Facilitating resonance: Brokerage in indigenous activism

Abstract

Putting forward a synergetic combination of three concepts – brokerage, indigeneity and resonance – this article investigates how brokers in Indonesia support indigenous communities in their struggle for citizen and human rights. It investigates the emergence of broker chains and multi-scalar activism that are needed to translate from the local – in this case the Aru Islands in Eastern Indonesia – to the global and vice versa. It engages with established and tracks the emergence of new brokers and analyses their strategies to produce resonance and mobilise for resistance on various scales, with media, arts and religion being main fields of engagement, and studies the challenges they face. The article thus explores the concept of brokerage within new fields and uses brokerage as an analytical lens to explore processes of mobilisation, relationship-building and identity construction.