Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Pacific Conservation Biology Pacific Conservation Biology Society
A journal dedicated to conservation and wildlife management in the Pacific region.
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Relational ontology and more-than-human agency in Indigenous Karen conservation practice

Andrew Paul https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9291-6558 A B D , Robin Roth C and Saw Sha Bwe Moo A C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Karen Environmental and Social Action Network, P.O Box 204, Prasing Post Office, Muang, Chiang Mai, 50205, Thailand.

B IISAAK OLAM Foundation, Victoria, BC, Canada.

C Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.

D Corresponding author. Email: andrewpaul1986@gmail.com.

Pacific Conservation Biology 27(4) 376-390 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20016
Submitted: 14 February 2020  Accepted: 17 December 2020   Published: 28 January 2021

Abstract

Conservation scientists increasingly recognise the value of Indigenous knowledge in conservation practice. However, studies of Indigenous knowledge and resource management systems have often tended to overlook the role and agency of more-than-human beings and ceremonial protocols in mediating human–environment relationships. This paper presents results from community-based research with Karen communities in the Salween Peace Park, an innovative Indigenous-led conservation initiative in the autonomous Karen territory of Kawthoolei, on the border between Thailand and Burma, or Myanmar. Our findings detail ways in which relations with more-than-human beings, including spirits, constitute environmental governance in Karen communities. These findings compel externally situated conservation biologists to take relational ontologies seriously, allowing local interlocutors’ lived experience, knowledge, and theory to challenge culturally bound concepts such as resources, management, and conservation. In order to transform conservation biology through Indigenous perspectives, it is essential to pay attention to the relational world in which many Indigenous Peoples live. Doing so helps support a conservation practice attentive to the interdependence of all life in ways that uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights of self-determination, cultural identity, and social relations with their ancestral lands. We argue that attending to these relations is essential to building community-based conservation collaborations with Indigenous Peoples that are more effective, sustainable, and just.

Keywords: conservation policy, environmental management, field research, indigenous communities, natural resource management, social sciences.


References

Al Jazeera (2011). ‘The world’s longest ongoing war’, 10 August 2011.

Alcorn, J. B. (1993). Indigenous Peoples and conservation. Conservation Biology 7, 424–426.
Indigenous Peoples and conservation.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Århem, K. (2016a). Southeast Asian animism: a dialogue with Amerindian perspectivism. In ‘Animism in Southeast Asia’. (Eds K. Århem, and G. Sprenger.) pp. 279–301. (Routledge: New York.)

Århem, K. (2016b). Southeast Asian animism in context. In ‘Animism in Southeast Asia’. (Eds K. Århem, and G. Sprenger.) pp. 3–30. (Routledge: New York.)

Artelle, K. A., Zurba, M., Bhattacharyya, J., et al. (2019). Supporting resurgent Indigenous-led governance: a nascent mechanism for just and effective conservation. Biological Conservation 240, .
Supporting resurgent Indigenous-led governance: a nascent mechanism for just and effective conservation.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Baker, J. M. (2020). Do berries listen? Berries as indicators, ancestors, and agents in Canada’s oil sands region. Ethnos , .
Do berries listen? Berries as indicators, ancestors, and agents in Canada’s oil sands region.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Ball, J., and Janyst, P. (2008). Enacting research ethics in partnerships with indigenous communities in Canada: ‘do it in a good way’. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics 3, 33–51.
Enacting research ethics in partnerships with indigenous communities in Canada: ‘do it in a good way’.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 19385744PubMed |

Bawaka Country, , Suchet-Pearson, S., Wright, S., et al. (2013). Caring as country: towards an ontology of co-becoming in natural resource management. Asia Pacific Viewpoint 54, 185–197.
Caring as country: towards an ontology of co-becoming in natural resource management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Berkes, F. (2012). ‘Sacred Ecology’. 3rd edn. (Routledge: New York & London.)

Berkes, F., Colding, J., and Folke, C. (2000). Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management. Ecological Applications 10, 1251–1262.
Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Bird-David, N. (2002). Animism revisited: personhood, environment, and relational epistemology. In ‘Readings in Indigenous Religions’. (Ed. G. Harvey.) pp. 72–104. (Continuum: London & New York.)

Blaser, M. (2009). The threat of the Yrmo: the political ontology of a sustainable hunting program. American Anthropologist 111, 10–20.
The threat of the Yrmo: the political ontology of a sustainable hunting program.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Borrows, J. (2010). ‘Drawing Out Law: a Spirit’s Guide.’ (University of Toronto Press.)

Brightman, M., Grotti, V. E. and Ulturgasheva, O. (Eds) (2012). ‘Animism in Rainforest and Tundra: Personhood, Animals, Plants and Things in Contemporary Amazonia and Siberia.’ (Berghahn Books: New York.)

Buadaeng, K. (2003). ‘Buddhism, Christianity and the Ancestors: Religion and Pragmatism in a Skaw Karen Community of North Thailand.’ (Chiang Mai University: Chiang Mai, Thailand.)

CAT [Conservation Alliance of Tanawthari] (2018). Our forest, our life: protected areas in Tanintharyi Region must respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Available at theborderconsortium.org/media/97682/CAT_Our-Forest_Our-Life_Feb2018_eng.pdf.

CBD [Convention on Biodiversity] (2010). Aichi biodiversity targets. Available at https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/.

de la Cadena, M. (2015) ‘Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice across Andean Worlds.’ (Duke University Press: Durham, NC.)

Chandran, R. (2018). Myanmar’s Indigenous people fight ‘fortress’ conservation. Reuters , .

Coulthard, G. (2014). ‘Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition.’ (University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, MN.)

Cox, M., Arnold, G., and Villamayor Tomás, S. (2010). A review of design principles for community-based natural resource management. Ecology and Society 15, 38.
A review of design principles for community-based natural resource management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Cruikshank, J. (2005.) ‘Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination.’ (UBC Press: Vancouver.)

Cuerrier, A., Turner, N., Gomes, T., et al. (2015). Cultural keystone places: conservation and restoration in cultural landscapes. Journal of Ethnobiology 35, 427–448.
Cultural keystone places: conservation and restoration in cultural landscapes.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Díaz, S., Settele, J., Brondízio, E., et al. (2019). Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change. Science 366, 1–10.
Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Dittmer, L. (2010). Burma vs. Myanmar: What’s in a name? In ‘Burma or Myanmar? The struggle for national identity’. (Ed. L. Dittmer.) pp. 1–20. (World Scientific Publishing: Singapore)

Dowie, M. (2011). ‘Conservation Refugees: the Hundred-year Conflict between Global Conservation and Native Peoples.’ (MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.)

Dunant, B. (2019). Dispossessed: the human toll of Myanmar’s land crisis. Frontier Myanmar , .

Erni, C. (2008). Introduction: the concept of Indigenous Peoples in Asia. In ‘The Concept of Indigenous Peoples in Asia: a Resource Book’. (Ed. C. Erni.) pp. 13–25. (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs & Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact: Copenhagen & Chiang Mai.)

Fairhead, J., Leach, M., and Scoones, I. (2012). Green grabbing: a new appropriation of nature? The Journal of Peasant Studies 39, 237–261.
Green grabbing: a new appropriation of nature?Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Feit, H. (2007). Myths of the ecological whitemen: histories, science, and rights in North American–Native American relations. In ‘Native Americans and the Environment: Perspectives on the Ecological Indian’. (Eds M. E. Harkin, and D. R. Lewis.) pp. 52–92. (University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln, NE.)

Ferguson, J. M. (2014). The scramble for the waste lands: tracking colonial legacies, counterinsurgency and international investment through the lens of land laws in Burma/Myanmar. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 35, 295–311.
The scramble for the waste lands: tracking colonial legacies, counterinsurgency and international investment through the lens of land laws in Burma/Myanmar.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Garnett, S. T., Burgess, N., Fa, J., et al. (2018). A spatial overview of the global importance of Indigenous lands for conservation. Nature Sustainability 1, 369–374.
A spatial overview of the global importance of Indigenous lands for conservation.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Gelbort, J. (2018). Implementation of Burma’s Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law: at odds with the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement and peace negotiations. Transnational Institute. Available at https://www.tni.org/en/article/implementation-of-burmas-vacant-fallow-and-virgin-land-management-law [accessed 17 January 2020].

Gilio-Whitaker, D. (2019). ‘As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock.’ (Beacon Press.)

Hall, D., Hirsch, P., and Li, T. M. (2011). ‘Powers of Exclusion: Land Dilemmas in Southeast Asia.’ (University of Hawai‘i Press: Honolulu.)

Harvey, G. (2013). Introduction. In ‘The Handbook of Contemporary Animism’. (Ed. G. Harvey.) pp. 1–16. (Acumen: Durham, UK.)

Hayami, Y. (1993). To be Karen and to be cool: community, morality and identity among Sgaw Karen in northern Thailand. Cahiers des Sciences Humaines 29, 747–762.

Hayami, Y. (2004). ‘Between Hills and Plains: Power and Practice in Socio-religious Dynamics among Karen.’ (Kyoto University Press: Kyoto, Japan.)

Howitt, R., and Suchet-Pearson, S. (2006). Rethinking the building blocks: ontological pluralism and the idea of ‘management’. Geografiska Annaler, Series B 88, 323–335.
Rethinking the building blocks: ontological pluralism and the idea of ‘management’.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Hutchison, A. (2014). The Whanganui River as a legal person. Alternative Law Journal 39, 179–182.
The Whanganui River as a legal person.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

ICCA Consortium(no date). Territories and areas conserved by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Available at www.iccaconsortium.org/index.php/discover/ [accessed 23 October 2018].

ICE [The Indigenous Circle of Experts] (2018). We rise together: achieving pathway to Canada Target 1 through the creation of Indigenous protected and conserved areas in the spirit and practice of reconciliation. Available at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57e007452e69cf9a7af0a033/t/5ab94aca6d2a7338ecb1d05e/1522092766605/PA234-ICE_Report_2018_Mar_22_web.pdf.

IHRC [International Human Rights Clinic] at Harvard Law School (2014). Legal memorandum: war crimes and crimes against humanity in eastern Myanmar. Available at http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014.11.05-IHRC-Legal-Memorandum.pdf.

IUCN [International Union for the Conservation of Nature] (2003). The Durban accord. Available at www.forestpeoples.org/sites/default/files/publication/2010/10/wpcdurbanaccordeng.pdf.

Johnson, J. T., Howitt, R., Cajete, G., et al. (2016). Weaving Indigenous and sustainability sciences to diversify our methods. Sustainability Science 11, 1–11.
Weaving Indigenous and sustainability sciences to diversify our methods.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Jolliffe, K. (2016). Ceasefires, governance and development: the Karen National Union in times of change. The Asia Foundation, San Francisco. Available at https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Ceasefires-Governance-and-Development-EN-Apr2017.pdf

KHRG [Karen Human Rights Group] (1998). Wholesale destruction: the SLORC/SPDC campaign to obliterate all hill villages in Papun and eastern Nyaunglebin Districts. Available at http://khrg.org/1998/02/khrg9801/wholesale-destruction.

KHRG [Karen Human Rights Group] (2015). ‘With only our voices, what can we do?’ Land confiscation and local response in southeast Myanmar. Available at http://khrg.org/sites/default/files/full_with_only_our_voices._-_english.pdf.

KHRG [Karen Human Rights Group] (2018). ‘Development without us’: village agency and land confiscations in southeast Myanmar. Available at http://khrg.org/sites/default/files/inside_development_without_us_-_english_full_report_august_2018.pdf.

Kemmis, S. and McTaggart, R. (2005). Participatory action research: communicative action and the public sphere. In ‘The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research’. 3rd edn. (Eds N. K. Denzin, and Y. S. Lincoln.) pp. 559–604. (Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.)

Kirby, S., and McKenna, K. (1989). ‘Experience Research Social Change: Methods from the Margins.’ (Garamond Press: Toronto.)

Kirksey, S. E., and Helmreich, S. (2010). The emergence of multispecies ethnography. Cultural Anthropology 25, 545–576.
The emergence of multispecies ethnography.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Koster, R., Baccar, K., and Lemelin, R. H. (2012). Moving from research ON, to research WITH and FOR Indigenous communities: a critical reflection on community-based participatory research. The Canadian Geographer 56, 195–210.
Moving from research ON, to research WITH and FOR Indigenous communities: a critical reflection on community-based participatory research.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Kothari, A., Corrigan, C., Jonas, H., et al. (Eds) (2012). ‘Recognising and Supporting Territories and Areas Conserved by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities: Global Overview and National Case Studies.’ (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, ICCA Consortium, Kalpavriksh, and Natural Justice: Montreal.)

Kovach, M. (2009). ‘Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts.’ (University of Toronto Press: Toronto & Buffalo.)

LaDuke, W. (1999). ‘All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life.’ (South End Press: Cambridge, MA.)

Ladner, K. L. (2003). Governing within an ecological context: creating an AlterNative understanding of Blackfoot governance. Studies in Political Economy 70, 125–152.
Governing within an ecological context: creating an AlterNative understanding of Blackfoot governance.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Laungaramsri, P. (2002). ‘Redefining Nature: Karen Ecological Knowledge and the Challenge to the Modern Conservation Paradigm.’ (Earthworm Books: Chennai, India.)

Lertzman, K. (2009). The paradigm of management, management systems, and resource stewardship. Journal of Ethnobiology 29, 339–358.
The paradigm of management, management systems, and resource stewardship.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Li, T. M. (2000). Articulating Indigenous identity in Indonesia: resource politics and the tribal slot. Comparative Studies in Society and History 42, 149–179.
Articulating Indigenous identity in Indonesia: resource politics and the tribal slot.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Li, T. M. (2001). Masyarakat Adat, difference, and the limits of recognition in Indonesia’s forest zone. Modern Asian Studies 35, 645–676.
Masyarakat Adat, difference, and the limits of recognition in Indonesia’s forest zone.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Lindberg, T. (2007). Critical Indigenous legal theory. LL.D. thesis, University of Ottawa, Canada

Ludwig, D. (2016). Overlapping ontologies and Indigenous knowledge. from integration to ontological self-determination. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 59, 36–45.
Overlapping ontologies and Indigenous knowledge. from integration to ontological self-determination.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 27692212PubMed |

Maclean, K. (2018). Famine crimes: military operations, forced migration, and chronic hunger in eastern Burma/Myanmar (2006–2008). Clark University, Worcester, MA. Available at www.clarku.edu/schools/idce/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/sites/12/2018/10/MacLean-Famine-Crimes-Report-2018.pdf

Marshall, H. I. (1922). ‘The Karen People of Burma: a Study in Anthropology and Ethnology.’ (Ohio State University Press: Columbus, OH.)

McGregor, D. (2009). Honouring our relations: an Anishnaabe perspective on environmental justice. In ‘Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada’. (Ed. J. Agyeman.) pp. 27–41. (UBC Press: Vancouver.)

Menzies, C. R. (2006). ‘Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Natural Resource Management.’ (University of Nebraska Press.)

Molnar, Z., and Berkes, F. (2018). Role of traditional ecological knowledge in linking cultural and natural capital in cultural landscapes. In ‘Reconnecting Natural and Cultural Capital: Contributions from Science and Policy’. (Eds M.-L. Paracchini, P. C. Zingari, and C. Blasi.) pp. 183–193. (Publications Office of the European Union: Luxembourg.)

Mongabay (2019). Karen Indigenous communities in Myanmar have officially launched the Salween Peace Park. 11 January 2019.

Moo, S. S. B., Froese, G., and Gray, T. (2017). First structured camera-trap surveys in Karen State, Myanmar, reveal high diversity of globally threatened mammals. Oryx 52, 537–543.
First structured camera-trap surveys in Karen State, Myanmar, reveal high diversity of globally threatened mammals.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Moola, F., and Roth, R. (2019). Moving beyond colonial conservation models: Indigenous protected and conserved areas offer hope for biodiversity and advancing reconciliation in the Canadian boreal forest. Environmental Reviews 27, 200–201.
Moving beyond colonial conservation models: Indigenous protected and conserved areas offer hope for biodiversity and advancing reconciliation in the Canadian boreal forest.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Morton, M. (2017a). Indigenous Peoples work to raise their status in a reforming Myanmar. ISEAS Perspective 33, 1–10.

Morton, M. (2017b). ‘The Rising Politics of Indigeneity in Southeast Asia.’ (ISEAS Publishing: Singapore.)

Morton, M., and Baird, I. (2019). From hill tribes to Indigenous Peoples: the localisation of a global movement in Thailand. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 50, 7–31.
From hill tribes to Indigenous Peoples: the localisation of a global movement in Thailand.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Nadasdy, P. (1999). The politics of TEK: power and the ‘integration’ of knowledge. Arctic Anthropology 36, 1–18.

Nadasdy, P. (2005a). The anti-politics of TEK: the institutionalization of co-management discourse and practice. Anthropologica 47, 215–232.

Nadasdy, P. (2005b). Transcending the debate over the ecologically noble Indian: Indigenous Peoples and environmentalism. Ethnohistory 52, 291–331.
Transcending the debate over the ecologically noble Indian: Indigenous Peoples and environmentalism.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Nadasdy, P. (2007). The gift in the animal: the ontology of hunting and human–animal sociality. American Ethnologist 34, 25–43.
The gift in the animal: the ontology of hunting and human–animal sociality.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Napoleon, V. (2013). Thinking about Indigenous legal orders. In ‘Dialogues on Human Rights and Legal Pluralism’. (Eds R. Provost, and C. Sheppard.) pp. 229–245. (Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands.)

Neumann, R. P. (1998). ‘Imposing Wilderness: Struggles over Livelihood and Nature Preservation in Africa.’ (University of California Press: Berkeley & Los Angeles.)

Novellino, D. (2003). Contrasting landscapes, conflicting ontologies: assessing environmental conservation on Palawan Island (the Philippines). In ‘Ethnographies of Conservation: Environmentalism and the Distribution of Privilege’. (Eds D. G. Anderson, and E. Berglund.) pp. 171–188. (Berghahn Books: Oxford & New York.)

Ostrom, E. (1990). ‘Governing the Commons: the Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.’ (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.)

Ostrom, E. (2009). A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social–ecological systems. Science 325, 419–422.
A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social–ecological systems.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 19628857PubMed |

Pain, R. (2004). Social geography: participatory research. Progress in Human Geography 28, 652–663.
Social geography: participatory research.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Paul, A. (2019). Kaw: the Indigenous Karen customary lands. Available at http://kesan.asia/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Final-Briefer_KAW-English_2.pdf [accessed 5 February 2020].

Rajah, A. (2008). ‘Remaining Karen: a Study of Cultural Reproduction and the Maintenance of Identity.’ (Australian National University Press: Canberra.)

Redford, K. H., and Stearman, A. M. (1993). Forest-dwelling Native Amazonians and the conservation of biodiversity: interests in common or in collision? Conservation Biology 7, 248–255.
Forest-dwelling Native Amazonians and the conservation of biodiversity: interests in common or in collision?Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Roth, R. (2009). The challenges of mapping complex Indigenous spatiality: from abstract space to dwelling space. Cultural Geographies 16, 207–227.
The challenges of mapping complex Indigenous spatiality: from abstract space to dwelling space.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

SPPSC [Salween Peace Park Steering Committee] and KNU [Karen National Union Mutraw District] (2018). Charter of the Salween Peace Park.

Schuster, R., Germain, R. R., Bennett, J. R., et al. (2019). Vertebrate biodiversity on Indigenous-managed lands in Australia, Brazil, and Canada equals that in protected areas. Environmental Science & Policy 101, .
Vertebrate biodiversity on Indigenous-managed lands in Australia, Brazil, and Canada equals that in protected areas.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Simpson, L. B. (2011). ‘Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back: stories of Nishnaabeg Re-creation, Resurgence and a New Emergence.’ (Arbeiter Ring Publishing: Winnipeg, MB.)

Smith, L. T. (1999). ‘Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples.’ (Zed Books: London & New York.)

Spence, M. D. (1999). ‘Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks.’ (Oxford University Press: Oxford & New York.)

Sprenger, G. (2016). Dimensions of animism in Southeast Asia. In ‘Animism in Southeast Asia’. (Eds G. Sprenger, and K. Århem.) pp. 31–51. (Routledge: New York.)

Stevens, C., Winterbottom, R., Springer, J. and Reytar, K. (2014). ‘Securing Rights, Combating Climate Change: How Strengthening Community Forest Rights Mitigates Climate Change.’ (World Resource Institute: Washington, DC.)

Stevens, S. (Ed.) (2014). ‘Indigenous Peoples, National Parks, and Protected Areas: a New Paradigm Linking Conservation, Culture, and Rights.’ (University of Arizona Press: Tucson, AZ.)

Sundberg, J. (2014). Decolonizing posthumanist geographies. Cultural Geographies 21, 33–47.
Decolonizing posthumanist geographies.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Swancutt, K., and Mazard, M. (2016). Introduction: anthropological knowledge making, the reflexive feedback loop, and conceptualizations of the soul. Social Analysis 60, 1–17.
Introduction: anthropological knowledge making, the reflexive feedback loop, and conceptualizations of the soul.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

TBC [The Border Consortium] (2019). 2019 annual report. Available at www.theborderconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/TBCAnnualReport2019-for-website.pdf.

TRIP NET [Tenasserim River & Indigenous People Networks] & RKIPN [Rays of Kamoethway Indigenous People and Nature] (2016). We will manage our own natural resources: Karen Indigenous People in Kamoethway demonstrate the importance of local solutions and community-driven conservation. Available at http://www.burmapartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Book_We-Will-Manage-Our-Own-Natural-Resources-English.pdf.

Tannenbaum, N., and Kammerer, C. A. (Eds) (2003). ‘Founders’ Cults in Southeast Asia: Ancestors, Polity, and Identity.’ (Yale University Press: New Haven, CT.)

Todd, Z. (2016). An Indigenous feminist’s take on the ontological turn: ‘ontology’ is just another word for colonialism. Journal of Historical Sociology 29, 4–22.
An Indigenous feminist’s take on the ontological turn: ‘ontology’ is just another word for colonialism.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Trakarnsuphakorn, P. (1997). The wisdom of the Karen in natural resource conservation. In ‘Development or Domestication? Indigenous Peoples of Southeast Asia’. (Eds D. McCaskill, and K. Kampe.) pp. 205–218. (University of Washington Press: Seattle.)

Turner, N. J. (2008). ‘The Earth’s Blanket: Traditional Teachings for Sustainable Living.’ (Douglas & McIntyre: Vancouver.)

Velásquez Runk, J. (2009). Social and river networks for the trees: Wounaan’s riverine rhizomic cosmos and arboreal conservation. American Anthropologist 111, 456–467.
Social and river networks for the trees: Wounaan’s riverine rhizomic cosmos and arboreal conservation.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Viveiros de Castro, E. (2004). Perspectival anthropology and the method of controlled equivocation. Tipiti: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America 2, 2–22.

Watanabe, Y. (2008). Indigenous communities and biodiversity. Global Environment Facility, Washington, DC. Available at www.thegef.org/sites/default/files/publications/indigenous-community-biodiversity_0.pdf

West, P. (2005). Translation, value, and space: theorizing an ethnographic and engaged environmental anthropology. American Anthropologist 107, 632–642.
Translation, value, and space: theorizing an ethnographic and engaged environmental anthropology.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

West, P. (2016). ‘Dispossession and the Environment: Rhetoric and Inequality in Papua New Guinea.’ (Columbia University Press: New York.)

Wilson, S. (2008). ‘Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods.’ (Fernwood Publishers: Blackpoint, NS.)

Winter, K. B., Lincoln, N. K., Berkes, F., et al. (2020). Ecomimicry in Indigenous resource management: optimizing ecosystem services to achieve resource abundance, with examples from Hawai‘i. Ecology and Society 25, 26.
Ecomimicry in Indigenous resource management: optimizing ecosystem services to achieve resource abundance, with examples from Hawai‘i.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Witter, R., and Satterfield, T. (2019). The ebb and flow of Indigenous rights recognitions in conservation policy. Development and Change 50, 1083–1108.
The ebb and flow of Indigenous rights recognitions in conservation policy.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Youatt, R. (2017). Personhood and the rights of nature: the new subjects of contemporary earth politics. International Political Sociology 11, 39–54.
Personhood and the rights of nature: the new subjects of contemporary earth politics.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Zaitchik, A. (2018). How conservation became colonialism: Indigenous People, not environmentalists, are the key to protecting the world’s most precious ecosystems. Foreign Policy , .