ECOLOGICAL ETHNICITY IN THE MAKING - DEVELOPMENTALIST HEGEMONIES AND EMERGENT IDENTITIES IN INDIA

Why are certain ecologically exploited regions in middle India also th e hotbeds of ethnoregionalism? Why are ethnic groups fighting to stop big dams or to gain control over their land and forest resources, dema nding autonomy of governance at the community and regional level? More significantly, why would the resolution of ecological conflict requir e self-governance of communities? I explicate these questions by provi ding an ecological reinterpretation of ethnic movements in middle Indi a, particularly in Jharkhand and the Narmada valley. I show that while ethnicity might be the form in which they are expressed, these moveme nts are firmly grounded in ecological subordination. What is emerging is an ''ecological ethnicity'' that goes beyond a narrowly defined eth nic politics. Ecological ethnicity derives further impetus when it ent ers into relations of equivalence with other historical subjects who a re also subordinated in different equations of power. Embedded in a re latively autonomous subaltern space, ecological ethnicity discursively contests the very foundation of the developmentalist state.