How Does an Asian Commons

Mean








Lawrence Liang
Prashant Iyengar
Jiti Nichani
2
!"#$% '( )'*+%*+,







1. Intiouuction
2. violence, Bispossession anu the Enclosuies Novement in Euiope
S. Bow uoes an Asia Commons mean: Notes towaius a uenealogy of the
Commons in Asia
4. Napping the Enclosuies Novement in Asia
S. The 0ncanny Lightness of Being an Asian Cultuial Commons
6. Conclusion

3
-*+.'/01+2'*

A walk thiough the lexical jungle of intellectual piopeity ieveals a iange of stiange
cieatuies luiking in vaiious nooks anu coineis. A patent heie, a tiauemaik theie
anu copyiights spiinging thieats at tiespasseis waining them not to stiay into the
uomain of piotecteu piopeity. 0n the othei siue of the IP jungle lies the enchanteu,
albeit mythical commons in which one is alloweu the fieeuom to ioam anu sample
the pleasuies of the foiests without the iisk of legal action. The invocation of these
metaphois of jungles may seem self inuulgent, but we believe that they seive moie
than a uecoiative value, as this monogiaph seeks to ietuin us -inhabitants of the
uigital commons- to the lanus anu foiests, wheie the twin stoiies of the making of
piopeity anu the uestiuction of the commons begins. We will navigate this jouiney
via histoiy, keeping one foot fiimly within the contempoiaiy, so that the past may
ieveal oui piesent to us in cleaiei light.

Philosopheis have waineu us that when a woiu oi phiase becomes so commonly
useu as to iequiie no explanation oi substantiation, then we have to be all the moie
caieful while using it. In iecent times we have seen the uiamatic iise in the caieei
of one such woiu in uebates on the politics of infoimation anu knowleuge, "the
commons". The iuea of the commons has enteieu the uebate on copyiight in a
significant mannei to signify a uomain of collaboiation anu cieation unhingeu by
the usual iestiictions placeu by copyiight
1
.

The aggiessive expansion of intellectual piopeity into eveiy uomain of life has been
the cause of concein foi a numbei of people. Acauemics anu scholais have
iesponueu to this pioblem in vaiious ways. Recent scholaiship on intellectual
piopeity has been maikeu by the invocation of the metaphoi of the commons anu
the public uomain, anu the thieat that it faces fiom this limitless expansion of
intellectual piopeity. Noie often than not the commons is allegoiizeu as a mythical
iueal goveineu by piinciples of shaiing, access anu collaboiation, which was lost
aftei the fiist enclosuies movement. The aigument pioceeus to caution against a
similai enclosuie, the seconu enclosuies movement in the iealm of the infoimation
ecology that thieatens to piivatize eveiy aspect of infoimation anu knowleuge
theieby thieatening cieativity anu access to knowleuge.

Theie seems to be a consensus that we all know what we aie speaking of when we
speak of the commons, anu the task of this monogiaph will be to examine anu
question oui commonplace assumptions about the commons.

When we paiticipate in the making of the uigital commons we iaiely ask the
question of why it is that the metaphoi of the commons has emeigeu as the
uominant metaphoi against the peiceiveu piivatization of knowleuge anu cultuie.
When piobeu a little fuithei, an entiie set of questions aie iaiseu: Bow uiu the
commons come to be chosen as the most appiopiiate moue of uesciibing a set of
collaboiative piactices of shaiing that iefuses to seceue to the logic of
Commouification of knowleuge. In what mannei foi instance uoes it uiffei fiom

1
A few examples of it use incluue 'Cieative Commons', 'Science Commons', 'Asian Commons', 'Bigital
Commons' etc.
4
othei iueas such as the public uomain. Is the commons synonymous with the
absence of piopeity noims. Can theie be an automatic tianslation of the histoiy of
the commons in lanu to the woilu of intellectual piopeity. It is to caive a space
thiough which we can collectively navigate this iathei uense woilu of the commons
that we have wiitten this piimei on the commons foi the commonei.

Theie aie vaiious ways in which an intiouuction to the commons can be wiitten
anu the most obvious way woulu be to intiouuce the iuea of the knowleuge cultuie
commons anu examine how they have been thieateneu by the expansion of the
global IP iegime. This woulu be followeu typically by an intiouuction to vaiious
initiatives that seek to countei the hegemony of intellectual piopeity anu cieate an
alteinative noimative paiauigm, one that piomotes fieeuom anu access to
knowleuge anu cultuie in the name of the commons. It woulu, in othei woius seive
as an intiouuction to the vaiious issues at stake to the 'laypeison'.

By now, this aspect of the stoiy is familiai enough, anu has been uocumenteu
extiemely well
2
. We believe that theie woulu be no puipose seiveu in ieiteiating
the stoiy, anu we insteau take this oppoitunity to intiouuce a set of ciitical
questions anu uiiections in which futuie ieseaich on the natuie of the commons
may pioceeu. We have theiefoie chosen to take a slightly uiffeient ioute to tell oui
stoiy of the commons. Rathei than assume one single stoiy foi the commons that
exists, oui aim has been to expanu the possibilities of engaging with the commons
anu with the histoiy of the commonei (a phiase that the histoiian Petei Linebaugh
uses to iefei not just to laypeisons but to inhabitants of the commons).

0ne of oui attempts has been to fiame the question in such a mannei that it enables
the coming togethei of existing appioaches to the pioblem of intellectual piopeity
along with genealogies, uisciplines anu voices that aie not noimally seen as having
a take on questions of intellectual piopeity. 0ne way of opening up the uebate on IP
may be to thiow it beyonu the question of infoimation anu the intangibles alone,
anu to insteau examine othei histoiies anu ioutes, which will enable us to ietuin
to the question of intellectual piopeity uiffeiently. Thus iathei than examining the
question of intellectual piopeity as a uisjunctuie of the contempoiaiy, we see the
possibilities of looking at it thiough vaiious continuums; some that navigate
thiough the chequeieu histoiies of piopeity, otheis that engage with the histoiies
of spectial figuies hoveiing aiounu the commons.

An example of such a continuum foi instance lies in the piocesses thiough which
new languages of piopeity aie claimeu, anu have histoiically sought to be
instituteu. The expansion of intellectual piopeity is a stoiy that continues with the
expansion of piopeity iights in geneial. Contiaiy to common assumptions that
piopeity is a univeisal anu eteinal facet of histoiy, piopeity is in fact a social

2
See foi instance, Lawience Lessig, Fiee Cultuie: Bow Big Neuia 0ses Technology anu the
Law to Lock Bown Cultuie anu Contiol Cieativity (New Yoik: Penguin, 2uu4), Rosemaiy Coombe,
The Cultuial Life of Intellectual Piopeities: Authoiship, Appiopiiation anu the Law (Buiham, NC:
Buke 0niveisity Piess, 1998), Yochai Benklei, The Wealth of Netwoiks,
bttp:,,www.benkler.orq,weoltb_of_networks,inJex.pbp,BownlooJ_PBIs_of_tbe_book, Lawience
Liang, Piimei on 0pen Content, http:en.wikibooks.oigwikiF0SS_0pen_Content

5
aitefact that has to be actively cieateu ovei a peiiou of time anu consoliuateu
thiough vaiious social anu legal piocesses. But once piopeity noims aie
establisheu, they go on to uefine a laigei univeise of behaviouis anu set the
bounuaiies between the piesciibeu anu the piohibiteu.

The making of piopeity iequiies the establishment of the language of owneiship,
anu the giant of exclusive iights. They ueteimine the extent anu iange of iights that
acciues fiom such owneiship anu finally also uefine a set of piactices that woulu be
consiueieu an infiingement which is suppiesseu by the violent foice of the law in
the foim of ciiminal sanctions anu punishments.

An examination of the making of piopeity necessaiily biings us to the oluei
histoiies of how the commons came to be encloseu thiough the cieation of piopeity
iights. This 'enclosuies' movement, which we shall examine in gieatei uetail, was
accompanieu by a laige scale escalation of violence anu uispossession of people.
0ui concein with contempoiaiy expansions of intangible piopeity is also
motivateu by the equal violence anu uispossession that they aie capable of
unleashing.

If we theiefoie take the histoiy of exclusion, tiespass anu encioachment not meiely
as linguistic inheiitances fiom the histoiy of the commons, but as conceptual
linkages that unite the woilus of the tangible anu intangible, histoiical anu
contempoiaiy, we may be fuinisheu with a set of conceptual iesouices, which aie
otheiwise unavailable at any singulai entiy point into the uomain.

The making of piopeity is also a pioject that is fiaught with tension anu fiagility.
Piopeity asseits its might by tianslating the teims of knowleuge piactices into its
own logic using the same coeicive language of exclusion anu tiespass, builuing
newei fences, bounuaiies anu walls that maikeu the expeiience of the fiist
enclosuies movement. Fences, bounuaiies anu walls which maikeu the binaiies
between the ownei tiespassei, legal illegal, occupiei. encioachei face aie sought
to be ieuefineu in teims of access costs, access iestiictions, ioyalty payments,
infiingement claims anu monopoly iights.

0ui concein with intellectual piopeity stems fiom the ways in which claims ovei
piopeity ovei the woiu of intangibles iueas, expiessions anu cieativity aie
effectively uiawing new bounuaiies anu fences aiounu a uomain that was ielatively
fiee foi people to use.


The intiouuction of a uiscouise on piopeity entails not just the cieation of a new
system of legal iights anu obligations, but also in the iewoiking of existing social
ielations. It intiouuces new foims of sociality via the teims of possession anu
exclusion wheie none may have existeu eailiei. Iueas of piopeity anu peisonhoou
also go hanu in hanu as eviuenceu in the woik of }ohn Locke, the most influential
theoiist of piopeity
S
. It is also Locke who pioviues the mouel which ueteimines the

S
See, Etienne Balibai, Ny self anu Ny own: 0ne anu the Same., in Bill Nauiei anu uabiiele Schwab,
Acceleiating Possession: ulobal Futuies of Piopeity anu Peisonhoou, (New Yoik: Columbia 0niv.
Piess, 2uu6)
6
coie philosophy of copyiight.

A language of piopeity is also totalizing in the sense that it oveiwiites all othei
languages of social ielations which may have existeu. If foi instance a community
hau vaiious noims thiough which it uealt with questions of the contiol ovei natuial
oi cultuial iesouices, these cannot co exist with a piopeity claim. The intiouuction
of piopeity tiansfoims uiveise piactices by ienueiing them illegitimate oi by
eiasing them fiom the official memoiy of a community. We shall see many
examples of these in oui chaptei on the histoiy of the commons in Asia.

0ne of the most impoitant ieasons then foi iecalling a histoiy foi the commons is
to also look at the ways in which people negotiateu anu manageu theii ielations to
lanu, to cultuie anu to each othei, without a piopeity iegime. We began by
asseiting that the Commons is moie than a iomantic metaphoi that is useful foi the
contempoiaiy. It is vital foi us to unueistanu the commons not only thiough the
lens of histoiy, but to examine the philosophical challenges that it thiows up to the
iegime of piopeity. We aie inteiesteu in the piactices of the commons that can help
us iethink iueas of owning, possession anu management of iesouices. We neeu in
othei woius, an allegoiical ieauing of the commons, which can aleit us to new
moues of being in, anu ielating to the woilu of knowleuge anu cultuie.

C. B. Nacpheison has stateu that the meaning of piopeity is not constant. The actual
institution anu the way people see it, anu hence the meaning they give to the woiu,
all change ovei time. The changes aie ielateu to changes in the puiposes in which
society oi the uominant classes in society expect the institution of piopeity to
seive. 0ne inteiesting example of this is slaveiy. Foi a long peiiou of time, it was
seen as being peifectly legitimate anu moial to be able to own human beings.
Touay slaveiy is consiueieu moially iepiehensible anu humans aie no longei
iegaiueu as legitimate objects of possession. Consequently, institutionalizeu slaveiy
no longei "fits" within oui mouem conceptualization of piopeity anu is ueemeu an
illegal foim of owneiship by most cultuies. Anu yet, most people woulu be shockeu
by the suggestion that theie may be ways of going about the woilu without the
concept of piopeity, at least in the mannei in which it is applieu.

When }ohn Locke theoiizeu the state of natuie, one of the most impoitant insights
that he uiew on was the iuea that the state of natuie lackeu a iegime of piivate
piopeity. Anu it was this lack of piivate piopeity, foi Locke, that iesulteu in the
unpieuictable natuie of life since theie was no iule of law which iegulateu society.
It is impoitant to iemembei that Locke's state of natuie was not meiely an
imaginaiy one. While wiiting about the state of natuie, he ieally hau in minu
piactices of inuigenous anu aboiiginal people in Belize anu uuyana. 0nuei English
common law, lanu that was alieauy occupieu oi in possession of anothei coulu not
simply be taken by foice. But Locke helpeu ieuefine the concept of piopeity
owneiship to oveicome the legal bais to appiopiiation of the lanu in the possession
of the Aboiiginals anu to facilitate the colonial puipose of the Euiopean settleis.
4


4
Naiy Calubick, Locke's uoctiine of piopeity anu the uispossession of the Passamaquouuy,
PhB Bisseitation submitteu to The 0niveisity of New Biunswick, 1997, Taia Letwiniuk, }ohn Locke:
The Bevonshiie Faimei anu the Bispossession of the Ameinuians of Belize anu uuyana, PhB
Bisseitation submitteu to the 0niveisity of Toionto, 1998
7

Tiauitional appioaches to Locke's woik have faileu to appieciate the extent to
which his theoiy of lanu owneiship is constiucteu aiounu his attempts to iesolve
the uebate in Englanu ovei the unique legal pioblems aiising fiom Biitish
teiiitoiial expansion anu the settleis' neeu foi lanu in the new woilu. Locke, in his
uefense of the uispossession of natives, constiucteu a set of aiguments intenueu to
ueflect claims that Euiopean iights to lanu in the new woilu weie limiteu by the
piioi occupation of the Aboiiginals.

