Geography Changing Strategies of Resource Use in the Borderland of the Kumaon Himalaya, India
For many centuries the trans-Himalayan trade connected several groups and areas across the high passes of the Himalaya as well as the Tibetan Plateau. Already during colonial times trade was of vital interest for different governments that all played an important role in restructuring the lives of the local inhabitants. The border conflict between India and China ended this interaction during the 1960s. Local populations had to adapt to the new constellations in various ways, which included out-migration, the adoption of new employments or a stronger orientation towards the use of natural resources. In particular, the role of various land use strategies, such as pastoralism or forest use, forms a much underresearched topic. This Ph.D. thesis researches this interrelation in the Indian-Chinese border region of the Kumaon Himalaya and asks how geopolitical interventions have restructured the livelihood and patterns of resource use in the area. The framework paper of this cumulative Ph.D. thesis gives an overview of the development in the entire Indian Himalaya. This allows us to highlight the special position of Kumaon, but also to point out similarities and parallels.
PhD Candidate: Martin Gerwin
Funding: DFG
Project: Changing Strategies of Resource Use: The 'Bhotiyas' in the High Mountain Border Region of Uttarakhand, India; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), NU102 / 10-1 and 10-2
Duration:
Selected Publications
Bergmann, C & Gerwin M (2012): Geopolitical relations and regional restructuring: The case of the Kumaon Himalaya, India. Erdkunde, 66(2):91-107. https://doi.org/10.3112/erdkunde.2012.02.01
Bergmann C, Gerwin M, Nüsser M & Sax WS (2012): State Policy and Local Performance: Pasture Use and Pastoral Practices in the Kumaon Himalaya. In: Kreutzmann H (ed.): Pastoral Practices in High Asia. Agency of 'Development' effected by Modernisation, Resettlement and Transformation. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York (= Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research): 175-194.
Bergmann C, Gerwin M, Sax WS & Nüsser M (2011): Politics of Scale in a High Mountain Border Region: Being Mobile among the Bhotiyas of the Kumaon Himalaya, India. Nomadic Peoples 15 (2): 104-129.
Bergmann C, Gerwin M, Nüsser M & Sax WS (2008): Living in a High Mountain Border Region: The Case of the 'Bhotiyas' of the Indo-Chinese Border Region. Journal of Mountain Science 5 (3): 209-217.
Nüsser M & Gerwin M (2008): Diversity, Complexity and Dynamics: Land Use Patterns in the Central Himalayas of Kumaon, Northern India. In: Löffler J & Stadelbauer J (eds.): Diversity in Mountain Systems. Sankt Augustin (= Colloquium Geographicum 31): 107-119.