Decolonial Futures in Coffee and Cacao: Bridging Farmers' and Scientists' Assemblages for Sustainable Agroforestry

This paper focuses on distinctions and interplays between smallholder farmers’ and scientists’ practice assemblages in Aceh Gayo and Bali, Indonesia. Throughout this investigation, I aim to privilege relations over categories by offering an agroforestry perspective on what can constitute “decolonial futures” in coffee and cacao production. Approaching these practices as performed by assemblages of interrelating humans and nonhumans (Callon, 2007), I argue that such relational approaches challenge the often-silenced political dynamics of knowledge productions and values interconnectedness of social and ecological systems. Political assemblages composed of many forms of relations allow one to be explicit about the role of power in performing practices without neglecting the importance of other relations, such as care and solidarity. The unequal relations are pinpointed to different alternatives, associations and knowledge generated by farmers and scientists that coexist with each other. What farmers’ assemblages ultimately afford is a constant dialogue between plural ways of knowing as multiple coexisting forms of socio-material relations. Framed by qualitative methods, I used various data collection techniques such as interviews, photovoice and observations. By integrating critical Science and Technology Studies (STS) with decolonial thinking, this work contributes to ongoing efforts to reshape knowledge production within the coffee and cocoa supply chain towards a more equitable future, where local and Indigenous perspectives are not only included but foregrounded as central to agroecological innovation and sustainability.