River's End: The violence of indigenous riverine urbanization in the making of Indonesia's new capital

Abstract

This article analyzes the consequences of the state-led urbanization of riverine indigenous communities in Indonesia. Specifically, we examine how the development of urban water infrastructure in the context of the new capital city construction in East Kalimantan has changed indigenous relations with the river, and how this change further led to reconfigure indigenous people's relationship with their cultural heritage. Engaging with the political ecology of urbanization, indigenous studies, and infrastructural violence scholarship, and based on qualitative fieldwork including semi-structured interviews and participant observation conducted in 2022, 2023, and 2024, we conceptualize the process of change as indigenous riverine urbanization and show how it turns both materially and symbolically violent. Materially, the modernist interventions in water and heritage infrastructure cause the loss of access to and coexistence with the river; and symbolically, they force the indigenous communities to accept new ways of living as a new ‘museum’. We argue that such multifaceted violence is produced through a universalized narrative of inclusivity in state-led public infrastructure projects, particularly in water provision and cultural preservation. The infrastructure projects work to sustain existing inequalities while also allowing indigenous communities to undertake a broader cultural recognition strategy. We recommend shifting from inclusion approaches focused on compensation and recognition toward a planning approach that involves indigenous peoples as planners, integrating their knowledge into urban infrastructure planning.