Development, Depoliticisation, and Manggaraian Peasants’ Resistance in Western Flores

Abstract

This article explores how certain elements of  society show resistance against the process of depoliticisation that works through development. Drawing on the case of  peasants in Lembor, a regency in Western Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), this article argues that, by offering a so-called ‘alternative development’, civil society actors attempt to show their resistance against the process of depoliticisation that has been implemented through the rice monoculture farming system. To this end, the theories of depoliticisation and alternative development as resistance shall be used as analytical tools. Depoliticisation is defined in the literature as the process through which the regime of  mainstream development relocates politico-economic questions in dealing with the problems of peasants, in this case those in Lembor. Meanwhile, the theory of alternative development will be used to frame the form of  peasants’ resistance in Lembor. The ultimate end of  this study is to restore power to political analysis. As such, this article seeks to conflate development and democracy in discussing citizens’ welfare.