Paper short abstract:

Literature on tropical environmental governance through the lens of intersectionality misses African contexts. Through ethnography of a charcoal formalisation project in Tanzania, I bring new empirical insights, showing how intra- and inter- social group differences shape responses to the project.

Paper long abstract:

There is a small but growing literature that analyse tropical environmental politics and governance through the lens of intersectionality. However, the literature has benefitted more with empirical case studies from Southeast Asia than Africa. This paper brings new empirical insights from the neoliberalised conservation landscapes in rural eastern Tanzania, through an examination of socially differentiated local responses to an anti-deforestation intervention. Basing on the ongoing charcoal formalisation project in Ihombwe and Ulaya-Mbuyuni villages of Rural Kilosa district, the paper studies intra- and inter- 'community' dynamics and associated fabrics and explores the intersections of ethnicity, age and livelihood strategies, and their influences on the responses to the project. Drawing on ethnography of the project, I show how resource-dependent people enforce deliberative spaces within neoliberal conservation to contest, negotiate and reshape existing social fabrics, and challenge the historical domination of the locally superior and powerful social identity system, ukalagale and undewa, 'us'. This tendency of categorical 'us' and the rest as 'others' produce diverse and conflicting social interactions, and privileged and discriminatory practices that shape the local political economy and responses. Consequently, the powerless and marginalised 'others' use the project as an arena for claiming intra- and inter- community sociopolitical and ecological justices, and attaining social recognition. This paper revisits the notion of 'community' in conservation and development studies, suggesting that it is still grossly simplified and misleading, as it brushes aside complex and heterogeneous intra- and inter- social dynamics and local agency. For just outcomes, rural conservation-development interventions should understand and prioritise socially differentiated interests and ambitions during the planning stages.