Making Landscapes Extractable: Epistemic Politics and Relational Ecologies in Ayu Welirang’s Jejak Balak and Ayu Utami’s Bilangan Fu

Heru S.P. Saputra; Wiwin  Indiarti; Titik Maslikatin; Edy Hariyadi; L. Dyah  Purwita Wardani; Ulil Lauhul  Mahfudah

doi:10.55927/djb1k109

Authors

Heru S.P. Saputra Department of Indonesian Literature, Universitas Jember Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5246-6852
Wiwin Indiarti English Language Education Study Program, Universitas PGRI Banyuwangi Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5134-7520
Titik Maslikatin Department of Indonesian Literature, Universitas Jember Author https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2448-0867
Edy Hariyadi Department of Indonesian Literature, Universitas Jember Author https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0336-1331
L. Dyah Purwita Wardani Department of Indonesian Literature, Universitas Jember Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6597-7977
Ulil Lauhul Mahfudah Department of Indonesian Literature, Universitas Jember Author https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0988-4336

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55927/djb1k109

Keywords:

Extractivism, Forest–Karst Landscapes, Indonesian Literature, Political Ontology, Resource-Making

Abstract

Environmental degradation is not only material but also epistemic-political: landscapes must be classified, valued, and authorized before extraction becomes legitimate. This study compares Ayu Welirang’s Jejak Balak and Ayu Utami’s Bilangan Fu to examine how forest and karst landscapes become extractable, protectable, or relationally inhabitable. Using comparative qualitative literary analysis, page-by-page screening, close reading, and deductive–inductive coding, 68 analytically salient textual units were interpreted. Findings show that extractivism operates through infrastructures of knowledge and authority that render landscapes ownable and governable. Yet ecological knowledge is politically contingent: scientific expertise may support protection, while ritual or local knowledge may be co-opted. Indonesian fiction thus becomes a site for theorizing extractability, relational ecology, and conditional ontological conflict

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