Universität Bonn

Abteilung für Südostasienwissenschaft

de

PD. Dr. Oliver Pye

Dr. Oliver Pye
© Dr. Oliver Pye

PD. Dr. Oliver Pye

0228-73-9743

Nassestraße 2

53113 Bonn

Oliver Pye’s main research focus is on the contested transformation of the social relations of nature in Southeast Asia. As a forestry science graduate from Freiburg University, he first worked on forest politics in Thailand. In particular, he looked at a successful movement of small scale farmers that stopped the infamous Khor Jor Kor eucalyptus plantation project that threatened to evict thousands of families from their homes. In Cambodia, he was a witness to similar movements against pulp plantations. Since then, he has been looking at the political ecology of biodiversity and increasingly, at the development of the palm oil industry across the region. He is also interested in the challenges faced by social movements and their global connections, in the redshirts and yellowshirts in Thailand, and in the transnational potential of the labour movement across the region.

  • 1972-88 Schools in the UK, Japan and Germany.
  • 1988 Abitur, Elisabethschule, Marburg.
  • 1989-95 Study of Forestry Science at the University of Freiburg, with special focus on Tropical Forestry.
  • 1993 Diploma Thesis: 'Structural Adjustment in Honduras and its effect on the forest use of small-scale farmers. A case study of the indigenous people Xicaques’.
  • 1995 Diplom (equivalent to Master) in Forestry Science
  • 1995-98 Doctoral studies in the graduate college ‘Socio-economics of Forest Use in the Tropics and Subtropics’ at the University of Freiburg.
  • 2003 Completion of Ph.D. ‘Khor Jor Kor - Forest Politics in Thailand’.
  • 2003 Doctoral examination: defence of thesis and examination in international forestry and forest politics. “Magna cum laude”.

Various jobs during studies as construction worker, forest inventory worker, forestry experimental assistant, christmas tree seller, painter, call centre agent, translator, marketing researcher.

  • 1996-97 Extended research stays in Thailand. Series of qualitative interviews with farmer and NGO activists, participatory research methods, and interviews with high-ranking forestry officials. Close working relationship with the Assembly of the Poor.
  • 2004-2005 Research Officer for Oxfam America in Phnom Penh. Research on trade liberalisation and its impacts on the rural poor. Work on the ASEAN-China FTA, US policy in Southeast Asia, US-Thai FTA, WTO and Agriculture. From 2005 Associate Professor/Lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies at Bonn University (tenure position)
  • 2005-2006 Research fellow in research project on the “Governance of Diversity in the Straits of Malacca” at the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) in Bonn.
  • 2006 Research and workshops on the political crisis in Thailand
  • 2009-2013 Coordination of the research project “The Making of Social Movements under Conditions of Precarisation and Transnationalism in Southeast Asia.” Extended research stays in Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Lombok, Makassar) and Malaysia (Sabah). Social anthropology research with migrant workers in the palm oil industry.
  • Since 2011 Trainer for Country Analysis (Thailand) and author of Länderinformationsportals fopr Thailand for the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
  • 2012-2016 Coordination of the research project “Stadt, Land, Fluss: a Political Ecology of the Sungai Kapuas (Kalimantan, Indonesia)”, with Michael Flitner (Bremen University). Research and workshops in West Kalimantan on the political ecology of the Kapuas River
  • 2015 Coordination of workshop on “A Transnational Plantation Precariat. Ideas on Organising Workers in the Palm Oil Industry”. Workshop 17-20 March, Medan, Indonesia.
  • 2017-2019 Teaching Fellow in the ERASMUS+ Projekt KNOTS („Fostering multi-lateral knowledge networks of transdisciplinary studies to tackle global challenges“). Sommerschools and Fieldwork in Vietnam and Thailand.
  • 2018-2020 Strengthening Civil Society Networks in the Palm Oil Industry. Robert Bosch Stiftung. 13,000 Euro. (With Stiftung Asienhaus).
  • 2015 A Transnational Plantation Precariat. Ideas on Organising Workers in the Palm Oil Industry. Workshop 17-20 March, 2015. 7,500, Stiftung Umverteilen and Misereor.
  • 2011-2015 Stadt, Land, Fluss: a Political Ecology of the Sungai Kapuas (Kalimantan, Indonesia), with Michael Flitner (Bremen University), ca. 300,000 Euro, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The research project drew upon Bronson’s „dendritic system“ in order to develop a new functional model of the Kapuas river in combination with innovative approaches of social anthropology and political ecology. The methodological core of the project was a series of seven “Participatory Hydro-Political Appraisals“ (PHAs) that traced the conflict arenas of the Kapuas from the city upstream. Combining qualitative ethnographical field research with the analysis of secondary data and geographic information, the project aimed to develop an analysis of the spatial dynamics of the ongoing social-ecological transformation of the river.
  • 2009-2012 The Making of Social Movements under Conditions of Precarisation and Transnationalism in Southeast Asia, ca. 330,000 Euro, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The interdisciplinary research project was a comparative study of the making of new social movements in Southeast Asia under the contemporary conditions of social transformation, characterised in particular by a) precarisation and b) transnationalisation. The project compared three process oriented qualitative studies of transnational social movements:
    • Burmese textile workers in Northern Thailand
    • Indonesian migrants in the Malaysian palm oil industry
    • Call centre agents in the Philippines.
  • In an empirical three-year successive study, biographical interviews were combined with problem-focused interviews and group discussions. The comparison of the three case studies, which in their variety represent important general tendencies of social transformation in Southeast Asia, identified feedback mechanisms between migration, social transformation, individualisation and precarity with the making of social movements.
  • 2009 The Oil Palm Controversy in Transnational Perspective. ASIA EUROPE WORKSHOP SERIES. 2-4 March 2009, Singapore, 11,000 Euro, ASEF
  • 2007 Research Project “Under One Sky,” Southeast Asian Perspectives on the Protests against the g8 in Heiligendamm. 3,500 Euro, Stiftung Umverteilen

Books and Edited Volumes

    • Dietz, Kristina, Bettina Engels, Oliver Pye and Achim Brunnengräber (Eds) (2015): The Political Ecology of Agrofuels. London: Routledge.
    • Pye, Oliver and Jayati Bhattacharya (Eds.) (2012): The Palm Oil Controversy. A Transnational Perspective. Singapore: ISEAS.
    • Pichler, Melanie und Oliver Pye (Eds.) (2012): Focus Environment. ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 5(2).
    • Hoering, Uwe, Oliver Pye, Wolfram Schaffar und Christa Wichterich (Hrsg) (2009): Globalisierung bringt Bewegung. Lokale Kämpfe und transnationale Vernetzungen in Asien. Münster. Dampfboot Verlag.
    • Pye, Oliver (2005): Khor Jor Kor – Forest Politics in Thailand. Bangkok: White Lotus.

Journal articles (peer-reviewed)

  • Pye, Oliver (2018): Commodifying sustainability: Development, nature and politics in the palm oil industry. World Development https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.014
  • Pye, Oliver (2017): Für einen labour turn in der Umweltbewegung. Umkämpfte Naturverhältnisse und Strategien sozial-ökologischer Transformation. Prokla 189: 517-534.
  • Radjawali, Irendra and Oliver Pye (2017): Drones for Justice. Inclusive Technology and river-related action research along the Kapuas. Geographica Helvetica 72, 17-27.
  • Radjawali, Irendra, Oliver Pye and Michael Flitner (2017): Recognition through Reconnaissance? Using Drones for Counter-mapping in Indonesia. Journal of Peasant Studies Special Issue on Southeast Asian Perspectives on Agrarian-Environmental Transformations, 44:4, 817-833.
  • Pye, Oliver (2017): A Transnational Plantation Precariat. Fragmentation and Organising Potential in the Palm Oil Global Production Network. Development and Change Forum, 48 (5): 942-964.
  • Pye, Oliver, Irendra Radjawali and Julia (2017): Land Grabs and the River. Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement, 38:3, 378-394.
  • Kristina Dietz, Oliver Pye und Bettina Engels (2016): Sozial-räumliche Dynamiken der Agrartreibstoffe. Transnationale Netzwerke, skalare Rekonfigurationen, umkämpfte Orte und Territorien. PROKLA 184, 423-440.
  • Pye, Oliver (2013): Migration, Netzwerke und Alltagswiderstand: Die umkämpften Räume der Palmölindustrie. Peripherie 132/32, 466-493.
  • Ginting, Longgena and Oliver Pye (2013): Resisting Agribusiness Development: The Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate in West Papua, Indonesia. ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 6 (1), 160-182.
  • Pichler, Melanie und Oliver Pye (Eds.) (2012): Focus Environment. ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 5(2).
  • Pye, Oliver (2012): Editorial: Changing Socio-Natures in Southeast Asia. ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 5(2), 198-207.
  • Pye, Oliver (2012): Carbon Markets and REDD in South-East Asia: An Interview with Chris Lang from REDD-Monitor. ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 5(2), 352-358.
  • Lukas, Martin C., Julia, Irendra Radjawali, Michael Flitner and Oliver PYE (2012): The Conflict-Laden Multi-Functionality of the Kapuas River in Kalimantan, Indonesia. ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 5(2), 359-368.
  • Pye, Oliver, Ramlah Daud, Yuyun Harmono and Tatat (2012): Precarious Lives: Transnational biographies of migrant oil palm workers, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 53/3, 330-342.
  • Pye, Oliver (2010): The Biofuel Connection: Transnational Activism and the Palm Oil Boom. Journal of Peasant Studies 37/4, 851-874.
  • Pye, Oliver (2009): Biospritbankrott: Europäische Klimapolitik, Palmöl und kapitalistische Naturverhältnisse in Südostasien. PROKLA 156, 441-457.
  • Pye, Oliver (2009): Palm Oil as a Transnational Crisis in Southeast Asia. ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 2(2), 81-101.
  • Pye, Oliver (2008): Nachhaltige Profitmaximierung: Der Palmöl-Industrielle Komplex und die Debatte um „nachhaltige Biotreibstoffe." PERIPHERIE 112, 429-455.
  • Pye, Oliver & Wolfram Schaffar (2008): Thaksin Ok Pai! An Analysis of the 2006 Anti-Thaksin Movement in Thailand. Journal of Contemporary Asia 38:1, 38-61.
  • Pye, Oliver (2005): Forest Policy and Strategic Groups in Thailand. Internationales Asienforum, 3-4, 311-336.

Book chapters

  • Pye, Oliver (2017): Klimaschutz im Norden, Entwicklung im Süden? Europäische Agrotreibstoffpolitik und Palmölexpansion in Südostasien. In: Peters, Stefan / Burchardt, Hans-Jürgen (2017): Umwelt und Entwicklung in globaler Perspektive: Ressourcen - Konflikte - Degrowth. Frankfurt (Main): Campus, 159-180.
  • Pye, Oliver (2016): Deconstructing the RSPO. The Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil and the Palm Oil Industrial Complex, in: Cramb, Rob and John McCarthy (eds.): The Oil Palm Complex: Agrarian Transformation, State Policy, and Environmental Change in Indonesia and Malaysia. Singapore: NUS.
  • Martin Lassak and Oliver Pye (2016): Social Movements, State Power and Party Networks in the Kingdom of Thailand. In: Fadaee, Simin (Ed): Understanding Southern Social Movements. London: Routledge.
  • Pye, Oliver (2015): Eine kurze politische Ökologie Indonesiens. In: Stange, Gunnar, Rolf Jordan und Kristina Großmann (Eds): Handbuch Indonesien. Berlin: Horlemann Verlag.
  • Pye, Oliver (2015): Transnational space and workers’ struggles: reshaping the palm oil industry in Malaysia. In: Dietz, Kristina, Bettina Engels, Oliver Pye and Achim Brunnengräber (Eds) 2014): The Political Ecology of Agrofuels. London: Routledge.
  • Dietz, Kristina, Bettina Engels, Oliver Pye and Achim Brunnengräber (2015): An introduction to the political ecology of agrofuels. In: Dietz, Kristina, Bettina Engels, Oliver Pye and Achim Brunnengräber (Eds) : The Political Ecology of Agrofuels. London: Routledge.
  • Dietz, Kristina, Bettina Engels and Oliver Pye (2015): Territory, scale and networks: the spatial dynamics of agrofuels . In: Dietz, Kristina, Bettina Engels, Oliver Pye and Achim Brunnengräber (Eds) : The Political Ecology of Agrofuels. London: Routledge.
  • Pye, Oliver (2014): Wie nachhaltig ist der Roundtable on Sustainable Palmoil (RSPO)? In: Hirschl, Bernd et al. (Hrsg): Biokraftstoffe zwischen Sackgasse und Energiewende - Sozial-ökologische und transnationale Perspektiven, Oekom Verlag, 155-184.
  • Pye, Oliver and Julia (2014): Climate Politics and the Gendered Palm Oil Landscapes of Southeast Asia. In: Dannenberg, Petra und Birte Rodenberg (Hrsg): Klimaveränderung, Umwelt und Geschlechterverhältnisse im Wandel – neue interdisziplinäre Ansätze und Perspektiven. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
  • Pye, Oliver (2012): "Agrofuel Friction. Etnografia delle campagne transnazionali sull'oliio di palma". In: Rossi A., D'Angelo L., (a cura di),  (2012), Antropologia, Risorse Naturali e Conflitti Ambientali,
  • Milano, Udine, Mimesis Edizioni. Pye, Oliver (2012): The Palm Oil Controversy. Introduction. In: Pye, Oliver and Jayati Bhattacharya (Eds.) (2012): The Palm Oil Controversy. A Transnational Perspective. Singapore: ISEAS, 1-18.
  • Pye, Oliver (2012): An Analysis of Transnational Environmental Campaigning around Palm Oil. In: Pye, Oliver and Jayati Bhattacharya (Eds.) (2012): The Palm Oil Controversy. A Transnational Perspective. Singapore: ISEAS, 179-198.
  • Pye, Oliver und Melanie Pichler (2012): Wenn die Lösung zum Problem wird: Agrotreibstoffe und der Palmölboom in Indonesien. In: Schneider, Helmut, Rolf Jordan und Michael Waibel (Hrsg.): Umweltkonflikte in Südostasien. Berlin: Horlemann Verlag, 139-164.
  • Pye, Oliver (2010): Transnationales Prekariat? – Migration in Südostasien. In: Conermann, S., Schetter, Conrad (Hrsg): Asiatische Grenzen. Bonner Asienstudien, Bonn: EB-Verlag, 265-290,
  • Pye, Oliver (2009): Palmöl und die Transnationalisierung des Protests. In: Hoering, Uwe; Pye, Oliver; Schaffar, Wolfram; Wichterich, Christa (Eds.): Globalisierung bringt Bewegung. Lokale Kämpfe und transnationale Vernetzungen in Asien. Münster: Dampfboot Verlag,
  • Pye, Oliver (2009): Die Assembly of the Poor – thailändische Zapatistas? In: Hoering, Uwe; Pye, Oliver; Schaffar, Wolfram; Wichterich, Christa (Eds.): Globalisierung bringt Bewegung. Lokale Kämpfe und transnationale Vernetzungen in Asien. Münster: Dampfboot Verlag,
  • Pye, Oliver (2008): Transnational Strategic Alliances and Biodiversity Loss across the Straits of Malacca. In: Evers, Hans-Dieter, Solvay Gerke, and Anna-Katharina Hornidge (Eds.). The Straits of Malacca: Knowledge and Diversity. Berlin, London, Penang: LIT Verlag/Straits G.T.
  • Pye, Oliver (2007): Fair Trade. In: Brand, Ulrich et al. (eds): ABC der Alternativen. Von "Ästhetik des Widerstands" bis "Ziviler Ungehorsam." Hamburg: VSA-Verlag, 54-55.
  • Pye, Oliver (2007): Macht und Widerstand in den Wäldern Kambodschas. In: Conermann, S. (ed): Asien heute: Konflikte ohne Ende….Bonner Asienstudien, Bonn: EB-Verlag, 111-139.

