Open-L grant for research on environment as heritage in the Himalayas
How can initiatives aimed at environmental conservation and climate change mitigation in the eastern Himalayas proceed from the cultural expectations of its indigenous ethno-linguistic minorities? Enabled by an NWO Open L grant, the research project 'Futuring Heritage: Conservation, Community and Contestation in the Eastern Himalayas' by anthropologist Erik de Maaker aims to answer this question.
Climate change in the eastern Himalayas manifests in rapidly melting glaciers, increasingly severe seasonal flooding, and an overall decline in biodiversity. The urgency to respond to these developments is evident from the sizeable projects aimed at rural development and environmental conservation in the region funded by large international donors such as the World Bank, UNDP and JICA. However, so far, such projects seldom produce the results intended because how the indigenous ethno-linguistic minorities of the eastern Himalayas experience, use and value their threatened environment is so far insufficiently known. Erik de Maaker: “It is crucial to understand the differences in outlook and interests among distinct stakeholders, in how and why people value their environment differently. The project will allow us to conduct specific case studies to gain these insights.”
Creating UNESCO World Heritage sites in the eastern Himalayas
Erik the Maaker has been an unpaid advisor to a (so far unsuccessful) attempt to gain UNESCO World Heritage recognition for a large National Park in the Garo Hills, where he has a long-term ethnographic engagement. "While working on the UNESCO nomination dossier, I realized that there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding among the different stakeholders involved. Preliminary research in relation to another—already acknowledged—World Heritage site in the same region indicates that it faces somewhat similar problems. Our research will compare this recognized case, with one that has stalled for now, as well as one which has so far altogether failed to come off the ground".
Studying people and their perceptions of space and place
The NWO grant will allow De Maaker and two PhD students to study how local residents such as farmers, traders, civil servants and wildlife experts in the eastern Himalayas perceive rivers, forests and mountains, as well as the people, animals, plants and divine presences which are co-constituting these. They will research how this involves unique, overlapping or conflicting views of what counts as an environment worthy of protection. To do so, they will for example explore how historical maps, myths and satellite data are of relevance for the distinct stakeholders, and are rooted in what they consider their heritage, shaping claims towards the environment.
Creating useful tools for science and society
De Maaker: "Increasingly, environments are being valued as a heritage that is recognized by organizations such as UNESCO and UNDP. But this typically leaves out, and thus neglects, what constitutes heritage for ordinary farmers. This project considers heritage as what people in the present value from the past, to be kept for the future. With this project we intend to contribute to academic discourses on heritage, ontology, indigeneity and governance, focusing on how these are interlinked. Synthesizing ethnographic and geospatial data, we intend to develop new innovative methodologies and create tools that are both academically and socially useful".
The project team
The project has been designed with a consortium that centres on Leiden University and Ashoka University (New Delhi), which will also jointly tutor the two PhDs students. Methodological expertise will be provided by the colleague from Ashoka (a historian), by a GIS expert from Bangalore (a geographer) as well by De Maaker (as a visual anthropologist ). The international partners include UNESCO and WWF, along with governmental organizations such as the Indian Forest Department as well as grassroots NGOs from the eastern Himalayas. The project encompasses annual workshops, which will be conducted in the region, to ensure as much as possible the involvement of local experts.
SSH Open L
The SSH Open Competition L funding instrument is open to research proposals addressing any research question or problem in the social sciences and humanities. There are no specific thematic restrictions, giving applicants the freedom to choose their preferred form of funding. This instrument supports excellent disciplinary, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, including basic research.