Through the discourse of indigeneity, rural communities around the world are joining a global network of rural justice seekers. By articulating grievances collectively, they demand state recognition while seeking support from NGOs and international development organisations. In Indonesia, the manifestation of indigenous ‘adat’ politics is no longer confined to the national struggle for the recognition of land rights, but instead, has proliferated into many localised short term ‘adat projects’. This introduction to the TAPJA special issue on adat demonstrates that both the rural poor and local elites can be the initiators or recipients of these adat projects but, at the current juncture, the latter are better positioned to benefit from such projects. The special issue shows that in Indonesia, where adat is often firmly entrenched in the state, the promotion of indigeneity claims can work in contradictory ways. Findings from across the special issue show that adat projects tend to reinforce the power of the state, rather than challenging it.

通过土著性的论述，世界各地的农村社区正在加入一个由农村寻求正义者组成的全球网络。通过集体表达不满，他们要求国家承认，同时寻求非政府组织和国际发展组织的支持。在印度尼西亚，土著“自适应”政治的表现不再局限于承认土地权的民族斗争，而是扩散为许多本地化的短期“自适应项目”。对adat上的TAPJA特刊的介绍表明，农村贫困者和当地精英都可以成为这些adat项目的发起者或接受者，但是在当前时刻，后者更能从此类项目中受益。特刊显示，在印度尼西亚，阿达特人（adat）经常在该州牢牢扎根，促进土著权利主张可以以相互矛盾的方式发挥作用。特刊上的发现表明，阿塔特项目倾向于增强国家力量，而不是挑战国家力量。