| Indian conservation policy excludes local people from residing in or utilizing National Parks. This paper, using historical, interview and focus group data, seeks to demystify contemporary exclusion-induced antagonisms amongst people living adjacent to Madhav National Park. It presents these antagonisms as the product of a "double fetishization" of nature. First, it connects present exclusionary policy to long-standing traditions of the exercise of elite power over territorial claims and the "production" of nature, challenging the apparent dichotomy between nature as a commodity and as a symbol, and grounding contemporary conflict in older struggles over access rights. Second, it links exclusion to late 20th century, western, environmentalist, ideological and de-contextualized pre-occupations with biodiversity and pristine wilderness preservation within third world spaces. It provides an example of deep-seated, persistent human intervention in an "untouched" nature and indicates a widespread need to re-evaluate strict exclusion and similar policies that falsely detach nature from culture. |