Locke also iemains one of the exemplai philosopheis of the seventeenth anu
eighteenth centuiy, a peiiou in which many of oui iueas of selfhoou emeiges. In
many ways, the question of peisonal iuentity was the piimaiy question that
motivateu Locke's enquiiy, anu his theoiies set the stage foi the philosophic anu
juiiuical establishment of what Nacpheison calls the theoiy of "possessive
inuiviuualism".
S
While the question of peisonal iuentity tioubleu many
philosopheis even befoie Locke, it was only with the publication of Locke's Two
Tieatises on uoveinment anu Essay Conceining Buman 0nueistanuing that you
have the establishment of the most coheient aigument linking theoiies of iuentity
to piopeity.

Foi Locke, consciousness is a mental opeiation that appiopiiates the self to itself,
wheie to appiopiiate means to iuentify with oi to make a piopeity of. The use of
the woiu own is both as an aujective (my own thought) anu as a veib (to confess).
The ielationship between the self anu the own is theiefoie uepenuent on a
ciiculaiity wheieby iueas of iuentity anu iuentification on the one siue anu
appiopiiation on the othei continuously exchange theii function anu become
viitually equivalent. The ielationship between the self anu the own is uepenuent on
a self fulfilling piophesy wheie "what I can consiuei as me, myself is my self anu
'my' self is some 'thing' that I own, oi that I must own (confess) is mine, was uone
oi thought by me, has become my own because I appiopiiateu it to me by uoing it
oi thinking it consciously".
6


If theie is such a stiong link between the histoiy of piopeity anu the cieation of
concepts of peisonhoou, it is aiguable then that the histoiy of the commons is not
meiely an inteiest in alteinative iegimes of piopeity, but a quest foi funuamentally
uiffeient iueas of peisonhoou as well. }uA Pocock says that if piopeity is both an
extension anu a pie iequisite of peisonality then we shoulu be awaie of the
possibility that uiffeient moues of piopeity may be seen as geneially encouiaging
uiffeient moues of peisonality.
7


This monogiaph will thus auuiess thiee coie thematic conceins:


S
Nacpheison, C. B. The Political Theoiy of Possessive Inuiviuualism: Bobbes to Locke.
0xfoiu: Claienuon Piess, 1962.
6
See, Etienne Balibai, Ny self anu Ny own: 0ne anu the Same., in Bill Nauiei anu uabiiele
Schwab, Acceleiating Possession: ulobal Futuies of Piopeity anu Peisonhoou, (New Yoik: Columbia
0niv. Piess, 2uu6)
7
} u A Pockock, Tangata Whenua anu Enlightenment anthiopology, New Zealanu }ouinal of
Bistoiy, vol. 26, No.1 (1992), 28-SS
8
The fiist segment takes us thiough the histoiy of the commons. We will
attempt to answei the question of why the metaphoi of the commons is useu
in contempoiaiy uebates on IP by linking the expeiience of pie piopeity
foims, as well as pioviuing an account of uispossession cieateu by piopeity.

The next segment poses the iathei uifficult question of how we can pioviue
an account of the commons in the Asian context. uiven the uiffeient histoiies
of Euiope anu Asia with iespect to enclosuies, it seeks to iaise funuamental
questions of what it means to make a claim of an Asian expeiience of the
commons.

In the thiiu segment, we will attempt to chait out possible uiiections that a
pioject on theoiizing of the commons in Asia will neeu to take. We will uo
this by sampling the histoiy of the commons in lanu in Asia, as well as look
at the ways in which an Asian cultuial commons may be thought of.

Finally, we will ietuin to the contempoiaiy uebates to see how an Asian Commons
can contiibute to the global uebate on the commons.



9
32'$%*1%4 52,6',,%,,2'* "*/ +7% 8*1$',0.%, 9':%;%*+ 2* 80.'6%


Recent intellectual piopeity uebates have witnesseu a manifolu expansion of catch
phiases such as the e-commons, cieative commons, netwoik commons, uigital
commons anu othei such auaptations of the 'commons' to uesciibe a system of
collaboiation, access anu exchange of infoimation. Invoking this metaphoi of the
'commons' has helpeu cieate an alteinative language to the uominant uiscouise of
intellectual piopeity. Bowevei, veiy often, the contempoiaiy invocation of the
commons uoes not ieally captuie the histoiical expeiience of the commons, anu we
attempt to ievisit the histoiy of the commons to pioviue an account of the
commons, which is attentive to its tenuous ielationship with piopeity, legality, anu
the expeiience of uispossession. But fiist we neeu to begin with a few instances of
the way that the commons is evokeu in contempoiaiy scholaiship.


"By tbe commons l meon o resource tbot is free - not necessorily zero cost, but if
tbere is o cost, it is o neutrolly imposeJ, or equolly imposeJ cost". Lawience Lessig
8


Lessig uefines the e-commons as:

"lt is commonploce to tbink obout tbe lnternet os o kinJ of commons. lt is less
commonploce to octuolly bove on iJeo wbot o commons is. By o commons l meon o
resource tbot is free. Not necessorily zero cost, but if tbere is o cost, it is o neutrolly
imposeJ, or equolly imposeJ cost. . 0pen source, or free softwore, is o commons: tbe
source coJe of linux, for exomple, lies ovoiloble for onyone to toke, to use, to improve,
to oJvonce. No permission is necessory; no outborisotion moy be requireJ."
9


In Lessig's invocation, the commons is equateu with the iuea of fieeuom, anu the
use of the commons is to uesciibe what in the fiee softwaie woilu has come to be
uesciibeu as the essential fieeuom.

Yochai Benklei, whose woik focuses on a 'Commons-baseu appioacheu' to
managing netwoik economies uesciibes the commons as a new mouel of economic
piouuction in which the cieative eneigies of laige numbeis of people aie
cooiuinateu (usually with the aiu of the inteinet) into laige, meaningful piojects,
mostly without tiauitional hieiaichical oiganisation oi financial compensation.
1u

Be uefines the "netwoikeu infoimation economy" as a non-maiket economy of
infoimation, knowleuge anu cultuie that flows thiough society ovei a ubiquitous,
uecentialiseu netwoik.

Anu finally, the 'Cieative Commons' sees the commons as the cultuial uomain in
which cultuial iesouices aie available fieely foi people to use, mouify anu shaie.


8
Laiiy Lessig, The Aichitectuie of Innovation, S1 Buke L.}. 178S, 1788 (2uu2).
9
Ibiu.
1u
Coase's Penguin or Linux onJ The natuie of the fiim - a papei by Yochai Benklei uefining
what Commons-Baseu Peei Piouuction is anu how it woiks. The papei also incluues a long stuuy of
what motivates contiibutois.
1
0

As we have stateu in oui intiouuction: When we paiticipate in the making of the
uigital commons we iaiely ask the question of why it is that the metaphoi of the
commons has emeigeu as the uominant metaphoi against the peiceiveu
piivatization of knowleuge anu cultuie. We woulu like to iestate some of the
questions that motivate us such as :

! Bow uiu the commons come to be chosen as the most appiopiiate moue of
uesciibing a set of collaboiative piactices of shaiing that iefuses to seceue to
the logic of Commouification of knowleuge.

! In what mannei foi instance uoes it uiffei foim othei iueas such as the
public uomain.

! Is the commons synonymous with the absence of piopeity noims.

! Can theie be an automatic tianslation of the histoiy of the commons in lanu
to the woilu of intellectual piopeity.

The invocation of the commons in the uigital age is a useful staiting point, but it
woulu be incomplete if we uiu not acknowleuge the histoiies of the making of
piopeity anu its subsequent histoiy. The contempoiaiy invocation of the commons
uo not seem to auuiess the funuamental question of the effect of the language of
piopeity on existing social ielations, on iueas of owneiship anu on iueas of ciime.
0ui piimaiy inteiest in ievisiting the histoiy of the commons is to exploie the ways
in which people imagineu foims of existence anu ielationality that weie outsiJe of
the imagination of piopeity, the violence unleasheu by the giauual enclosuie of the
commons, anu how a laige numbei of people uispossesseu by the enclosuies
movement ielieu on the memoiy of the commons in futuie stiuggles foi basic
entitlements.

Social histoiians of ciime, foi instance, have iigoiously aleiteu us to the inteitwineu
histoiies of piopeity anu ciiminalization. It may theiefoie be insufficient foi us to
invoke the commons only in allegoiical teims, anu it may be moie fiuitful to look at
cuiient conflicts ovei intellectual piopeity within a wiuei histoiical continuum,
which examines the natuie of contestation ovei the uefinition, the contouis anu the
enfoicement of piopeity itself.

The fiist enclosuies which iesulteu in the expiopiiation of the commons fieeu laige
teiiitoiies foi capitalist agiicultuie, logging, mining, anu speculation in lanu, anu
cieateu at the same time a vast aimy of the uispossesseu who weie then fieeu to
become wage eaineis in new inuustiializing aieas at home oi abioau, oi
ciiminalizeu thiough haish laws that imposeu penal seivituue in the colonies. The
enclosuie of the commons was theiefoie just the fiist step towaius the
consoliuation of the iule of piopeity, anu the caieei of capital.

Linebuagh chaiacteiizes the histoiy of the peiiou staiting fiom the enclosuies of
the commons in the following mannei:

1
1
We con perioJize tbe olmost two onJ o bolf centuries covereJ bere by nominq tbe
successive onJ cborocteristic sites of struqqle: tbe commons, tbe plontotion, tbe sbip
onJ tbe foctory. ln tbe yeors 1600-1640, wben copitolism beqon in FnqlonJ onJ
spreoJ tbrouqb troJe onJ colonizotion orounJ tbe Atlontic, systems of terror onJ
soilinq sbips belpeJ to expropriote tbe commoners of Africo, lrelonJ, FnqlonJ,
BorboJos onJ virqinio onJ set tbem to work os bewers of wooJ onJ Jrowers of
woter."
11



The histoiy of the 'commons' can be tiaceu to the eaily fifteenth centuiy when
neaily quaitei of all the 'common lanu' in Englanu anu Wales began to be encloseu
by multiple Acts of Pailiament.
12
The 'enclosuie movement' was chaiacteiiseu by
the piocess of physical fencing of aiable lanu with a heuge oi wall, theiein
tiansfoiming 'common lanus' into pieces of piivately owneu piopeity.

Piioi to the enclosuie movements, the majoiity of the population in Englanu liveu
in nucleateu settlements whose fielus lying open weie useu in common. 0nuei this
olu system, two main labouiing methous weie piacticeu: the fiist was open- fielu
faiming wheie "each faimei hau iights ovei inuiviuual lanus but uecisions about
the timing of ploughing, sowing anu haivesting weie communal".
1S
The othei was
communal giazing of flocks of sheep anu heius of cattle on the commons. Since the
two activities conflicteu with each othei, fiictions weie iesolveu usually by
community action.

The following account by victoi Nagagna pioviues some insight into the piocess:

"In open fielu system the coie of uaily life ievolveu aiounu a complex of coopeiative
piactices that integiateu aiable faiming anu animal husbanuiy. In open fielu
villages, the piopeity iights of inuiviuuals, householus anu communities weie
inteimixeu in a pyiamiu of tenuiial iights anu uuties that /%(< "*< .%/01+2'* +' "
,2;6$% /217'+';< #%+=%%* 6.2:"+% "*/ 60#$21 6.'6%.+<> Bouseholu oi
"heaiths" weie the usual beaieis of ultimate piopeity iights to lanu in the common
fielus anu foiests, but the whole membeiship of the village hau iights of contiol
ovei what specific householus coulu uo with theii piopeity. Inuiviuual piopiietois
weie bounu by.. iules of piopeity as tiusteeship, anu householueis coulu be helu
accountable foi violating theii iole as tiustees of the village. Foi example, excessive
giazing of animals, chopping of woou, oi enclosuie without the consent of
neighbouis anu kin coulu iesult in penalties ianging fiom stiff fines to violent
iepiisals. Rights of access to a householu's aiable stiips, foi instance, weie ciucially
moulueu by the patteins of exchange anu co-oiuination that existeu among all
villagei membeis. Even the uecision about when anu what to plant was shapeu by

11
Petei Linebaugh, The Nany-Beaueu Byuia: Sailois, Slaves, Commoneis, anu the Biuuen
Bistoiy of the Revolutionaiy Atlantic. Boston: Beacon Piess, 2uuu. See also, Petei Linebaugh, The
Lonuon Bangeu: Ciime anu Civil Society in the Eighteenth Centuiy. Lonuon: veiso, 2uu6., Petei
Linebaugh, The Nagna Caita Nanifesto: The Stiuggle to Reclaim Libeities anu Commons foi All.
Beikeley: 0niveisity of Califoinia Piess, 2uu8.
12
Rojei }.P. Kain, }ohn Chapman anu Richaiu R. 0livei, The Enclosuie Naps of Englanu anu
Wales, 1S9S-1918, Chaptei 1 (Cambiiuge: Cambiiuge 0niveisity Piess, 2uu4).
1S
}ohn uoouacie, "Common fielus anu open spaces in an English miulanu county", p.2
1
2
the gioup piactices of the village, anu a cultivatoi who was foolish enough to plant
when his neighbouis giazeu ian the iisk of having his ciops eaten by the village
flock."
14


It is cleai fiom Nagagna's account that the commons was not the zone of
lawlessness of populai imagination. Theie existeu a complex set of noims thiough
which people goveineu theii ielation to lanu anu natuial iesouices. In contiast to
this, one of the most citeu theoiists of the commons uaiiet Baiuin pioviueu an
account of 'the Tiageuy of the Commons', in which he aigues about the uepletion of
the commons was causeu by the absence of piivate piopeity. Be aigues that the
exploitation of public iesouices by a giowing population causes the tiageuy of the
commons. Be baseu his aigument on the selfish natuie of inuiviuuals, who aie
inheiently uiiven by the singulai inteiest of maximising theii own consumption,
uevoiu of any injuiy causeu to anothei.

