Recognising and Resisting Injustice: Knowledge Practices and Politics Amongst Nepal's Community Forestry Professionals

Staddon, S. (2021). Recognising and Resisting Injustice: Knowledge Practices and
                                                Politics Amongst Nepal’s Community Forestry Professionals. Rural Landscapes:
                                                Society, Environment, History, 8(1): 5, 1–15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/rl.71

RESEARCH

Recognising and Resisting Injustice: Knowledge Practices
and Politics Amongst Nepal’s Community Forestry
Professionals
Sam Staddon

The future of inclusive forestry in Nepal depends on forestry professionals who can recognise patriarchal
roots of gender injustice as they operate in the ideologies and apparatus of forest governance, and who
can resist those injustices through their work. This paper uses the notion of knowledge practices to
explore the recognition of injustice amongst Nepal’s community forestry professionals, and the relationship
between recognition and resistance, highlighting the inherently political nature of all knowledge
practices. By drawing on over fifty interviews and ethnographic insights, this paper goes beyond the
typically black-boxed and essentialised ‘forestry professional’ and unsettles the false dichotomy between
‘the professional’ and ‘the personal’. Nepal’s community forestry professionals represent a plurality of
knowledges, emerging from unique positionalities and personal experiences; however, the demand for
quantifiable, short-term project outputs (attributed to funders and donors) shuts down their opportunities
to meaningfully practice their knowledges. This paper articulates how, in order to resist injustices within
both forest user communities and forestry institutions, professionals are demanding a greater focus
on learning—from the lived realities of forest users, from each other as practitioners, from qualitative
engagements with complexity and processes of change, from so-called mistakes, and ultimately from
greater reflexivity. Through such learning and reflection comes the opportunity to recognise and resist
injustices and create socially just community forestry. This paper urges scholars to go beyond black-
boxing those in the forestry sector, and instead to offer solidarity and support in promoting knowledge
practices that recognise and resist injustices and thus help build socially just forest futures.

Keywords: community forestry; injustice; knowledge practices; Nepal; professional practice; politics; hope

Introduction                                                   by forestry professionals in Nepal that ‘it is not difficult
The future of inclusive community forestry in Nepal is said    to see marginalisation…we do know about it” but that
to depend on forestry professionals ‘who can recognise         “what we put in our reports is not the same as in reality’.
subtle patriarchal roots of gender injustice’; however, this   These quotes highlight a tension between knowledge
is no easy task as ‘the overwhelming majority of the male      (i.e., recognition of injustice) and working with that
workforce—in the government, civil society and private         knowledge (i.e., challenging ideologies and apparatus);
sector—has been embroiled in the patriarchal ideologies        a tension that this paper argues is due to the inherently
and apparatus of forest governance that have evolved           political nature of working with knowledge. This paper
over many decades’ (Bhattari, 2017). This paper uses the       unpacks this tension, and draws attention to knowledge
notion of knowledge practices to explore the recognition       politics as well as practices, by offering a framework for
of injustice amongst Nepal’s forestry professionals, and       understanding the plurality of knowledges that exist
the relationship between recognition and resistance            within Nepal’s community forestry professionals, issues
to the patriarchal ideologies and apparatus of Nepal’s         of control in how those knowledges are practiced, and
forest governance. Knowledge practices have been               opportunities for resisting that control in the pursuit of
referred to as the ‘personal and social practices related      social justice.
to working with knowledge’ (Hakkarainen, 2009: 215).1             A focus on forestry professionals, rather than forest
Illustrative of such knowledge practices, I have been told     users, is significant, as whilst much work has sought to
                                                               unpack the ‘black box’ of communities in community-
                                                               based natural resource management (CBNRM) (Blaikie,
University of Edinburgh, GB                                    2006), the same attention has not been afforded to
sam.staddon@ed.ac.uk                                           professionals managing those processes. Speaking of

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communities in CBNRM, Blaikie (2006: 1953) argues              encompasses 35% of Nepal’s population (GoN, 2020).
that:                                                          These CFUGs have nurtured their forests, which were often
                                                               handed over in a degraded state, meaning the programme
    ‘The re-designing of the local so as to render             has made significant environmental and ecological gains,
    it manageable requires black-boxing and                    and is widely considered a ‘success story’. Despite its
    containerisation of local differences. A black box         goals of and efforts towards improving livelihoods and
    simplifies by hiding troubling complexities…[it]           empowering women, the poor and disadvantaged groups,
    can also obscure social differences such as wealth,        significant ‘dilemmas of justice’ remain within Nepal’s
    political power between households, men, women,            community forestry, as formal provisions of equality lead
    children and ethnic minorities, and it can conceal         to inequitable outcomes given the context of entrenched
    the local politics of control and inequality’ (Blaikie,    social hierarchies (Shrestha, 2016).
    2006: 1953).                                                  As with many participatory forestry programmes, the
                                                               reality of Nepal’s community forestry arguably represents
This paper seeks to unpack the ‘black box’ of the local        a ‘paradox of participation’, that is, ‘pattern[s] of increased
professional forestry community in Nepal, in order             hardships for the poorest and capture of the, often
to expose the social differences and local politics of         limited, benefits by local elites’ (Lund, 2015: 1). ‘Elite
control and inequality within it, as it is these troubling     capture’ is a concern in Nepal’s community forestry as
complexities that see some professionals more able—            benefits arising from forests and forest-related projects
or willing—to recognise injustice than others, and             accrue disproportionately to those who are more wealthy,
some more empowered than others to incorporate that            better off, and powerful—characteristics that in Nepal
knowledge into their professional practices. Ultimately        typically coincide with literate men of so-called ‘higher
this paper seeks possibilities for more socially just          castes’ (Ahlborg and Nightingale, 2012; Nightingale,
community forestry by highlighting opportunities ‘from         2005; Shrestha, 2016; Staddon et al., 2014, 2015). Work
within’, arguing as Bhattari (2017) does, that potential       within forests and the daily use of forest products is
for transformative change rests with community forestry        typically practiced by those who are illiterate, men from
professionals, and that they and their knowledge practices     so-called lower castes and women from all castes, and
(and politics), rather than just the community forest users    yet it is men from so-called higher castes that dominate
they serve, should be the focus of more scholarly attention    decision-making within the CFUG, claiming authority
and support.                                                   through their ability to read official documents and to
  This paper proceeds with a review of the dilemmas of         undertake financial accounting (Ahlborg and Nightingale,
justice within Nepal’s community forestry programme,           2012; Nightingale, 2005). Whilst community forestry
describing the operation of patriarchy and other social        policy promotes the inclusion of women in executive
hierarchies and forms of power within community forestry       CFUG committee positions, this does not automatically
users. This dilemma is positioned within wider societal        ensure meaningful participation, which in fact may be
challenges and shifts, all of which have relevance for         ‘just sitting in’ (Nightingale, 2002). A recent study on
community forestry professionals interested in recognising     gender integration in Nepal’s community forests finds
and resisting social injustices as they operate within their   that whilst women contribute much labour in forest
work. Attention is then turned to the knowledge practices      related activities, their involvement in decision making
of these professionals, with a review of academic critiques    is low, that women suffer from ‘time poverty’, and that
centred on expert and technical forestry knowledge. This       there exist layers of exclusive leadership (including
paper argues however that these critiques inadvertently        within women only CFUGs) (WOCAN, 2017). Pokharel
‘black box’ (cf. Blaikie, 2006) the forestry professional      and Tiwari (2013: 560) provide a telling example of this,
community, and fail to acknowledge complexities and            relating the experience of an illiterate woman in her role
politics within this homogenised group. A framework for        as CFUG chairperson: ‘“the secretary and others discuss
unpacking this ‘black-box’ is therefore offered, through       and make decisions regarding the funds and ask me to
an exploration of the knowledge practices (and politics)       put the signature…I was not interested in becoming
of community forestry professionals, focusing on: the          the chairperson, but everyone forced me into it. Forest
plurality of knowledges; the politics of control in how        officials and development workers said that it was a
those knowledges are practiced; and opportunities for          requirement of forming the committee, so I accepted
resisting that control in the pursuit of social justice.       the post”’. It is not only women who are marginalised in
                                                               such processes; ‘“as uneducated and poor people we don’t
Dilemmas of justice in Nepal’s community                       confront other members, as they are the people on which
forestry                                                       we depend for employment and credit”’ (Pokharel and
Nepal’s community forestry programme of devolved forest        Tiwari, 2013: 560).
governance was established in the 1980s, with the rights          The dilemmas of justice and paradox of participation in
to sustainably manage and use forests being handed over        Nepal’s community forestry arise not simply in relation
to those living nearby through the creation of Community       to forestry practices and institutions, but notably due to
Forest User Groups (CFUGs). The programme, which has           pre-existing and entrenched social hierarchies and power
been heavily promoted and supported by international           relations across the country. It has been said that ‘[g]ender
donor agencies, has continued to grow and currently            disparity in Nepali society begins right after the birth’

