The Palm Oil Precariat: Transnationalism and the Making of Social Movements by Oliver Pye, Southeast Asian Studies Bonn University.
13 March, 15.30 – 17.30 Spiegelzaal, Soiron Building (GG 80-82)
Abstract: Palm oil is one of the most modern and transnational industriesin Southeast Asia. It is also one of the most profitable, ensuring that many of the palm oil tycoons make the Forbes list of richest men in the region. This profitability is based on the imposition of a precarious labour regime. The lecture focuses on the palm oil industry in Malaysia that relies almost exclusively on Indonesian migrant labour. It looks at the economic, social and political precarity that characterises the industry and argues that it is a political project designed to ensure high levels of exploitation and nationalist legitimacy at the same time. However, in their struggle to survive and through their everyday practise and resistance, migrant workers are creating new social realities characterised by transnational ties. This enables them to adapt to and undermine many of the features of the precarious labour regime. At the same time, it creates the potential for collective action and politicised labour movements that transcend the nation state.
