Community forests as heterotopia. The case of the Mu community forest – Ngoc Son – Ngo Luong Nature Reserve, Vietnam

Abstract

This paper examines issues of culture and power in regard to the Mu sacred forest, Vietnam, a community forest. The research uses Foucault’s notion of ‘heterotopia’ as a heuristic tool to interpret forest management. It appears that the Mu sacred forest can be understood as a space of ‘self reflective construction’, but also a space that might dissolve, destabilize, interrupt and suspend power. The moment of power suspension frees people from their usual frames. They can escape to some extent from authority and repression. This suggests that sustainable forest management can be promoted through acceptance of local culture and that community forest can be a ‘space of suspension and learning’.

Keywords:

• Community forest
• Heterotopia
• Space

Notes

1. Huong [57] argued that the notion of ‘local’ could be misleading and even derogatory if not elaborately defined. Taking up her suggestion, in this article we will put the term ‘local’ between inverted commas to refer to specific Mu villagers who live in the Mu hamlet and have daily interactions with the Mu community forest.

2. The corresponding author attended two harvesting season ceremonies in April and in September, two events of worshipping God for wealth and health in May and December, and one New Year festival in January (following the Lunar Calendar).

3. In Muong language: Công an, Phòng thuế, Kiểm lâm; trong ba đua đó thi đâm đua nao?

4. The original expression in Muong: Ớ đay, bất kê ai, sang hay hèn đều như nhau; quyên lực nhu tien bac thi vô nghia– in Vietnamese: Ở chỗ này, bất kể là ai, dù sang hay hèn đều như nhau, quyền lực và tiền bạc là vô nghĩa.