Lifes narratives of Bang Kloi Karen people in a State of exception: perception, response, and Adaptation amidst the Contested field of conservational discourse of the Thai state
Abstract:
This research aims to present parts of the life narratives of ethnic Karen people (Pga K'nyau) of Bang Kloi community, currently resettled in part of Pong Luek Bang Kloi community, Huay Mae Prieng sub-district, Kaeng Krachan district, Phetchaburi Province, that reflect their perceptions, adaptations, or responses toward the machination of conservational, development, and national security discourses, that legitimize the Thai states forced evictions of people who live in the forests. This community, established before the declaration of the Protected Area, has been historically affected by at least 3 evictions, since 1996 from their ancestral homeland known as Jai Paen Din" (the heart of the land), which was declared a protected area in the name of Kaeng Krachan National Park. By investigating primarily through the narratives which appeared after the third states eviction in 2021, known as Operation Tonnampetch Watershed Defense, after some of the Bang Kloi Karen decided to return to their former homeland, Jai Paen Din/Bang Kloi Bon (upper Bang Kloi). This state operation created constraints between the people and authorities, mainly Kaeng Krachan National Park officers. The States conservational discursive practices create a likely State of Exception within a contested field of power and discourses, for the lives of Bang Kloi people. This qualitative, ethnographic study, has adopted the discourse analysis to scrutinize the discursive conservational policy and its contestants, to understand how the discourses manifested through texts, or spoken words among various spaces and actors, and employed the methods of indepth interview, participant observation, and secondary data study to investigate and illuminate the lives stories of Bang Kloi people after the emergence of the #SaveBang Kloi campaign in the social media amidst the political uprising in 2019-2022. The research investigates Bang Kloi Karens perceptions, adaptive strategies, life choices, and their responses to reclaim their rights in their contestation against the Thai States conservational discourse. Data collection covered the periods of March 2021, and follow-up research in November 2022 and July 2023. Key findings demonstrate that Bang Kloi people have lived in precarity in the past three-fouryear struggles against the authoritys discursive conservation policy. About dozens of people faced lawsuits while others have been differently affected some succumbed to illness and died, others live in precarious circumstances due to a shortage of land, or the land allocated not appropriate for agriculture. Moreover, many families depend on young members who have moved to work in big cities. These young Karen migrants also faced double difficulties from the discourse of otherness that resonates with the Thai States conservation discourse. Despite the claim of such discourse for the common good of all Thais, the opposite is true for the ethnic Karen people of Bang Kloi, who have been prevented from accessing their ancestral homeland while facing the deprivation of life opportunities and well-being in this society.