Macario Lacbawan
Postdoctoral fellow
My work focuses on emerging environmental processes and relations that define contemporary experiences of indigeneity. I analyze the extent to which government interventions into climate change create conditions where indigenous lives become ineligible and absent as subjects with claims to recognition. I do this by describing how the construction of New Clark City (NCC) in the Philippines serves as a utopian space where imaginations and desires for a future-proof existence - one that is free of disasters and catastrophes – are materially and physically enacted by the government. In my project, I delve into the material and discursive underpinnings of this utopia, examining how the Philippine state employs (1) depoliticizing narratives of apocalypse, (2) disseminates scientific knowledge, and (3) implements green technologies. Through this analysis, I aim to elucidate how the pursuit of climate-resilient spaces also perpetuates the invisibility of indigenous peoples.
I received my formal training in social anthropology and cultural sociology. My research interests lie at the intersection of indigeneity, climate change, social movement, governmentality, and environmental humanities.