Malind – Palm Oil Detectives

Papua’s ‘Empty Lands’: A Dangerous Myth Displacing Indigenous Peoples

Challenge a dangerous colonial myth that West Papua is an ’empty land’. This only serves the colonial domination of Indonesia not ancient tribes living there!

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Anthropologist and author of 'In the Shadow of the Palms' Dr Sophie Chao: In Her Own Words

Dr Sophie Chao is an environmental anthropologist and environmental humanities scholar interested in the intersections of capitalism, ecology, Indigeneity, health, and justice in the Pacific.

Palm Oil Detectives is honoured to interview to Dr Sophie Chao about her research into the impacts of palm oil on the daily lives of Marind people and other sentient beings in West Papua.

I wrote In the Shadow of the Palms because I wanted the world to understand how deforestation and industrial oil palm expansion are undermining Indigenous ways of being in West Papua.