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Paper short abstract

The paper examines oral narratives of myth and history as a tool of assertion by local communities in Kaziranga National Park (India) to make claims against land grab for nature conservation. These narratives invoke the question of identity, local knowledge and co-existence to ascertain legitimacy.

Paper long abstract

Nature conservation projects have been linked to marginalisation of local communities across the globe through land grab and enclosure. Conflicts in exclusionary conservation spaces generate contestations over resources and knowledge between local communities and conservation authorities. Although in unequal power relations with the authorities, local communities make claims and assertions to defend their right to land and livelihood, challenging the idea of Protected Areas and the formation of an ‘encroacher’ identity. This paper examines the invocation of oral narratives of historical belongingness as a claim-making in this process of contestation. It explores this through the case of villages in the periphery of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam, India, which have been engulfed into the new ‘Additions’ to the Park’s area. The communities make claims through organised resistance in the form of public protests or legal battles, lobbying with the ones in power, everyday forms of resistance like grazing cattle in acquired lands, and through narratives disseminated in everyday conversations. In these processes of claim-making, oral narratives of myth and history become a tool to assert their rights as legitimate inhabitants of the space. Foraging, fishing, interaction with animals, migration and assistance in the creation of the Park become central to the narratives. Analysing these narratives, the paper aims to explore the manner in which they entwine with discourses on identity, local and indigenous ecological knowledge and community based conservation. Through this, the paper also portrays how oral narratives of different communities are perceived differently and given legitimacy.