Freedom in Entangled Worlds: West Papua and the Architecture of Global Power
by Eben Kirksey
Duke University Press, 2012 eISBN: 978-0-8223-9476-1 | Cloth: 978-0-8223-5122-1 | Paper: 978-0-8223-5134-4 Library of Congress Classification DU744.5.K565 2012 Dewey Decimal Classification 995.104
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Eben Kirksey first went to West Papua, the Indonesian-controlled half of New Guinea, as an exchange student in 1998. His later study of West Papua's resistance to the Indonesian occupiers and the forces of globalization morphed as he discovered that collaboration, rather than resistance, was the primary strategy of this dynamic social movement. Accompanying indigenous activists to Washington, London, and the offices of the oil giant BP, Kirksey saw the revolutionaries' knack for getting inside institutions of power and building coalitions with unlikely allies, including many Indonesians. He discovered that the West Papuans' pragmatic activism was based on visions of dramatic transformations on coming horizons, of a future in which they would give away their natural resources in grand humanitarian gestures, rather than watch their homeland be drained of timber, gold, copper, and natural gas. During a lengthy, brutal occupation, West Papuans have harbored a messianic spirit and channeled it in surprising directions. Kirksey studied West Papua's movement for freedom while a broad-based popular uprising gained traction from 1998 until 2008. Blending ethnographic research with indigenous parables, historical accounts, and narratives of his own experiences, he argues that seeking freedom in entangled worlds requires negotiating complex interdependencies.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Eben Kirksey is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Deakin University in Australia.
REVIEWS
"In this remarkable book, Eben Kirksey attends to West Papuan indigenous thinkers and activists as they craft practical, surprising, and generative freedom projects in the fissures of power exercised by Indonesian occupiers, global financial interests, and foreign governments. Freedom in Entangled Worlds is shaped by explorations of complex messianisms, attention to the pragmatics of unexpected collaborations, and Kirksey's own unassuming and sustained commitment to the worlds and dreams of his West Papuan teachers."—Donna Haraway, University of California, Santa Cruz
"In a page-turning blend of cultural analysis, human rights reportage, and ethnography, Eben Kirksey documents the West Papuan freedom struggle. In the process, he provides keen insight into the movement's dynamics and the desires that have led West Papuans to rise up against seemingly insurmountable odds. Kirksey clarifies the possibilities and predicaments they face, and he makes sense of the multiple times, mundane and messianic, in which many West Papuans seem to live."—Danilyn Rutherford, author of Laughing at Leviathan: Sovereignty and Audience in West Papua
“Here at last is the account I can unreservedly recommend to anyone interested in the courageous people and fragile geography of West Papua. Eben Kirksey makes accessible the unique imagery of West Papuans long subject to racism, corporate exploitation, and a brutal military. Marshaling impeccable scholarship, he transcends conventional political ideology to define a form of conflict resolution relevant to many ‘entangled worlds.’ Bravo!”—Max White, Amnesty International USA
-- Leslie Butts American Ethnologist
-- Andrew J. Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart (Strathern) Journal of Anthropological Research
-- Larry M. Lake Pacific Affairs
-- C. F. Black Leonardo Reviews
-- Jason MacLeod Inside Indonesia
-- Michael A. Long Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
-- Morgan Harrington The Australian Journal of Anthropology
-- Judith Bovensiepen PoLAR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface: Flying Fish, Flying Tourists, September 1994 ix
List of Key Characters xv
Introduction 1
Part I: Breakout, 1998–2000
Interlude: The King Has Left the Palace, Java, May 1998 23
1. The Messianic Multiple, July 1998 29
2. From the Rhizome to the Banyan, 1998– 2000 55
Part II: Plateau, 2000–2002
Interlude: Freeport Sweet Potato Distribution Inc. 83
3. Entangled Worlds at War, 2000–2001 90
4. Don't Use Your Data as a Pillow, June 13, 2001 125
5. Innocents Murdered, Innocent Murderers, August 31, 2002 138
Part III. Horizons, 2002–2028
Interlude: Bald Grandfather Willy 175
6. First Voice Honey Center, 2002–2008 182
Epilogue: The Tube, 2006–2028 210
Acknowledgments 221
Notes 225
Bibliography 283
Index 301
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Freedom in Entangled Worlds: West Papua and the Architecture of Global Power
by Eben Kirksey
Duke University Press, 2012 eISBN: 978-0-8223-9476-1 Cloth: 978-0-8223-5122-1 Paper: 978-0-8223-5134-4
Eben Kirksey first went to West Papua, the Indonesian-controlled half of New Guinea, as an exchange student in 1998. His later study of West Papua's resistance to the Indonesian occupiers and the forces of globalization morphed as he discovered that collaboration, rather than resistance, was the primary strategy of this dynamic social movement. Accompanying indigenous activists to Washington, London, and the offices of the oil giant BP, Kirksey saw the revolutionaries' knack for getting inside institutions of power and building coalitions with unlikely allies, including many Indonesians. He discovered that the West Papuans' pragmatic activism was based on visions of dramatic transformations on coming horizons, of a future in which they would give away their natural resources in grand humanitarian gestures, rather than watch their homeland be drained of timber, gold, copper, and natural gas. During a lengthy, brutal occupation, West Papuans have harbored a messianic spirit and channeled it in surprising directions. Kirksey studied West Papua's movement for freedom while a broad-based popular uprising gained traction from 1998 until 2008. Blending ethnographic research with indigenous parables, historical accounts, and narratives of his own experiences, he argues that seeking freedom in entangled worlds requires negotiating complex interdependencies.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Eben Kirksey is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Deakin University in Australia.
REVIEWS
"In this remarkable book, Eben Kirksey attends to West Papuan indigenous thinkers and activists as they craft practical, surprising, and generative freedom projects in the fissures of power exercised by Indonesian occupiers, global financial interests, and foreign governments. Freedom in Entangled Worlds is shaped by explorations of complex messianisms, attention to the pragmatics of unexpected collaborations, and Kirksey's own unassuming and sustained commitment to the worlds and dreams of his West Papuan teachers."—Donna Haraway, University of California, Santa Cruz
"In a page-turning blend of cultural analysis, human rights reportage, and ethnography, Eben Kirksey documents the West Papuan freedom struggle. In the process, he provides keen insight into the movement's dynamics and the desires that have led West Papuans to rise up against seemingly insurmountable odds. Kirksey clarifies the possibilities and predicaments they face, and he makes sense of the multiple times, mundane and messianic, in which many West Papuans seem to live."—Danilyn Rutherford, author of Laughing at Leviathan: Sovereignty and Audience in West Papua
“Here at last is the account I can unreservedly recommend to anyone interested in the courageous people and fragile geography of West Papua. Eben Kirksey makes accessible the unique imagery of West Papuans long subject to racism, corporate exploitation, and a brutal military. Marshaling impeccable scholarship, he transcends conventional political ideology to define a form of conflict resolution relevant to many ‘entangled worlds.’ Bravo!”—Max White, Amnesty International USA
-- Leslie Butts American Ethnologist
-- Andrew J. Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart (Strathern) Journal of Anthropological Research
-- Larry M. Lake Pacific Affairs
-- C. F. Black Leonardo Reviews
-- Jason MacLeod Inside Indonesia
-- Michael A. Long Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
-- Morgan Harrington The Australian Journal of Anthropology
-- Judith Bovensiepen PoLAR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface: Flying Fish, Flying Tourists, September 1994 ix
List of Key Characters xv
Introduction 1
Part I: Breakout, 1998–2000
Interlude: The King Has Left the Palace, Java, May 1998 23
1. The Messianic Multiple, July 1998 29
2. From the Rhizome to the Banyan, 1998– 2000 55
Part II: Plateau, 2000–2002
Interlude: Freeport Sweet Potato Distribution Inc. 83
3. Entangled Worlds at War, 2000–2001 90
4. Don't Use Your Data as a Pillow, June 13, 2001 125
5. Innocents Murdered, Innocent Murderers, August 31, 2002 138
Part III. Horizons, 2002–2028
Interlude: Bald Grandfather Willy 175
6. First Voice Honey Center, 2002–2008 182
Epilogue: The Tube, 2006–2028 210
Acknowledgments 221
Notes 225
Bibliography 283
Index 301
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE