"This is all waste": emptying, cleaning and clearing land for renewable energy dispossession in borderland India

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

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"This is all waste" : emptying, cleaning and clearing land for renewable energy dispossession in borderland India. / Singh, David.

In: Contemporary South Asia, Vol. 30, No. 3, 2022, p. 402-419.

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Singh, D 2022, '"This is all waste": emptying, cleaning and clearing land for renewable energy dispossession in borderland India', Contemporary South Asia, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 402-419. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2022.2099812

APA

Singh, D. (2022). "This is all waste": emptying, cleaning and clearing land for renewable energy dispossession in borderland India. Contemporary South Asia, 30(3), 402-419. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2022.2099812

Vancouver

Singh D. "This is all waste": emptying, cleaning and clearing land for renewable energy dispossession in borderland India. Contemporary South Asia. 2022;30(3):402-419. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2022.2099812

Author

Singh, David. / "This is all waste" : emptying, cleaning and clearing land for renewable energy dispossession in borderland India. In: Contemporary South Asia. 2022 ; Vol. 30, No. 3. pp. 402-419.

Bibtex

@article{70b57b87a27041eb8023ad8b27735550,
title = "{"}This is all waste{"}: emptying, cleaning and clearing land for renewable energy dispossession in borderland India",
abstract = "Renewables are imagined in India around features of {\textquoteleft}greenness{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}cleanness{\textquoteright} and are presented as the modern pathway towards sustainable development and unlimited growth. But this shining story entails problematic land politics and the related (un)making of space for capital accumulation: previous property regimes and land uses are erased while a new set of land technologies and territorial rules legitimates land dispossession and the private takeover of commons. Wind infrastructures are specifically targeting (common) lands categorized as {\textquoteleft}deserted{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteleft}empty{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}waste{\textquoteright}, and subaltern groups (tribal, pastoral and Dalit communities) whose livelihood practices have been historically described as {\textquoteleft}unproductive{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}backward{\textquoteright}. These both violent and discursive logics of (neo)colonial and green energy land politics are mediated and fixed to the ground levels by powerful (land) brokers, contractors, wind companies{\textquoteright} land teams and political mediators who embark land on its tortuous, bureaucratic and yet material journey towards clearing, cleaning and holding value. This article offers perspectives from political geography and critical agrarian studies to understand the territorial process, the persistence of class-caste relations and the legacy of coloniality underlying the land politics of green energy development in borderland India.",
keywords = "dispossession, extraction, land politics, mediation, Renewables",
author = "David Singh",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.",
year = "2022",
doi = "10.1080/09584935.2022.2099812",
language = "English",
volume = "30",
pages = "402--419",
journal = "Contemporary South Asia",
issn = "0958-4935",
publisher = "Routledge",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - "This is all waste"

T2 - emptying, cleaning and clearing land for renewable energy dispossession in borderland India

AU - Singh, David

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Renewables are imagined in India around features of ‘greenness’ and ‘cleanness’ and are presented as the modern pathway towards sustainable development and unlimited growth. But this shining story entails problematic land politics and the related (un)making of space for capital accumulation: previous property regimes and land uses are erased while a new set of land technologies and territorial rules legitimates land dispossession and the private takeover of commons. Wind infrastructures are specifically targeting (common) lands categorized as ‘deserted’, ‘empty’ and ‘waste’, and subaltern groups (tribal, pastoral and Dalit communities) whose livelihood practices have been historically described as ‘unproductive’ and ‘backward’. These both violent and discursive logics of (neo)colonial and green energy land politics are mediated and fixed to the ground levels by powerful (land) brokers, contractors, wind companies’ land teams and political mediators who embark land on its tortuous, bureaucratic and yet material journey towards clearing, cleaning and holding value. This article offers perspectives from political geography and critical agrarian studies to understand the territorial process, the persistence of class-caste relations and the legacy of coloniality underlying the land politics of green energy development in borderland India.

AB - Renewables are imagined in India around features of ‘greenness’ and ‘cleanness’ and are presented as the modern pathway towards sustainable development and unlimited growth. But this shining story entails problematic land politics and the related (un)making of space for capital accumulation: previous property regimes and land uses are erased while a new set of land technologies and territorial rules legitimates land dispossession and the private takeover of commons. Wind infrastructures are specifically targeting (common) lands categorized as ‘deserted’, ‘empty’ and ‘waste’, and subaltern groups (tribal, pastoral and Dalit communities) whose livelihood practices have been historically described as ‘unproductive’ and ‘backward’. These both violent and discursive logics of (neo)colonial and green energy land politics are mediated and fixed to the ground levels by powerful (land) brokers, contractors, wind companies’ land teams and political mediators who embark land on its tortuous, bureaucratic and yet material journey towards clearing, cleaning and holding value. This article offers perspectives from political geography and critical agrarian studies to understand the territorial process, the persistence of class-caste relations and the legacy of coloniality underlying the land politics of green energy development in borderland India.

KW - dispossession

KW - extraction

KW - land politics

KW - mediation

KW - Renewables

U2 - 10.1080/09584935.2022.2099812

DO - 10.1080/09584935.2022.2099812

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85134180798

VL - 30

SP - 402

EP - 419

JO - Contemporary South Asia

JF - Contemporary South Asia

SN - 0958-4935

IS - 3

ER -

ID: 314625724