Collective loss is fai smallei than the inuiviuual gain - Baiuin
Baiuin useu the analogy of the pastuies to highlight his point - wheie he uesciibes
how local heiusmen use the common village pastuies to giaze theii cows, with the
unueistanuing that by auuing animals to woik on the lanu, the value of the lanu
incieases ieaping gieatei piofits. Bowevei, it also geneiates negative effects such
as oveigiazing the lanu, theiein affecting the piospeiity of the villages. Baiuin
unueilines that the collective loss is fai smallei than the inuiviuual gain foi the
faimei, making the village susceptible to the tiageuy of the commons - 'each man is
lockeu into a system that compels him to inciease his heiu without limit - in a
woilu that is limiteu. Fieeuom of the commons biings iuin to all'.
1S


Baiuin's thesis has been iefuteu by a numbei of scholais, anu we shall also exploie
its claims in a subsequent chaptei on the commons in Asia. 0ne uoes not get a sense
in Baiuin's analysis of the mateiial expeiience of the enclosuies movement. Cential
to the expeiience of the enclosuie of the commons is the expeiience of
uispossession. When lanus which weie available to all foi agiicultuie anu foi
giazing aie conveiteu into piivate piopeity, what happens to the people who ielieu
on the commonness of the lanu foi theii livelihoou anu sustenance.

In his uiscussion of 'Expiopiiation of Agiicultuial Population' in Capital, Kail Naix
cites Bacon's account, of the enclosuies movement in Englanu which is woith
iepiouucing heie:

"Inclosuies at that time (1489) began to be moie fiequent, wheieby aiable lanu
(which coulu not be manuieu without people anu families) was tuineu into pastuie,
which was easily iiu by a few heiusmen; anu tenancies foi yeais, lives anu at will
(wheieupon much of the yeomaniy liveu) weie tuineu into uemesnes. This bieu a
uecay of people, anu (by consequences) a uecay of towns, chuiches, tithes anu the
like."
16


14
victoi v. Nagagna, Communities of uiain: Ruial Rebellion in Compaiative Peispective
1S
Bavis, Philip N. 'The Tiageuy of the Commons Revisiteu: Libiaiians, Publisheis, Faculty anu
the Bemise of the Public Resouice', The }ohn Bopkins 0niveisity Piess.
16
Naix, Kail, Capital, vol. I.. Chicago: Chailes B. Keii anu Co. 19u6. Tians. Samuel, anu
Euwaiu Aveling Nooie. Eu. Fieueiick Engels. Libiaiy of Economics anu Libeity. 6 Nay 2uu8.
1
3

Naix also cites an account by a Bi. Piice, which is instiuctive on the effects of this
enclosuie:

"When this lanu gets into the hanus of a few gieat faimeis, the consequence must
be that the little faimeis will be conveiteu into a bouy of men who eain theii
subsistence by woiking foi otheis, anu who will be unuei a necessity of going to
maiket foi all they want.. Theie will, peihaps be moie laboui, because theie will be
moie compulsion to it.. Towns anu manufactuieis will inciease, because moie will
be uiiven to them in quest of places anu employment. This is the way in which the
engiossing of faimeis natuially opeiates. .. 0pon the whole, the ciicumstances of
the lowei ianks of men aie alteieu in almost eveiy iespect foi the woise. Fiom
little occupieis of lanu, they aie ieuuceu to the state of uay-labouieis anu hiielings;
anu, at the same time, theii subsistence in that state has become moie uifficult".
17


Buiing the Niuule Ages in Englanu, feuual loius began to evict small faimeis fiom
theii lanus, uenying them access to the "commons". So lanu that was once helu in
'common' oi was 'open oi unfenceu' but helu in seveialty slowly began to uisappeai
as a iesult of the manifolu changes in the economic anu social conuitions of the
time. The impiession we aie left with aftei this account is of communities that have
a iathei loose notion of piivate piopeity, but a coiiesponuing stiong notion of
collective oi shaieu entitlements which the entiie community may uiaw upon
equally.

Robeit uiay, a publicist, iecalleu a time when,
"tbe commons of our country loy free onJ open for tbe poore common [er]s to injoy,
for tbere wos roome enouqb in tbe for every mon, so tbot no mon neeJeJ to encroocb
[on] or inclose from onotber, wbereby it is monifest, tbot in tbose Joyes we boJ no
qreot neeJ to follow stronqe reports, or to seeke wilJ oJventures, for seeinq we boJ
not onely sufficiencie, but on overflowinq meosure proportioneJ to everie mon.".
18

The enclosuies movement, began to ieveal how the tienu of appiopiiation was set
off against the accumulation of capital, tiansfoiming lanu anu laboui into
commouities. The enclosuie of common giazing lanu involveu two piocesses: a
piopeity ieoiganisation movement an (fielu anu meauow lanu), anu a ieclamation
movement (common anu waste), in othei woius, the making of piopeity itself.
19

Anu finally a conveision of the uispossesseu into wage laboui.


8*1$',0.%,4 52,6',,%,2'* "*/ 32'$%*1%

Linebaugh anu Reuikei begin with an invocation of the twin myths of the many
heaueu hyuia anu of Beicules's task of slaying the hyuia as away of thinking about
the challenges faceu by the woilu of capital, as it seeks to iepiouuce itself enulessly,
acioss boiuei, uomains of life, having the soveieign authoiity of law as its eteinal
companion. The slaying of the hyuia was the seconu of the twelve labois of

<http:www.econlib.oigLibiaiyYPBBooksNaixmixCpA27.html>.
17
lbiJ
18
Petei Linebaugh anu Naicus Reuikei, The Nany Beaueu Byuia (Lonuon, veiso, 2uuu)
19
See Supro note S, p S
1
4
Beicules. Confionteu with the monstious, many-heaueu Byuia, a watei snake with
nine to a hunuieu heaus, Beicules founu that as soon as he cut off one heau, two
giew in its place. With the help of his nephew Iolaus, he leaineu to use a fiiebianu
to cauteiize the stump of the beast's neck. Thus they killeu the Byuia. Beicules
uippeu his aiiows in the bloou of the slain beast, whose venom thus gave to his
aiiows theii fatal powei.

0sing the allegoiy of the hyuia as the vaiious obstacles that capital faces fiom the
18th centuiy to the piesent, Linebaugh staits fiom the mateiial oiganization of
many thousanus of woikeis into tiansatlantic ciicuits of commouity exchange anu
capital accumulation anu then pioceeus to look at the ways in which they tianslateu
theii coopeiation into anti-capitalist piojects of theii own. The fiist enclosuies
which iesulteu in the expiopiiation of the commons fieeu laige teiiitoiies foi
capitalist agiicultuie, logging, mining, anu speculation in lanu, anu cieateu at the
same time a vast aimy of the uispossesseu who weie then fieeu to become wage
eaineis in new inuustiializing aieas at home oi abioau, oi ciiminalizeu thiough
haish laws that imposeu penal seivituue in the colonies. Those uispossesseu fiom
the lanu also became the bulk of the woik foice foi the new engines tianspoiting
commouities acioss continents, the Ship. Sailois anu ships linkeu the moue of
piouuction anu expanueu the inteinational capitalist economy. The ship was also
the site foi the coming togethei of uiveise labouis, fiom uiffeient ethnicities, bounu
togethei by a piugin tongue. The soliuaiity of this motley ciew, like many otheis of
the eia was foigeu aiounu a commonality of theii situation of uispossession anu
theii laboui.

Linebaugh anu Reuikei uocument in uetail the veiy uifficult conuitions unuei which
these sailois woikeu, the uangeis that they weie constantly exposeu to, while at the
same time cieating the conuitions foi a soliuaiity which woulu challenge smooth
flow of capital. The fiist piiates in a sense weie often the 'outcast of the lanu' who
woulu mutineei against the conuitions of theii woik, anu cieate an alteinative
oiuei challenging the uivision of laboui anu of capital.

Thus summaiizing the chaiacteiistic of the multituue oi the hyuia of the eia of
eaily
capitalism, Linebaugh says that "lt wos lonJless, exploiteJ. lt lost tbe intequment of
tbe commons to cover onJ protect its neeJs. lt wos poor, lockinq property, money or
moteriol ricbes of ony kinJ. lt wos often unwoqeJ, forceJ to perform tbe poiJ lobours
of copitolism. lt wos often bunqry, witb uncertoin meons of survivol. lt wos mobie,
tronsotlontic. lt powereJ inJustries of worlJwiJe tronsportotion. lt left tbe lonJ,
miqrotinq from country to town, from reqion to reqion, ocross tbe oceons, onJ from
one islonJ to onotber. lt wos terrorizeJ, subject to coersion. lts biJe wos collouseJ by
inJentureJ lobour, qollery slovery, plontotion slovery, convict tronsportotion, tbe
workbouse, tbe bouse of correction. lts oriqins were often troumotic: enclosure,
copture, onJ imprisonment left lostinq morks. lt wos femole onJ mole, of oll oqes.
{inJeeJ, tbe very term proletorion oriqinolly referreJ to poor women wbo serveJ tbe
stote by beorinq cbilJren.) lt incluJeJ everyone from youtb to olJ folks, from sbips
boys to olJ solts, from opprentices to sovvy olJ mosters, from younq prostitutes to olJ
"witcbes." lt wos multituJinous, numerous, onJ qrowinq. Wbetber in o squore, ot o
morket, on o common, in o reqiment, or on o mon-of-wor witb bonners flyinq onJ
1
5
Jrums beotinq, its qotberinqs were wonJrous to contemporories. lt wos numbereJ,
weiqbeJ, onJ meosureJ. 0nknown os inJiviJuols or by nome, it wos objectifieJ onJ
counteJ for purposes of toxotion, proJuction, onJ reproJuction. lt wos cooperotive
onJ loborinq. Tbe collective power of tbe mony rotber tbon tbe skilleJ lobor of tbe one
proJuceJ its most forceful enerqy. lt moveJ burJens, sbifteJ eortb, onJ tronsformeJ
tbe lonJscope. lt wos motley, botb JresseJ in roqs onJ multietbnic in oppeoronce. like
Colibon, it oriqinoteJ in Furope, Africo, onJ Americo. lt incluJeJ clowns, or cloons {i.e.,
country people). lt wos witbout qeneoloqicol unity. lt wos vulqor. lt spoke its own
speecb, witb o Jistinctive pronunciotion, lexicon, onJ qrommor moJe up of slonq,
cont, jorqon, onJ piJqintolk from work, tbe street, tbe prison, tbe qonq, onJ tbe
Jock. lt wos plonetory, in its oriqins, its motions, onJ its consciousness. Iinolly, tbe
proletoriot wos self-octive, creotive; it wosonJ isolive; it is on o move".
20


The histoiy of "commoning" woulu be incomplete without auuiessing paiallel
uevelopments that took place in the society. Reuikei anu Linebaugh's account of an
alteinative to the imagination of piopeity highlighteu that any foim of iesistance to
the enclosuie movement amounteu to high tieason. Theie weie seveial statutes
that weie enacteu against the ciimes of iobbeiy, buiglaiy anu stealing, which weie
taigeteu at the uispossesseu. Accoiuing to A.L. Biei, vagabonus weie like "a hyuia-
heaueu monstei poiseu to uestioy the state anu social oiuei."
21


In Englanu foi instance, the successful expiopiiation of the commons ensuieu that
theie was enough iule laboui available to be expiopiiateu as maiitime laboui anu
this obtaineu thiough the twin stiategies of law anu teiioi. The use of Piess uangs
anu maitial laws which pioviueu foi ueath penalties as the punishment foi
iesistance has been uocumenteu by social histoiians of piopeity anu ciime.

A seiies of laws that weie passeu to ensuie that this effoit was successful. Some of
these incluueu the :

Navigation Act 16S1
Aiticles of wai 16S2
Navigation Act 166u - outlining commouities
Navigation Act 167S- enfoicement of tiaue

The quantity shippeu hau uoubleu ovei a span of fifty yeais. In 1629 meichants hau
shippeu 11S,uuu tons anu by 1686 they have shippeu S4u,uuu tons of commouities.
In 16SS they hau Su ships anu 9Suu sailois anu by 1688 17S ships with 42,uuu
sailois. This massive expansion in the woilu of maiitime tiaue anu commouity
piouuction anu ciiculation was also accompanieu by an equally meteoiic iise in
laws that ciiminalizeu social life. The Aiticles of wai of 16S2 foi instance imposeu
ueath penalty in 2S out of S9 clauses.

The fiist piiates in a sense weie often the 'outcast of the lanu' who woulu mutiny
against the conuitions of theii woik, anu cieate an alteinative oiuei challenging the
uivision of laboui anu of capital. In fashioning theii hyuiachy, these buccaneeis

2u
See Supro. Note 11 ot SS2
21
Ibiu. to Supia Note p 18
1
6
often uiew fiom the memoiy of utopias cieateu by peuants, wheie woik hau been
abolisheu, piopeity ieuistiibuteu, social uistinctions leveleu, health iestoieu anu
foou maue abunuant. By expiopiiating a meichant ship (aftei a mutiny of a
captuie), piiates seizeu the means of maiitime piouuction anu ueclaieu it to the
common piopeity of those who uiu its woik. Rathei than woiking foi wages using
the tools anu laigei machineiy (the ship) owneu by a meichant capitalist, piiates
abolisheu the wage anu commanueu the ship as theii piopeity, shaiing equally in
the iisks of common auventuie.

