Colum Graham
@clmgrhm.bsky.social
Postdoctoral fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Agrarian studies, politics, history.
A lot of claims recently about the emergence of "tech feudalism". Regular (garden variety...?) "feudalism" in contemporary times seems overlooked. "Civil oligarchy" may be interlocked with modernization processes, but not all oligarchs are civil or perhaps even see themselves as civilians.
Farm Action's Angela Huffman looks behind the duel at the top of the land-ownership charts to ask what land concentration means for farming. But, just fyi, the US' largest landowner is no longer Bill Gates, it's Stan Kroenke. angelasuehuffman.substack.com/p/forget-bil...
January 31, 2026 at 7:22 PM
A lot of claims recently about the emergence of "tech feudalism". Regular (garden variety...?) "feudalism" in contemporary times seems overlooked. "Civil oligarchy" may be interlocked with modernization processes, but not all oligarchs are civil or perhaps even see themselves as civilians.
Hi @tompepinsky.com from cosmopolitan rural Java where many millions persist in the countryside (often with migratory experiences) and few protest vote against urban chauvinism... 🤔
January 25, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Hi @tompepinsky.com from cosmopolitan rural Java where many millions persist in the countryside (often with migratory experiences) and few protest vote against urban chauvinism... 🤔
"...the inclination among some senior clergy is to blame a few bad eggs for misbehaviour in the monkhood, rather than organisational failings that permit so-called “mafia monks” to thrive." www.economist.com/asia/2026/01...
www.economist.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:33 PM
"...the inclination among some senior clergy is to blame a few bad eggs for misbehaviour in the monkhood, rather than organisational failings that permit so-called “mafia monks” to thrive." www.economist.com/asia/2026/01...
Back in Adelaide briefly. Happy New Year to all!
December 31, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Back in Adelaide briefly. Happy New Year to all!
Almost 400 household surveys... Not yet finished. Some elusive larger landholders remain.
December 22, 2025 at 3:53 AM
Almost 400 household surveys... Not yet finished. Some elusive larger landholders remain.
Reposted by Colum Graham
My new book, The Division of Rationalized Labor, is now shipping! A brief summary of the argument to follow…
November 26, 2025 at 5:45 PM
My new book, The Division of Rationalized Labor, is now shipping! A brief summary of the argument to follow…
Reposted by Colum Graham
Hi All! The new issue of Journal of Agrarian Change (25:4) is out now with an entirely open access special section on Land and Labour in Indonesia (among other goodies)... please do check it out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14710366...
Journal of Agrarian Change: Vol 25, No 4
The Journal of Agrarian Change (JOAC) is an agricultural and rural development journal leading the field of agrarian political economy.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 29, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Hi All! The new issue of Journal of Agrarian Change (25:4) is out now with an entirely open access special section on Land and Labour in Indonesia (among other goodies)... please do check it out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14710366...
Reposted by Colum Graham
Cropland area nearly doubled in South America between 2000 and 2019 - the largest relative increase in the world. Soybean production replaced rainforests, grasslands & savannas. earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/14962... As China refuses U.S. soybeans, this puts more pressure on natural ecosystems.
The Spread of Soy in South America
Grasslands, savannas, and dry forests have become popular places to grow soy.
earthobservatory.nasa.gov
September 29, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Cropland area nearly doubled in South America between 2000 and 2019 - the largest relative increase in the world. Soybean production replaced rainforests, grasslands & savannas. earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/14962... As China refuses U.S. soybeans, this puts more pressure on natural ecosystems.
Reposted by Colum Graham
Without peasants, the global economy could not function, and our natural systems would collapse. Life still depends on the peasantry, and we are all affected by the fact that it is today in an acute crisis
The planet, and human social life, depend on peasant farmers | Aeon Essays
Far from being a relic of the past, peasants are vital to feeding the world. They need to be supported, not marginalised
buff.ly
September 23, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Without peasants, the global economy could not function, and our natural systems would collapse. Life still depends on the peasantry, and we are all affected by the fact that it is today in an acute crisis
Enjoyed this post by Masayuki Yanagisawa and agree with his point about asking big questions. I also like the comparative photo arrangements! newsletter.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/nl-83/yan... @cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Rural Village Study in Vietnam: Finding the Balance between Researching Specific Issues and Asking Big Questions
Masayuki Yanagisawa (Environmental History in Southeast Asia, Vietnamese Studies)
In the 1990s, when
newsletter.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp
September 22, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Enjoyed this post by Masayuki Yanagisawa and agree with his point about asking big questions. I also like the comparative photo arrangements! newsletter.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/nl-83/yan... @cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Reposted by Colum Graham
My first-ever, single-authored article is out in the Journal of Peasant Studies! Comparing sugar and infrastructure frontiers, it explores how technologies of dispossession shape frontier-making and state power in Indonesia across scale and time.