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Pokharel and Tiwari (2013), and the same may be said of          community forestry between knowledge (e.g., the
disparities between castes. Nepal’s hierarchical caste system    recognition of injustice) and the ability to work with
is hugely complex, dating back centuries, and although           that knowledge (e.g., to challenge patriarchal ideologies
discrimination according to caste became unlawful in             and apparatus), a tension that it is argued is due to the
1962, those from so-called lower castes (including Dalits)       inherently political nature of working with knowledge.
and other disadvantaged groups (such as indigenous or            This paper unpacks this tension, and draws attention
Janajati/Adibasi, Madeshi, Tharu, Muslims and other              to knowledge politics as well as practices, by offering
minority religions) continue to face discrimination (GESI        a framework for understanding (i) the plurality of
Working Group, 2017). The hard fought for Constitution           knowledges that exist within Nepal’s community forestry
of Nepal in 2015 envisages the country as an inclusive           professionals, (ii) issues of power and control inhow
state and guarantees the right to equality for all citizens;     those knowledges are practiced, and (iii) opportunities
‘eliminating discrimination based on class, caste, region,       for resisting that control in the pursuit of social justice.
language, religion and gender and all forms of caste-based       Before moving on to this framework, a brief overview of
untouchability’ (GESI Working Group, 2017). To turn this         Nepal’s community forestry professional community is
into a reality, however, great progressmust be made, as          provided, along with academic critiques related to expert
inequality in Nepal sees on-going disparities in wealth,         and technical forestry knowledge.
education, health and political decision-making power               Multiple actors and professionals are involved in Nepal’s
(GESI Working Group, 2017).                                      community forestry, including not only government
   Nepal has undergone radical social, cultural and              departments but also donor organisations, Nepali civil
political transformations over the last 30 years, including      society, INGOs, research and education institutions, and
current processes of federalisation, but there is a ‘huge        the private sector. Around 60% of the development
disparity between the well-resourced, cosmopolitan               budget of the community forestry programme has
capital, Kathmandu, and the still very basic living              been funded through foreign assistance (GoN, 2020),
standards in other parts of the country’ (Hutt, 2020: 145).      culminating in the cross-donor Multi-Stakeholder Forestry
Labour migration, particularly by young men, has led to          Programme until 2015, and continuing with the likes of
the rise of a remittance economy that contributes 30%            the World Bank Forest Investment Program (GoN, 2017).
of GDP—three times that from tourism (Hutt, 2020).               These actors have been the subject of much critique,
Migration, within Nepal and beyond, means more people            drawing attention to the politics of knowledge, that is,
are leaving rural areas to live in towns and cities, resulting   whose knowledge is seen ‘to count’ in both community
in a decreasing reliance on agriculture in rural areas and       forestry policy and daily forest practices. Critiques
a ‘feminisation of agriculture’, as women take on what           highlight the history and hegemony of Western scientific
has traditionally been considered men’s work on the              forestry knowledge and associated practices, and the lack
farm. Given the synergistic relationship between farm and        of genuine engagement with the knowledge and practices
forest, this agrarian change leads to shifts in the use of       of forest-dependent communities—despite this being
forests and forest products (Marquardt et al., 2016) and         a central tenant of Nepal’s community forestry (Ojha et
affects community forestry through a lack of leadership          al., 2016, Rutt et al., 2015; Toft et al., 2015). The colonial
and decreasing levels of user participation (Poudel, 2019).      roots of forestry and the training of foresters has been
Community forests remain a vital resource for particular         highlighted as particularly problematic (Guha, 2001;
groups, however, notably those from poorer households            Sivaramakrishnan, 1995), with Nepali foresters influenced
(often Dalit and Janajati) who remain in subsistence             for example through forestry training in neighbouring
agriculture and lack opportunities for off-farm activities       India. Ojha et al. (2006) discuss the dominance of a
or to migrate for work (Marquardt et al., 2016).                 ‘techno-bureaucratic doxa’ in Nepal’s forestry, where by
   Tackling dilemmas of justice in Nepal’s community             the world view of forest bureaucrats based on science
forestry is undoubtedly a huge challenge, involving              and technical tools goes unchallenged. Others draw
the recognition of injustices created through everyday           attention to logics and practices of ‘professionalisation’ in
interactions between forests, forest users and forest            community forestry, which it is argued promote expertise,
institutions; and recognition of how these are positioned        ignore politics and work against participation, leading to
within ever-changing contexts and hierarchies of power.          observed paradoxical and inequitable outcomes (Lund,
This paper contributes to this challenge by turning              2015; Nightingale, 2005). Such critique of forestry
the analytical lens away from CFUGs and on to the                knowledge and professionalisation builds on a rich history
professionals who design and deliver community forestry          of anthropologies of international development and aid
programmes and policies, specifically through a focus on         more broadly, which argue that knowledge practices and
their knowledge practices and its politics.                      processes serve to create technocratic and de-politicised
                                                                 approaches to what are fundamentally political issues
Knowledge practices (and politics) of Nepal’s                    of power and control (Li, 2007; Ferguson, 1994). This
community forestry professionals                                 paper takes these epistemic injustices seriously and firmly
‘Knowledge practices’ have been defined above as the             agrees that development interventions can (and often do)
‘personal and social practices related to working with           de-politicise and further entrench inequalities (as I have
knowledge’ (Hakkarainen, 2009: 215). As discussed at             found in my own work; Staddon et al., 2014; Staddon et
the start of this paper, a tension exists within Nepal’s         al., 2015)). It suggests, however, that this scholarship risks

Art. 5, page 4 of 15                                                                Staddon: Recognising and Resisting Injustice

homogenising and black boxing (cf. Blaikie 2006) ‘the            it can be argued, has not been paid to the significance of
forestry expert’ or professional in what can be unhelpful        professionals own intersectional identities.
ways, that is, ways that ignore ‘internal’ social differences       One group of development practitioners who have been
and inequalities, and the politics of control within the         interrogated in relation to their identity are so-called
community. A framework for unpacking that black box is           expatriate or international workers, with work highlighting
therefore offered here, through a focus on the knowledge         for example the colonial continuities embodied in their
practices and politics of community forestry professionals.      ‘lifestyle dilemmas’, given they ‘inherited from colonial
                                                                 times a pattern of home and social life that excludes
(i) A plurality of positions, and thus knowledges                contact with the people living in poverty they are there
Knowledge practices relate to the ‘personal and social’          to help’ (Eyben, 2014: 45). Mosse (2014: 517), however,
aspects of (working with) knowledge (Hakkarainen, 2009),         argues that the idea of development as being dominated
and this points towards the importance of the knowledge-         by a Western knowledge regime ‘arriving from the outside
holder as an individual, as well as how they are positioned      is decreasingly relevant or helpful’, and scholarly attention
in relation to others, to their identity, positionality and      is shifting to explore the identities, lived experiences and
perspective. Reviewing forty years of gender research            knowledge practices of not just international but also
and environmental policy, Arora-Jonsson (2014: 305)              national staff. In the podcast referred to above (Fine 2019),
argues that the most important thing in tackling on-going        the speakers complicate assumptions of connections
contradictions and injustices is ‘more research on               between nationality and knowledge, however:
knowledge producers, practitioners and policy makers—to
understand how we work and our own preconceptions’.                 ‘One of the knowledge gaps that I’ve experienced
Preconceptions and perspectives arise from our unique               working overseas is where you have local leaders
and situated positionalities, encompassing the ‘personal’           who are a part of an educated elite. And they’ve
and the ‘professional’; as reviewed here by drawing not on          grown up in the city. They’re often the children
forestry scholarship (given it typically fails to reflect on        of government officials and of university
such issues), but rather by turning to that on international        professors and the elite of that society. And it’s
development (given community forestry is not just as an             not uncommon, in my experience, for that group
environmental protection, but also a social development             to have less knowledge about conditions outside
programme).                                                         of the capital city or the urban centre than some
  Whilst there have long been calls to recognise                    of the expatriates who have been living out in the
the importance of ‘the personal’ in development                     rural areas for 5 or 10 years…who’ve immersed
practice (Chambers 1989), given that it is ‘fuelled by the          themselves in the culture and who have a real
imperative to change the lives of the poor, its narratives          personal understanding of the dynamics of
do not usually feature changes in aid workers themselves’           community life’ (Fine, 2019).
(Fechter, 2012: 1389). Leading postcolonial scholar
Gayatri Spivak (1988) warns, however, that identity              This is of course not always the case, but as Warne Peters
and positioning (socioeconomic, gendered, cultural,              (2020: 3) suggests,‘it is not entirely clear which side of the
geographic, historical, institutional) and the ‘baggage’         “development encounter” national staff are on—are they
carried by those engaging in development mean ‘our               part of the global North because of their interventionist
interaction with, and representations of, the subaltern are      efforts, skills, training or experience, or part of the global
inevitably loaded. They are determined by our favourable         South because they are citizens of a developing country?’.
historical and geographic position, our material and             She notes an ‘internal’ hierarchy of field staff (i.e., those
cultural advantages resulting from imperialism and               working face-to-face with beneficiaries) and administrative
capitalism, and our identity as privileged’ (Kapoor, 2004:       staff (i.e., those managing project implementation), and
627). The ‘inevitably loaded’ nature of development              complex dynamics of understanding and representation
practice, and the importance of positionality and                of project sites and realities between field site and
privilege is captured in a 2019 podcast entitled The             administrative centre. Focusing on development and
currency of power: Addressing power dynamics within              gender in India, Narayanaswamy (2016) similarly
development, which features a discussion between two             highlights a disconnect between the needs and desires
senior practitioners, who share that ‘I’m white. I’m male.       of marginalised women across the south of the country
I’m heterosexual. I have enough money to, to not worry           and the ways these are defined and intervened in by
about falling asleep hungry. All of those things—I’m not         urban, middle-class and middle/upper-caste development
set up to listen well. I’m not set up to understand that well’   professionals in Delhi, based on their ‘elite feminisms’ and
(Fine, 2019). Such discussions reflect the ‘intersectional’      personal assumptions, including for example their own
nature of identities; for example, cutting across gender,        marriage and family practices.
race and class, and the relevance of these for how we              Such literatures and arguments inspire in this paper an
come to understand—and thus our perspectives on and              attention to the positionalities and personal experiences
knowledge of—people, places and processes (Crenshaw,             of Nepal’s community forestry professionals, and how
1989). Whilst much development—and forestry—practice             this affects their knowledges and understandings. This
engages increasingly sophisticated understandings of             is particularly in light of the ‘huge disparity’ between
intersectionality (Colfer et al., 2018), the same attention,     cosmopolitan Kathmandu—where most professionals

