IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v49y2018i5p1248-1267.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Community Conservation and the (Mis)appropriation of Taboo

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah R. Osterhoudt

Abstract

Community conservation initiatives have long struggled to forge productive relationships with the people living in and around protected areas. Currently, there is enthusiasm among conservation researchers and practitioners regarding local cultural taboos, which often appear to conserve species and landscapes of ecological importance. However, in incorporating local taboos into conservation programmes, there is the risk that these culturally sophisticated institutions are used in a highly reductionist manner. Drawing from ethnographic work in Madagascar, this article highlights how the simplification of cultural taboos can exasperate already fraught relationships between communities and conservation organizations, and undermine the very environmental outcomes that groups seek to promote. This reductionist approach can also lead to the harmful appropriation of local meanings and resources. Overall, while working with local taboos may potentially offer an alternative to neoliberal models of conservation, scholars and practitioners should recognize the dynamic and interconnected processes connected with taboos, instead of regarding them as static and interchangeable products.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah R. Osterhoudt, 2018. "Community Conservation and the (Mis)appropriation of Taboo," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(5), pages 1248-1267, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:49:y:2018:i:5:p:1248-1267
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12413
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12413
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dech.12413?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Murat Arsel & Bram Büscher, 2012. "Nature™ Inc.: Changes and Continuities in Neoliberal Conservation and Market-based Environmental Policy," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 53-78, January.
    2. Krishna B. Ghimire, 1994. "Parks and People: Livelihood Issues in National Parks Management in Thailand and Madagascar," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 25(1), pages 195-229, January.
    3. Robert Fletcher, 2012. "Using the Master's Tools? Neoliberal Conservation and the Evasion of Inequality," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 295-317, January.
    4. Tania Murray Li, 1996. "Images of Community: Discourse and Strategy in Property Relations," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 27(3), pages 501-527, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Osterhoudt, Sarah & Galvin, Shaila Seshia & Graef, Dana J. & Saxena, Alder Keleman & Dove, Michael R., 2020. "Chains of Meaning: Crops, commodities, and the ‘in-between’ spaces of trade," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    2. Eero Palmujoki & Pekka Virtanen, 2016. "Global, National, or Market? Emerging REDD+ Governance Practices in Mozambique and Tanzania," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(1), pages 59-78, February.
    3. Julie A. Silva & Nicole Motzer, 2015. "Hybrid Uptakes of Neoliberal Conservation in Namibian Tourism-based Development," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(1), pages 48-71, January.
    4. Johnson, Craig & Forsyth, Timothy, 2002. "In the Eyes of the State: Negotiating a "Rights-Based Approach" to Forest Conservation in Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1591-1605, September.
    5. George Cusworth & Jennifer Dodsworth, 2021. "Using the ‘good farmer’ concept to explore agricultural attitudes to the provision of public goods. A case study of participants in an English agri-environment scheme," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(4), pages 929-941, December.
    6. van der Hoff, Richard & Rajão, Raoni & Leroy, Pieter & Boezeman, Daan, 2015. "The parallel materialization of REDD+ implementation discourses in Brazil," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 37-45.
    7. Cameron White, 2016. "The conditions of practical action: Neoliberalism and sustainability in the Australian road construction industry," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1501-1515, December.
    8. Karolien van Teijlingen & Barbara Hogenboom, 2016. "Debating Alternative Development at the Mining Frontier: Buen Vivir and the Conflict around El Mirador Mine in Ecuador," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 32(4), pages 382-420, December.
    9. Timothy Cadman & Lauren Eastwood & Federico Lopez-Casero Michaelis & Tek N. Maraseni & Jamie Pittock & Tapan Sarker, 2015. "The Political Economy of Sustainable Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15773.
    10. Elizabeth J. Z. Robinson & Heidi J. Albers & Charles Meshack & Razack B. Lokina, 2013. "Implementing REDD through community‐based forest management: Lessons from Tanzania," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(3), pages 141-152, August.
    11. Campbell, Bruce & Mandondo, Alois & Nemarundwe, Nontokozo & Sithole, Bevlyne & De JonG, Wil & Luckert, Marty & Matose, Frank, 2001. "Challenges to Proponents of Common Property Recource Systems: Despairing Voices from the Social Forests of Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 589-600, April.
    12. Muradian, Roldan & Rival, Laura, 2012. "Between markets and hierarchies: The challenge of governing ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 93-100.
    13. Benra, Felipe & Nahuelhual, Laura, 2019. "A trilogy of inequalities: Land ownership, forest cover and ecosystem services distribution," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 247-257.
    14. Shaila Sharmeen, 2014. "The Politics of Irrigation," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 9(1), pages 49-70, April.
    15. Emmanuel Kumi & Albert Arhin & Thomas Yeboah, 2014. "Can post-2015 sustainable development goals survive neoliberalism? A critical examination of the sustainable development–neoliberalism nexus in developing countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 539-554, June.
    16. Matose, Frank, 2006. "Co-management options for reserved forests in Zimbabwe and beyond: Policy implications of forest management strategies," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 363-374, June.
    17. Herath Gunatileke & Ujjayant Chakravorty, 2003. "Protecting Forests Through Farming. A Dynamic Model of Nontimber Forest Extraction," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(1), pages 1-26, January.
    18. van der Hoff, Richard & Rajão, Raoni & Leroy, Pieter, 2019. "Can REDD+ still become a market? Ruptured dependencies and market logics for emission reductions in Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 121-129.
    19. Gunatilake, H.M & Wickramasinghe, W.A.R & Abeygunawardena, P., 2009. "Time Preference and Natural Resource Use by Local Communities: The Case of Sinharaja Forest in Sri Lanka," Sri Lankan Journal of Agricultural Economics, Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA), vol. 10, pages 1-31.
    20. Debojyoti Das, 2020. "Modernity Lacks Care: Community-based Development and the Moral Economy of Households in Eastern Nagaland," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 15(1), pages 97-116, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:49:y:2018:i:5:p:1248-1267. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.