IDENTITY NEGOTIATIONS AMIDST CONFLICT:

A CASE STUDY IN CENTRAL INDIA

Researcher
Swati Mukherjee

Under the Supervision of

Dr. Ritambhara Hebbar,
Professor, School of Development Studies
Chairperson, Centre for Study of Developing Societies

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The Backdrop
 The paradox of development perpetuated by
neo-liberalism
 Complicity of the state with market oriented
development
 Usurping of lives and livelihoods
 State-society polarisation
 Social movements that argue for specific
identity claims of the marginalised.

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Research Questions
 What are the dynamics of day-to-day
interactions between government agencies and
the society and how these influence the identity
construal of the community? And,

 How emergence of the identities that gain

salience through such everyday interactions
contributes to amelioration or fuelling of the
conflict situations?

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Objectives
 To study the dynamics of power and identity
emerging through day-to-day interactions within
society and through interactions with the
government agencies at various levels.
 To observe the functioning of the grass root
level democratic processes in the village and
there impact on the power structures of
government and society.
 To analyse the history of social dynamics,
conflict and identity politics in the region.
 To interpret and analyse the everyday power
dynamics in the light of the larger socio-
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Presentation identity
Methodology
 Situating the Research:
 Situating the work within the geo-political and socio-
historical circumstances of the community.

 Ethnographic Fieldwork:
 Field work with the community and government
agencies at the village, block and district level.
 Interpretivist framework wherein the focus was on
meanings and identities as they emerged in the
context of dynamics of social conflict.

 Collating the primary and secondary data

and chapter writing
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Interpretivist Framework
 Awareness and witnessing of oppression
and resistance and multi-level struggles for
social justice in prevalent neo-liberal geo-
political contexts.
 Moving from ‘politically neutral’ to a critical
reflexive stance.
 Reflexivity
and shared construction of
knowledge.
 Producinga ‘thick description’ of
experiential reality.
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Locating the project
 Locating at the periphery
 Rural and urban
 Tribe and Non-tribe

 The ‘Continuum of violence’ (Bourgois, 2001;

Scheper-Hughes & Bourgois, 2004)

 Emerging neo-liberal contexts

 Multi-sited Ethnography

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District Chhindwara

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Locating the field

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Chapter Outlines
 Chapter 1- Introduction
 Introduction to the research
 Conflicts with the state in neo-liberal
development paradigm
 Issues of identity in conflict
 Objectives of research
 Chapter outline
 Chapter 2- Methodology
 Ethnography in the margins
 Narratives of identity
 Beyond the physical field

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  Chapter 3- Review of literature
 Conflicts and contestations over natural
resources with a focus on dams and irrigation
projects
 Negotiations with the state
 Negotiating identities

 Chapter 4- Chhindwara: Constructing a

Discursive field

 Chapter 5- Conflict and negotiated

identities: On a narrative quest
 Chapter 6- Conclusion
 A critical reflection on the neo-liberal state
 Considerations for ameliorating the conflict
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 Chapter IV

Chhindwara: Constructing a
discursive field

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 Concept of discursive fields as…..
“embedding” concepts in that they reference broader
enveloping contexts in which discussions, decisions, and
actions take place. Discursive fields evolve during the course
of discussion and debate, sometimes but not always
contested, about relevant events and issues, and encompass
cultural materials (e.g., beliefs, values, ideologies, myths) of
potential relevance and various sets of actors (e.g., targeted
authorities, social control agents, counter movements,
media) whose interests are aligned, albeit differently, with
the issues or events in question, and who thus have a stake
in how those events and issues are framed and/or narrated.
(David Snow, 2013)

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 “…..a form of power that circulates in the
social field and can attach to strategies of
domination as well as those of resistance.”
(Diamond & Quinby, 1988)

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Chhindwara through the ages

 One of the three major aboriginal

(Gond)kingdoms that ruled Central Indian
hills in the middle ages
 Relative autonomy
 Active engagement with the ‘mainstream’
 Subsequent usurping by Maratha and
British rulers
 Progressive marginalisation (Zomia? Scott)
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Pench: River, people and the project
 The river not central to lives and livelihoods
 Small tributary of Wainganga- Godavari (not
perennial)
 Sustains wildlife downstream
 Fertile lands- intensive agriculture systems
 Exclusive dependence on agriculture
 Gaolis, Lodhis and Gonds
 Land as a source of power and dominance
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 Chapter V

Conflict and negotiated identities:

On a narrative quest

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Seeing like the state

 Who is displaced: Of resettlement and

rehabilitation
 The new land acquisition act
 It’s all about money: The emergent neo-liberal
contexts
 Whose land: On eminent domain and public
purpose

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The protest and its protagonists
 Land acquisition: A wedge issue
 Fighting a battle everyday: Intimidation,
violence, fear and distrust
 Existence in the shadow of the state

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Conflict and negotiated identities
 Identity as a dynamic process
 Interaction spaces between the state and the people
 State response to the project
 Land as an inalienable asset and associated
symbolic practices
 Usurping of identities- ‘Serviceable other’ (Sampson,
1993)
 Protest as an alternate identification
 Essentialising identities

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Conclusion
 A critical reflection on the neo-liberal state
 State-society-market relations in the context of
land rights
 Beyond simplistic categorisations
 Considerations for ameliorating the conflict

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 The context of work
and
Some images from the research field

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A dateline of major events
 Projects (Dam and Power Plant) conceptualised in
1980s
 Some land acquired- lies unutilised- Projects lie
dormant
 Acquired land sold off to private company at high
prices
 Discontent begins
 Construction of dam begins in 2009- haltingly- due
to various reasons- also corruption allegations
 Resistance in the acquisition area
 Strong protests in specific areas-Construction
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A dateline of major events
 Construction begun forcefully despite strong protests with
heavy police presence in Nov 2012
 No local labour utilised
 Local leadership emerges
 Bonds formed with larger movements at national level
 Govt imposes prohibitory orders- arrests protesters
 Immediate evacuees refuse to move as no suitable
rehabilitation provided
 Protests gain momentum- petitioneering, dharnas,
meetings, demands for public hearings, negotiations with
the govt

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A dateline of major events
 Vidhan Sabha elections in late 2013
 New land acquisition act implemented by the
government- earlier law not repealed
 Lok Sabha elections in 2014-Change in political
dynamics
 Change in protest discourse as a result of these
dynamics
 Legal activism at the local level

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The river and the dam

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A village in submergence area

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Mobilisation by leaders

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A public meeting in protest

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After a focus group

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 Thank you

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