Staddon: Recognising and Resisting Injustice                                                               Art. 5, page 5 of 15

reside—and the ‘still very basic living standards’ across        and to replace personal judgement based on experience
much of the rest of the country (Hutt, 2020: 145), where         and talent. This paper is keen to explore how technical,
community forestry takes place. Rather than assuming             evidence-based and metricised approaches to community
however that community forestry professionals have               forestry in Nepal may control (i.e., open up or shut down)
particular perspectives and knowledges based solely on           opportunities for the recognition of injustices, such as
their training or chosen career—or based on their place of       qualitative understandings and knowledge based on
residence—this paper seeks to articulate and acknowledge         personal judgement, experience and talent.
the plurality of their knowledges, based on their diverse           Whilst many would agree that formulaic, routinized
and intersectional identities, and their unique experiences,     practices and prescriptive methodologies dominate much
both in ‘personal’ and ‘professional’ capacities.                development practice (Eyben et al., 2015; Hayman et al.,
                                                                 2016), some choose to focus on the role of development
(ii) Politics and control of knowledge practices                 knowledge as ‘part of the critique [of development, but
It is clear that Nepal’s community forestry professionals        also] part of the solution’ (King et al., 2016: 1). Eager to
may embody not just technical forestry expertise, but            disrupt the conceptualisation of NGOs as united and
also a plurality of knowledges, experiences and insights,        coherent actors, Kontinen (2016) explores development
arising from their diverse positionalities. When considering     knowledges, finding two forms in operation; firstly
knowledge practices, as outlined above, however, there           ‘propositional knowledge’—that which relates to
exists a tension between knowledge and the ability to work       organisations rules and routines and which is embedded
with that knowledge, a tension that it is argued is due to       in manuals and reporting templates and the like—and
the inherently political nature of working with knowledge,       secondly ‘narrative knowledge’—that which is informal
that is, of any knowledge practices. As outlined above,          and unstructured and consists of stories and anecdotes
the knowledge politics of Nepal’s community forestry             based on more personal experiences and actions. Kontinen
programme has received excellent critique, highlighting          highlights a tension between the use of propositional
the history and hegemony of Western and colonial                 versus narrative forms of knowledge, however, noting
scientific forestry knowledges and practices, and a prevalent    that knowledge based on friendship (a form of narrative
‘techno-bureaucratic doxa’ amongst an increasingly               knowledge) is seen by practitioners as more valid and
‘professionalised’ forest bureaucracy (Ojha et al., 2016;        ‘real’ than propositional knowledge contained in, for
Ojha et al., 2006; Nightingale, 2005). Given the focus in        example, monitoring and evaluation tools. Such narrative
this paper on understanding the diversity within the forest      knowledge often emerges within so-called informal
bureaucracy however, the review here highlights literature       spaces, for example whilst practitioners participate in
that points towards processes through which diverse and          daily activities with local partners or communities or
plural knowledges may be controlled – either enabled or          during discussions over shared food. This paper is keen
constrained – within Nepal’s community forestry practices.       to explore these different forms of knowledge as they
   Forestry is typical of many other environment and             may operate within community forestry professionals
development sectors in being dominated by technocratic           in Nepal, seeking to understand how (and where) they
approaches and positivist epistemologies; as Resurreccion        arise and how they are controlled through professional
and Elmhirst (2020: 2) write, ‘technical, evidence-based         practices and politics.
and managerialist approaches dominate, based on the
use of statistical indicators and impacts, hard evidence         (iii) Resisting control of knowledge practices
and rigorous data’. Neoliberal agendas and demands               Nepal’s community forestry professionals clearly embody
promote very particular ways of understanding the                multiple knowledges based on their intersectional
world, of framing what interventions are required, of            positionalities and experiences, and clearly these
measuring and monitoring the consequences of those               knowledges operate within systems and spaces which may
interventions, and of evaluating and learning from them          open-up or shut-down opportunities to recognise and
to feed into further interventions. ‘Results’ and ‘evidence’     tackle social injustices through their work. This final part
of development interventions variously take the form of          of the framework explores the ways in which professionals
key performance indicators, logical framework analysis           may resist control of their knowledge practices in the
(‘log-frames’), risk registers, theories of change (ToCs), and   pursuit of social justice. In his seminal work The Anti-
randomised control trials (RCTs), to name but a few (Eyben       Politics Machine, Ferguson (1994) writes that “[t]he
2015). The adoption of such measures and methodologies           thoughts and actions of “development” bureaucrats are
is tied to the increasing demand for development actors          powerfully shaped by the world of acceptable statements
to demonstrate accountability, legitimacy, credibility           and utterances within which they live; and what they do
(King et al., 2016), as well as value for money (VFM) and        and not do is a product not only of the interests of various
for payments by results (PBR) schemes (Eyben 2015). In           nations, classes, or international agencies, but also, and at
The Tyranny of Metrics, Muller (2018) critiques the current      the same time, of a working out of this complex structure
global obsession with metrics, or ‘metric madness’,              of knowledge” (Ferguson, 1994: 18, emphasis added).
arguing that whilst intended to provide an ‘objective’,          This paper recognises the powerful shaping of Nepal’s
standardised assessment that enables comparison                  community forestry professionals’ thoughts and actions,
across time and space, such metrics tend to promote              but seeks to explore their ‘working out of this complex
quantitative measures over qualitative understandings,           structure of knowledge’, paying particular attention

