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Abstract

This article examines the social positioning and struggles of subaltern women in East Java, Indonesia, within the intersecting conditions of state neglect and climate precarity in Forest Landscape Governance (FLG). Drawing on field research conducted between 2022 and 2023, it employs Postcolonial Feminist Political Ecology (PFPE) and Postcolonial Feminist Participatory Action Research (PFPAR) to analyze how governance regimes simultaneously depend upon yet marginalize women’s ecological labor. Based on field conversations, storytelling, focus group discussions, participatory drawing, and community dialogues in Banyuwangi and Trenggalek, the study shows that subaltern women remain largely invisible within formal governance frameworks, despite their central role in sustaining environmental and household resilience. This exclusion is not incidental but structurally embedded in bureaucratic, legal, and policy mechanisms that fail to recognize informal ecological labor and gendered knowledge systems. By foregrounding subaltern women’s narratives, the article advances a postcolonial feminist critique of FLG, demonstrating how governance frameworks reproduce colonial and gendered hierarchies through epistemic marginalization and bureaucratic exclusion. It argues that achieving inclusive and just forest governance requires not only institutional reform but also epistemic recognition of marginalized women’s knowledge, agency, and environmental stewardship. The article contributes to socio-legal debates on governance, climate justice, and the decolonization of environmental policy in Indonesia.

Bahasa Abstract

Selama dua dekade terakhir, Asia Tenggara mengalami deforestasi dan degradasi ekologis yang pesat, dengan dampak signifikan bagi komunitas yang bergantung pada hutan. Artikel ini mengkaji posisi sosial dan perjuangan perempuan subaltern di Jawa Timur, Indonesia, dalam menghadapi persimpangan antara pengabaian negara dan meningkatnya kerentanan iklim dalam Tata Kelola Lanskap Hutan (Forest Landscape Governance/FLG). Berdasarkan penelitian lapangan yang dilakukan pada tahun 2022–2023, studi ini menggunakan pendekatan Ekologi Politik Feminis Pascakolonial (Postcolonial Feminist Political Ecology/PFPE) dan Penelitian Aksi Partisipatif Feminis Pascakolonial (Postcolonial Feminist Participatory Action Research/PFPAR) untuk menganalisis bagaimana rezim tata kelola secara simultan bergantung pada sekaligus meminggirkan kerja ekologis perempuan. Berdasarkan perbincangan lapangan, praktik bercerita, diskusi kelompok terarah, metode partisipatif seperti menggambar, serta dialog komunitas di Banyuwangi dan Trenggalek, artikel ini menunjukkan bahwa perempuan subaltern tidak terlihat dalam kerangka tata kelola hutan formal, meskipun mereka berperan sentral dalam menjaga keberlanjutan lingkungan dan ketahanan rumah tangga. Pengucilan ini bukanlah kebetulan, melainkan tertanam secara struktural dalam mekanisme birokrasi, hukum, dan kebijakan yang gagal mengakui kerja ekologis informal serta sistem pengetahuan berbasis gender. Dengan menempatkan narasi perempuan subaltern sebagai pusat analisis, artikel ini mengembangkan kritik feminis pascakolonial terhadap FLG dengan menunjukkan bagaimana kerangka tata kelola mereproduksi hierarki kolonial dan gender melalui eksklusi birokratis dan marginalisasi epistemik. Artikel ini berargumen bahwa tata kelola hutan yang inklusif dan adil memerlukan tidak hanya reformasi kebijakan, tetapi juga pengakuan epistemik atas pengetahuan, agensi, dan praktik pengelolaan lingkungan perempuan yang termarjinalkan. Artikel ini berkontribusi pada perdebatan sosio-legal mengenai tata kelola, keadilan iklim, dan dekolonisasi kebijakan lingkungan di Indonesia.

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