Abstract
Environmental justice movements provide resistances against and alternatives to projects of resource extraction as a result of pre-existing inequalities. These projects are envisioned in the name of development, yet disproportionately affect the marginalised communities. Hence, marginal communities are often the frontline environmental defenders. For India, the Indigenous population, called the Adivasis, have faced the brunt of this capitalist growth model. In this chapter, I discuss how Adivasis have been resisting and providing alternate visions for post-capitalist futures, first by looking at a brief history of Adivasi mobilisations within the environmental justice movement in India, and then analysing a case study from Kerala in South India. I also highlight what an Adivasi understanding of post-capitalist utopia entails. I conclude that future-oriented visions of universal wellbeing should include a decolonising approach of learning from and with Adivasis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bijoy, C.R. 2006. Kerala’s Plachimada Struggle: A Narrative on Water and Governance Rights. Economic and Political Weekly 41 (41): 4332–4339.
Bullard, Robert Doyle. 1993. Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots. Boston: South End Press.
Dey, Dipankar. 2010. Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development in India: A Case of Internal Colonialism. Accessed May 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1648744.
Guha, Ramachandra. 2007. Adivasis, Naxalites and Indian Democracy. Economic and Political Weekly 11: 3305–3312.
Kothari, Ashish. 2014. Radical Ecological Democracy: A Path Forward for India and Beyond. Development 57 (1): 36–45.
Martinez-Alier, Joan. 2003. The Environmentalism of the Poor: A Study of Ecological Conflicts and Valuation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Pulido, Laura. 1996. Environmentalism and Economic Justice: Two Chicano Struggles in the Southwest. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press.
———. 2017. Geographies of Race and Ethnicity II: Environmental Racism, Racial Capitalism and State-sanctioned Violence. Progress in Human Geography 41(4): 524–533. Accessed May 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516646495.
Scheidel, Arnim, et al. 2020. Environmental Conflicts and Defenders: A Global Overview. Global Environmental Change 63, 102104. Accessed May 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102104.
Shiva, Vandana. 2005. Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace. London: Zed Books.
Shrivastava, Aseem, and Ashish Kothari. 2012. Churning the Earth: The Making of Global India. New Delhi: Penguin.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Roy, B. (2022). Environmental Justice Movements as Mediums of Post-Capitalist Futures: Perspectives from India. In: Alexander, S., Chandrashekeran, S., Gleeson, B. (eds) Post-Capitalist Futures. Alternatives and Futures: Cultures, Practices, Activism and Utopias. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6530-1_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6530-1_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-6529-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-6530-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)