Researching Fragility in the Indo-Bhutan Borderlands

What is it like to research in difficult to access conflict-affected communities? How can the voices of those who have suffered tremendous loss be recorded with sensitivity and without compromising their dignity? The chapter provides an introduction to the district of Chirang and the forest tracts of the borderland which forms the basis for a significant portion of the book. A snapshot of Chirang District is given and then using various development indices, a comparison of its development with other significant Districts of Assam is drawn up. The authors using maps, photographs and diagrams introduce the economic and socio-political realities of the Indo-Bhutan borderlands and the six main sites of the study (these include both Bodo and Adivasi villages). The chapter specifies the nature of governance at the grassroots especially in a Sixth Schedule Area. The chapter then examines in detail, the administrative structures most crucial to the study area. First, we consider the problem of forest governance that contributes to specific type of protracted localized fragility. We then look at Village Council Development Committees (VCDC). The last section in this chapter details out methodological development. The chapter outlines the challenges of fieldwork in a conflict-affected area that is undergoing a transition to peace. It also addresses the struggle of largely activists in being researchers. In addition, the chapter includes a case study revolving around a single unrecognized forest village (or encroached forest village) occupied by those formerly displaced in the conflicts of 1996 and 2014. The case study blends in all of these thematic areas and highlights the overlapping of political and ecological fragilities (especially the trade-offs made by individuals between basic survival in the forest areas, the struggle for livelihoods and long-term ecological deterioration).