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- Convenor:
-
Patrick Keilbart
(Goethe University Frankfurt)
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- Format:
- Workshop
- Regional groups:
- Southeast Asia
- Transfers:
- Open for transfers
- Location:
- Seminargebäude S25
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 1 October, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract
In this workshop we discuss the relationship between infrastructural materialities and contemporary socio-technical and natural environments with respect to power relations and social imaginaries. Focusing on infrastructures and practices of Un/Commoning, we reflect on TechnoEnvironments in SEA.
Long Abstract
Environmental transformations in Southeast Asia have received much attention in anthropological studies on this area; what has been less examined so far is the link between these environmental and rampant (digital) technological transformations.
In this workshop, we explore anthropological perspectives on evolving socio-materialities connected to the entanglements of technological and environmental transformations in Southeast Asia. These socio-materialities consisting of networks of artefacts, relations, human and non-human bodies and landscapes are increasingly shaping life, work, culture and identity in Southeast Asia. Beyond interest in the relationship between media technology and the physical and natural environment, this also means to trace the complex and dynamic relationship between media infrastructural materialities and our contemporary socio-technical and natural environments. Current processes of digital and material Un/Commoning in Southeast Asia have effects on social and political in- and exclusions, economic developments and the ecological relations between humans, non-humans and the world.
The scope of the workshop will be relationships between infrastructural materialities and contemporary socio-technical and natural environments, including power relations, social imaginaries and concepts of sustainability. Focusing on infrastructures and practices of digital and material Un/Commoning, we reflect on the digital commons as part of TechnoEnvironments in Southeast Asia.
Accepted contributions
Session 1 Wednesday 1 October, 2025, -Contribution short abstract
Based on three different cases of TechnoEnvironments, namely Organic Agriculture, Pencak Silat, and Puro Mangkunegaran, this paper analyses the un/commoning of social media and digital resources such as local knowledge and cultural values in Indonesia.
Contribution long abstract
Digital commons represent a field of tension in which people can benefit from enhanced participation, on the one hand, while technologies and media content, on the other, are increasingly being exploited, manipulated, and domesticated for political projects. In Indonesia, alternative imaginaries of cultural
modernization and modern TechnoEnvironments, (re-)produced by civil society actors via new, digital media technologies, are taken up by a very receptive Indonesian government but are not necessarily implemented in the imagined ways of those whose embodied knowledge and practice are being “harvested” for policy making. The process of national, political visions and strategies influencing public discourse and imaginaries, and vice versa, unfolds as circular reimagining of TechnoEnvironments.
With a focus on digital activism, digital commons (as a subset of the commons), with resources such as local knowledge and cultural values that are created and/or maintained online, get to the centre of attention. They present a suitable approach to investigating the organisation of collective action, placing it beyond market and state. Identifying practices and politics of un/communing digital resources – above all local knowledge and cultural values – in governance and social activism reveals how powerful social media discourses and imaginaries actually are.
Based on three different cases of TechnoEnvironments, namely Organic Agriculture, Pencak Silat, and Puro Mangkunegaran, this paper analyses the un/commoning of social media and digital resources such as local knowledge and cultural values in Indonesia. Taking Barendregt’s and Schneider’s (2020) call for a careful and ethnographically informed approach to digital activism seriously, the presented cases from Indonesia contribute to a better understanding of today’s forms of digital activism in Southeast Asia [and to its theorizing from a Southeast Asian perspective].
Contribution long abstract
This PhD research examines the role of judicial technologies in shaping access to justice and governance in Sabah, Malaysia. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, it analyzes two key initiatives within the state’s legal system: AI-supported sentencing
for criminal cases and the Mobile Court program. Both initiatives reflect significant efforts to address systemic inefficiencies while extending the judiciary’s reach into diverse socio-legal contexts.
AI-supported sentencing, implemented exclusively for criminal cases, seeks to standardize judicial decision-making and mitigate bias. However, its reliance on algorithmic outputs introduces challenges related to transparency, judicial discretion, and the broader implications of automated decision-making processes. The Mobile Court program facilitates access to legal services in remote and underserved regions, addressing pressing issues such as statelessness and the registration of births and marriages. Beyond its judicial function, the program also delivers auxiliary services, including healthcare and infrastructure support, thus expanding its impact on community welfare.
Sabah, one of Malaysia’s poorest states, has long contested its position within the federation, seeking greater autonomy and equitable resource distribution. The adoption of judicial technologies serves as both a symbol and instrument in this
struggle, with Sabah’s proactive implementation of these innovations reflecting efforts to assert autonomy and modernize on its own terms. At the same time, the judiciary’s expanding presence into Sabah also reflects broader federal strategies to
consolidate control and integrate the state more deeply into the national framework. These dynamics not only underscore the contested role of technology in legal governance but also align with similar tensions across Southeast Asia, where local autonomy and state power frequently intersect.