Read it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Read it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Technologies of dispossession: comparative analysis of frontier-making and state power in Indonesia
This article examines land dispossession in Indonesia through a conjunctural comparison of two frontier regimes: a long-standing commodity frontier in South Sulawesi and a rapidly assembled infrast...
www.tandfonline.com
September 13, 2025 at 1:09 PM
My first-ever, single-authored article is out in the Journal of Peasant Studies! Comparing sugar and infrastructure frontiers, it explores how technologies of dispossession shape frontier-making and state power in Indonesia across scale and time.
Read it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Read it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Colum Graham
It’s August, which means a new issue of Mekong Review 🥳
In this issue: young K-pop stans in Myanmar join resistance efforts, the contestation of Indonesia’s history, an interview with Saigon Soul Revival… and more!
Order online: ko-fi.com/s/a3e8a4c60d
In this issue: young K-pop stans in Myanmar join resistance efforts, the contestation of Indonesia’s history, an interview with Saigon Soul Revival… and more!
Order online: ko-fi.com/s/a3e8a4c60d
August 1, 2025 at 6:53 AM
It’s August, which means a new issue of Mekong Review 🥳
In this issue: young K-pop stans in Myanmar join resistance efforts, the contestation of Indonesia’s history, an interview with Saigon Soul Revival… and more!
Order online: ko-fi.com/s/a3e8a4c60d
In this issue: young K-pop stans in Myanmar join resistance efforts, the contestation of Indonesia’s history, an interview with Saigon Soul Revival… and more!
Order online: ko-fi.com/s/a3e8a4c60d
www.abc.net.au/religion/anu...
Good piece by Nick Cheesman from my old department at ANU @ouranu.bsky.social
Good piece by Nick Cheesman from my old department at ANU @ouranu.bsky.social
Has meritocracy gotten the better of our universities? Why events at ANU are grounds for hope - ABC Religion & Ethics
It’s not every day that the students and staff of a university succeed in forcing a vice-chancellor from office — that’s what happened last week at ANU, but why did change take so long when it was cle...
www.abc.net.au
September 15, 2025 at 3:01 AM
www.abc.net.au/religion/anu...
Good piece by Nick Cheesman from my old department at ANU @ouranu.bsky.social
Good piece by Nick Cheesman from my old department at ANU @ouranu.bsky.social
Reposted by Colum Graham
My first book, Socializing Land: Plantations, Dispossession, and Resistance in Laos (University of Hawai'i Press, 2025), exists in this world!
Check it out at: uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social...
1/4
Check it out at: uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social...
1/4
September 5, 2025 at 12:04 AM
My first book, Socializing Land: Plantations, Dispossession, and Resistance in Laos (University of Hawai'i Press, 2025), exists in this world!
Check it out at: uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social...
1/4
Check it out at: uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/social...
1/4
Reposted by Colum Graham
Honoured to have won this award. Thanks to @edwardaspinall.bsky.social for supervising me, my committee members Ben Kerkvliet and Jim Fox for their continuous support over the years, and the ASAA award panel @asiancurrents.bsky.social
🌟 Dr Colum Graham has been awarded the 2024 John Legge Prize for his doctoral thesis about agrarian transitions in Indonesia 🌟
Please join us in congratulating Dr Graham, and Dr Minglei Wang who was recognised with the award of runner-up 👏
Read the press release: asaa.asn.au/news/thesis-...
Please join us in congratulating Dr Graham, and Dr Minglei Wang who was recognised with the award of runner-up 👏
Read the press release: asaa.asn.au/news/thesis-...
Thesis about Agrarian Transitions in Indonesia wins the John Legge Prize for 2024 - Asian Studies Association of Australia
The Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) is pleased to announce that Dr Colum Graham, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Asian Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, has won…
asaa.asn.au
August 29, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Honoured to have won this award. Thanks to @edwardaspinall.bsky.social for supervising me, my committee members Ben Kerkvliet and Jim Fox for their continuous support over the years, and the ASAA award panel @asiancurrents.bsky.social
foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/one... Good episode on seed banks and the emergence of seeds as intellectual property. Very much agree on public funding, @adamtooze.bsky.social
The Doomsday Seed Vault
Plus: The economics of Alaska.
foreignpolicy.com
August 19, 2025 at 12:03 AM
foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/one... Good episode on seed banks and the emergence of seeds as intellectual property. Very much agree on public funding, @adamtooze.bsky.social
Could the origins of macan cisewu's style be from this kind of promotion found in a 1918 edition of Oetoesan Hindia? Or perhaps there are earlier ones? Am I mistaken in seeing the resemblance?
August 16, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Could the origins of macan cisewu's style be from this kind of promotion found in a 1918 edition of Oetoesan Hindia? Or perhaps there are earlier ones? Am I mistaken in seeing the resemblance?
In a day interrupted with meetings it is great to briefly escape to microfilm. Wonder if the Gothic typeface for Oetoesan Hindia's masthead points to organicist influences?
August 14, 2025 at 2:56 AM
In a day interrupted with meetings it is great to briefly escape to microfilm. Wonder if the Gothic typeface for Oetoesan Hindia's masthead points to organicist influences?