From Subsistence Agriculture to Rural Proletarianization

The Socioeconomic Transformation of Rubber Plantations in Banjar Pataruman during the Colonial Era

Abstract

This study examines how rubber capitalism transformed the agrarian structure and labor relations of Banjar Pataruman during the Dutch colonial period. Using a qualitative historical method, the research draws on colonial archives, statistical records, secondary literature, and oral history interviews. The findings reveal that the expansion of rubber plantations integrated Banjar Pataruman into the colonial export economy, restructuring land use, production systems, and rural livelihoods. Agrarian households that had previously relied on subsistence agriculture became increasingly dependent on wage labor, accelerating the formation of a rural proletariat. This transition was accompanied by the emergence of new social hierarchies, the monetization of local economic life, and growing dependence on global commodity markets. The study argues that rubber plantations functioned as key institutions of colonial capitalist accumulation, facilitating the reconfiguration of land–labor relations and embedding local communities within wider structures of economic dependency. By foregrounding a local case, this research contributes to debates on agrarian transition, rural proletarianization, and colonial capitalism in Indonesia.