Art. 5, page 6 of 15                                                             Staddon: Recognising and Resisting Injustice

to how they work out ways of resisting dominating             Methodology
structures which constrain opportunities to engage with       This paper is based on research conducted in Nepal
social justice in meaningful ways.                            during 2017 and 2018 involving interviews with over
   Discussing the role of ‘gender experts’ within the         50 professionals from 35 organisations representing
work of environment and development organisations,            community forestry interests from government, donors,
Resurreccion and Elmhirst (2020: 8) highlight a tension       INGOs, civil society, consultancies, policy and research
between scholarship that, on the one hand, pits feminist      think tanks, and academia. Interviewees included men and
activists (‘who work as “trojan horses” for feminism’)        women from Nepal from a wide range of castes, as well
against femocrats (‘complicit in bureaucratising feminism     as a small number of foreign workers based in Nepal and
and in the loss of its transformative edge’), and on the      visiting international consultants and academics. I spent
other hand, that which troubles the apparent boundary         over a year conducting research for my PhD in Nepal during
between these two charactertured positions and soresists      2007 and 2008, and so some interviewees were people I
these binaries. Rejecting simple dichotomies between          knew from that time; others worked for organisations I
‘good feminism’ and ‘co-opted feminism’, Resurreccion         had looked up as being relevant to the research, and I also
and Elmhirst (2020) argue for the importance of experts’      spoke to people who were recommended to me during my
multiple positions in and through their daily working         visits. Meetings took place in Kathmandu (the capital of
practices, and of a ‘slow revolution’, citing Davids et al.   Nepal) in practitioner’s offices, although in some cases in
(2014: 404) that change comes through ‘small, messy,          cafes, and whilst most were one-to-one, some involved up
fragmented and everyday kinds of subversions, conscious       to three or four participants from the same organisation.
and unconscious’. Drawing on feminist theory in order         Whilst I can speak some Nepali, interviews were conducted
to consider social justice in relation to REDD+, Bee and      in English, and on only one occasion did participants
Basnet (2017: 797) highlight the inadequacy of current        struggle to express themselves and require translation
REDD+ pilot initiatives, concluding, similarly, that ‘the     to Nepali, which was offered by their colleagues.
key, then, is to identify possible points of reversal or      Discussions lasted from around one to two hours and
switches, whereby potential openings for struggle and         were based loosely on a set of topics that aimed to elicit
contestation occur…such that moments to challenge the         participants’ experiences and perspectives on equality
depoliticisation of gender become evident’.) Exploring        and social inclusion in relation to community forestry
the ability of ‘justice brokers’ from state and local civil   and on processes of learning within forestry practice
society actors to influence national REDD+ agendas and        and institutions. Interviews were not audio-recorded and
programmes, Dawson et al. (2018) find that although these     instead notes were taken during the meeting, as well as
actors hold extensive and in-depth knowledge on issues of     afterwards when insights and reflections were fresh. Some
(in)justice and (in)equality, decision-making is dominated    things said by participants were noted verbatim during
by international actors, and their ‘tick box approaches       the interview and are presented below as direct quotes.
to equity’, which restricts space for deliberation, leading   Participants’ free and prior-informed consent to conduct
them to call for ‘effective spaces for empowering diverse     the interviews was obtained verbally at the start of the
intermediaries to negotiate and influence localisation of     meeting, and I assured all interviewees of anonymity and
international norms’ (Dawson et al., 2018: 1).                confidentiality. The research presented here was approved
   Such scholarship and findings align well with the field    by the School of GeoSciences University of Edinburgh
of ‘reflective learning’, which is defined as ‘a deliberate   Ethics & Integrity Committee.
process of becoming unsettled about what is normal…and           During 2017 and 2018 I spent seven weeks in Nepal over
recognising that…how [one] personally understand[s] and       three separate trips in order to conduct the interviews.
act[s] in the world is shaped by the interplay of history,    During this time, I also participated in a number of
power and relationships’ (Eyben, 2014: 20). Recognising       workshops, conferences and seminars and used these
individual and collective agency, reflective learning is      participant observation opportunities to gain additional
considered an opportunity for ‘finding room for manoeuver     ethnographic insights. I did so in recognition of the fluidity
to push back and create the space for alternative framings’   of boundaries of what constitutes ‘field work’ sites, and in
(Eyben, 2015: 34). In their book Negotiating Gender           order to exercise ‘deep-listening’ and ‘intellectual humility’
Expertise in Environment and Development: Voices from         wherever possible (Koch, 2020). In presenting my findings
Feminist Political Ecology, Resurreccion and Elmhirst         below, I make numerical reference to my own notes but do
(2020: 227) conclude that ‘vigilance and reflexivity help     not provide details of the interviewee (by gender or sector
resist hegemonising rationalities that depoliticise and       for example) or where the material arose from (interviews
technocratise the work of advancing gender equality           or participant observation). This is done in order to protect
in technical environments’, such as in community              anonymity and maintain confidentiality, but also because
forestry. This work inspires an attention in this paper to    I make no claims over representativeness; rather, I offer
everyday opportunities and spaces through which Nepal’s       the material as a way to demonstrate the diversity and
community forestry professionals may ‘push back’ against,     breadth of understanding and opinion and not to claim
resist and remain ‘vigilant’ about depoliticising and         particular groups think differently to others. Analysis of
technocratising practices, and who through reflexivity        material was qualitative and iterative, based broadly on
are able to work to resist social injustices in Nepal’s       my past research insights (Staddon et al., 2014; 2015) and
community forestry.                                           literature reviewed above, specifically each of my three

Staddon: Recognising and Resisting Injustice                                                                 Art. 5, page 7 of 15

visits to Nepal in 2017 and 2018. The findings presented           formal arrangements for decision making, that ‘all matter
below aim to tell a wide-ranging story of insights and             is decided in informal settings…when sitting, drinking, men
interests—they do not allow an in-depth consideration of           decide, then next day they go to the meeting and input the
positionality and practice in a particular professional or         decision they made’ (2/36). Whilst it was thought that all
project and the direct consequences this has for injustices;       in the professional community know of such challenges
they seek to demonstrate a widespread feeling and                  in tackling inequalities (2/36), some respondents drew
frustration, which may or may not be shared by others. This        attention to problematic assumptions held by others
research would no doubt be improved and more insightful            (1/35; 1/43) as they reveal a lack of understanding of
had I had chance to engage with professionals working              processes of marginalisation. Discussing federalism
outside of Kathmandu, and to follow particular projects or         processes and the need for there to be a woman in one
people over time. This research is however a snapshot of           of the two local level political positions (Mayor or Deputy
professionals’ perspective at a particular moment in time,         Mayor), one respondent suggested there are widespread
notable for coinciding with the beginnings of processes            assumptions that women lack capacity to perform those
of federalism and devolution of political powers and for           roles, whilst no such assumptions circulate about the
coming before the global COVID-19 pandemic beginning               capacities of men (3/56). Clearly, there is diversity in the
in 2020.                                                           recognition of inequalities and injustice associated with
                                                                   community forestry, and here Iunpack why that might
Findings                                                           be by exploring the influence of positionality and the
This paper unpacks the ‘black box’ (cf. Blaikie, 2006)             ‘personal’ amongst community forestry professionals.
of Nepal’s community forestry professionals, finding                  Formal education and training emerged as an important
that these professionals are indeed a diverse group and            theme in respondents’ thinking and understanding, with
represent a plurality of knowledges. Their knowledge and           many people noting that they studied outside of Nepal
understanding, specifically of issues of inequality and            for undergraduate and Master’s degrees; for example in
injustice in relation to Nepal’s community forests (both at        Canada (1/143), UK (3/13; 3/48; 3/60), Netherlands
community and institutional level), takes multiple forms           (1/148), Germany (3/48), and Thailand (2/27). Many
and emerges from their unique positionalities, reflecting          benefited from donor-provided scholarships to study
both their ‘personal’ and ‘professional’ lives. What emerged       overseas during the 1990s, with ideas gained during
time and again during interviews, however, was the                 those times still central to their current day professional
struggle professionals faced in applying their knowledge,          practices (1/143). Some noted a lack of focus on issues
understanding and recognition of injustices in their               of equality and justice in their environmentally focused
everyday professional practice. The challenges and politics        degrees (1/58), whilst others noted that their involvement
embedded in forestry professionals’ knowledge practices            in student politics during their studies made up for this
are explored here, in line with the framework set out above;       gap (1/58). The obvious influence of education on people’s
firstly by focusing on the ‘social differences’ (cf. Blaikie,      current professional practices and perspectives was
2006) within the professional community and exposing               revealed by some:‘I’m instinctively drawn to finance-based
the plurality of professional knowledge practices; secondly        approaches…[and] I think it appealed to her accountancy
by revealing the ‘local politics of control and inequality’        mind’ (3/10). It emerged that education was important
(cf. Blaikie, 2006) within the professional community; and         not purely for its content and focus, however, but also
thirdly by highlighting where particular knowledge practices       because of the connections it established. Respondents
promote recognition of injustice and allow it to be resisted,      mentioned, for example, sharing a room with peers in
thereby ‘pushing back’ (Eyben, 2015) against the patriarchal       the professional community during their undergraduate
ideologies and governance apparatus that currently close           studies i.e. being a ‘batch-mate’ (3/62), and how they still
down inclusive forest futures (Bhattari, 2017).                    run into old colleagues from their early forestry training
                                                                   in neighbouring India (1/86). These relationships are
A plurality of knowledge practices and the recognition             significant as from them emerge trust in both individuals
of injustice                                                       and disciplines; I was told, for example, that government
Nepal’s community forestry professionals represent a               foresters only respect those with forestry degrees (2/11)
plurality of knowledge practices, with some more able than         and that sociologists are not well respected (2/136). A
others to recognise injustices and social inequalities at the      lack of social scientists within forestry and environment
community, and institutional, level. There is widespread           organisations was noted (3/63), as was a lack of critical
recognition that the ways in which the professional                social science more broadly, although others highlighted
community think about and understand issues of                     the potential of PhDs (particularly those completed
inequality are important. It was noted that ‘it is not difficult   outside of Nepal) as being valuable for promoting critical
to see marginalisation…we do know about it’ (3/39), with           thinking around issues of justice (1/125; 3/27; 3/57).
one example relaying that despite government provisions               Following on from their education and training,
for the percentage of women on committee positions in              people’s work experiences emerged as important in
CFUGs, that their involvement constitutes murti or ‘statue         their understanding and ideas, with respondents naming
participation’, as men still dominate discussions (1/139).         particular organisations and projects that they had worked
Others shared similar reflections on the state of women’s          for as being influential in their current thinking (2/43;
involvement in community forestry, that despite the                3/48). Again, the relational aspect of these experiences

