'Conflict' narratives as a weopon of the weak

Small scale farmers in Uganda express a sense of being powerless in situations where their interests and rights clash with those of officialdom and/or outsiders. These farmers appear to use narratives of conflict with wildlife... [ view full abstract ]

Small scale farmers in Uganda express a sense of being powerless in situations where their interests and rights clash with those of officialdom and/or outsiders. These farmers appear to use narratives of conflict with wildlife as a vehicle for expressing anger, frustration and a sense of dispossession of autonomy without entering into direct conflict with authority figures that might prove damaging or threatening to them. In his seminal work ‘Weapons of the Weak. Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance’ Scott proposed that everyday forms of ‘resistance’ can be viewed as political action (Scott 1985). Such ‘resistance’ includes actions that allow individuals or groups to express discontent or disagreement without drawing attention to themselves, thereby avoiding the risk of incurring negative consequences associated with overt dissent. In this paper we use material from several case-studies from different geographical areas to (i) explore the notion that discourses of conflict around wildlife could be better understood as a ‘weapon of the weak,’ and (ii) discuss the relevance and likely implications for promoting human-wildlife coexistence, particularly among socially or economically disenfranchised groups living with protected wildlife.