Development Discourse and the Batwa of South West Uganda: Representing the 'Other': Presenting the 'Self'
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Kidd, Christopher (2008) Development discourse and the Batwa of South West Uganda: representing the 'other': presenting the 'self'. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/169/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Development discourse and the Batwa of south west Uganda Representing the ‘Other’: Presenting the ‘Self’ Christopher Kidd A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Glasgow Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences February 2008 Abstract This thesis focuses on a group of former forest based hunter-gatherers, the Batwa of south west Uganda, whose livelihoods and situations have been dramatically affected through their recent interactions with non-Batwa peoples. Once inhabitants of the rainforests of south west Uganda, the Batwa today live in bonded labour arrangements with their local neighbours and exist as a despised and marginalised group, positioned on the margins of Ugandan society. In the first part of this thesis, Global Powers, I seek to lay out the theoretical foundations for the marginalisation of the Batwa by discussing the more general marginalisation and representation of Indigenous Peoples. In the rest of the thesis, I move on to discuss two specific questions. In the second section, Local Realities, I ask why the Batwa have ended up in their current situation and I investigate the historical and social contexts of the south west of Uganda that have shaped their present predicament. In the third section, Current Interface, I ask why national and international interventions, aimed at helping the Batwa, have failed to achieve their stated aims, and in some circumstances deepened their present marginalisation? The thesis argues that representations of, and knowledge about the Batwa are constructed from an epistemology that seeks to create a subordinate ‘Other’ in order to assert a dominant ‘Self’. As such, their marginalised position replicates the situation of similar ‘Exotic Others’ found throughout the world. Importantly this construction plays a crucial role in the progression and validation of distinct social ontologies that the dominant ‘Modern World’ holds as self evident and true to its own social reality. As a result, the Batwa have only two futures which are presented to them by the dominant forces that regulate their situation. On the one hand, they are coerced to assimilate towards the identity of the dominant ‘Self’ and in doing so cast off the identity which the dominant ‘Self’ has deemed to account for their ‘Otherness’. Or on the other hand, if they choose to maintain those aspects of their identity which identifies them as the ‘Other’, they are ostracised and depicted as unfit for the ‘Modern World’. I conclude this thesis by suggesting that the current predicament of the Batwa has been constructed by external forces and that Development discourse continues to construct this marginalised position. I also conclude that in positioning the Batwa as the ‘Other’, what is being asserted is the identity of a dominant ‘Self’. This relationship between the dominant ‘Self’ and the marginalised ‘Other’, whilst being declared as a distinct and exclusionary relationship, is in fact an intertwined and entangled relationship. Finally, I argue that a fundamental shift in the paradigm of the ‘Modern World’ is needed in order to allow the Batwa, and other Indigenous Peoples, to be seen not as ‘Exotic Others’ but as equal participants in an interconnected world where multiple ways of knowing and being are mutually supported and validated. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ..........................................................................................................2 Table of Contents...........................................................................................3 Table of Maps.................................................................................................5 Table of Plates................................................................................................5 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................6 Declaration .....................................................................................................7 Acronyms and Abbreviations .......................................................................8 Glossary of Key Language Used In Text .....................................................8 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................. 9 1. LOCATING ANTHROPOLOGY .....................................................................10 Participant Observation ..............................................................................11 Fieldwork Site or Sites? ..............................................................................17 Participant Observation Revisited..............................................................19 Identity, Conflict and Emotion ....................................................................21 Conclusion ...................................................................................................25 Structure of Thesis ......................................................................................27 GLOBAL POWERS ........................................................................... 29 2. ‘RETURN OF THE NATIVE’? ........................................................................30 The Indigenous Defined? ............................................................................30 Legal Definitions..........................................................................................35 The Difficulty in Acceptance.......................................................................37 A Legitimate Alternative..............................................................................41 Conclusion ...................................................................................................43 3. CONSTRUCTING ‘OTHERS’.........................................................................46 Poststructuralism ........................................................................................46 Entangled Power..........................................................................................51 Empowerment ..............................................................................................54 Hunter-Gatherer Perceptions of the Environment ....................................57 Conclusion ...................................................................................................61 4. ‘PYGMIES’ AS THE ‘OTHER’ .......................................................................65 The Rise of Social Darwinism.....................................................................66 Expeditions, and the Exotic ‘Other’............................................................73 ‘Pygmies’ on Display...................................................................................81 Conclusion ...................................................................................................94 LOCAL CONSEQUENCES................................................................ 96 5. A HISTORY AS THE ‘OTHERS’....................................................................97 What’s in a Name?.......................................................................................97 Origin of the Batwa....................................................................................104 Migration and Pre-colonial Kigezi ............................................................108 Shifting Politics of Domination.................................................................111 3 Independence for Some, Subservience for the ‘Others’ ........................114 Conclusion .................................................................................................116 6. CURRENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION ..............................................117 Grounds for Marginalisation.....................................................................117 Effects of Marginalisation .........................................................................122 Conclusion .................................................................................................130 CURRENT INTERFACE .................................................................. 132 7. HUNTING TO POACHING...........................................................................133 The Conservation Paradigm .....................................................................133 A History of Protection in Uganda............................................................138 A ‘New’ Conservation Paradigm?.............................................................144 Misconceptions of Nature-Culture Relationships...................................150 Conclusion .................................................................................................153