STS, Governmentality, and the Politics of Infrastructure in Indonesia

How do new infrastructures for the movement of goods, people, and ideas get built, and how do they change? How do infrastructures function as instruments for new modes of political power and control? Can social actors mobilize to shape the direction of infrastructure change? These are the core questions that animate this excellent set of articles written by an emerging cohort of STS scholars with an interest in Indonesia. Each of the articles presents a case study of a specific infrastructure project: Mohsin traces the history of a state-led project to build out the electrical grid in Bali during Indonesia's New Order; Padawangi examines the politics of a community-based project aimed at expanding piped water service to poor neighborhoods in Jakarta; Fatimah analyzes a university-based project to establish a new biofuel industry in Sumbawa; and Budiastuti describes the deployment of a...