Thus, the intiouuction of piopeity was cential to the making of the figuie of the
tiespassei anu the ciiminal. Emeiging fiom the histoiy of the enclosuie of the
commons, the iuea of the tiespassei has shown iemaikable iesilience anu
auaptability to the changing iueas of piopeity anu value. The tiespassei anu the
language of tiespass has iesuifaceu in iecent times in the context of the
infoimation eia along with othei familiai figuies fiom the histoiy of piopeity such
as the piiate, the copiei etc. The expansion of intellectual piopeity also ielies on
similai stiategies wheie vaiious categoiies of illegality aie mobilizeu, both to justify
intellectual piopeity as well as to aigue foi stiongei enfoicement iegimes. Anu yet
the iesuifacing of the tiespassei is necessaiily complicateu by the fact that they
also biing with them iesiuual memoiies such as that of the commons.

Compaiing the histoiy of the commons with the stoiy of IP in the contempoiaiy, the
Raqs Neuia Collective says that the histoiy of the commons anu of uispossession
anu violence holus an impoitant lesson foi us inteiesteu in looking at the conuition
of life unuei the sign of intellectual piopeity. Intellectual piopeity is the new sign of
value in the contempoiaiy. Embouieu in uiffeient commouities ianging fiom film
anu music to softwaie anu bianueu clothes, this new clustei of commouities, maue
up of cultuie anu infoimation, is also biought into the woilu thiough tians-
continental netwoiks of new inuentuieu laboui, maue in viitual vessels that pass
each othei in the global woiking night, on the high seas of uata.

They aigue that "These tall ships of oui times that fly many flags of convenience aie
the softwaie sweatshops, the meuia netwoiks, the vast aimauas of the cultuie
inuustiies anu the lifestyle factoiies. They piouuce high value piimaiy
commouities, stais, stoiies, sagas, softwaie, iuols, lifestyles, anu othei ways of
oiueiing meaning in an incieasingly chaotic woilu. Typically, even though they sell
the fantasies of place anu iuentity in an incieasingly enmesheu woilu, they aie
piouuceu in a global eveiywheie, anu ueliveieu thiough electionic pipelines
eveiywheie, anu when necessaiy moie oi less instantaneously, thiough
telecommunication netwoiks. Theii ubiquity, anu theii global ieach is also the
hallmaik of theii gieatest vulneiability; foi like theii piecuisois, the caigo of the
tall ships of the new economy is just as vulneiable to attacks of piiacy. The new
electionic piiates aie locateu in the piecise inteistices of the global cultuie
economy, which aie the noues that make the netwoik viable in the fiist place. If we
cannot imagine a global meuia inuustiy without the technology that maue possible
the phenomenon known as peei-to-peei netwoiking on intianets, then it is
piecisely the same technology on the Inteinet that ienueis any attempt to police
the uistiibution channels of meuia content in the inteiests of piopiietaiy agencies
almost impossible. }ust as the piiacy of the past uistuibeu the equilibiium
1
7
composeu of slaveiy, inuentuieu laboui, the expiopiiation of the commons, the
factoiy system anu penal seivituue, the electionic piiacy of the piesent is uestineu
to wieck the cultuie inuustiy eithei by making the economic anu social costs of
policing content piohibitive, oi by usheiing in a uiveisity of new piotocols of usage,
uistiibution anu iepiouuction of cultuial anu intellectual content that will make the
whole enteipiise of making vast sums of money out of the nothing of uata anu
cultuie a uifficult business".
22


We have chosen to take this uetaileu ioute thiough the histoiy of commons to
celebiate the possibility of foims of life which weie not goveineu only by the noims
of piopeity, but equally to beai witness to the scale of violence that went into the
making of a iule of piopeity. We also neeu to be aleit to the fact that like the
expeiience of the past, the making of a language of intellectual piopeity will also be
goveineu by the uispossession of people, the acceleiation of social conflicts ovei
law anu ciime.

!7% )';;'*, "*/ +7% ?0#$21 5';"2*

We can now ietuin to tiace the legal histoiy of the commons, as well as the othei
concept populaily useu in IP uebates, the Public Bomain. By the enu of the
seventeenth centuiy foims of non-exclusive oi common piopeity slowly staiteu to
uecline as a iesult of the enclosuie movement.
2S
But uespite the enclosuies
movement, theie still existeu oluei Roman law piinciples of nonexclusive piopeity
oi the 'public' which continueu to exeit an influence on the English common law.
Caiol Rose says that though Roman law uiu not uevelop the categoiies of non-
exclusive piopeity in uetail - the iise of civil society anu the mouein state affoiueu
an oppoitunity foi the classical texts to uiscuss them bioauly unuei the iubiic of
'the commons'.

Concepts such as 'res communes' |things open to all by theii natuiej anu 'res
publicoe' |things belonging to the public anu open to the public by opeiation of lawj
seiveu as an antiuote to the iuea of exclusionexclusive piopeity itself. But the
buigeoning maiket space only emphasizeu the notion of inuiviuual owneiship,
weakening the influence of tiauitional postulates of Roman law.
24


While the notion of the public anu the piivate goes back to the seventeenth centuiy,
the uivision of things into coipoieal anu incoipoieal is coinciuent with the uivision
of objects into tangible anu intangible categoiies unuei Roman law tiauition. The
uiffeience between them was biought to the foiefiont only when English piopeity
law iecognizeu the vaiious foims of incoipoieal piopeity such as uebts anu choses
in action, oi 'intellectual piopeity' (juia in ie piopiia) claims.

Theie aie thus two uistinct histoiies of the 'commons'. The fiist consists of the

22
Raqs Neuia Collective, value anu its 0thei in Electionic Cultuie: Slave Ships anu Piivate
ualleons, BIvE, eu. Aimin Neuosch, FACT Liveipool, 2uuS
2S
Baniel R. Coquillette, Nosses fiom an 0lu Nanse: Anothei Look at Some Bistoiic Piopeity
Cases about the Enviionment, 64 C0RNELL. L. REv. 761, 8u7-8u9 (1979).
24
Caiol Rose, Romans, Roaus, Anu Romantic Cieatois: Tiauitions of Public Piopeity in the
Infoimation Age. Law anu Contempoiaiy Pioblems 66(1&2).
1
8
commons anu the 'enclosuie movement' oi the uisappeaiance of the 'open fielus',
anu the seconu iuea of the public uomain, emeigeu fiom piinciples of publicness
unuei Roman law. While the foimei consiuei the 'commons' as a state oi conuition
of 'pie-piopeity', the lattei is an exception that is caiveu out fiom piopeity foi
public puipose - offeiing to us a uual tiajectoiy to unueistanu the notion of the
'commons'.

}ames Boyle compaies the histoiy of IP to the histoiy of lanu in the 0K, wheie the
liteiaiy woik was consiueieu as a kinu of lanueu estate. Implicitly woven into the
stoiy of the 'enclosuie oi lanueu piopeity' also lies the twin naiiative about the
biith of copyiight - wheie all liteiaiy mateiial that was once fiee has been
ciiculateu via contiol mechanism iestiicting it's outieach anu ciiculation. Even
though touay it may sounu paiauoxical, the piotection unuei the IP iegime was
piimaiily uesigneu to piotect the 'commons' - to boost innovation anu cieativity.

The seconu enclosuie movement oi the "enclosuie of the intangible commons of
the minu" was a teim useu by }ames Boyle that iefeiieu to the newly uevelopeu set
of piopeity iights (incoipoieal) gianteu as a ietuin on the investment of time anu
money of the cieatoi.
2S


Boyle's woik most explicitly links the histoiy of the enclosuies movement with the
uevelopments in IP law. Be questions whethei the teims that justifieu one coulu
justify the othei. It is aigueu that theie aie no tiauitional claims ovei the uigital
commons, as uemanueu by the victims of the fiist enclosuie movement -
infoimation is piincipally veiy uiffeient fiom the notion of piopeity in
lanu(immoveable piopeity), piimaiily uue to its the "non-iival" anu "non-
excluuable" chaiactei. Theiefoie, unlike a scaicity of the physically owneu
piopeity, theie cannot be a paucity of iueas oi infoimation, as once they aie
intiouuceu, iueas can be iecycleu anu ieuseu without ieuucing oiiginal possession
of it.
26


}ames Boyle went on to exemplify the common chaiacteiistics shaieu by enclosuie
movements, stating that "piotecting new subject mattei foi longei peiious of time,
ciiminalizing ceitain technologies, making it illegal to cut thiough uigital fences
even if they have been the effect of foieclosing pieviously lawful uses anu so on".
27


Biawing fiom Boyle's woik ,the seconu enclosuie movement, it appeais that the
uigital commons has ieviveu a thinking of public uomain once again. Be cites the
example of the enviionment movement of the 19Su's as an analogy to point out
how touay we aie witnessing a giauual uisappeaiance of the public uomain.
Accoiuing to him, a iise in piivate piopeity claims within a lineai scientific system
that tieats the woilu as a set of causes anu effects contiolleu by the maiket, foiceu
the enviionment to steauily uisappeai fiom the uebate on conseiving public

2S
}ames Boyle, Fencing off iueas: enclosuie anu the uisappeaiance of the public uomain,
Baeualus, vol. 1S1, 2uu2.
26
Boyle, }ames. "Law anu Contempoiaiy Pioblems: }ames Boyle, The Seconu Enclosuie
Novement anu the Constiuction of the Public Bomain" Law & Contemp. Piobs. 66.WinteiSpiing
(2uuS): SS.(at p.41)
27
lbiJ..
1
9
iesouices. Similaily, the expansionist tenuency of the IP iegulations, built aiounu
the notion of oiiginality, owneiship anu layeieu piotections is pushing foiwaiu the
agenua which suppoits the shiinking of the public uomain, uiging it's own
ieinvention.

"Tbe iJeo of tbe public Jomoin tokes to o biqber level of obstroction o set of inJiviJuol
fiqbts over tbis cbunk of tbe qenome, tbot ospect of computer proqroms, tbis cloim
obout tbe eoninq of poroJy or tbe ownersbip of focts. }ust os tbe Juck bunter funJs
common couse witb tbe birJ wotcber onJ tbe solmon qeneticist by cominq to tbink
obout tbe environment, so on emerqent concept of tbe public Jomoin coulJ tie
toqetber tbe interests of qroups currently enqoqeJ in inJiviJuol struqqles witb no
sense of tbe lorqer context."
28


uiven this backgiounu, let us examine the meaning of the 'public uomain', whilst
attempting to claiify the conceptual confusion between the often-exchangeable
categoiies of the 'commons' anu the 'public uomain'. Aie the chaiacteiistics of the
categoiies univeisal in theii application, oi aie these metaphois challengeu as we
move along alteiing geogiaphies of the woilu.

The scholaiship on the public uomain in the IP uebate can be tiaceu to the initial
wiitings of Baviu Lange (198S). Accoiuing to Lange in this fiist aiticle, "Recognising
the Public Bomain", the "iecognition of new IP inteiests shoulu be offset touay by
equally uelibeiate iecognition of inuiviuual iights in the public uomain".
29
But what
uoes this mean. Although Lange's aiticle set momentum to the thinking on the
subject of public uomain thiough the analysis of vaiious cases, he uiu not fuithei
expounu on the theoiy oi uefinition of the public spheie specifically. Nonetheless,
fiom then onwaius, othei theoiists have attempteu to thiow light on the aiea, yet
iestiictively ueveloping it as an immeuiate alteinative.

The teim 'public uomain' was ueiiveu fiom the Fiench teim 'Jomoine public
meaning 'piopeity unlikely to piivate owneiship', but its ielevance has been
uiveise anu elastic thiough the yeais.
Su


In the 0S, the teim founu in a juuicial pionouncement when Ralph Biown & Ben
Kaplan maue iefeiences to it with iegaiu to a patent case in 1966,

'Tbe Conqress in tbe exercise of tbe potent power moy not overreocb tbe restroints
imposeJ by tbe stoteJ constitutionol purpose. Nor moy it enlorqe tbe potent monopoly
witbout reqorJ to tbe innovotion, oJvoncement or sociol benefit qoineJ tbereby.
Horeover, Conqress moy not outborize tbe issuonce of potents wbose effects ore to
remove existent knowleJqe from tbe public Jomoin, or to restrict free occess to
moteriols olreoJy ovoiloble."
S1


In the moie iecent wiiting of Lange, he expanus on the concept of the Public

28
lbiJ
29
Baviu Lange, Recognising the Public Bomain, 44 LAW & C0NTENP. PR0BS. 147 (Autumn
1981)
Su
Wikipeuia - check 'public uomain' visiteu on 27u1u8.
S1
uiaham v }ohn Beeie Co. , S8S 0.S. 1, S-6 (1966)
2
0
Bomain, iefeiiing to it as "a iecognisable place of iefuge foi cieative enueavoui in
its own iights; a sanctuaiy confeiiing affiimative iecognitionpiotection against
the foices of piivate appiopiiation that thieaueu such expiession".
S2
Can the
metaphoi of the public uomain be associateu to a wilueiness, a commons, a
sanctuaiy, a home. While Boyle agiees with this analogy, Baviu Lange affiims that
the public uomain neeus to be ie-imagineu in teims of a uistinct 'status', "as if it
weie a status like citizenship, but a citizenship aiising fiom the exeicise of cieative
imagination iathei than as a concomitant of biith".
SS
The public uomain shoulu be
then unueistoou as "an affiimative souice of entitlements capable of ueployment,
as, when anu wheie iequiieu, against the encioachments upon the cieative
imagination thieateneu by intellectual piopeity".
S4
This conception unueimines the
neeu foi a ie-thinking on the iueas of the commonspublic uomain as opposeu to
the owneiship of piopeity - in an attempt to move beyonu the tiauitional
aiguments of 'netwoik commons'.

What iemains still uncleai is whethei the teiiain of the public uomain can be
envisioneu into cleaily a uefineu compaitment foi all piactical puiposes. Foi
example, accoiuing to Pamela Samuelson, who also believes that the public uomain
is that spheie in which content is fiee fiom intellectual piopeity iights, it is also a
spheie wheie the bounuaiies aie still bluiieu anu unceitain.
SS
Citing the example of
the open souice movement, she aigues that most infoimation anu content that
appeais to be outsiue the public uomain in theoiy is seemingly insiue in effect,
while some woiks iest on the peiipheiy. Theiefoie, howevei necessaiy anu
impoitant it may appeai to map out the layout of the public uomain, it is still a
contentious assessment to say the least.

In wiitings on Intellectual piopeity, theie is a tenuency to use of the teims 'public
uomain' anu the 'commons' as though they weie synonymous. But it is impoitant to
beai in minu the two uistinct histoiies that infoim the concept, because cential to
the uistinction between the two is the question how you ueal with the question of
piopeity. 0ui ieauing of the commons places it outsiue of foimal piopeity iegimes,
while the public uomain may be seen as exceptions caiveu out of piivate piopeity.






S2
Baviu Lange, 'Reimagining the Public Bomain', 66 low & Contemp. Probs. 46S
{Winter,Sprinq)
SS
Ibiu.
S4
Ibiu.
SS
Pamela Samuelson, Napping the Bigital Public Bomain: Thieats anu 0ppoitunities. 66 LAW
& C0NTENP. PR0BS. 147 (WinteiSpiing 2uuS)
2
1
@'= /'%, "* A,2" )';;'*, ;%"*B
C'+%, +'="./, " D%*%"$'D< '( +7% )';;'*, 2* A,2"

In an episoue in Lewis Caiiol's Alice in Wonueilanu, the Nau Battei appioaches
Alice anu says "Piay, can you tell me what the answei is". Alice says that she uoesn't
know the answei. To which, the Nau Battei then says, In that case, can you tell me
what the question is". This episoue aleits us to the impoitance of foimulating oui
questions cleaily befoie we seek answeis. In the iathei acceleiateu woilu of
inteinet time, it seems as though the viitues of slowness auvocateu by Nietzsche
aie a thing of the past. 0ui expeiience of the piesent is one of constant ciisis, anu as
activists anu scholais we aie also piompteu to iesponu with uigency to the ciisis.
The ciisis to the flows of knowleuge anu cultuie causeu by the expansion of
copyiight has iesulteu in the cieation of the commons as the symbolic alteinative, a
symbol that is sought to be extenueu in uiffeient uomains. 0ne of these has been to
see the iuea of the Asian commons as a solution to the specific pioblem of
iestiictions on knowleuge anu cultuie in Asia. Beeuing the Nau Battei's anu
Nietzche's wainings, we will attempt to ieau the question of Asia Commons a little
slowly anu tiy to be cleai about bow an Asian commons means befoie we attempt
to theoiize its ielevance in the global uebate.

Beginning with the Asia Commons woikshop in Bangkok in 2uu6, theie has been a
move towaius examining what an Asian commons can look like, anu how the Asian
commons can auu a uistinctive peispective to the global uebate fiom the woilu's
most populous iegion. This segment of the monogiaph aigues that while theie may
be a lot of value in thinking thiough the iuea of an Asian Commons, the moie
uifficult task may be to think thiough what exactly this Asian commons is without
ieveiting to any easy cultuial ielativism, oi falling into the tiap of being 'native
infoimants' of a global concept. We have alieauy tiaveiseu a faii uistance in
chaiting out the histoiy of the commons anu the enclosuie movement in the west,
anu it is cleai that theie is no single histoiy that can encompass the entiie stoiy of
the commons even in Euiope. But befoie we even begin to examine the iuea of the
commons in Asia, we have to ueal with the iathei tiicky question of how uo we
think thiough the iuea of Asia itself.

In the 19Su's 0mesawa Tauao, a }apanese intellectual anu theoiist of Asia was in a
meeting wheie he was having a conveisation with a Pakistani intellectual who saiu
to Tauao, 'We aie all Asians'. Tauao wiites that he was completely taken by
suipiise, anu he felt that the iuentity claim of being an Asian was meiely a
conceptual play, lacking in eithei substantial content oi affective suppoit. Be
asseiteu that this coulu only be a ceitain 'uiplomatic fiction'
S6
.

This stoiy foi us alluues to the complexity anu uifficulties involveu in making any
claims in the name of Asia oi Aisanness. This is fuithei complicateu when we
attempt to giaft the iuea of the commons upon Asia, given the specific histoiy of the
commons. It is not entiiely cleai to us, as to what kinus of claims aie being maue
when we speak of An Asian Commons.

S6
0mesawa Tauao (1967) An Ecological Bistoiiogiaphy of Civilization, citeu in , Sun ue, Bow
uoes Asia mean, Pait 1, Intei-Asia Cultuial Stuuies, volume 1 , Numbei 1 , 2uuu

2
2

Piima facie, the phiase "Asia Commons" has a misleauing intelligibility about it, anu
it seems to signify the iuea of what a commons in Asia means. But on piobing the
iuea a little fuithei, we immeuiately uiscovei that the phiase imagines the coming
togethei of two categoiies, which aie uistinct in teims of theii histoiies, as well as
theii epistemological status, anu it seems less intelligible than it initially lookeu.
The invocation of Asia to eluciuate a histoiical anu cultuial iuea like the commons
poses a numbei of conceptual pioblems anu questions. So we neeu to begin by
mapping out the vaiious ways in which an Asian Commons in invokeu:

i. Asian Commons as pait of ulobal Commons

In the naiiowest sense of the teim Asia Commons is an extension of the global
commons movement, which acts as an antiuote to the expansionist tenuency of the
global IP iegime. In paiticulai it can be seen as an expansion of the Cieative
Commons initiative. Anu this inueeu seems to be one of the ways in which the Asian
Commons is useu by a numbei of people. It is cleai that, in this usage, neithei the
teims Asia noi the teims commons actually have any substantive content. The
foimei is unueistoou to be geogiaphic categoiy, anu the lattei a iefeience to an
existing movement. The iuea of Asian commons in such a usage enus up being no
moie than the uemonstiation of the way that the commons woiks in the woilu's
most populous iegion. 0ne coulu ieplace Asia with Afiica, oi Latin Ameiica, anu the
impoit woulu be the same. In othei woius, theie is no ieal sense of any issues
specific to the histoiy of the common in Asia that aie iaiseu.

ii. Asian Bistoiy of the Commons

The seconu way of thinking about the Commons is to look at the vaiious histoiies of
the commons anu the making of piopeity in Asia. As the Asian equivalent of the
histoiy of the commons oi the enclosuies movement- this woulu entail - a histoiy of
the making of piivate piopeity anu the stoiy of the enclosuies in uiffeient paits of
Asia.

But as we have alieauy uemonstiateu in the pievious chaptei, the by now familiai
stoiy of the commons anu of the enclosuie movement encompassing a wiue
canvass of the making of piivate piopeity, emeigeu in the specific histoiical context
of lanu in Euiope. Bo we have the equivalent of the histoiy of the commons in Asia
at all, anu if not what aie the uiffeiences, anu what genealogies will we have to
pioviue befoie we begin to builu a theoiy of the commons in Asia. Foi a laige
numbei of Asian countiies the enclosuies of the commons is not concomitant with
the histoiy of the west but intiinsically tieu with the expeiience of colonialism.

As a iesult theie can be no easy mapping of the histoiy of the commons onto Asia
anu the task of pioviuing a histoiical account of the commons in Asia woulu entail
chaiting out uiffeient histoiies of the commons. It entails mapping out piactices
aiounu the management of lanu anu natuial iesouices, anu the invocation of
histoiies wheie lanu has not been in the possession of inuiviuual but communities.
It is also impoitant to iemembei that the commons has not been completely
ielegateu to the annals of histoiy, anu in many paits of Asia it is inueeu still a living
2
3
piactice. In the next chaptei, we shall be looking in some uetail at the piocesses of
the enclosuies in a few Asian countiies.

The commons has not been completely ielegateu to the annals of histoiy, anu in
many paits of Asia it is inueeu still a living piactice


iii. The Asian Cultuial Commons

Finally, the thiiu way of thinking about the commons may be to specifically
unueistanu the cultuial tiauitions anu piactices that have shapeu the making of a
common cultuial tiauition oi common cultuial consciousness that is specifically
Asian in natuie. 0ne of the ways at looking at the foimation of Asian Cultuial
commons will be to examine the histoiies of infoimal cultuial flows anu the way
that cultuial piactices have spieau thiough uiffeient paits of Asia. We will examine
this in some gieatei uetail, as well as link it to the way that infoimal cultuial flows
aie enableu in the contempoiaiy by piiacy.


!7% E0%,+2'* '( A,2"* F*'=$%/D%

All thiee appioaches seem to make a claim foi Asianness, albeit in vaiying uegiees,
anu foi uiffeient puiposes. The seconu two claims in paiticulai aie maue towaius a
uiffeient epistemological basis of the commons in Asia. They aie claims about the
specificity of Asian knowleuge anu piactice. We neeu to theiefoie examine the
mannei in which these claims aie maue, anu theii links to oluei histoiies anu
uebates on the iuea of the Asian knowleuge.

In the social sciences, theie has been consiueiable thought paiu to the question of
how Asia is configuieu in the woilu of knowleuge piouuction. Aftei the impoitant
woik of Euwaiu Saiu anu the impact of 0iientalism on a geneiation of postcolonial
histoiians anu cultuial theoieticians, scholais have aigueu foi the impoitance of
seeing Asia not meiely as a uiscuisive invention of the west, noi as an object of
westein knowleuge but as a subject of knowleuge thiough which Asian knowleuge
gets to be counteu as knowleuge at all.

Foi the longest time, Asia existeu only as an abstiact othei of Euiope with no
histoiy to claim foi itself (oi at least that what the Euiopeans histoiians woulu like
us to believe). Eveiy single categoiy of the expeiience of political moueinity can be
tiaceu to a Euiopean histoiy - iights, seculaiism, public spheie etc. It is this
uominance of Euiope in the 18
th
anu 19
th
centuiy histoiy that accounts foi the
emeigence of vaiious concepts that we take foi gianteu as univeisal iueas.

The capacity of Euiope to univeisalize itself anu of Euiopean knowleuge to
establish itself as a univeisal knowleuge cieates the iisk of cieating meta categoiies
of knowleuge that shapes the expeiience of otheis anu ienueis theii own
expeiiences unavailable to them. Bipesh Chakiabaity, a leauing histoiian of the
subaltein stuuies movement aigues that "The uominance of Euiope as the subject
of all histoiies is a pait of the much moie piofounu theoietical conuitions unuei
2
4
which histoiical knowleuge is piouuceu in the thiiu woilu"
S7
. Be fuithei says that
"Although categoiies that weie once subject to uetaileu theoietical contemplation
anu enquiiy now exist as piactical concepts, beieft of any theoietical lineage
embeuueu in quotiuian piactices"
S8


This claim by Bipesh Chakaibaity that the histoiy of colonialism anu its appaiatus
of knowleuge piouuction has ensuieu that Euiope emeiges as the site of the
piouuction of theoietical concepts which aie then testeu against a iange of iegional
examples. This is eviuenceu foi instance in Eumunu Busseils' statement in 19SS
wheie he pointeu out that only Euiope possesseu the capacity to piouuce a
theoietical insight (theoiia oi univeisal science) while all othei histoiies aie
matteis of empiiical ieseaich that flesheu out a theoietical skeleton that is
essentially Euiopean.

While thinking about the commons as a conceptual categoiy thiough which we
exploie the expeiience of countiies in Asia, one cannot be innocent of this histoiy of
the unequal exchange between Euiope anu Asia in the cieation of intellectual
uiscouise. The uemanu foi a uiffeient histoiy of the commons is not meiely an
attempt at ievisionist histoiy but to aigue that the spheie of the commons is itself
infoimeu by vaiious cultuial histoiies of knowing anu uoing of which the Euiopean
commons is one instance. If we ietuin to the thiee ways in which the Commons can
be thought of in Asia, then it is cleai to us that in the fiist instance, we will be
iecycling the iuea that Asia has no theoiy to offei, anu is at best an empiiical
categoiy. The impoitance theiefoie of the seconu two ioutes is to builu a theoiy of
Asia , a task that we will see iequiies a lot moie woik, befoie even a paitial theoiy
can be offeieu. The task of builuing a theoiy of the commons is significant to the
extent that one piouuces a theoiy of knowleuge anu cultuie that iesponus to the
global uebate on its own teims. In othei woius, it piouuces a theoiy of itself but
also of the woilu. It is abunuantly cleai that the iuea of the commons anu the public
uomain cannot be an assumeu spheie of neat anu easy consensus.

In his book, Piovincializing Euiope, Chakaiabity aigues foi a pioject which seeks to
piovincialize the histoiy of Euiope. By this he means that we neeu to see whethei
westein knowleuge as a knowleuge piouuceu within a tempoial anu spatial hoiizon
calleu the west, anu not necessaiily as univeisal knowleuge whose claims to
univeisality iemain unchallengeu.

Theie is of couise a paiauox heie, which lies in the fact that if Euiope has alieauy
successfully univeisalizeu itself as a meta categoiy of expeiience, how uoes one
then piovincialize Euiope fiom the maigins. Can Euiope be piovincializeu meiely
thiough a claim of cultuial uiffeience. If we aie claiming that as a iesult of the
histoiical uiffeiences between Euiope anu Asia, theie is a mismatch between
theoiies piouuceu in Euiope anu the Asian expeiience, then the fiist task that we
will have to unueitake is to cieate a theoiy foi what constitutes the Euiopean
expeiience.


S7
Bipesh Chakiabaity, Piovincializing Euiope: Postcolonial Thought anu Bistoiical
Biffeience. (Piinceton: Piinceton 0niveisity Piess. 2uuu)
S8
Ibiu.
2
5
vivek Bhaieshwai, wiiting about what it means to cieate a theoiy of non westein
expeiience makes it cleai that westein theoiies aie iejecteu not because they aie
westein but because they fail to be theoiies. In othei woius, the iejection, fai fiom
excluuing oi negating the westein expeiience (which woulu be a symmetiical
inveision of the negation of the expeiience of the non-westein cultuies by the
westein theoiies), woulu have to fiist make that expeiience theoietically
intelligible. Be says that 'The constiuction of the meta theoiy of westein theoiies is
at the same time an attempt to uesciibe oi theoiize ouiselves. We cannot attempt
the lattei without unueitaking the foimei. It is only when we begin to uesciibe oi
theoiize oui own expeiiences that valoiizing the piesent can become a viable
political task. (The 'we' anu 'oui' inuexes, I have ieason to hope, not only the place I
come fiom'
S9
.

