Negotiating the Grassland: The Policy of Pasture Enclosures and Contested Resource Use in Inner Mongolia

Abstract

The recent policy trend in Inner Mongolia toward privatized household enclosures, on what was until recently regarded as common grazing land, is increasing social inequalities and contributing to the decline of the natural resource-base. The move towards household enclosures incorporates the neoliberal influenced discourse on conventional grassland science incorporating carrying capacity and succession theories. In addition, parallel moves by the state towards modernity and development more generally have down played the cultural knowledge base of these pastoral minorities. The paper discusses some preliminary results from a community-based grassland management project in Inner Mongolia and recent anthropological research in the region. This shows that a more serious concern should be given to incorporating multiple stakeholder perspectives and that a more critical position is required in order to understand the impact of enclosures in non-equilibrium contexts. In line with these findings, it is suggested...