Dispirited Landscapes of the Anthropocene: Angry Spirits, Uncertain Futures,
and the Indeterminacy of Resource Extraction in Malaysia
Aida Arosoaie
PhD Candidate in Anthropology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
To Orang Asli Semelai (an ancestrally forest-dwelling community in Malaysia), weather cues associated with climate change, such as bloodred sunsets and erratic rainfall, signal the unprecedented anger of forest spirits in the aftermath of deforestation. In addition to afflicting them with violent death, chronic disease, and suspended livelihoods, the spirits have cut off communication by refusing to appoint a new shaman, thus leaving the Semelai in affective limbo. As community members speculate on the indeterminate nature of the spirits’ anger and their uncertain futures, their rumination brings into sharp focus the diffused responsibility for interrelated practices of extraction in Malaysia and their indefinite effects. This talk captures Orang Asli Semelai’s homelands as dispirited landscapes to critically examine the indeterminacy of resource extraction amidst intensifying climate catastrophe, offering an ethnographic lens to the irresolvable politics of accountability marking the Anthropocene.