PhD student in geography at the Sorbonne, UMR 8185 ENeC
Contact : mauveletang1 [at] gmail.com
Research topic: From the concept of "commons" to the principle of "common"? Practices of administering collective land, power relations and social distinctions in the Himalayas (India and Nepal)
Research experience:
I initially trained in geomorphology (MSc from the Sorbonne). The first year of my Master’s was dedicated to analysing the dynamics of a hydrosystem during the Holocene period in the central High Atlas (Azilal, Morocco). During the second year, I worked on the characterization of geomorphological processes that are the object of State ecology policies in the same area. I then moved over to human geography (MA from Université Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense) and, to be more precise, to issues raised by political ecology. My Master’s thesis was entitled "Glocalization of normative environmental discourses: the case of Sarmoli (Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India)". This was my very first contact with the Himalayas.
To follow up this research, I undertook a PhD at the Sorbonne in 2015 and started contributing to the ANR project AQAPA (Who does the landscape in Asia belong to?) under the supervision of Prof. Olivier Sevin (Sorbonne) and Prof. Frédéric Landy (French Institute of Pondicherry). My thesis is entitled “From the concept of "commons" to the principle of "common"? Practices of administering collective land, power relations and social distinctions in the Himalayas (India and Nepal)”. It focuses on the administration of collectively managed land in three Himalayan villages, one in India (Uttarakhand) and two in Nepal (in the Annapurna Conservation Area). In these villages, common-pool resources (CPRs) are key aspects of the inhabitants’ daily lives because they are spaces for farming, for collecting timber and firewood, and for grazing cattle.
In combining political theory and geography, I analyse the power relations and the social distinctions induced by changes in the actors involved in administering collective land in these villages. I highlight the tensions between the different social groups that do not share the same habitus, values, representations and uses of collective land, and I explain the socio-political and territorial impact of these reconfigurations.
Link to a video in which I present my work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiXBPP9zzWY
Keywords :
common(s)
political ecology
administration of the environment
practices of governance
circulation of power
Fieldwork:
central High Atlas (Maroc)
Himalayas (India and Nepal)
Main publications:
2017
Létang M., (forthcoming) "Gouvernements de l’environnement et circulation des inégalités dans le village de Sarmoli (Kumaon, Uttarakhand, Himalaya indien). Une lecture par le prisme du capital environnemental." Développement durable et territoires, in press.
Létang M. et Dervieux Z. (forthcoming), book review entitled "Sortir la géographie environnementale de sa torpeur pour instituer une Gaïagraphie" of Manifeste pour une géographie environnementale, géographie, écologie, politique. Denis Chartier et Estienne Rodary (eds), Paris : Presses de Science Po, 2016, 439 p. Revue Géographie et Culture, in press.
Létang M., (submitted) "Retour/recours/secours à la terre ? Une co-gestion du commun forestier par les néoruraux et les villageois à Sarmoli (Kumaon, Himalaya indien)". Tracés
Létang M., Dérioz P., Le Noach’ J. (submitted) "Développement touristique, approches patrimoniales et arrangements sociaux en versant sud des Annapurna (Népal)", Bulletin des géographes français
2016
Derioz P., Upadhayaya P., Loireau M., Bachimon P., Le Noac’h J, Létang M., (2016) "Émigration masculine et développement touristique en versant sud du massif des Annapurna (Népal) : les femmes à la manoeuvre". Échogéo, [online], 37/2016, posted on line on 7 October 2016, URL : http://echogeo.revues.org/14724
Létang M., (2016) "La néoruralité existe aussi au Sud !". Rubrique Analyses et Actualités, POUR, 2016/1 (No. 229), URL : https://www.cairn.info/revue-pour-2016-1-page-20.htm
Main papers :
2017
6th congress organised by the French Network for Asian Studies (GIS Asie), June, Science Po, Paris
"Gouvernement de l’environnement : opportunités de genre et déplacement des inégalités intersectionnelles villageoises (Uttarakhand, Inde)" (individual paper)
With P. Dérioz "Emigration masculine et développement touristique en versant sud des Annapurna (Népal) : les femmes à la manoeuvre"
Conference "La montagne, territoire d’innovation", organised by labex Item, January, Cité des territoires, Université Grenoble-Alpes (France)
"Des biens communs au commun. Innover en repensant les normes sociales, économiques et politiques pour gouverner la forêt villageoise (Kumaon, Himalaya indien)" (individual paper)
and with P. Dérioz, P. Bachimon, P. Upadhayaya, M. Loireau et J. Le Noa’ch "Diversification touristique, démarches innovantes et changement social en versant sud des Annapurna. Quelle place pour les femmes ?"
2016
Workshop organised by the Association de Géographie Française (AGF), June, Institut de géographie, Paris
Avec P. Dérioz, "Agriculture paysanne, développement touristique et approches patrimoniales : le versant sud des Annapurna (Népal) entre déprise, adaptation et innovation"
Seminar "Rural landscape, ethnic minorities and touristification in Asian highlands" organised within the research programme AQAPA, May, Centre international Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi (India)
"When a feminine elite governs: the limits of environmentality (Sarmoli, Kumaon, Uttarakhand)" (individual paper)
and with P. Dérioz et E. Gauché "Development of Tourism in Mountain Areas and Representations of Landscape: A Comparative Analysis with case studies in India, Nepal and China"
Seminar "Multifaceted Inequality in Contemporary India", organised by the Association des jeunes études indiennes (AJEI), March, IFP Pondicherry (India)
"Rural ecotourism: an environmentality for the feminin elite? Case of Sarmoli in the indian Himalayas (Kumaon, Uttarakhand)"
2015
Conference "Capital environnemental : représentations, pratiques, dominations et appropriations spatiales" organised by GEOLAB (CNRS/Univ de Limoges), November, University of Limoges
"Le capital environnemental ou l’émergence d’une nouvelle forme de prolétarisation. Cas de l’écotourisme dans une communauté rurale de l’Himalaya indien (Uttarakhand)"
Organisation of research-oriented events :
2017
Co-organization of an international conference "La quatrième biennale masculin/féminin : des féminismes et la géographie". Organised by the research unit ENeC in collaboration with the review Géographie et Culture. Juin, Institut de Géographie et Maison de la recherche, Paris
Co-Organisation of the workshop "Commons in South Asia", organised by the Association des Jeunes Études Indiennes (AJEI), March, Goa (India)
Other activities:
Member of the Association des Jeunes Études Indiennes (AJEI) since 2016