| Abstract: |
It has been argued that protected areas give rise to forms of incremental
‘slow’ violence when populations are displaced from their lands and resources.
The literature has shown how this can lead communities living at the edge of
national parks to resist conservation regulations, often through everyday
strategies designed to go under the radar of park authorities. I make an
original contribution to this debate by exploring how conditions of slow
violence and practices of covert resistance surrounding conservation projects
can over time be transformed into forms of overt resistance and a state of
‘sudden’ violence. Taking a recent conflict over eastern Democratic Republic
of Congo’s Kahuzi-Biega National Park as an illustrative example, I argue that
an attempt by indigenous Batwa communities to violently take back parts of the
park’s highland sector can be explained by three factors: first, the failure
of forms ‘rights-based’ resistance strategies to achieve meaningful change;
second, specific threats to Batwa livelihoods, identity and dignity that have
emerged over recent years; third, the arrival of opportunities to forge new
alliances with more powerful actors who could support their struggle. My
overall argument speaks to the literature on conservation by exposing the
intricate relationships between ‘everyday’ and ‘overt’ forms of resistance,
and between ‘slow’ and ‘sudden’ violence. In turn, rather than romanticizing
the Batwa’s actions, the paper shows how their struggle has ultimately
intersected with elite interests, politico-military networks and wider
conflict dynamics in a way that has led to widespread environmental
destruction. |