ABSTRACT
This chapter examines territorial dynamics in the mining conflicts in Kalinganagar, Kashipur, Gandhamardan and Niyamgiri, it seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the diverse ways social struggles around mining are played out in different contexts. The state and companies, particularly in the context of large-scale mining, use a dominant and paradigmatic notion of territories as empty spaces devoid of people but rich in mineral resources to be exploited. The chapter highlights the factors responsible for affecting people’s movements differently in different places and times. It provides an example of how through a protected social struggle people from different backgrounds can forge a notion of territory and build a common political project around its defence. The chapter explores how marginalized generate ‘a new way of doing politics and a new way of sociability’ for the ‘construction of a different social power’, as they confront the ravages of neoliberal globalization and seek to defend their place-based cultures and territories.
