Genealogies of Extraction

Abstract

Taking departure from the failure of a planned but never realised special economic zone (SEZ) in the Indonesian borderland city of Tarakan, we argue that this planned SEZ would paradoxically not have been the island of sovereign exception often associated with SEZs, but rather a zone where central government would have had comparably more control than they have in the surrounding borderlands. This leads us to argue that the entire borderland surrounding Tarakan can be considered a de facto development zone in itself. Additionally, the de facto development zone is multigenerational, having been through a number of booms and busts, triggering both migrations and environmental ruination, while central state authority and interest have waxed and waned accordingly.