Sundar, N. (2005). Community, Intimate Government, and the Making of Environmental Subjects in Kumaon, India. Current anthropology, 46(2), 185-186.
This paper examines how and for what reasons rural residents
come to care about the environment. Focusing on Kumaon, In-
dia, it explores the deep and durable relationship between gov-
ernment and subjectivity and shows how regulatory strategies as-
sociated with and resulting from community decision making
help transform those who participate in government. Using evi-
dence drawn from the archival record and fieldwork conducted
over two time periods, it analyzes the extent to which varying
levels of involvement in institutional regimes of environmental
regulation facilitate new ways of understanding the environment.
On the basis of this analysis, it outlines a framework of under-
standing that permits the joint consideration of the technologies
of power and self that are responsible for the emergence of new
political subjects.