We have a vacancy for one PhD research project on the political ecology of oil palm in Indonesia. The PhD candidate will study the dynamics of social relationships, human actions, and human-pathogen-environment interactions that have an impact on Ganoderma disease outbreak and management in oil palm regions in Indonesia. The PhD candidate will develop a research proposal that will focus on one or more of the following issues: i) Shifts in government responses to disease outbreaks and farmers’ (collective) memories on disease incidence, remedies, and impact on livelihoods. ii) How social differentiation, resource distribution, and livelihood strategies condition oil palm cultivation and shape disease outbreak and management options. iii) The narratives that have developed around plant diseases in policy documents, knowledge exchange events, media, and local knowledge and how has this influenced storytelling about effectiveness of proposed treatments. iv) The institutional landscape, i.e. how institutions (as dynamic structures of rules) such as state regulations, sustainability certification schemes, and local cultural arrangements, shape disease related actions of growers and other actors. The PhD candidate will develop an approach that denaturalizes the disease and, instead, contextualizes the disease and its management by exploring social and political dynamics. For more information on the project, job qualities, and how to apply:
Deadline: 30 November 2024
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 