Abstract
ABSTRACTThis article explores the dynamics of brokerage at the intersection between the justice conceptions enshrined in global norms and the notions of justice asserted in specific socio-environmental struggles. Using the case of a small hydropower project in Nepal, we trace the attempts of an indigenous activist to enrol villagers in his campaign against the background of villagers’ everyday negotiations with the hydropower company. The study shows how global norms, such as indigenous peoples’ rights, may fail to gain traction on the ground or even become sources of injustice in particular contexts.
Highlights
The local chairman of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) has a point: the one meeting held by the project developer with villagers eight years ago does not meet the requirements of the indigenous peoples’ rights to consultation set out in International Labour Organisation Convention 169 (ILO 169), ratified by Nepal’s government
Shyam encounters a more general issue with regard to the linkages between global indigenous rights and socio-environmental struggles in specific sites: the conceptions of justice enshrined in global norms may be different from people’s notions on the ground (Upton 2014; Sikor and Hoang 2016)
Shyam finds himself caught in the middle: between the distributive conceptions dominant on the ground and in national policy, on the one hand, and the emphasis on recognition in mobilisations and global norms on indigenous peoples’ rights, on the other (Doran 2017))
Summary
Shyam is having a hard time convincing the villagers of Bargachhi to support his campaign directed at a small hydropower project.1 The local chairman of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) has a point: the one meeting held by the project developer with villagers eight years ago does not meet the requirements of the indigenous peoples’ rights to consultation set out in International Labour Organisation Convention 169 (ILO 169), ratified by Nepal’s government. Following a brief introduction to the study site, we analyse everyday negotiations over project impacts and benefits to demonstrate how villagers and company institutionalised a particular, distributive notion of justice in line with Nepal’s hydropower policy.
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