Very few studies have captured the full complexity of land acquisition processes at the agricultural frontier. Specifically, the different stages in the land acquisition process and the changing responses of local communities to plantation development have not been adequately described and explained. Based on a detailed empirical case study of a land acquisition process in a village at the oil palm frontier in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, we address this knowledge gap. To comprehensively capture reactions ‘from below’ to large‐scale land acquisition, we use the interlinked concepts of access, property and authority. We show that the land acquisition process is basically a process of transforming and obscuring customary property rights and local authority. In our case, this process is characterised by an initial recognition of customary rights and local authority by the oil palm company. However, in the course of the process, these property rights and local authority are being transformed and eventually obscured. We call for a more interventionist state to prepare a less uneven playing field at the very beginning of land acquisition processes. This could slow down the nearly irrevocable obfuscation of customary rights and the erosion of local authority at the oil palm frontier.

中文翻译：

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在油棕边境开垦土地：破坏印度尼西亚西加里曼丹省的习惯权利和地方权力

很少有研究能够掌握农业前沿土地征用过程的全部复杂性。具体而言，没有充分描述和解释土地征用过程的不同阶段以及当地社区对种植园发展的变化反应。基于对印度尼西亚西加里曼丹省油棕边境一个村庄的土地征用过程的详细经验案例研究，我们解决了这一知识鸿沟。为了全面捕捉“从下面”到大规模土地征用的反应，我们使用了相互联系的访问，财产和授权概念。我们表明，土地征用过程基本上是改变和掩盖习惯产权和地方权力的过程。就我们而言 该过程的特征是油棕公司初步认可了习惯权和地方权力。但是，在此过程中，这些产权和地方当局正在转变并最终被模糊。我们呼吁更具干预主义的国家在土地征用过程的一开始就准备一个较不均衡的竞争环境。这可能会减缓对习惯权利的几乎不可撤销的混淆，并减缓油棕边境地区地方政府的侵蚀。