Venansius Haryanto
Venansius Haryanto is a PhD candidate in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the Universität Bonn, Germany. His doctoral research explores the paradoxes of the “just transition” through the case of a geothermal development project on Flores Island, eastern Indonesia—an issue he has long engaged with as a researcher and social activist at Sunspirit for Justice and Peace, a research-based advocacy NGO in Labuan Bajo, West Flores (2018-2023). His broader research interests include the social and environmental impacts of tourism development on Flores, particularly since the island’s designation as one of Indonesia’s “Ten New Balis.”
Title: Green Coloniality: Renewable Energy Investment and Indigenous Resistance in Flores Island, Eastern Indonesia
Abstract
As part of the Indonesian government's decarbonization agenda to address climate change, the government has promoted the expansion of renewable energy across the country in recent years. In 2017, the government designated Flores Island—a small island in eastern Indonesia—as a “Geothermal Island.” This initiative has led to the identification of around 20 geothermal sites from west to east, positioning the island as a new frontier of climate action in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. However, while the Indonesian government justified the project by invoking the urgency of climate change solutions and a vision of a prosperous future supported by energy security, it has instead imposed injustices on local communities, leading to growing resistance in recent years. Rather than advancing climate justice, the project has put communities in Flores at risk, turning their living territories into a sacrifice zone of green coloniality. Based on ethnographic research in Flores Island, this research examines how the geothermal development is justified in the name of climate justice on the one hand, and how indigenous communities in Flores, through their resistance, expose the coloniality of such development intervention.
Haryanto, V. 2014. Ranah Politik Menurut Pierre Bourdieu (Political Field Theory of Pierre Bourdieu), Maumere: Ledalero Book.
Haryanto, V. 2019. Development, Depoliticization and Manggaraian Pesasant’s Resistance in Western Flores, Power Conflict and Democracy Journal, Vol. VII, No.1, 2019 (115-138). Link: https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/pcd/article/view/35195/24758.
Haryanto, V., & Soukotta, T. (2024). The Indonesian (Modern/Colonial) dream of development. The European Journal of Development Research. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-024-00670-9.
Schmeidl, S., Baraguir, B. S., Fleschenberg, A., Haryanto, V., Jain, K., Omran, L., Takhun, R., & Yambao, C. M. K. (2025). “Navigating power and representation in the sharing of research findings: Exploring the scholar–practitioner interface.”, in The Routledge Handbook of Field Research. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003404903-62.
Wardana, A & Haryanto, V. (2025) Development for Whom? The Politics of Heritage Conservation-Cum-Tourism in Indonesia. Journal of Contemporary Asia. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00472336.2025.2561810?src.
Haryanto, V & Soukotta, T. Religion and the Violence of Development: the Case of Flores, Indonesia. Journal of Development. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41301-025-00451-9.
- July-November 2016. Peasant and Depoliticization of Development in Manggarai-Flores, Eastern Indonesia. Department of Sociology, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
- June-December 2017. Villages Typology of East Manggarai Regency, Flores, Eastern Indonesia. Center for Securities and Peace Studies UGM.
- 2018-2022. Development, Injustice, and Social Transformation in Flores Island. Sunspirit for Justice and Peace.
- January 2024-June 2024. Geothermal Energy Investment, Green Coloniality and Indigenous Resistance in Flores Island, Eastern Indonesia. PhD project at the Department of Southeast Asia Studies, University of Bonn, Germany.