Vocabulary of Commons

Vocabulary of commons is a socio-linguistic enquiry into the legal and livelihood consequences the term ‘commons’—a search for a vocabulary that reflects a commons approach to a life with dignity in harmony with Gaia and communitarian aspirations. It is to strengthen community articulation and make their voices heard in the ongoing efforts of dialogue between communities, academics, practitioners and decision makers. It was coordinated by OpenSpace (openSpace.org.in).

First (print, pdf) edition January 2011. Slightly reorganised, with small changes to article titles, for republication here by the P2PF, 2017.

Original Publisher: Foundation for Ecological Security
PB No. 29, Anand, Gujarat, INDIA–388001
p: +91 (2692) 261239; f: +91 (2692) 262087
e: ed@fes.org.in w: fes.org.in

CONTENTS

Preface

Authorspeak

Glossary

1.	Perspective
11	Towards a Vocabulary of Commons	Anita Cheria and Edwin
12	Primitive Accumulation of Capital and De–Commoning	Ritajyothi Bandyopadhyay
2.	Natural commons
21	Commons to capital: With special reference to the Mundas of Jharkhand	S Bosu Mallick
22	Commons, Communities and State Appropriation	Ashok Chowdhury, Roma
23	Common Resources and Community Management	Walter Fernandes, Gita Bharali and Melvil Pereira
24	Rural commons: A source of livelihood and sustainability	Prafulla Samantara
25	Water as Commons	C R Neelakandan
26	Coastal Commons	Gomathy Balasubramanian
3.	People and commons
31	Women and commons: Engaging with gender justice	Anungla Aier
32	Children and the right to commons	Enakshi Ganguly Thukral
33	Dalits and the commons	Yashoda
34	The transgender and commons	Anita and Edwin
35	Worker or fisher?	K P Sasi
4.	Urban commons
41	Streets as commons: What’s happening to our streets?	Vinay Sreenivasa
42	Property in Urban Commons: Contested spaces and embedded claims	Bhuvaneswari Raman
43	Some Thoughts on the De–Commoning of Bengaluru	Solomon Benjamin
44	Water for Commons: Disparity in Chennai	Geeta Lakshmi
5.	Social commons
51	Resisting erosion: Dissent and the Commons	Kinjal Sampat and Deepak Srinivasan
52	Vocabulary of humanitarian commons	Mihir R Bhatt
53	Social exclusion and the commons	Sukhadeo Thorat and Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal
54	Public infrastructure: Building socially inclusive commons	Anita and Edwin
55	Health, nutrition and the commons	Mira Shiva
6.	Knowledge commons
61	The Agro–Biodiversity Commons	Suman Sahai
62	Knowledge and Science as Commons	Prabir Purkayasthsa
63	The commons and IT: A paradigm shift in knowledge creation	Venkatesh Hariharan
7.	The spiritual and sacred commons
71	The sacred commons: The use, misuse and abuse of religion and spirituality	Anita and Hrangthan Chhungi
72	Cosmosity~Dalits and the spirituality of the commons	MC Raj
8.	Summing up
81	Challenges of modernity and commons	Anita and Edwin
82	Lets talk commons	Anita and Edwin

Contributors

General licensing

The original book is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this document are solely that of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of FES.

This book is not for sale. Suggested contribution Rs 450; USD 45; Euro 35

Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)

Registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI 1860, the Foundation for Ecological Security was set up in 2001 to reinforce the massive and critical task of ecological restoration in the country. The crux of our efforts lie in locating forests and other natural resources within the prevailing economic, social and ecological dynamics in rural landscapes and in intertwining principles of conservation and local self governance for the protection of the natural surroundings and improvement in the living conditions of the poor. By working on systemic issues that can bring about a multiplier change, we strive for a future where the local communities determine and move towards desirable land-use that is based on principles of conservation and social justice.

Initiative on commons

The Initiative on Commons, currently anchored by FES, aims to bring together practitioners, policy makers and academia, working on various domains of commons— physical commons such as such as forests, grazing resources, protected areas, water, fisheries, coasts, lagoons, irrigation systems as well as ‘new commons’ such as knowledge, digital and cultural commons, genetic resources, patents, climate, etc. It is an evolving platform to advance understanding, research and advocacy on the commons. The initiative ultimately aims to influence public perception, policy environment and programmatic action in favour of the commons.

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While this version being prepared here, some previous material remains available at

• Vocabulary of the Commons - Part 3
• Vocabulary of Commons - Part 4

(this version currently done up to Article 55)

The whole book is displayed properly as PDF at

• http://www.slideshare.net/OpenSpace/vocabulary-of-commons
• http://www.iasc-commons.org/content/vocabulary-commons