A Political Ecology of the Orang Rimba's Struggle and Existence in Jambi, Indonesia

Since the 1970s, forest conversion in the name of development has encroached upon the living spaces of the Orang Rimba, a forest-dwelling indigenous group in Jambi Province, Indonesia. Some of the forest areas, which serve as the cultural and livelihood foundation for this hunter-gatherer community, have been transformed into transmigrant settlements and oil palm plantations, while the remaining forests were designated as a National Park in 2000. Although they still have access to the national park, many Orang Rimba have built their livelihoods among the oil palm trees—not as owners or workers, but believing that these lands are their ancestral hunting grounds. This study explores the lives of the Orang Rimba in their hunting and foraging spaces (hutan tano), which have been gradually transformed through a series of development interventions, including transmigration programs, oil palm expansion, and conservation. It examines how this indigenous community negotiates their socio-cultural survival in response to these overlapping pressures. Ethnographic methods were employed to provide comprehensive insights into how the Orang Rimba experience, interpret, and respond to social and ecological transformations. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, the study reveals the strategies they use to sustain their way of life by mobilizing hereditary knowledge as hunters and gatherers, maintaining cultural identity, and negotiating their place within evolving and contested landscapes. The findings highlight the complex interplay between environmental dispossession, cultural resilience, and everyday strategies to negotiate with oil palm economies and conservation regimes—offering critical insights into the lived experiences of indigenous communities confronting the encroachment of industrial agriculture.