Art. 5, page 8 of 15                                                                Staddon: Recognising and Resisting Injustice

was important, with people speaking of the access through         (Kontinen, 2016), and the importance of ‘informal’
their own organisations to those in others, enabling them         spaces in its generation. Others discussed their personal
to further widen their learning experience (3/49). Others         approaches and the importance of particular spaces, for
highlighted the importance of having worked in specific           example one international worker who chose not to live in
places, most notably in rural and remote areas of Nepal,          ‘expat areas’ of Kathmandu (1/108), so trying to avoid the
for example, as Forest Technicians or District Forest             trap discussed by Eyben (2015) of separating themselves
Officers (DFOs) (3/48; 1/100). Whilst DFOs may view               from the lived realities of many in the country.
their posting to remote districts of Nepal as something to           Professionals’ experiences and identities also emerged
endure until they can finally move to Kathmandu (1/100),          in relation to their personal relationships with family
the importance of this time spent in close proximity to           and friends, and stories of these relationships were
community forests and their user groups, is seen as hugely        frequently offered by respondents when discussing issues
important by both these government officers (3/14) and            of inclusion and equality. A number of professional
others in the professional community (1/36). These                women who had chosen to leave Nepal and work across
opportunities were seen as significant in allowing people         South East Asia, spoke during short work trips back to
to come to know and understand local social and political         Nepal about their choices to work abroad in relation to
relations, and processes of marginalisation. Respondents          their mother-in-laws, saying they would not want to live
bemoaned the lack of experience of rural areas amongst            in Nepal as they would be dominated by them at home,
certain professionals (1/109), although this was connected        whilst when working overseas they enjoyed freedom
to their personal background too.                                 and independence (3/36). These personal experiences
   Whilst the term positionality was not mentioned directly       of marginalisation mirror those of women across Nepal’s
by any respondent, many discussed the importance of               rural community forests, where intra-household dynamics
personal characteristics, identity and approach. One              and authority determine not only relations between
respondent acknowledged that coming from an urban                 women based on age and position in the family, but as
middle-class background they were unaware of the                  a consequence the women’s relationships with the forest
situation for those across rural Nepal, sharing their surprise    and forest governance, for example who is responsible for
when they went to work in those areas and the inequality          collecting leaf litter vs attending CFUG meetings (Bee and
between their own life and the lives of many fellow Nepalis       Basnett, 2017; Nightingale, 2006). Professionals’ personal
(2/126). This is to be expected given the growing disparity       experience of such intra-household power relations and
between Kathmandu and rural and remote parts of                   inequalities it could be argued ‘sets them up well to
Nepal (Hutt, 2020); however, it is increasingly important         understand’ (cf. Fine, 2019) the importance of processes
in terms of how professionals come to know about the              of marginalisation and injustice in the community forests
understand processes of marginalisation and inequality.           they work in. Other respondents also gave examples of
As Narayanaswamy (2016) finds in India, it is possible for        equality within their own homes, between husbands
professionals to lack insight into the lived realities of those   and wives, when discussing wider issues of inclusion
who are marginalised, even within their own countries,            (2/194), whilst others referred to their own experiences
which has consequences for the interventions they engage          of migration when discussing the impacts of migration
in. Other professionals have grown up in rural parts of the       on community forests (2/114). There was recognition of
country, and many of these drew on their own past and             inequalities within patterns of migration however, and of
present experiences in those areas in explaining their            identities as privileged, with one professional describing
approach to questions of social inclusion and equality            their own experiences as being amongst the ‘10% elite’
(2/115). It is common practice that in community-facing           migrants (2/114), and another describing their children’s
project work, organisations employ people from the                experience of migrating to Europe for university as an
same district, but a different site, so that they are aware       upper-class practice, compared to migration of the middle
of the local culture and language, yet are not known to           classes to the Middle East and lower classes to become
the community personally (2/27). I heard of one project           the urban poor within Nepal (1/60). Family is clearly an
that specifically employed young graduates from across            important reference point for many professionals in their
a range of disciplines and locations, in order that they          understanding of equality, including in direct relation
bring ‘no baggage’, with their selection being based on           to community forests. In arguing the need to promote
personality and a desire to provide them with exposure to         income generating activities in community forests,
different places (3/19). Personality is considered by some        one government official justified this by stating that ‘I
to be an important aspect of positionality (Moser, 2008),         couldn’t invite my brother to come and work in the forest,
and some respondents were well aware of this, reflecting          as there is not enough money in it’ (3/15). Relationships
on the importance of empathy and how in touch people              and experiences beyond the family were also significant,
are with their situation (2/27). One respondent told me           with one international professional speaking about
that they ‘like to talk’, going on to explain that talking to     the importance of taxi rides for talking to the driver,
everyone in a community when they visit a project site            who ‘always have some story of having been to Qatar or
is the how they obtain information, and that informal             somewhere’, thereby providing an opportunity to learn
conversations are much more valuable than large formal            about the lives of others which would not be possible
meetings (3/53). This approach highlights the importance          if driving in UN vehicles or staying in high end hotels
of what has been referred to as ‘narrative knowledge’             (1/109). The same professional also found the canteen in

