Living with Oil and Coal:Resource Politics and Militarization in Northeast India

205 Pages·2019·29.04 MB·English

by  Dolly Kikon

This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:16:09 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Culture, PlaCe, and nature
Studies in Anthropology and Environment
K. Sivaramakrishnan, Series Editor
Centered in anthropology, the Culture, Place, and Nature series encom-
passes new interdisciplinary social science research on environmental
issues, focusing on the intersection of culture, ecology, and politics in
global, national, and local contexts. Contributors to the series view envi-
ronmental knowledge and issues from the multiple and often conflicting
perspectives of various cultural systems.
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:16:09 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:16:09 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Living with
Oil and Coal
resourCe PolitiCs and
Militarization in northeast india
Dolly Kikon
university of Washington Press
Seattle
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:16:09 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Living with Oil and Coal was made possible in part by a Research Support
Grant from the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of
Melbourne.
Copyright © 2019 by the University of Washington Press
Printed and bound in the United States of America
Composed in Warnock Pro, typeface designed by Robert Slimbach
All photographs are by the author
23 22 21 20 19 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
university of Washington Press
www.washington.edu/uwpress
library of Congress Cataloging-in-PubliCation data
Names: Kikon, Dolly, author.
Title: Living with oil and coal : resource politics and militarization in Northeast
India / Dolly Kikon.
Description: Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2019] | Series: Culture,
place, and nature | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: lCCn 2018049575 (print) | lCCn 2018051562 (ebook) | isbn 9780295745022
(ebook) | isbn 9780295745039 (hardcover : alk. paper) | isbn 9780295743950
(pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: lCsh: Mineral industries—India, Northeastern. | Natural resources—
Political aspects—India, Northeastern. | Natural resources—Social aspects—
India, Northeastern. | Citizenship—India, Northeastern. | India, Northeastern—
Politics and government. | India, Northeastern—Social conditions.
Classification: lCC HD9506.I42 (ebook) | lCC HD9506.I42 K55 2019 (print) |
ddC 333.8/209541—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018049575
Cover design: Mary Yang
Cover PhotograPh: Traders inspecting a collapsed coal mine in Nagaland.
Photograph by the author.
The paper used in this publication is acid free and meets the minimum require-
ments of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48–1984.∞
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:16:09 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Dedicated to Nilikesh Gogoi (1969–2007)
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:16:09 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:16:09 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Contents
Foreword by K. Sivaramakrishnan ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 3
ChaPter one
Storytellers 28
ChaPter tWo
Difficult Loves 45
ChaPter three
State Loves 63
ChaPter four
The Haats 86
ChaPter five
Extractive Relations 102
ChaPter six
Carbon Fantasies and Aspirations 120
ChaPter seven
Carbon Citizenship 135
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:09:47 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
ePilogue
Past, Present, Future 151
Notes 157
Bibliography 169
Index 179
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:09:47 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
foreWord
Informed by perspectives from political ecology, over the last couple of
decades, anthropological studies of natural resource extraction have often
converged on some conception of a frontier. This may be a political frontier,
a place on the boundaries of a nation-state where extractive economies flour-
ish and disrupt local economies and societies. It may also be a cultural fron-
tier, where exploited land or mineral or hydrocarbon wealth exists in the
traditional territories of indigenous people, ethnic minorities, or tribes/
adivasis (in South Asia). And it may also be an ecological frontier, where
farming gives way to agro-pastoralism, or extensive cultivation, or simply
forests on hills that are logged or protected.
More recently these ready mappings of space, territory, and society have
come under closer scrutiny. Resources and frontiers are now examined for
the ways they are defined, articulated, and produced by human cooperation
and conflict, sometimes with nature as non-human life or vibrant matter.
The role of technology and markets, alongside state building and social
movements, is studied more carefully to suggest that extractive economies
produce more than frontiers where nature and disenfranchised minorities
are jointly deprived. In such work on resource frontiers, the constitution of
resources and the making of social communities that construct social ecolo-
gies of extraction, development, and militarized sociality are receiving inno-
vative analysis. Dolly Kikon’s study of the borderlands between Assam and
Nagaland in Northeast India is one such creative project based on sustained
long-term research in a region in which she has worked for more than a
decade in many capacities.
Kikon provides a fascinating account of how boundaries and borders are
made, disputed, and maintained. Commerce, security forces, territorial
anxiety of village residents, and interstate conflict marked as ethnic differ-
entiation all generate the borders and associated outcomes; the borders are
ix
This content downloaded from
(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)128.111.121.42 on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:09:51 UTC(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)(cid:0)
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms