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Colum Graham

@clmgrhm.bsky.social
1.1K followers 555 following 226 posts

Postdoctoral fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Agrarian studies, politics, history.

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Reposted by Colum Graham
Adam Calo @adamcalo.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Has the theory land sparing seeped out of ecological journals and into the mainstream? New: The legend of land sparing in Agriculture and Human Values link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
The legend of land sparing - Agriculture and Human Values
As institutions mobilize ambitious land-use transition agendas, dominant policy narratives risk constraining their transformative potential. The land sparing–land sharing (SpSh) framework, introduced ...
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Daniela Gabor @danielagabor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
We were a bit early in our predictions but unfortunately quite accurate - we're heading for a world of shortages and we can't manage them with neoliberal state institutions.
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William Hurst @wjhurst.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Coming before too long: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A morning wander down New Order Street...
Jalan Orde Baru sign
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Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
“Food inflation has spurred states into action: in Mexico, the Morena admin negotiated a fixed-price basket of basic food items; in Brazil, Lula manipulated tax rates on select products. And in New York, Mamdani is beginning to roll out public grocery stores.” phenomenalworld.org/analysis/a-f...
phenomenalworld.org
Fernando Rugitsky | A Fragile Food Regime
Recurring crises in global food provision
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Semafor @semafor.com · 20/07/2026
Thousands of members of the Cockroach Janata Party descended on Delhi in frustration over failures in the national exam system, while an activist held a three-week hunger strike to call for the education minister’s resignation.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 14/07/2026
India's Cockroach Janta Party formed as a play on the name of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, with the slogan “Secular, Socialist, Democratic, Lazy”. Within days, the CJP's social media presence dwarfed both the BJP and the opposition. trib.al/SxFRe6u
trib.al
The rise of India’s Cockroach Janta Party
Indian students studying in Australia are riveted to politics in their home country, as the rise of the Cockroach Janta Party threatens a reckoning with the ruling class.
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Aeon Magazine @aeon.co · 14/07/2026
Tech billionaires like to claim their work is inspired by science fiction, but in truth, they are using its ‘chrome-plated aesthetic’ as a fig leaf to further what the social theorist Ali Rıza Taşkale labels ‘reactionary futurism’
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Silicon Valley has a science fiction problem | Aeon Essays
Tech titans claim the genre inspired them. But all they’ve done is graft their politics onto stories of a better future
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Overland Journal @overlandjournal.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
“To remain in place without the means to move is to experience a narrowing of possible futures.” Emma Goldrick on how distance in Australia is political.
overland.org.au
Left in place: how distance in Australia is political - Overland literary journal
If we are to better understand inequality within Australia, we must begin with the recognition that disadvantage does not only reside in income brackets or postcodes associated with urban poverty. It ...
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Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
“During Lula’s current term, after a long period of stagnation, the Brazilian economy grew about 3% and the unemployment rate declined by 3.5%. And yet, the polls are suggesting this won’t be enough to guarantee an easy reelection.” NEW by @rugitsky.bsky.social phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bra...
phenomenalworld.org
Drowning in Debt | Fernando Rugistky
Financial inclusion and financial expropriation in Brazil
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Jennifer Clapp 🇨🇦 @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
So nice to see this piece out with @jacktaggart.bsky.social @policyrelevant.bsky.social and Peter Dauvergne on global environmental governance in a fracturing liberal political economy... We talk about climate, food and plastics governance as liberal norms erode...
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Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
“In Argentina and Brazil, the economic transformation led by the giant grain traders increased the countries’ foreign vulnerability at the same time as it sowed the seeds of anti-democratic politics.” @rugitsky.bsky.social on the world-shaping business of soy www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/soy...
phenomenalworld.org
Soy Republics | Fernando Rugitsky
The region's role as a key soy exporter has empowered the far right and fuelled ecological resistance, in the biome and beyond.
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New Mandala @newmandala.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
OBITUARY: "Vince Rafael exemplified the onset of a long overdue shift in the intellectual centre of gravity in Southeast Asian Studies to new generations of scholars hailing from the region...his work was distinctive in its close attention to identity, ideology, and experience."
newmandala.org
Vicente L. Rafael (1956–2026) in memoriam - New Mandala
John Sidel honours his contributions to the study of Southeast Asia
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Journal of East Asian Studies @jeas-journal.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
#OpenAccess from @jeas-journal.bsky.social - Myth and Measurement: Spatial Heterogeneity, Ecological Fallacy, and the Urban Narrative in Peninsular Malaysia’s Electoral Politics - cup.org/4q8eI77 - Tyler Rongxuan Chen #FirstView
Dark blue image featuring the text "Journal of East Asian Studies" in the centre and "#OpenAccess" at the bottom. Grey and red squares decorate the right side.
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Transnational Institute @tninstitute.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Remembering is resistance. On International Day of Peasant Struggles, we honor land defenders killed for justice, connect past and present violence, and affirm memory as defiance against exploitation, dispossession, and ecological destruction. www.tni.org/en/article/c...
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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Zach gets it exactly right. Orban was an authoritarian who built a rigged election system for his own gain. But Peter Magyar cracked the code - realizing that every vote in the countryside was worth two to three votes in the cities and so racked up countryside support, winning 2/3rds of the seats.
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Dani Rodrik @drodrik.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
I find amazing the deafening silence from US universities on Trump's explicit threats to commit war crimes. It is astounding how he has managed to silence them/us. Is this what we agreed to when we bought into institutional neutrality?
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
www.jstor.org/stable/43194...
Superiority of Economists paper
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Journal of East Asian Studies @jeas-journal.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Most commentators characterize the aftermath of the 2006 Thai coup as a “resurrection of the bureaucratic polity.” But bureaucrats remained influential even during the period from 1992–2006. How should we understand their political influence? Read more here: t.co/znKFxNkZ1P
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James Lin @jamestwotree.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
My book interview is up on the @NewBooksEAsia podcast! I discuss with Dr. Sarah Bramao-Ramos how I started researching this topic, why global South-South development history matters, how Taiwan constructed a unique model of agrarian development, and more! newbooksnetwork.com/in-the-globa...
newbooksnetwork.com
James Lin, "The Global Vanguard: Agrarian Development and the Making of Modern Taiwan" (U California Press, 2025) - New Books Network
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William Hurst @wjhurst.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
If you're looking for an academic Chinese Politics job, apply to this one: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQT568/a...
jobs.ac.uk
Assistant Professor - China & Global Development at University of Cambridge
An academic position as a Assistant Professor - China & Global Development is being advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Click now to find more details and explore additional academic job opportunities.
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Raj Patel @rajpatel.org · 03/03/2026
The Strait of Hormuz is closed just as spring planting starts. Here's a quick illustrated guide on how 'warflation' will make your food more expensive later this year: newsletter.rajpatel.org/p/how-the-wa...
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
By "non-hegemony", I wonder if the authors are really making a case about the anarchical society?
Book cover of the anarchical society by Hedley Bull
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Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
The $16.6 trillion in net assets held by private funds in 2025 were ultimately managed by just four thousand registered advisors. New from Lenore Palladino, on the unregulated finance at the heart of the American economy. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/fin...
phenomenalworld.org
Finance in the Dark | Lenore Palladino | Finance in the Dark
An opaque sector is reshaping the US. Only ambitious regulatory reform can check its power.
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Tristan Brown @tristangbrown.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Please join in person at MIT on Friday, February 27 for a fantastic lineup of speakers—including Prakash Kumar, Sigrid Schmalzer, Micah Muscolino, Benjamin Siegel, and Heather Roller—exploring conservation, ecology, and food production in China&India. Hope to see you there!
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
At the artisanal oilfields of Wonocolo again late in the afternoon.
Artisanal oilfields of Wonocolo
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
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.
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Misty morning here
View from near the Kendeng range
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
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... 🤔
"Free all political prisoners" written on a wall next to a dam.
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
www.iseas.edu.sg/articles-com...
iseas.edu.sg
“Decolonizing the North, Cracking the Federation: Inside PAS’s History War (and Madani’s Response)” By Amrita Malhi
This paper examines how Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) is transforming its northern regional strength into a nationwide “Green Wave” by fusing electoral strategy, cultural production and historical revi...
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
"...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...
economist.com
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Coffee
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Back
Station Nganjuk
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Back in Adelaide briefly. Happy New Year to all!
View of the sea from behind the lighthouse at Marino
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Almost 400 household surveys... Not yet finished. Some elusive larger landholders remain.
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
overland.org.au/2025/12/on-t...
overland.org.au
On the need for a renewed democratic universalism - Overland literary journal
If we’re to emerge from this awful spiral, in which one form of identitarian chauvinism spurs the next, we’ll only do so on the basis of a very different politics: one that takes for granted the abili...
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Reposted by Colum Graham
Michelle Jackson @mivich.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
My new book, The Division of Rationalized Labor, is now shipping! A brief summary of the argument to follow…
Front cover of The Division of Rationalized Labor. The cover includes four pictures: pen and paper, microscope, factory tower, police badge. Modern-looking yellow lines and graphs are superimposed.
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Marcus Taylor @marcusetaylor.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
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...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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.
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Emily Cassidy @enviroem.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
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.
earthobservatory.nasa.gov
The Spread of Soy in South America
Grasslands, savannas, and dry forests have become popular places to grow soy.
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Aeon Magazine @aeon.co · 23/09/2025
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
buff.ly
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
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
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
newsletter.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
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Annisa Sabrina Hartoto @sabrinahartoto.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
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....
tandfonline.com
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...
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Mekong Review @mekongreview.com · 01/08/2025
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
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
www.abc.net.au/religion/anu... Good piece by Nick Cheesman from my old department at ANU @ouranu.bsky.social
abc.net.au
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...
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Miles Kenney-Lazar @mklaz.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
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
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Edward Aspinall @edwardaspinall.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
My take on the recent protests in Indonesia www.newmandala.org/mass-protest...
newmandala.org
Mass protest and the two worlds of Indonesian politics - New Mandala
A subculture of opposition survives beyond Jokowi
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
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
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
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
foreignpolicy.com
The Doomsday Seed Vault
Plus: The economics of Alaska.
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Colum Graham @clmgrhm.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
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?
A tiger in Oetoesan Hindia
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