A land regime for the future Kawthoolei: Contentious land politics in Kawthoolei, Burma

Abstract

Theoretically questioning what land is and why it gets contentious, this thesis explores land politics in Burma as a contentious political space. Utilizing a multi-scalar approach the main objective is to investigate the construction and assemblage of land in its complex and dynamic relations to conflict in Burma, and specifically Kawthoolei. The research uses a social constructivist approach to uncover how land is (re)constructed and contested through multiple processual, temporal and relational productions of space. This thesis is a qualitative case study building on visual, textual and oral data collected from November 2020 to February 2021 to explore how and why land politics is a contentious political domain in Burma. Particularly focusing on Mutraw District and the Salween Peace Park conservation initiative in Kawthoolei, Burma. Seeing land and contention as inherently political processes the research explores how multiple actors seek to obtain spatial control over specific areas of land through different ontological and structural processes, framed as specific land regimes. The thesis argues that in the given case this process is driven by diverse actors’ aspirations to materialize the imagined future of a homeland. Exploring how multiple land regimes socially construct land within specific, discursive projects, in sum producing a contentious political landscape, the thesis connects multiple contestations to each other, and weaves them into historical dynamics of political economy, conflict, and colonialization in Kawthoolei, the Karen homeland