A Fine Balance? Value-relations, Post-capitalism and Forest Conservation-A Case from India
James, Annie (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Broome, Neema Pathak (Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group)

Date:	2023
Abstract:	The serious need for anti-capitalist theory and action in a crisis-ridden world is widely acknowledged. Recent scholarship in conservation abides by this understanding, and finer deliberation on the links between radical theory and ongoing practices have grown but are still marginal. In this article, we study a case of community forest governance in Korchi, Maharashtra in India, where 87 village institutions and their federation have been striving to govern and manage surrounding forests in ecologically-sustainable and democratically-collective ways. Using Marx's labour theory of value and metabolic rift concept, in combination with Ariel Salleh's notion of metabolic value, we explore how Korchi's attempt at eco-sufficiency is premised upon a fine balance between different values its villagers associate with their forests. This requires us to see Korchi's villagers as meta-industrial labourers, a term Salleh uses for workers whose labouring practices-marked by care and reciprocity-typically lie on the marginsof capitalism. Using the (analytical) lens of value relations, we show how such practices towards forests help sustain a healthy metabolic relation between humans and nature, not dominated by exchange value concerns. We thus offer conceptual nuance on how post-capitalist theory can better support the real-world practice of alternatives to mainstream conservation.
Grants:	"la Caixa" Foundation LCF/BQ/DI20/11780011
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials i que es distribueixin sota la mateixa llicència que regula l'obra original. Cal que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Community forest governance ; Conservation alternatives ; Indian Adivasi worldviews ; Metabolic rift ; Metabolic value ; Post-capitalism
Published in:	Conservation and Society, Vol. 21, Issue 3 (July 2023) , p. 188-199, ISSN 0975-3133

DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_112_22

12 p, 826.4 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles