Paper short abstract:

An inquiry into the manifestation of caste inequalities and hierarchies through multiple spaces of ecology–the everyday ecological spaces and the more universal forest spaces of the Kumaon region. The colonial aspects of the region’s ecology will be juxtaposed against the ecology of the everyday.

Paper long abstract:

The study aims to find a broader understanding of the politics of ecology and to find meaningful insights into the politics of caste and village in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. It looks into ecology as encompassing larger social relations of caste and community and the extent to which ecology is co-opted by these equations in supporting unequal social relations.

The intricate upper caste hierarchies of the Kumaon region require more than a comparison along traditional lines of social structure. A deeper understanding of the politics of ecology will help to put into perspective the different configurations of power relations between the major caste groups of Kumaon. Different configuration of castes and the sub-castes in the region- as this work will argue - need an ecological perspective.

The work will juxtapose the caste hierarchies of Kumaon against hierarchies as presented by the ecology of the region. The subtleties of ecological hierarchies often conceal aspects of exclusion and discrimination. A study of caste oppression in the region therefore, needs a broader canvass, and a re-evaluation of the region's politics of ecology can provide sufficient space to interpret the subtleties behind these oppressions. Even as traditional hierarchies are important demarcations to understand caste divisions, the work presses upon the need to go beyond these interpretations for understanding the intricacies of caste hierarchies in the region.