Articles in popular scientific journals and newspapers

  • Pye, Oliver (2017): Artenschwund in Südostasien. Wahnsinn mit Methode. Politische Ökologie 151: 68-74.
  • Pye, Oliver, Kathrin Spenna, Verena Wittrock, Konrad Dohlen, Arthur Mielke, Zehra Döring, Frank Arenz, Kristina Großmann (eds.): Klima, Kohle und Konzerne: Klimapolitik zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit. Südostasien 4/2017.
  • Pye, Oliver, Tamara Goeth, Bennett Mataallo Uhl, Kathrin Spenna, Konrad Dohlen, Manuel Navarette Torres, Patrick Wira, Niklas Reese (Eds) (2016): Wasser in Südostasien. Zu viel, zu wenig, und in den falschen Händen. Südostasien 4/2016.
  • Pye, Oliver, Kathrin Spenna, Seda Buacan, Konrad Dohlen, Manuel Navarette Torres, Niklas Reese (Eds) (2015): Kissingers Erbe. Großmachtpolitik und deren Langzeitwirkungen in Südostasien. Südostasien 4/2015.
  • Blum, Franziska, Anett Keller, Oliver Pye, Marlene Weck, Niklas Reese (Eds) (2015): Räume der Imagination. Literatur in Südostasien. Südostasien 2/2015
  • Pye, Oliver, Emmalyn Liwag Kotte, Silvia Alzer, Konrad Dohlen, Nadjwa Hakimi, Markus Häusl, Sebastian Kirsch, Annelena Nora Krebs, Leonie Müller-Moewes, Katharina Reiß (2014): Südostasien in Deutschland. Geschichte, Alltag, Netzwerke. Südostasien 4/2014.
  • Baumgärtel, Tilman, Frank Arenz, Stefanie Maimun Aznan and Oliver Pye (2013): Südostasien auf der Leinwand. Film, Gesellschaft, Politik. Südostasien 4/2013.
  • Fuhrmann, Eva, Oliver Pye, Kerstin Schiele, Luise Weiß (Eds) (2012): Arbeitswelten. Alltag und Kämpfe in den Werkstätten der Globalisierung. Südostasien 3/2012.
  • Pye, Oliver (2012): Mogok! Arbeitswelten der Palmölindustrie. Südostasien 3/2012, 32-33.
  • Pye, Oliver und Steffi Jochim (2011): Glück für Yingluck. Der Aufstieg der Rothemden in Thailand. Jungle World 16 (2010).
  • Pye, Oliver (2011): Gelbhemden im Tempelkrieg. Thailand inszeniert einen Krieg gegen Kambodscha. Jungle World 16 (2010). Pye, Oliver (2010): Aufstand in der Roten Zone. Jungle World 16 (2010).
  • Pye, Oliver (2010): Die Doppelte Tragödie der oppositionellen Rothemden. Iz3w Juli/Aug 2010/319, 9.
  • Pye, Oliver (2010): Thailändische Dialektik. Jungle World 9 (2010).
  • Pye, Oliver (2009): Klimaschädliche Propaganda aus dem Süden. INKOTA-Dossier 4, 23-25.
  • Pye, Oliver (2009): Greenwash: Agrosprit und der Palmölboom in Südostasien. Südostasien.
  • Pye, Oliver (2009): Rot sind nur die Hemden. Jungle World 15 (2009).
  • Pye, Oliver (2008): Wenn Elefanten kämpfen. Jungle World 49, 12.
  • Pye, Oliver (2008): Und dann kam die Krise: Die Linke in Thailand zehn Jahre nach der Asienkrise. Südostasien 01/2008, 31-33.
  • Csizmazia, Madalena, Oliver Pye, Daniel Peter, Mathias Waldmeyer (2008): Weltsozialforum in Südostasien – oder die Suche nach globalen Perspektiven der sozialen Bewegungen in Indonesien und Thailand. Bonn: University of Bonn, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Working Paper No. 23.
  • Pye, Oliver (2006): Weder Empörung noch Freude. Der Putsch in Thailand ist eine Verschlimmbesserung. iz3w 297, 10-11.
  • Schaffar, W. and Oliver Pye (2006): Thaksin nach der Thaksinokratie? Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik 6:2006, 667-670.
  • Pye, Oliver (2006): Thailand: Long March for Community Forestry. WRM Bulletin 102.
  • Pye, Oliver (2005): Strategic Groups and Counter-strategic Formation in Thai Forestry. Bonn: University of Bonn, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Working Paper No. 21.
  • Pye, Oliver (2003): Militär, Wald und Widerstand. Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik 10:2003, 1245-1247.
  • Pye, Oliver (2002): Die Militärs und der Wald. Südostasien 4/02.
  • Lang, Chris and Oliver Pye (2000): Blinded by Science: The invention of scientific forestry and its influence in the Mekong Region. Watershed 6:2.
  • Brenner, Verena, Oliver Pye et al. (1998): Thailand’s Community Forest Bill: U-Turn or Roundabout in Forest Policy? Freiburg: SEFUT Working Paper No. 3.
  • “Labour and Social-ecological Transformation Strategies.” GLOCON Internationales Symposium: Global Crises and Conflicts over Resources. Berlin, 09.02.18.
  • “The Politics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia,” Panel Convenor, EUROSEAS, Oxford 17.08.2017
  • “Climate Debt, Climate Justice and Social-Ecological Transition in Southeast Asia”, EUROSEAS, Oxford 17.08.2017
  • “Global Production Networks and Transnational Organising in the Palm Oil Industry.” International Conference of Labour and Social History. Steyr, 17 September 2016.
  • „Land Grabbing and the Phantom of Communism” (Chair). Conference on Reconciling Indonesian History with 1965. Frankfurt, 11 September 2016.
  • „Migration und Flucht in Südostasien“, Vortrag im Rahmen der VHS-Reihe „Bloß weg hier“. Mittwoch, 14.09.2016, Haus der Bildung
  • “Lieferkettenverantwortung beim Palmölabbau“. Sachverständigerinput beim Ausschuss für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung. Deutscher Bundestag. Berlin, 30.11.16.
  • “Labour and the Social Relations of Nature in the Palm Oil Industry.“ GLOCON Symposium on Land Conflicts and Global Change. Berlin, 02.12.16.
  • „Ressourcenpolitik und Raumwirksame Entwicklungspolitik in Asien“. Weingartener Gespräche: Entwicklungspolitik - Himmelsleiter oder Sackgasse“, 9 Januar 2016
  • “Land Grabbing and the River”. Mit Irendra Radjawali und Julia, Land grabbing, conflict and agrarian-environmental transformations: perspectives from East and Southeast Asia. An international academic conference 5-6 June 2015, Chiang Mai University
  • “Counter-mapping Land Grabs with Community Drones in Indonesia”. Mit Irendra Radjawali. Land grabbing, conflict and agrarian-environmental transformations: perspectives from East and Southeast Asia. An international academic conference 5-6 June 2015, Chiang Mai University
  • “Beyond the River Basin: the Transformation of the Kapuas Riverscape in West Kalimantan”. Workshop: “Environmental Transformation, Ethnicity and Gender in Kalimantan, Indonesia”, 11th – 13th June 2015, University of Passau, Germany
  • “Boom, Transformation, Flut? Die politische Ökologie des Flusses in Südostasien”. Konferenz “Die Schattenseiten des Wirtschaftswachstums in Südostasien”, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M. 19-20 Juni 2015.
  • “Panel: Rivers of Borneo.” EUROSEAS, European Association for Southeast Asian Studies 11-14 August 2015, Vienna
