A Karen indigenous approach to food sovereignty: Tracing processes of institutional emergence

Abstract

This paper looks at Karen communities’ Indigenous approach to food sovereignty, embedded in the cultural values based on the notion of reciprocity. It presents the concept of Ma Doh Ma Kha or, you help me I help you, as the cultural continuum which facilitate processes of institutional emergence. Placing food sovereignty within the broader context of Indigenous movements, it focuses on rice banks formation, factors that necessitate its formation, and the shaping of evolutionary pathways that link rice banks with centuries old Karen customary governance system contextualized in the central positioning of collective plots in rotational farming practices. Building on the concept of institutional bricolage and viewing food sovereignty as a dynamic process rather than a set of fixed principles, it illustrates how Karen communities (re)make institutions while responding to various external drivers of change, including the Myanmar Army’s political oppression. Taking the Salween Peace Park, in Karen State, Myanmar, as our case study, we show how Karen life philosophy and cultural values contextualized in rotational farming practices serve as one of the key foundations for shaping of Karen communities’ evolutionary pathways for food sovereignty.