Robbins - Political Ecology

Robbins defines political ecology as a field that helps to "explain linkages in the condition and change of social/environmental systems, with explicit consideration of relations of power. Political ecology, moreover explains these social and environmental changes with a normative understanding that there are very likely…less exploitative, and more sustainable ways of doing things." (Robbins, 12). Armed with this definition, when Peluso says on the first page of her article that forestry mapping is an "intrinsically political act" (Peluso, 383), the reader is immediately alerted to the fact that her work is situated within the confines of political ecology.

Peluso's article discusses the development and consequences of two forms of alternative forest mapping in Kalimantan, Indonesia. In reaction to the official mapping and planning of the Indonesian state government and its associated refusal to acknowledge their customary forest rights, the Dayak inhabitants of the area, in conjunction with their NGO and occasional government partners, developed an alternative or what Peluso calls "counter-mapping" movement using technological tools such as GIS that attempts to bolster the legitimacy of their traditional land claims to the forest and its resources (Peluso, 383-384). Specifically, after a review of the politics of mapping and a historical summary of forest mapping by the Indonesian government, Peluso examines two case studies in this movement. The first is a program initiated by expatriate academic professionals working in partnership with major international organizations as well as government agencies in the Kayan Mentarang Reserve. Field data from sketch maps of local land use and claims were joined with points on a GPS and subsequently matched using a GIS to data on official land use. The goal of the "Culture and Conservation" mapping project was to understand and represent the ways local people think about their resources (Peluso, 395). The second case study involved local NGOs requesting the services of mapping professionals to teach and assist them in mapping local land use. Working autonomously, the NGOs had a number of goals, including understanding current and historical land uses and claims, as well as documenting the ethnic diversity of local populations (Peluso, 398). In spite of their differences, both strategies involved simple and sophisticated technology requiring that villages form political partnerships with NGOs, and "the assertion of specific and permanent territorial claims to resources" (Peluso, 393).

Following this basic summary, Peluso's argument, and the methods she used to support it, will be discussed in detail. It will be shown that traditions and conceptual frameworks such as political economy, materialism, peasant studies, and Lockean ideas on property are relevant with respect to Peluso's analysis. After a discussion