Who knows the river? Gender, expertise, and the politics of local ecological knowledge production of the Salween River, Thai-Myanmar border

Abstract

This article examines how local knowledge about riverine ecologies influenced the production of expert, gendered, and ethnic identities, and interrogates how these identities and knowledges are ‘co-produced’. Drawing on work in feminist political ecology and science studies, I highlight the links between the production of knowledge and identity. Research was carried out through fieldwork in two villages along the Salween River, at the border between Thailand and Myanmar (Burma), where residents participated in ‘Villager Research’. Here, residents identify as members of ethnic minority groups, mainly the Karen, and undertake a variety of livelihood activities, including fishing, swidden agriculture, rice farming, and entrepreneurial trade. Much of the impetus for residents to undertake the work of local knowledge production was to have a say in the decision-making processes of large-scale developments proposed on the river which would impact these livelihoods. What I examine is how these efforts also obscured women's participation in fishing and in research because their predominant practices associated with fishing involved income-producing activities instead of romanticized subsistence activities. I also consider some of the critiques from the Karen women’s group who identified subsistence-focused work as ‘not enough’ in that it does not generate much needed income and is ‘not secure’. These efforts accomplished a particular kind of village expert, to the exclusion of Karen women in its documentation, even in a project led by villagers and situated within an ethnic minority community which is matriarchal.

Keywords:

• Ethnicity
• feminist political ecology
• gender
• nature
• Southeast Asia

Acknowledgments

I first wish to thank the fishers, farmers, NGO workers, and other interviewees for taking the time to share their knowledge of the Salween with me. An earlier draft of this article, which was part of my dissertation, received critical suggestions from Robin Roth, Peter Vandergeest, Elizabeth Lunstrum, and Chris Sneddon. Uma Kothari and Laura Schoenberger also provided essential feedback in transforming the chapter into an article for this journal. I would also like to thank the editors of this journal and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Notes on Contributor

Vanessa Lamb is a Lecturer in the School of Geography at the University of Melbourne. Dr. Lamb completed her dissertation, Ecologies of Rule and Resistance, focused on the politics of ecological knowledge and development of the Salween River at York University’s Department of Geography in 2014. Her professional experiences include policy analysis and research into the social dimensions of environmental change.