People

Dr. Jacob Nerenberg

Affiliated Researcher

Regional focus: Southeast Asia, Oceania
Dr. Jacob Nerenberg
Dr. Jacob Nerenberg

Positions

01/2020 - 06/2023
Research Fellow, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient
03/2018 - 12/2019
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology, York University

Education

2018
Ph.D., Anthropology (socio-cultural), University of Toronto
2010
M.A., Anthropology (socio-cultural), University of Toronto
2003
B. Eng., Mechanical Engineering, McGill University

Publications

Book Reviews

2013: Review EssayFreedom in Entangled Worlds: West Papua and the Architecture of Global Power (Eben Kirksey) and Laughing at Leviathan: Sovereignty and Audience in West Papua (Danilyn Rutherford). The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 14(5): 486–95.

Web-Based Publications

2020: “Blocking the Pandemic: Boundary Controls in Indonesia’s Far East”. Medizinethnologie, #Witnessing Corona. May 21.

Conference Organization

2022: “Governance of Labour and the Elusive Home Market”, Biennial conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists, Belfast, July 26-29. (With Alina-Sandra Cucu).

2021-2022: “Political Economies of Original Inhabitation”. ZMO-Colloquium Winter Series.

2021: “Baby or Bathwater? Conflations of Development and Underdevelopment in Historical and Materialist Perspective”. Annual conference of the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development, Edmonton, June 4.

2017: “20 Years after Krismon: Indonesia’s Economic Change in the Aftermath of Financial Aggression”. (Roundtable). Biennial Conference of the Canadian Council of Southeast Asian StudiesYork University, Oct. 28.

Talks

Invited Talks

2022: “Une concurrence impossible : Entrepreneuriat autochtone, autonomie et développement en Papouasie, Indonésie”. Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l’Océanie, Marseille, Mar. 11.

2021: “Devancer la crise: Vers une industrialisation à base de minéraux en Indonésie?”. Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin, Nov. 11.

Other Talks (Selection)

2021: “Forestalling Crisis: Mining, Metals, and Resource-Based Industrialization in Eastern Indonesia”. Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Sept. 17.

2020: “’Who Can Compete?’: Debating the Possibility of Indigenous Enterprise in Papua, Indonesia”. Berlin Anthropology Seminar, Freie Universität Berlin, Dec. 16.

2017: “Regulating the Terminal Economy: Difference, Disruption, and Governance in a Papuan Commercial Hub”. Centre for Ethnography, University of Toronto Scarborough, Oct. 19.

2017: “The Playlist”. Ethnography Lab, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Mar. 23.

2017: “Displaced Youth and the Labour of Logistics in West Papua’s Terminal Economy”. Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto, Jan. 19.

Discussant

2017: “Visible and Invisible: Infrastructure and Politics of Cohabitation”. Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, May 8.

Fellowships

2018
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture
2017
Fellowship in Ethnographic Writing, Centre for Ethnography, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto at Scarborough
2016 - 2017
Chancellor Jackman Graduate Fellowship, Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto
2014 - 2015
Doctoral Scholarship, Fonds Québécois de Recherche – Société et Culture
2014 - 2015
Doctoral Research Award, International Development Research Centre (Canada)
2013 - 2014
Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada)

Awards

2015
University of Toronto Faculty Association Al Miller Memorial Award
2011
Sylvia Forman Prize, Association for Feminist Anthropology, American Anthropological Association

Teaching

Teaching

2018: Anthropology of Markets (Topics in Emerging Scholarship, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Toronto)

Research Supervision:

2022: Supervisor to Visiting PhD Student Researcher from Dept. of Anthropology, Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia), at ZMO

Field Course Teaching:

2011: Course Coordinator, University of Toronto and Universitas Gadjah Mada, Independent Experiential Study Project

2010: Course Assistant, University of Toronto and Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia Independent Field Research Course

Professional Service

  • Article review, International Journal of Human Rights; Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute; Dialectical Anthropology; American Ethnologist; Oceania; Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde (Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of
  • Founding member, Ethnography Lab – Infrastructures Group (Dept. of Anthropology, University of Toronto), 2014-2018
  • Organizing committee member, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies (Asian Institute, University of Toronto), 2016-2017
  • Coordinator, Development Seminar (Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto), 2015-2016

Other Research Positions

2019
Coordinator, Kensington Market Research Project, Ethnography Lab, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto
2013 - 2014
Research Consultant, Center for Effective Global Action, University of California, Berkeley

Languages

  • English: fluent
  • French: fluent
  • Indonesian: fluent
  • Spanish: intermediate
  • German: basic
  • Grand Valley Dani: conversational

Memberships

  • Association for the Anthropology of Social Change and Development (France)
  • Canadian Anthropology Society
  • Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies
  • European Association of Social Anthropologists