianli University, Jilin 132012, China;2. College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China;3. College of Chemical Engineering, Northeast Dianli University, Jilin 132012, China;1. State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology, Nanjing University, China;2. School of Computer Science and Information Technology, RMIT University, Australia;1. Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK;2. Environmental Markets, Fauna & Flora International, 14 Buckingham St, London, WC2N 6DF, UK;3. Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK;4. Department of Geography, Staffordshire University, Leek Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DF, UK;5. Conservation Science Program, World Wildlife Fund, P.O. Box 97180, Washington DC, USA;6. Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark;7. Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), P.O. Box 3000, Morogoro, Tanzania;8. Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1013, USA;9. School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK;10. Centre for Environmental Economics and Development Research (CEDR), Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania;11. Conservation Science Department, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, UK;12. Department of Economics, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35096, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;13. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK;14. Hess Environmental Economic Analyst, Elzenlaan 17, 1214 KJ Hilversum, The Netherlands;15. Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), P.O. Box 5003, NO-1432 Aas, Norway;p. Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, DK-1958 Copenhagen, Denmark;q. Tanzania Forest Research Institute (TAFORI), P.O. Box 1854, Morogoro, Tanzania;r. Department of Environmental Economics, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | We develop the outlines of a new approach to study the role of nonhumans in constituting ‘implementation’ and calculative–discursive practices in development projects and programs. Developing a framework around the concept of friction (material resistance or recalcitrance encountered in processes of transformation), we analyze an Energy Self-sufficient Village program in Indonesia. Focusing on specific projects and episodes within this program, we identify multiple distinctive instances of friction. These were driven by nonhumans’ (and humans’) resistance, as remolding of development beneficiaries’ practices was attempted by project administrators, government officials, entrepreneurs and by the (scientific) calculations embedded in their policies, strategies and models. In concluding, we distill four ways in which nonhumans relationally shape development practices: (a) by resisting representations and calculations produced by human actors, (b) by re-directing planned/expected courses of action, (c) through biophysical change to their weight or textures as they move in space and time, and (d) by mediating competition for resources. Overall, nonhumans play a central role in making and unmaking asymmetric relations of power in practice and by constituting practices that diverge from prior expectations, problematize linear understandings of ‘policy implementation’. Their material and discursive agency is multiple, manifesting differently in different relational settings, which highlights the importance of broadening the range of spokespersons who speak on behalf of nonhumans and whose voices can be considered reliable and true. Our study thus provides support to calls for pluralizing and democratizing development ‘expertise’ beyond the usual suspects in science, government and civil society. |
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Keywords: | Actor-network theory Practices Development policy Policy-making Policy implementation Sustainable development Agrofuels Bioenergy Indonesia |
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