Local, national and international conceptions of justice: the case of swidden farmers in the contexts of national and regional developments in southeast Asia

Abstract

This paper contrasts the social and ecological situations of swidden farmers in Southeast Asia with those of sedentary farmers who have participated in the so-called Green Revolution. This serves to highlight contrasting views (and their respective moral underpinnings) on the development prospects of indigenous farmers. Proposed agricultural transformations are assessed in terms of their likely cultural, institutional and ecological consequences. The paper looks at the complex ideological and institutional relations existing between national development agencies on the one hand and swidden farming communities on the other, drawing especially on fieldwork conducted in Indonesia, and asks what a critical understanding of these relations has to contribute to the theory of environmental justice. Show more