Perdana Roswaldy
Assistant Professor, Sustainability
Perdana "Pepe" Roswaldy is an Assistant Professor in Master of Sustainabilty program at Monash University, Indonesia. Pepe is an Arryman Scholar and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University.
Pepe’s dissertation, "Profiting off the Future Loss: Land Speculation & Brokerage in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Plantations," investigates the persistence of Indonesia’s oil palm plantation economy through the lens of human geography & asset economy. Pepe also works on community rebuilding in the aftermath of a land conflict. Their work has been published on Jurnal Antropologi Indonesia, International Quarterly for Asian Studies, & Journal of Agrarian Change. Pepe also engages in public-facing scholarship and extends their research output through creative means, including zines, documentary movies, & creative non-fiction.
Pepe pursues both theoretical and practical contributions in their research. Along with their informants and fellow palm oil researchers, Pepe co-founded Sawit Womxn Educational Group (SWEG), a learning hub for women plantation workers and political ecologists. An environmental sociologist, Pepe’s core research has focused on how socio-economic changes and spatial alterations interact & influence each other. Pepe is trained in qualitative methods, specifically ethnography & interviews. They also incorporate ecography (specifically water & soil sampling) and Geographical Information System (GIS) to enrich the qualitative data. Currently, Pepe is working towards a manuscript on land resettlement programs across Southeast Asia.
More information
- Roswaldy, P. "Women Workers and Body Politics in Indonesia’s Oil Palm Plantations." Plant Perspective (Forthcoming 2026).
- Roswaldy, P. "Plantation Imaginarium: Futures and Afterlives of Palm Oil Plantations in Indonesia." In Political Ecologies of Futurity: Storytelling Plantation Afterlives, Climate Erasure, and Socioecological Justice, by Alex Moulton & Dylan Harris (Eds). Lexington Books. Forthcoming (August 2025).
- Roswaldy, P. "Mending the Broken Clock: Gender and Socioecological Changes in Post-Conflict North Sumatra." Journal of Agrarian Change. Online first (April 2025). https:// doi.org/10.1111/joac.70017. In a process of translation into Indonesia, published in an ontology of Indonesia’s rural labor, published by Insist Press.
- Roswaldy, P. "Now I’m Constantly Sick: Environmental Degradation and the Impact on Toba Women’s Health After Land Conflict." International Quarterly for Asian Studies. Vol 55(4):3. https://doi.org/10.11588/iqas.2024.3.25685. Translated into Indonesian. "Tiada Jalan Kembali: Perubahan Kesejahteraan Perempuan Adat Toba Pasca Konflik." Politik Marjinalisasi Jokowi (Jokowi’s Marginalization Politics) 2025. Edited by Amanda Tho Seeth and Jafar Surya Menggolo, Marjin Kiri.
- Roswaldy, P. "Queering Ecology: Three Investigations from Indigenous Women in Post-Conflict North Sumatra," Antropologi Indonesia: Vol. 44(2), 2023. https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/jai/vol44/iss2/6
- Political ecology
- Just transition
- Development and agrarian studies
- Environmental policy
- Post-conflict socio-ecology
- Nature- and community-based solutions for sustainability
- Land Deals Politics Initiative Small Research Grants ($3,000), the International Institute for Social Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam (2023)
- History and Political Economy Project Research Grant at the Arrighi Center for Global Studies, John Hopkins University ($3,000) (2023)
- The Buffett Institute’s Dissertation Travel Grant, Northwestern University ($4,800) (2023)
- American-Indonesian Cultural & Educational Foundation, ($3,000) for PhD dissertation project: How Much Land Does a State Need? The Resurgence of Plantations in Indonesia (2022)
- Kellog’s Dispute Resolution & Research Center, Northwestern University, ($4,038) for MA thesis (2019)
- "The Very People on the Ground, at the Heart of These Carbon-Emitting Agribusiness, are Often Invisible." Palm Oil Workers and Decarbonization in Indonesia. Interview with Sawit Women’s Educational Group for Commodity Frontiers. 2025
- "Unearthing Production: Roundtable Discussions with Chris Abdul Hakim Martinez, Perdana "Pepe Roswaldy," and Peter Vale." History of Political Economy Project. 2025
- "Green Gold: Indonesia’s Palm Oil & Plantation Economy" Phenomenal World. 2025
- Comparative Research on Gender & Reparations in Southeast Asia: Aceh, Indonesia. Analytical Report for Asia Justice & Rights. 2023
- "Dissolving Empire" Trajectories: ASA Comparative Historical Sociology Newsletter, Vl. 33(1). 2022
- Tropic Fever (an hour documentary movie on colonial plantations), collaboration with Mahardika Yudha & Robin Hartanto Honggare. 2021
- Available on Cinelogue.
- Selected for the 65th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (September 2022) – category Long Documentary & Animated Film
- Nominated for the Silver Dove prize for Long Documentary
- International Critics Award - FIPRESCI
- Prize for Interreligious Jury
- Arryman Scholarship Award
- Northwestern Legal Studies Graduate Fellow & Assistantship
- Northwestern Writing Place Fellow