Staddon: Recognising and Resisting Injustice                                                                Art. 5, page 9 of 15

the government forestry offices the place they have the           which emerge particular understandings and appreciations
most revealing chats with government foresters (1/108).           across the professional community—however, there is
Others similarly shared stories of learning through talking       an ambivalence to this process, and it cannot be used to
to people they sat next to on buses and planes (2/122;            predict particular individuals’ perspective or, for example,
2/181). These examples also highlight the importance              recognition of injustice. Findings presented here help to
of narrative knowledge and of informal spaces in the              articulate the importance of other underlying factors such
emergence of professionals’ understandings—including,             as space; for example, so-called ‘informal’ spaces—such as
but not restricted to, issues of inequality (Kontinen, 2016).     canteens or on planes—where knowledge is shared and
   Professionals’ knowledge and understanding of equality         relationships are built. The most significant underlying
and justice stems not just from direct insights offered           factor is that of relationality—that professionals’ knowledge
through personal experience or talking with others, but           is built through a relational process, involving particular
also from emotional engagements. Speaking about the               people and places and practices (Mosse, 2015). Despite
situation of those from the rural village in which they           the richness of professionals experiences of and insights
were born and still have family, one professional shared          into inequalities, professional practices and procedures
how villagers talk to them of their fear of so many               were often seen to shut down opportunities to tackle
young people migrating and leaving the village, and of            them meaningfully through projects and interventions.
how emotions drive the decisions and experiences of               We now move on to consider the ‘local politics of control
migration for all involved: ‘it starts with a lot of hope, then   and inequality’ (cf. Blaikie, 2006) within the professional
fear, pain, and then hope again’(2/115). Others spoke of          community, whereby particular knowledge practices
being ‘saddened’ by reports on the inclusion of women             dominate others, to the detriment of recognising and
in community forestry (1/139) and how inequalities are            resisting inequalities.
‘tortuous for us’ (3/12), suggesting, ‘we have to struggle’
(3/34). Some international consultants described doing            Control of knowledge practices and the shutting
evaluations of other organisations’ projects as ‘soul-            down of recognition
destroying’, especially when they did not get to visit the        Knowledge practices involve ‘working with knowledge’
project sites but merely reviewed reports (1/104). Sharing        (Hakkarainen, 2009), and whilst it was established above
how through their work they heard the story of a woman            that professionals ‘do know about’ marginalisation, and
in their project site, one professional described it as ‘so       that ‘it is not difficult to see’, the ability to ‘work with’
inspiring!’ (2/45). Clearly emotions are entangled in,            this knowledge is not assured. One respondent captures
and productive of, the relationships which professionals          this dilemma succinctly when stating, ‘what we put in our
have with issues of injustice and their own professional          reports is not the same as in reality’ (3/50). Discussing
practices (Ahmed, 2004; Wright, 2012).                            quotas for women in CFUG leadership positions, this
   By focusing on the ‘social differences’ (cf. Blaikie, 2006)    professional questioned ‘but how do you know what is
within the professional community, this section has               behind this?’(3/50). Many respondents bemoaned the
exposed the plurality of knowledge practices amongst              ever-increasing focus on numbers and quantifiable project
Nepals’ community forestry professionals. Clearly                 and programme impacts, calling it a ‘numbers game’
many professionals are keenly aware of processes of               (2/107) and that it ‘is all about playing with numbers now’
marginalisation within community forests, and for                 (1/78), arguing that numbers ‘don’t contain the full story’,
example the murti or ‘statue participation’ evident in            that ‘experiences cannot be contained by 50%’ (2/46), and
CFUGs. Professionals’ awareness and understanding                 that ‘there are multiple realities—and they cannot all be
emerges not just from propositional knowledge associated          squeezed into one number’ (2/26). Those who have been
with manuals and frameworks, but also from narrative              working in Nepal’s forestry and development sector for
knowledge associated with informal engagements with               many years argued that demands for numbers and metrics
project beneficiaries and for example friendships with            is increasing, maintaining that 10 or 15 years ago things
others in the professional community (Kontinen, 2016).            were better as there was more flexibility and a focus on
Going further than that however, we can see professionals’        process rather than outputs (1/78; 2/134). They argued
knowledge and understanding emerging in direct relation           that statistics are not objective, ‘despite assumptions’
to their unique positionality and identity, for example, as       to the contrary (1/78), and that rather than counting
part of the urban middle classes, or as daughter-in-law, or       the numbers of individuals involved in projects there
father. This positionality, and the ‘baggage’ that comes with     should be a focus on stories, case-studies and qualitative
that (Kapoor, 2004), sets some professionals up well to listen    understandings of the processes of engagement (2/12;
to and understand those who are disempowered (Fine,               2/46; 2/107; 1/186). It was suggested that statistical data
2019); however, it is not the intention here to claim that        ‘cannot capture the struggles, emotions we go through’
sharing an identity as, for example, a woman automatically        (2/46) and that it promotes only superficial rather than
sets up a professional to understand the needs of women           deeper learning, shutting down opportunities to learn
in the community forests she works with—intersectional            from mistakes and improve interventions (2/107).
feminist insights are far too well established to allow           Respondents claimed that demands for accountability
such simplistic and essentialist interpretations. Findings        through project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) has
suggest that features such as education, work experiences         ‘created a monster’, arguing that the system rewards those
and emotions influence positionality and identity, from           who are upwardly accountable, but gives no consideration