Doctoral Dissertation Research: Indigenous Ontologies of Land and Land Politics: A Critical Analysis of Forest Rights Legislation

本博士论文研究将研究土地和国家和土著人民土地权利的不同本体（概念化），以更充分地了解土地冲突及其可能的解决方案。在因国家主导的发展倡议而流离失所的人口中，土著人民占很大比例，但由于他们与特定土地的历史联系，他们往往拒绝获得替代土地作为补偿。他们的意识形态赋予具有特定社会生态意义的土地以价值，从而产生了复杂和多种的土地使用模式和行为，决策者往往难以理解，并使他们与国家发生冲突。通过对2006年印度森林权利法案的案例研究分析，本项目将调查不同的土地和土地权利本体如何影响不同社区土地政策的实施。各州如何界定土地权利？土著社区如何理解他们与特定土地的关系？土地和土地权利的不同本体论如何影响土地政策、冲突和谈判？通过丰富当前对围绕土地的本体论和政治实践之间联系的理解，本研究的发现可以对各种背景下的土地、发展和环境政策产生积极影响，同时为政治生态学、批判性发展研究、环境理论、可持续性研究以及土著和非殖民化研究等领域做出理论贡献。这项研究将在印度喀拉拉邦的两个土著（阿迪瓦西）社区进行，这些社区继续因发展项目而流离失所，同时通过森林和土地保护政策，特别是《森林权利法》，成为林地的合法居民。从历史上看，FRA是一项补偿性立法，承认各种公共土地权利，但自2009年实施以来未能阻止剥夺。阿迪瓦西人表达了对土地的社会生态本体论，而国家则表达了对土地作为财产/资源的不同理解，两者的相遇历来导致冲突。为了理解这一冲突并建立缓解未来冲突的工具，本研究将检查实施森林资源评估的政治过程，以：a)检查阿迪瓦西人的潜在本体论假设和信仰；B)确定这些本体论是否以及如何转化为政治实践；c)说明原住民对土地的本体论信仰是如何与构成FRA基础的印度政府的信仰相一致和不同的。实证案例研究方法利用叙事访谈、参与者观察、焦点小组讨论、事件民族志和档案研究的定性分析，将在15个村庄进行，并与州政府官员一起回答以下研究问题：联邦铁划局的实施过程揭示了原住民与国家土地本体论的什么？这些不同的土地价值体系是如何在土地使用政策和政治中表现出来的？将对数据进行分析，以辨别阿迪瓦西人和国家在阐明他们对土地的不同本体论、他们对彼此、土地的知识和理解以及他们对彼此的知识和理解时所使用的话语、故事和做法。

This doctoral dissertation study will examine different ontologies (conceptualizations) of land and land rights of states and indigenous peoples to more fully understand conflicts over land and their possible resolution. Indigenous peoples account for a significant proportion of people who are displaced by state-led development initiatives, yet they often refuse alternate lands in compensation because of their historical ties to particular lands. Their ideologies accord value to specific socio-ecologically significant lands, giving rise to complex and multiple land use patterns and behaviors that are often illegible to policy makers and put them in conflict with the State. Through a case study analysis of the 2006 Forest Rights Act of India, this project will investigate how different ontologies of land and land rights impact the implementation of land policy in different communities. How do States frame land rights? How do indigenous communities understand their relationship to specific lands? How do different ontologies of land and land rights shape land policies, conflicts and negotiations? By enriching current understandings of the connection between ontology and political practice surrounding land, the findings of this research can positively impact land, development and environmental policy in various contexts, while contributing theoretically to the fields of political ecology, critical development studies, environmental theory, sustainability studies, and indigenous and decolonial studies. This research will be conducted in two indigenous (Adivasi) communities in Kerala, India that continue to be displaced by development projects, while being simultaneously placed via forest and land conservation policies, specifically, the Forest Rights Act (FRA), as legitimate residents of forestlands. The FRA is historically reparative legislation that recognizes various communal land rights but has failed to prevent dispossession since its implementation in 2009. While the Adivasis express a socio-ecological ontology of land, the State expresses a different understanding of land as property/resource, and the meeting of the two has historically resulted in conflict. In an attempt to understand this conflict and build tools to mitigate future conflicts, this research will examine the political process of implementing the FRA to: a) examine the underlying ontological assumptions and beliefs of the Adivasis; b) determine whether and how these ontologies translate into political practice; and c) illustrate how Adivasi ontological beliefs about land converge and diverge with those of the Indian state that underlie the FRA. An empirical case-study approach utilizing qualitative analysis of narrative interviews, participant observation, focus group discussions, event ethnography and archival research will be conducted in 15 hamlets and with state officials to answer the following research questions: What does the FRA implementation process reveal about Adivasi versus state land ontologies? How have these different systems of valuing land been expressed, or not, in land use policy, and politics? Data will be analyzed to discern the discourses, stories and practices that the Adivasis and the State utilize in articulating their differing ontologies of land, and their knowledge and understanding of each other, land, and their knowledge and understanding of each other.