Mobile immobility in Flores, Indonesia. The meaning of being left behind

Abstract

What does it mean to live in ‘left behind’ places in an era of globalisation? This article argues that despite widespread urbanization, increased mobility and access to education and technology, many rural young people from Outer island Indonesia continue to be left behind. Drawing on household surveys and in-depth interviews with smallholders and youth from a farming village in Flores, Indonesia, I show what being left behind means at the household and individual levels. These human perspectives add meaning to what being left behind means in several important ways. First, it shows how being left behind was informed from Indonesia's Outer island history, creating a dependent relationship on Inner urban areas, a relationship which continues to persist today. Second, being left behind lends understanding for why many rural youth migrate out of a rural village, and how this directs the hopes and investments of rural families' in urban centres. The greater significance of these trends are how being left behind in the 21st Century does improve access to mobility, technology and education, but it does little incorporate poorer rural families in long-term or productive ways, and leaves questions for younger generations' rural pathways.