The practical politics of knowing: State environmental knowledge and localpolitical economy

Study of local environmental knowledge has led to a general critique of sta te epistemology, positing a controlling, official knowledge that crushes co mpeting accounts of nature. Skeptical of that claim, in this paper I assess the differences between state and local knowledge empirically, using a cas e study of the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan, India, to explo re the way knowledge varies across class, caste, gender, and affiliation wi thin the state forest bureaucracy. The results show that state versus local knowing is not the most meaningful division in epistemology, and that it i s the daily struggle over resources in local political economy that gives r ise to contending accounts of nature and environmental change. The conclusi ons further point to knowledge alliances between state and local actors tha t render certain claims powerful and so determine natural resource manageme nt policy and direct landscape change.