  • “A Political Ecology of the Kapuas River”. EUROSEAS, European Association for Southeast Asian Studies 11-14 August 2015, Vienna
  • Networks vs. Territoriality: A Labour Geography of the Palm Oil Industry in Malaysia. EUROSEAS, European Association for Southeast Asian Studies 11-14 August 2015, Vienna
  • „Das vorherrschende Entwicklungsmodel untergräbt das Recht auf Wasser.“ Veranstaltung zu Lake Toba und das Recht auf Wasser. Deutsch Indonesische Gesellschaft. Köln, 24.09.15
  • “A Political Ecology of the Kapuas River”. Kyoto. Kansai Southeast Asia Colloquim. Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. 10. Oktober 2015.
  • “Mining, social activism and spatial transparency in Indonesia” mit Irendra Radjawali. Workshop »Contested Extractivism, Society and the State« 23 Oktober 2015, Freie Universität Berlin.
  • Transnational space and workers’ struggles. Reshaping the palm oil industry in Malaysia . International Conference: Transnational Labour Rights Activism across Asia and Beyond. Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany).17/18 September 2015
  • Flight or Fight? Migrant Workers, Precarity and Everyday Resistance in the Palm Oil Industry. Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung (ZEF), Bonn, 25 September 2013.
  • Politik statt Siegel. Welche Alternative Wege braucht es? Podiumsdiskussionsbeitrag auf der Veranstaltung: „Außer Kontrolle? Palmölproduktion in Indonesien“. Brot für die Welt, Berlin, 2 September 2013.
  • Sozial-ökologische Wirkungen und Konflikte: Fallstudien Asien. Tagung der BMBF-Forschungsgruppe „Fair Fuels?“ Biokraftstoffe zwischen Sackgasse und Energiewende: Diskurse, Effekte und Konflikte aus transnationaler Perspektive, Berlin, 19 April 2013.
  • Das Palmölprekariat. Workshop „Prekarität als soziologisches Konzept,“ Universität, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 22 März 2013
  • Precarious Lives. Methodological Challenges in Researching Transnational Biographies. Maastricht University, 14 März 2013.
  • The Palm Oil Precariat. Transnationalism and the Making of Social Movements. Maastricht University, 13 März 2013.
  • Umkämpfte Räume. Agrotreibstoffe, Palmöl und Konflikte in Südostasien. Universität Göttingen, 15 Januar 2013.
  • Scaling Up: Space and Labour in Palm Oil’s Political Ecology. Conference on “The Political Ecology of Agrofuels“, Berlin, 11- 12 Oktober 2012.
  • „Bronson Revisited: The Kapuas River as a Dendritic System in Modern Day Indonesia“ Borneo Research Council Conference, Brunei Darussalam, 26 Juni 2012
  • Prekäres Leben. Indonesische MigrantInnen in den Palmölplantagen Malaysias. Universität zu Köln, 24 April 2012
  • A Transnational Plantation Precariat. Challenges to Organising Migrant Workers in the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry. Global Labour University Conference, Johannesburg, 30 September 2011
  • Precarious Lives. Transnational Biographies of Migrant Palm Oil Workers. International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM 2011), Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, 16 June 2011.
  • The Transnational Struggle against Agrofuels. Alternative Conference of a Century of Commercial Oil Palm in Indonesia, Medan, North Sumatera, 26-29 March 2011