Translating Biofuel, Discounting Farmers

Abstract

This paper employs the notion of translation introduced in ANT literature to study the current bio-fuel development in Indonesia. Despite the presence of some activities by scientists, businessmen, policy makers, and farmers, diffusion of bio-fuel innovation seems to remain very limited. The paper aims at understanding the bio-fuel development trajectory by seeking to disclose a variety of elements that shape the trajectory. We also make use of the notion of ‘qualculation’, to further diagnose the trajectory. Bio-fuel translations generated by three different scientists are described in the paper. We show that the translations follow specific patterns of qualculation, namely ‘proliferation’ and ‘rarefaction’. We use this to make sense of the current diffusion of bio-fuel innovation in Indonesia. Beside this contextual result, the paper also seeks to contribute to ANT literature by exploring the concept of qualculation in the analysis of technological innovation.