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Social Movements in Development pp 234–251Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Conservation for Whom? Van Gujjars and the Rajaji National Park

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Part of the International Political Economy Series book series (IPES)

Abstract

This chapter discusses the growing conflict between people and national park administrations using the example of the Van Gujjars, a people of transhumant buffalo herders. In 1992, after returning from their summer pastures in the higher ranges of the Himalayas, the Van Gujjars were denied entrance to parts of their winter quarters in the Shivalik forest in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which had been proclaimed a national park in 1983. This was the beginning of an open conflict, which has given the ‘victims of conservation’ a human face among the Indian public.

Keywords

  • National Park
  • Collective Identity
  • Forest Department
  • Global Environment Facility
  • Indigenous Culture

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The author is grateful to Avdesh Kaushal and his family in Dehra Dun for their hospitality and friendship during fieldwork. I also want to thank Praveen Kaushal for assistance and for all the discussions we have had about the Van Gujjars and their situation in the forest. The research reported were was financed by SAREC.

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Authors
  1. Pernille Gooch
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Lund, Sweden

    Staffan Lindberg (Associate Professor of Sociology) (Associate Professor of Sociology)

  2. Department of Sociology and the Research Policy Institute, University of Lund, Sweden

    Árni Sverrisson (Assistant Professor of Sociology) (Assistant Professor of Sociology)

Copyright information

© 1997 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Gooch, P. (1997). Conservation for Whom? Van Gujjars and the Rajaji National Park. In: Lindberg, S., Sverrisson, Á. (eds) Social Movements in Development. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25448-4_12

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