Westein theoiies aie iejecteu not because they aie westein but because they fail
to be theoiies

It is cleai that a pioject attempting to uesciibe an Asian Commons can easily fall
piey to the othei siue of the pioject of piovincializing Euiope, namely a ciuue
cultuial ielativism. In the context of Asia, we have this foim of cultuial ielativism
useu in an instiumental mannei by the invocation of 'Asian values' v. 'westein
values' uebate. The 'Asian values' appioach was populaiizeu by Nahtii Nohammau
anu otheis, piimaiily as uefence against any foim of ciiticism, whethei of the
violation of human iights oi of mismanagement of public money by institutions of
goveinance. It attempts to make a claim of cultuial uiffeience, anu ienueis it as a
question of Jifferent woys of Joinq tbinqs anu Jifferent outlook, without evei making
it cleai as to what the authoiity oi the basis of the claim is.

The familiai anu tiieu binaiies of westein non westein have playeu veiy little iole
in the piouuction of new teims thiough which we collectively theoiize the woilu.
Insteau, they have become a lazy excuse foi the inability to have intei-cultuial
uialogue anu uebate. Thus if we aie making a claim foi a cultuial anu histoiical
uiffeience, we will have to uo moie than claim an inapplicability of a theoiy because
it emeiges fiom the west. It is useful to iecall Bhaieshwai's injunction that we uo
not ieject westein theoiies because they aie westein, but because they aie not
theoiies. Bipesh Chakaiabity, while uesciibing the pioject of piovincializing
Euiope aigues "The iuea is to wiite into the histoiy of the moueinity the
ambivalences, contiauictions anu the use of foice, anu the tiajectoiies anu iionies
that attenu it". If we weie to ieplace 'moueinity' with the woiu 'commons' in this
statement, it woulu be equally infoimative anu telling.

The cential question foi us to answei is what iole uoes a concept like the Asian
Commons play in the shaping of an intellectual uebate. What aie the ways in which
the pioject of an Asian commons ieveals the inheient pioblems in theoiies of IP as
well as of the commons. In the eaily uays of the IP uebate, you woulu often finu

S9
vivek Bhaieshwai, valoiizing the Piesent, Cultuial Bynamics 1u(2) 211-2S1. See,
Balagangauhaia, S. N. "The Beathen in Bis Blinuness"--: Asia, the West, anu the Bynamic of Religion.
Leiuen: E.}. Biill, 1994.


2
6
iefeiences to the fact that IP is a westein iuea which uoes not have any iesonance
in non westein societies. What is often missing fiom these claims is the question of
"What then.", aftei making the claim that IP is not enuemic to non westein
societies. If westein theoiies of owneiship of knowleuge anu cultuie uo not ielate
to a non westein context, then what theoiies of knowleuge anu cultuie uo we have
as alteinatives. What we neeu then fiom a pioject such as the Asian commons is
not so much a celebiatoiy account of the spieau of a paiticulai piactice of cultuial
piouuction; iathei what is neeueu is a complicating account of what it may mean to
be a commons itself, anu how inueeu uoes an Asian commons mean.

Baving establisheu the motivations behinu the establishment of an Asian Commons,
we can now link to oluei uebates on the question of Asia itself.

A,2" "*/ +7% G%,+

An examination of the intellectual histoiy of the iuea of Asia ieveals that theie can
be no consiueiation of Asia without a iefeience to the complicateu ielationship that
Asia has hau with the iuea of the west. In an impoitant conceptual mapping of the
histoiy of the Asian question, Chinese scholai Sun ue says

Tbe question of Asio, like tbe question of moJernity, resists ony ottempt to
proviJe
o cleor explonotion portly becouse it is looJeJ witb interconnecteJ issues from
mony focets . Asio is not only o politicol concept, but olso o culturol concept; it is
not only o qeoqropbicol locotion, but olso o meosure of volue juJqment. Tbe Asio
question itself Joes not beor ony necessory relotion to tbe question of beqemony
onJ counter- beqemony, oltbouqb tbe ottempts to tockle tbis question bove
brouqbt into ploy consiJerotions of beqemony of tbe Fost onJ tbe West. Tbe
question itself Joes not entoil notionolism, oltbouqb tbe tbeme of notionolism
bos been conjureJ in tbe course of Jiscussinq tbis question. Anotber reoson wby
tbe question of Asio is Jifficult to explicote is tbot it is borJly o question of
substontiolizotion, nomely, by woy of oscribinq to it unequivocol qeoqropbicol
ottributes. uite controrily, it is often invokeJ in tbe Jiscussion of questions tbot
beor no Jirect relotion, or ore even in stork opposition, to ony qeoqropbicol
consiJerotions. Ior o lonq bistoricol perioJ, Asio bos not been treoteJ os o self-
contoineJ qeoqropbicol concept, but bos only been put forworJ iJeoloqicolly in
opposition to Furope. Tbe Jiscussion of Asio involveJ not only tbe question of
Furocentrism, but olso tbe question of beqemony witbin tbe Fost. As Jifficult os
it is to sort out tbe question of Asio, it remoins on unJerlyinq tbreoJ runninq
tbrouqb tbe intellectuol bistory in tbe moJern worlJ. Eence, we still bove to
qropple witb tbe question of Asio os one tbot constitutes o totolity in itself.
40


Asio is not only o politicol concept, but olso o culturol concept;

The histoiy of the uebate on Asia as a categoiy of intellectual expeiience can be
tiaceu to }apanese scholais in the tuin of the 19
th
centuiy. The }apanese weie
unueistanuably most conceineu with the question of westein civilization, anu theii

4u
Sun ue, Bow uoes Asia mean Pait 1, Intei-Asia Cultuial Stuuies, volume 1 , Numbei 1 , 2uuu
2
7
own status as an Asian countiy. uiven }apan's pieeminent place in the global oiuei,
theie weie competing stianus of thought about how }apan shoulu ueal with the
west. Wiiting in 188S, Fukuzawa Yukichi foi instance aigueu that }apan shoulu
uisassociate fiom Asia anu align itself with Westein Euiope. Bis iuea of 'Batsu-A-
Ron'
41
was an attempt at uislocating }apan tempoially fiom Asia, anu seeing its
point of iefeience vis a vis westein moueinity. Fukuzawa saw in the expeiience of
westein moueinity, a pinnacle of human achievements, which outclasseu the
ielative backwaiuness of its Asian counteipaits. Be saw no ieason foi }apan
aligning with Asia, anu felt that if }apan weie to piogiess then it shoulu follow the
leau of westein Euiope, anu look foiwaiu iathei than backwaiu at tiauition as
many countiies in Asia weie wont to uo. In a sense it was an attempt at abanuoning
the 'waiting ioom of moueinity'
42
that Asia hau been consigneu to exist in.

It is cleai that what animates Fukuzawa's iathei uiamatic uisavowal of Asia is the
expeiience of moueinity in Euiope fiom the enlightenment onwaius. It is also an
impoitant attempt at ieconfiguiing the expeiience of time. Fukuzawa saw }apan
existing in a time zone of eteinal uefeience,. It was unlike the iest of Asia which he
saw as being unueiuevelopeu anu backwaiu, anu at the same time being an Asian
countiy, it was somehow nevei mouein enough in the westein sense of the teim.
The iuea of uisassociating fiom Asia was theiefoie simultaneously a move away
fiom the tiauitions anu cultuial histoiies associateu with Asia, anu an attempt to
cieate one's own sense of time which is measuieu not by the past but by the futuie.

In contiast to Fukuzawa's uesiie to uisassociate fiom Asia was anothei }apanese
intellectual wiiting in the eaily uecaue of the twentieth centuiy. 0kakuia Tenshin ,
one of the most influential ait cuiatoi of the eaily twentieth centuiy wiote in Iueals
of the East of the moial anu spiiitual uisintegiation of Euiope biought about by
westein moueinity.
4S
Be aigueu that in contiast to the spiiitual vacuousness of the
west, Asia still possesseu a vast civilizational anu cultuial inheiitance that ought to
be uniteu foi the puiposes of spiiitual iejuvenation of the woilu. Tenshin also
believeu that the cultuial histoiy of Asia was a common one:

Asio is one. Tbe Eimoloyos JiviJe, only to occentuote, two miqbty civilizotions,
tbe
Cbinese witb its communism of Confucius, onJ tbe lnJion witb its inJiviJuolism
of tbe veJos. But not even tbe snowy borriers con interrupt for one moment tbot
brooJ exponse of love for tbe ultimote onJ universol, wbicb is tbe common
tbouqbt of inberitonce of every Asiotic Roce, enoblinq tbem to proJuce oll tbe
qreot reliqions of tbe worlJ, onJ Jistinquisbinq tbem from tbose moritime
people of tbe HeJiterroneon onJ tbe Boltic, wbo love to Jwell on tbe Porticulor,
onJ to seorcb out tbe meons, not tbe enJ, of life.
44


41
Fukuzawa, Yukichi (199S) An 0utline of a Theoiy of Civlization, citeu in Ibiu.
42
The 'waiting ioom' of histoiy is a metaphoi useu by Bipesh Chakiabaity, in "Piovinicializing
Euiope" uiscussing the impoitance foi people outsiue Euiope, anu the metiopolitan West, of
stepping outsiue the tiap of consiueiing themselves foievei to be 'waiting' foi the aiiival of the
contempoiaiy moment, even of moueinity itself.
4S
See, Rustom Bhaiucha, Anothei Asia: Rabinuianath Tagoie anu 0kakuia Tenshin. 0xfoiu
0niveisity Piess, 0SA, 2uu6.
44
0kakuia Tenshin, The iueals of the East with special iefeience to the ait of }apan, Nouein
}apanese Thought Seiies, 1976, quoteu in Sun ue at Ibiu.
2
8


0f couise it must be noteu that foi all his sensibilities about Asia, Tenshin was cleai
that within Asia, }apan was the only countiy that was capable of iejuvenating Asia
since all the othei mighty countiies ( China, Inuia) weie stiuggling unuei the might
of westein uomination. Be saw them in a scene of uecay, anu believeu that it was
the uuty of }apan, being the museum of Asia, to ignite the spaik of Asian ievival.

The themes that iun thiough Fukuzawa' anu Tenshins; woik aie themes that finu
themselves iesuiiecteu in vaiious ways thiough the histoiy of Asia. Anu while it
seems that Fukuzawa anu Tenshin weie aiguing two completely uiffeient positions,
the similaiities that unueilie theii woik anu motivations aie ioughly the same. The
ciisis animating both theii woik was the question of westein civilization anu
westein moueinity anu, in paiticulai, how to iesponu to the west fiom within Asia.

Both Fukuzawa anu Tenshin iely on a symbolization of Asia (in one, it emeiges as a
sign of uecay anu in the othei, of cultuial iejuvenation). But foi both, the iealms of
Asia exceeu the physical space, anu occupies insteau a minu space oi a social anu
cultuial imaginaiy fiom which they aie able to make claims oi Asianness.
Inteiestingly, Tenshin spent a few months at the school set up by Rabinuianath
Tagoie in Shanitiniketan. Tagoie was a staunch ciitic of nationalism, anu his own
theoiization of Asia emeigeu fiom his loathing of nationalism. While he finally
emeiges as a cuiious iepiesentative oi national icon by becoming the 'national
poet' of Inuia, his self peiception was always that of a cosmopolitan intellectual
(vishwa kobi oi woilu poet).
4S





Contiasting the Asia of Tagoie anu the Asia of Tenshin, Bhaiucha says that

"Eere we run up oqoinst fomilior tropes by wbicb Asio is beinq constructeJ,
onJ in tbe process, seporoteJ from tbe rest of tbe worlJ more speciolly, tbe
West . ln 0kokuros empboses, ploceJ on tbe 0ltimote onJ tbe 0niversol ,
tbe qreot reliqions onJ tbe enJ of life, we encounter more or less tbe some
volues onJ vocobulory os in Toqore s offirmotion of on essentiolly spirituol
iJeol tbot proviJes tbe founJotions for tbe common tbouqbt-inberitonce of
every Asiotic roce . Tbe spirituol is not reliqious it is linkeJ to on inJepenJent
onJ essentiolly imoqinotive quest for tbe eternol sources of life tbrouqb wbicb
one con posit o creotive unity in tbe worlJ. Tbis unity con be ocbieveJ, in
Toqores worJs, by reolisinq our own selves in tbe worlJ tbrouqb exponsion
of sympotby; not olienotinq ourselves from it onJ Jominotinq it, but
comprebenJinq onJ unitinq it witb ourselves in perfect union. Sustoininq tbe
visions of 0kokuro onJ Toqore is o profounJ foitb in on essentiolly imoqineJ
Asio , in wbicb {os Toqore fontosizeJ its utopion pre-bistory), tbe wbole of
eostern Asio from Burmo to }opon wos uniteJ witb lnJio in tbe closest tie of

4S
Rustom Bhaiucha wiites of the fiienuship between Tenshina anu Tagoie as a way of
ieflecting on anothei Asia. See, Rustom Bhaiucha, Anothei Asia: Rabinuianath Tagoie anu 0kakuia
Tenshin. 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess, 0SA, 2uu6.
2
9
frienJsbip o frienJsbip morkeJ by o livinq communicotion of beorts , in wbicb
no Jifference of lonquoqes onJ customs binJereJ us in opproocbinq eocb
otber beort to beort"
46



The question of Asia has also been invokeu by a iange of othei thinkeis anu
political leaueis incluuing Sun Yat Sen, Watsuji Tetsuio anu moie iecently Chinese
scholai Wang Bui. In the South Asian context, Kanak Nani Bixit has poseu the iuea
of using the phiase south Asia as a single woiu -southasia- to gestuie to the shaieu
physical anu cultuial geogiaphies of the iegion. Be also pioposes in a playful
mannei a iethinking of the caitogiaphy of southasia, pioposing that we see the map
of southasia backwaius insteau of the usual mannei which we aie accustomeu to, in
which Inuia emeiges as the oveiwhelming giant of southasia.


(Bimal, SouthAsia)

It shoulu be cleai fiom oui biief uesciiption of the vaiious attempts at locating
Asia as an intellectual anu cultuial iuea, that the iuea of Asia uoes not connote a
single iefeient. The question that aiises is which Asia aie we iefeiiing to when
we speak of an Asian commons. Theie aie vaiious ways in which Asia emeiges,
incluuing the following

o As an abstiact entity counteiing the west
o As a conciete geogiaphical zone
o As a minu set to a moou

46
Rustom Bhaiucha, 0nuei the sign of `Asia' : iethinking `cieative unity' beyonu the `iebiith of
tiauitional aits', Intei-Asia Cultuial Stuuies, volume 2, Numbei 1, 2uu1
3
0
o As a unifieu civilization
o As a cultuial iuentity

It seems cleai to us that given the uiveise histoiies of the commons in Asia, theie
exists the possibility of conceptual confusions when we attempt to use a singulai
iuea of Asia as oui point of iefeience.

The possibility of conceptual confusions causeu by the uiveisity of an Asian
commons can howevei also be seen as an oppoitunity iathei than a hinuiance in
thinking about the commons in Asia. While it is tempting to iesolve these
uiveisities anu uiveise histoiies, anu uiaw them as a single thieau which glosses
ovei theii uiffeiences, we believe that it is piecisely the uiveisity anu fluiuity of
piactices in Asia that foim the ciux of an intellectual contiibution of an Asian
commons.

The uiveisity anu fluiuity of piactices in Asia that foim the ciux of an intellectual
contiibution of an Asian commons
Thus, iathei than looking at eithei Asia oi the commons as a pie-given categoiy, if
we weie to see them as coteqories in tbe mokinq, then the "Asian commons"
emeiges as an oppoitunity to ievisit the question of Asia via the commons, anu vice
veisa.
To be able to successfully sustain the intellectual uiveisity necessaiy foi an Asian
commons also uemanus that we abanuon the pioject of commonality, which we
often use when we speak of Asianness. Asia then becomes a simultaneous of
similaiities anu uiffeiences. In such a ieviseu foimulation, the histoiy of the
commons also gets ieconfiguieu. In its piesent avatai, the question of lanu, foiests,
natuial iesouices is iegaiueu as a pait of the histoiy of the commons, while the
question of oui uigital futuies is seen as a question of contempoiaiy significance
anu of futuie impoitance.

0ui uigital futuies is seen as a question of contempoiaiy significance anu of futuie
impoitance

The complex tempoialities of countiies in the Asia iegion uefy the easy bifuication
of the past anu the piesent, as the continuance of foims of common piopeity
iesouices ieveals the existence of piactices not only within collective memoiy but
as living piactices. In a sense it coulu be aigueu that the iuea of an Asian commons
exists as a limiteu concept; a concept that uoes not fully ieveal its own contouis but
woiks as a limit of westein thought anu expeiience as well.

Keeping this backgiounu in minu, we can now move towaius mapping out a
genealogy of the commons in Asia.

We piopose the following uiiections not as exhaustive ways of imagining the
pioject of an Asian commons but illustiative iueas of futuie ieseaich agenuas anu
questions, which aie woith puisuing.


3
1
1. uenealogies of the Commons in Lanu in Asia
2. Accounting foi the Cultuial Commons of Asia
S. Infoimal Cultuial Flows anu the making of Asia

Befoie we pioceeu to the next segment, we woulu like to leave you with two
evocative accounts which questions oui caitogiaphic anu cultuial assumptions, anu
helps us thiough moie liteiaiy foims, to imagine the possibilities of an Asian
commons.


F"*"H 9"*2 52I2+4 ?'.'0, ,'12%+2%,4 ,%"$%/ (.'*+2%.,J G7"+
='0$/ K"$'* L"H2. 7":% ,"2/B M'0+7",2" N%"+J C%6"$2 !2;%,4 C'> OPQ4 RSTUOQ
V"*0".< OQQWX

But seveial seemingly contiauictoiy foices have tiansfoimeu the uemogiaphic
makeup heie: open migiation, foiceu migiation anu pieventeu migiation uue to
closuie
of fiontieis. In southeast Nepal, the ioausiue cemeteiies aie piimaiily of the Tibeto-
Buiman Kiiant hill migiants, with many of the giaves oinately uesigneu ieplicas of
mountain uwellings. Noie than 12u,uuu Nepali- speaking Lhotshampa iefugees aie
huuuleu heie in iefugee camps. It has been 12 yeais since they weie ousteu fiom
theii native Bhutan, anu iegional geopolitics blocks theii ietuin. The syncietistic
mix of cultuies in Nepal's }hapa is nowheie in eviuence 4u km away as the ciow
flies in Banglauesh. The cemeteiies heie aie all Nuslim: many of the Binuus have
left since Paitition anu cieeping Islamisation makes them moie vulneiable. 0nly the
place names ieminu of the once- upon-a-time uemogiaphy: Rangpui, a uynamic
maiketplace befoie the boiueis weie uiawn in 1947 is now a backwatei.

The Nepal-Inuia boiuei is open, a kinu of fiontiei that uoes most justice to the
shaieu histoiy of all Southasia. The Banglauesh-Inuia fiontiei has been closeu since
the iise of East Pakistan, but iemaineu poious foi uecaues. Touay, it is in the
piocess
of being sealeu. Inuia's fence-builuing fienzy to keep out Banglaueshi migiants has
ieacheu Changiabanua. To the south stietches an impiegnable line of baibeu wiie,
steel pillais, conciete anu a seivice ioau. Some contiactois have maue goou piofit.
This is one alteinative foi a Southasian futuie, wheie weak goveinments uepenuent
on vote bank politics will take the couise of least iesistance. But builuing a fence
will
only make societies moie iigiu in theii own iuentities anu ceitituues. 0ne wonueis
whethei shaiply uefineu fiontieis will evei woik in Southasia. Insteau, is theie a
lesson
to be taken fiom the open Nepal-Inuia fiontiei just a few miles away.






L.'; A;2+": Y7',74 M7"/'=$2*%,
3
2

A few months aftei I hau maue my uiscoveiy in the Teen Nuiti Libiaiy, I founu, at
the bottom of my bookshelf, the tatteieu olu Baitholomew's Atlas in which Tiiuib
useu to point out places to me when he tolu me stoiies in his ioom. Nayauebi hau
given it to me many yeais befoie.
0ne uay, when it was lying open on my uesk in my hostel ioom, quite by chance I
happeneu to finu a iusty olu compass at the back of my uiawei. It hau piobably
been foigotten theie by the peison who hau liveu in the ioom befoie me.
I pickeu it up anu, toying with it, I placeu its point on Khulna anu the tip of the
pencil on Siinagai.
Khulna is not quite one hunuieu miles fiom Calcutta as the ciow flies: the two cities
face each othei at a watchful equiuistance acioss the boiuei. The uistance between
Khulna anu Siinagai, oi so I uiscoveieu when I measuieu the space between the
points of my compass, was 12uu miles, neaily 2uuu kilometies. It uiun't seem like
much. But when I took my compass thiough the pages of that atlas, on which I coulu
still see the smuuges left by Tiiuib's fingeis, I uiscoveieu that Khulna is about as fai
fiom Siinagai as Tokyo is fiom Beijing, oi Noscow fiom venice, oi Washington
fiom Bavana, oi Caiio fiom Naples.
Then I tiieu to uiaw a ciicle with Khulna at the centie anu Siinagai on the
ciicumfeience. I uiscoveieu immeuiately that themap of South Asia woulu not be
big enough. I hau to tuin back to a map of Asia befoie I founu one laige enough foi
my ciicle. It was an amazing ciicle. Beginning in Siinagai anu tiavelling anti-
clockwise, it cut thiough the Pakistani half of Punjab, thiough the tip of Rajasthan
anu the euge of Sinu, thiough the Rann of Kutch, anu acioss the Aiabian Sea,
thiough the southeinmost toe of the Inuian Peninsula, thiough Kanuy, in Sii Lanka,
anu out into the Inuian 0cean until it emeigeu to touch upon the noitheinmost
fingei of Sumatia, then stiaight thiough the tail of Thailanu into the uulf, to come
out again in Thailanu, iunning a little noith of Phnom Penh, into the hills of Laos,
past Bue in vietnam, uipping into the uulf of Tonking, then swinging up again
thiough the Chinese piovince of Yunnan, past Chungking, acioss the Yangtze Kiang,
passing within sight of the uieat Wall of China, thiough Innei Nongolia anu
Sinkiang, until with a final leap ovei the Kaiakoiam Nountains it uioppeu again
into the valley of Kashmii. It was a iemaikable ciicle: moie than half of mankinu
must have fallen within it.
Anu so, fifteen yeais aftei his ueath, Tiiuib watcheu ovei me as I tiieu to leain the
meaning of uistance. Bis atlas showeu me, foi example, that within the tiuy oiueiing
of Eucliuean space, Chiang Nai in Thailanu was much neaiei Calcutta than Belhi is;
that Chenguu in China is neaiei than Siinagai is. Yet I hau nevei heaiu of those
places until I uiew my ciicle, anu I cannot iemembei a time when! was so young
that I hau not heaiu of Belhi oi Siinagai. It showeu me that Banoi anu Chungking
aie neaiei Khulna than Siinagai, anu yet uiu the people of Khulna caie at all about
the fate of the mosques in vietnam anu South China (a meie stone's thiow away). I
uoubteu it. But in this othei uiiection, it took no moie than a week In peiplexity I
tuineu back thiough the pages of the atlas at ianuom, shut my eyes, anu let the
point of my compass fall on the page. It fell on Nilan, in noithein Italy. Aujusting my
compass to the iight scale I uiew a ciicle which hau Nilan as its centie anu 12uu
miles as its iauius.
This was anothei amazing ciicle. It passeu thiough Belsinki in Finlanu, Sunusvall in
Sweuen, Nolu in Noiway, above the Shetlanu Islanus, anu then thiough a gieat
3
3
empty stietch of the Atlantic 0cean until it came to Casablanca. Then it tiavelleu
into
the Algeiian Sahaia, thiough Libya, into Egypt, up thiough the Neuiteiianean,
wheie it toucheu on Ciete anu Rhoues befoie going into Tuikey, then on thiough
the Black Sea, into the 0SSR, thiough Ciimea, the 0kiaine, Byeloiussia anu Estonia,
back to Belsinki.
Puzzling ovei this ciicle, I tiieu a little expeiiment. With my limiteu knowleuge, I
tiieu to imagine an event, any event, that might occui in a city neai the peiipheiy of
that ciicle (oi, inueeu, much neaiei) - Stockholm, Bublin, Casablanca, Alexanuiia,
Istanbul, Kiev, any city in any uiiection at all- I tiieu to imagine an event that might
happen in any of those places which woulu biing the people of Nilan pouiing out
into the stieets. I tiieu haiu but I coulu think of none.
None, that is, othei than wai.
It seemeu to me, then, that within this ciicle theie weie only states anu citizens;
theie weie no people at all. When I tuineu back to my fiist ciicle I was stiuck with
wonuei that theie hau ieally been a time, not so long ago, when people, sensible
people, of goou intention, hau thought that all maps weie the same, that theie was a
special enchantment in lines; I hau to ieminu myself that they weie not to be
blameu foi believing that theie was something aumiiable in moving violence to the
boiueis anu uealing with it thiough science anu factoiies, foi that was the pattein
of the woilu. They hau uiawn theii boiueis, believing in that pattein, in the
enchantment of lines, hoping peihaps that once Ifley hau etcheu theii boiueis upon
the map, the two bits of lanu woulu sail away fiom each othei like the shifting
tectonic plates of the piehistoiic uonuwanalanu. What hau they felt, I wonueieu,
'chen they uiscoveieu that they hau cieateu not a sepaiation, but a vet-
unuiscoveieu iiony - the iiony that killeu Tiiuib: the simple fact that theie hau
nevei been a moment in the 4uuu-yeai-olu histoiy of that map when the places we
know as Bhaka anu Calcutta weie moie closely bounu to each othei than aftei they
hau uiawn theii lines - so closely that I, in Calcutta, hau only to look into the miiioi
to be in Bhaka; a moment when each city was the inveiteu image of the othei,
lockeu into an iiieveisible symmetiy by the line that was to set us fiee - oui
looking-glass boiuei.




3
4
9A??-CY !@8 8C)KZM[\8M 9Z3898C! -C AM-A

In pievious chapteis, we have uwelt on how piopeity was the instiument by which
the commons - both in lanu anu in infoimation - came to be encloseu anu paiceleu
into uisciete holuings. While the analysis anu examples in pieceuing chapteis have
uiawn on an extensive catalog of Euiopean liteiatuie, we woulu like, in this
chaptei, to ieaujust oui lens to focus on Asia. This chaptei seeks auuiess the
following questions:

1) Stuuies on pie-enclosuie Euiopean tiauitions with iespect to common
management of physical piopeity emphasize both the efficacy of non-
piopiietaiycommons-baseu owneiship piactices as well as the expeiience
of violence that accompanieu these enclosuies. Little attention has, howevei,
been paiu to tiauitional common piopeity iegimes in Asia. If expiopiiation
in Asia was a iesult of imposition of Euiopean colonial piopeity iegimes,
what uiu this teiiain look like piioi to that.

2) Likewise, what aie the tiauitions that weie piacticeu with iespect to
intellectual anu cultuial 'piouuction' in Asia. In what way weie they
uisiupteu by the imposition of 'Intellectual Piopeity' iegimes.


S) Recently, attempts have been maue to caive up a commons thiough ueft
manipulations of the veiy iights gianteu by the Intellectual Piopeity system.
Thiough such instiuments as 'open' anu 'cieative commons' licenses, the
uiiection of appiopiiation is sought to be ieveiseu. If piopeity can enclose
the commons, the logic seems to be to use piopeity to cieate one. The
pioblem with these licenses is that they enu up cieating Fianken-
commonses - iesuiiections of the oiiginal, but uncannily uevoiu of theii
oiiginal vitality. This chaptei will tiy to haik back to the reol commons - a
iealm of communal caietaking as opposeu to one of communal
abanuonment. A commons that is iitually anu spiiitually significant as
opposeu to a legally signifieu one.

Each of these questions is uiscusseu in sequence in the following sections.
Common Piopeity Resouices in South Asia: Whithei Tiageuy.
This section tiies to iuentify anu uesciibe "common piopeity tiauitions" in South
Asia with the objective of sampling uiffeient piactices of owning, possession anu
management that may pioviue alteinatives to conventional exclusionaiy
piopiietaiy moues of thinking. This is not an exhaustive compilation since the
teiiitoiy unuei consiueiation is vast anu theie aie enoimous vaiiations theiein.
Bowevei, in keeping with oui oveiiiuing object - shunning histoiiogiaphy in favoui
of genealogy- we hope to uneaith, in the few examples below, enouqb iaw-
mateiials foi allegoiies.
What we aie attempting in the sections that follow is to look foi Asian equivalents
(oi vaiiants) of the English "open fielu systems" anu of analogous (oi heteiologous)
"enclosuie" movements uesciibeu in so much uetail in pievious chapteis. The iuea
is to wiite into the histoiy of the commons "the ambivalences, contiauictions anu
3
5
the use of foice, anu the tiajectoiies anu iionies that attenu it".

Accounts fiom two iegions - the Inuian sub-continent anu Philippines - aie
offeieu in the sections that follow.

!"#$% ' (%)$*+%" ' ,%"-.%#/*0

With iegaiu to the Inuian context it woulu be instiuctive to heeu 0tsa Patnaik's
ieminuei at the outset, that while in Euiope, "the uisintegiation of the seif
peasantiy, iesulting in the cieation of a class of wage labouieis, was bosteneJ by
wholesale evictions anu enclosuies"
47
, in Inuia, by contiast
"o closs of propertyless lobourers existeJ os on inteqrol port of tbe pre-
copitolist economy onJ society: tbey were in bereJitory servituJe to tbe lonJeJ
fomilies, were forbiJJen to bolJ lonJ, onJ were employeJ in oqriculturol
proJuction onJ certoin specific tosks consiJereJ to be porticulorly meniol in
return for tbeir mere subsistence."
48


Thus oui inquiiy into common piopeity in Inuia, at least, must pioceeu with the
acknowleugment of a thiesholu tiauitional exclusion of ceitain categoiies of people
fiom most basic entitlements incluuing access to lanu. To an extent this woulu
appeai to be ueiailing oui ambitious allegoiical enueavoi at the outset. If one is
tiying to mount a challenge to the Intellectual Piopeity system by gestuiing to the
piactices it suppiesses, it ceitainly seems like iotten foim to be holuing up a caste
sequesteieu commons as a shining beacon of inclusiveness.

Bowevei, even heie one may witness paiallels to the knowleugecultuial uomain in
the way in which, foi instance, levels of liteiacy while it may escape attention in
uiscussions of Intellectual Piopeity iights assignments, in fact play a ueteiminative
iole in uefining the bounuaiies of the maiket foi that paiticulai Intellectual
Piopeity goou. This caveat is theiefoie in the natuie of a placeholuei - to ieminu us
that both the commons as well as piivate piopeity function within a constant
fiamewoik of exogenous stiuctuial constiaints on fieeuoms. We embaik now on an
analysis of common piopeity iegimes in Punjab , Bangal (incluuing Banglauesh),
anu Kumaon.
)';;'* K"*/, 2* ?0*]"#
In hei uense analytical account of common lanus in Punjab
49
, Ninoti Chakiavaity-
Kaul pioviues a uetaileu uesciiption of the iegimes of shaieu lanu-use pievalent in
the iegion. Accoiuing to hei :
"Punjob boJ tbe lorqest ocreoqe of uncultivoteJ but cultivoble lonJ in Britisb
lnJio in 1860-1: mucb of tbis lonJ wos communolly belJ onJ monoqeJ.
Subsequently, tbe Punjob experienceJ tbe seconJ biqbest increose in oreo
cultivoteJ - o trenJ wbicb continueJ till 1947. Sucb o cbonqe wos

47
Patnaik, 0tsa, "Social Scientist, issues 122, }uly 198S, page S. -- The Social Scientist -- Bigital South
Asia Libiaiy." Sociol Scientist 11, no. 122 (}uly 198S): S.
48
lbiJ at p.4
49
Chakiavaity-Kaul, Ninoti. Common Lanus anu Customaiy Law. 0xfoiu 0xfoiushiie: 0xfoiu
0niveisity Piess, 1996.
3
6
occomplisbeJ ot tbe expense of tbe oreos belJ onJ useJ in common botb witbin
tbe villoqes onJ outsiJe tbem. Tbus, wbile ot tbe outset of tbe Britisb perioJ
tbere oppeoreJ lorqe oreos of wbot tbe Britisb colleJ primevol woste, by tbe
enJ of tbe coloniol perioJ mucb of tbis boJ been opportioneJ by communities
onJ loter privotizeJ by portition."
S0


The cuiient section uiaws on hei woik extensively to piesent the key featuies of
common lanu management in Punjab anu the auministiative anu legal mechanisms
thiough which these piactices weie stymieu.

Accoiuing to Kaul, piioi to Biitish entiy, the settleu villages in Punjab alteinatively
piacticeu cultivation anu pastoial activities. These villages possesseu extensive
common lanus oi bonjor kboJim, which weie helu collectively by a village
piopiietaiy bouy known as the moliken-Jeb.
S1
0thei categoiies of uncultivateu
lanus weie also helu in common, incluuing the oboJe-Jeb oi the iesiuential aiea,
the catchment aieas oi joboJs, anu qoro Jeb - the aiea aiounu the village site.
S2


In auuition, in some iegions, no shaip uistinction was maue between the "waste"
which was neai a settlement anu the "waste" fuithei away. Both weie equally
iegaiueu by the community to be iesouices which coulu be uiawn upon without
iestiiction. It appeais that the long-uistance 'waste' was being useu by the
pastoialists uuiing times of uistiess just as they weie peiiouically occupying them
uuiing seasonal cycles.

0nuei this iegime, since no tiact was inhabiteu foi long anu no one coulu call a
paiticulai aiea his own, uefinite iights in the long fallow oi bonjor koJim within the
villages uiu not aiise.

Thiee official measuies leu to the evolution of uefinite piopeity in the open
uncultivateu 'waste':
Fiistly, colonization of the waste fiom the 182us biought settleis fiom othei
uistiicts iestiicting the nomauic movements of pastoialists who hau, peifoice, to
become seuentaiy faimeis. Kaul suggests that settlement was uone accoiuing to
piinciples that "maximizeu aggiegate annual cultivation", iathei than it being baseu
on the pattein of fallows.
"Tbe initiol policy wos.. to seorcb for qreoter revenue from more inbobiteJ onJ
cultivoteJ lonJ; onJ sucb oction wos reolly no Jifferent from tbot of tbe
preceJinq Sikb onJ Huqbol rulers."
SS
;

We may infei fiom this shift fiom pastoial to seuentaiy, a change in peisonhoou as
well biought about by the uiffeient ciicumstances that villageis hau to auapt to. To
that extent, Pockock's obseivation, uiscusseu eailiei, that "uiffeient moues of

Su
lbiJ p.
S1
The moliken Jeb auministeieu a bunule of iights ovei these categoiies of lanu incluuing
"the iight to holu anu to paitition, the iight to manage anu the iight to use." lbiJ
S2
It is impoitant to beai in minu that this was not unifoimly the case in all of Punjab. As Kaul
heiself points out, theie weie vast aieas in Punjab wheie village common lanus JiJ not exist piioi to
the aiiival of the Biitish. lbiJ
SS
lbiJ
3
7
piopeity .. encouiage uiffeient moues of peisonality" gets boine out
S4
.

0n an allegoiical note, it is inteiesting to think of whethei the intiouuction of an
intellectual piopeity iights iegime heialus a similai seuentaiisation of cultuie anu
knowleuge piouuction. If so, what uiu the "pastoial" moue entail. What was lost to
cultuial piouuction in the couise of this shift.

Seconuly, villages weie pieventeu fiom keeping unlimiteu giazing giounus as pait
of the settlements. The ieuuceu aieas of open waste outsiue the villages weie
incieasingly ieseiveu by the goveinment aftei the enactment of the Inuian Foiest
Act of 1878, so less was available to supplement giazing on village commons;
Thiiuly, the 'savannah like' plains weie uiviuenu into giass pieseives with uefinite
iights.

Summing up these uevelopments, Kaul says:
"[W]itb tbe revenue settlement operotions, tbe open ronqe lonJs .. were
internolizeJ in JemorcoteJ villoqes onJ become villoqe common lonJs,
sbomilot-Jeb. Eere wos tbe first stoqe of tbe tronsformotion of open-occess
lonJ into encloseJ villoqe commons, wbere only tbemolikon Jeb boJ riqbts in
common. Bemorcotion of villoqe bounJories estoblisbeJ new villoqes on tbe
surplus woste of be olJ settleJ villoqes, or creoteJ tbem in tbe unoccupieJ
territories of tbe Cis-Sutlej"
SS


These changes impacteu tiauitional lanu-use patteins significantly. By enclosing the
open-iange giazing fallow that hau hitheito been useu by pastoialists, the aiea
available foi giazing outsiue the villages was ieuuceu theieby uistuibing the
migiation ioutes of nomauic pastoialists. Theie was also a ieuuction in such aieas
of cultivable waste outsiue the village as the open 'piimeval' wastelanus of the uiy
tiacts, iiveiine giazing aieas, sciub foiests, anu hill giazing iuns. Theie was a shift
away fiom mainly pastoial to aiable in ceitain uistiicts anu as this coinciueu with
the inciease in population aftei 1868 theie was a consequent shiinkage in aiea
available pei heau of cattle anu a change in the composition of the heius of cattle
ieaieu.

Lastly, theie was a uecline in institutions of communal owneiship anu management
of common lanus which followeu a piocess of piivatization initiateu by the
tiansfeience of common lanus fiom communal contiol anu joint use to inuiviuual
piopeity anu limiteu access. This piocess of paititioning the common lanus oi
cultivable waste within villages eioueu the auhesive element in communities of
cultivating owneis. That this leu to gieatei fiiction is eviuent when one consiueis
that uisputes tenueu to be gieatei in uistiicts wheie communal ties hau eioueu uue
to lanu alienation; wheie common lanus weie paititioneu anuoi encloseu; wheie
canal iiiigation hau extenueu cultivation in the waste thus ieuucing the giazing
wastes both outsiue anu within villages; wheie cattle piessuie was high anu
incieasing because of intei-zonal movements of cattle uuiing ceitain seasons,
uioughts anu shiinkage of giazing all iounu; anu wheie legislation like the Punjab

S4
lbiJ
SS
lbiJ
3
8
Tenancy Act of 1868 anu its amenument in 1887 hau suppoiteu the iights of a
paiticulai categoiy of cultivatois.

A pattein of iecipiocal inteiuepenuence emeiges fiom Kaul's account wheiein
cultivatois anu nomauic pastoialists cohabiteu in ielative haimony uespite the
absence of cleai titles to the lanu that they useu. It is eviuent that the intiouuction
of piivate piopeity heie was owing moie to the auministiation's uesiie to
iationalize ievenue collection iathei than to avoiu any imminent "tiageuy" that
woulu befall the common piopeity.

Intiouuction of piivate piopeity heie was owing moie to the auministiation's
uesiie to iationalize ievenue collection iathei than to avoiu any imminent
"tiageuy" that woulu befall the common piopeity.
123/*+ 4%"%-/4/"+ $" 564%2"
This section uiaws on the woik of Ramachanuia uuha in his wiitings on Foiestiy
anu Social Piotest in Kumaon
S6
. Thiee elements of uuha's account will be focuseu
upon heie viz: the economic ieliance of inhabitants on common access to foiests,
the ieligiouscultuial significance that the inhabitants of the iegion attacheu to the
foiests anu the mechanisms anu consequences of enclosuies which excluueu them
fiom the foiests.

! 7 123/*+* %* 82442" 9329/3+:
uuha's account highlights the intiicate webs of inuepenuence that linkeu foiest-
uwellei to foiest. The foiests supplieu inhabitants with pastuies foi theii cattle,
suppoiting animal husbanuiy, which complementeu the agiaiian economy anu
pioviueu a iesouice that coulu be uiawn upon uuiing uistiess. In auuition, the
foiests pioviueu them with iaw mateiials which they useu to fashion implements
as well as ingieuients foi uiiect consumption.
"ln tbe permonent bomlets, ook forests proviJeJ botb foJJer onJ fertilizer.
6reen onJ Jry leoves,.. were mixeJ witb tbe excreto of tbe onimols onJ
fermenteJ to qive monure to tbe fielJs. Tbus tbe forest ouqmenteJ tbe nutritive
volue of tbe fielJs Jirectly tbouqb its folioqe onJ inJirectly tbrouqb tbe excreto
of tbe cottle feJ witb foJJer leoves onJ forest qross. BrooJ leofeJ trees olso
proviJeJ tbe villoqers witb fuel onJ oqriculturol implements."
S7


A high uegiee of co-opeiation anu communal action uiiecteu the behavioui of the
villageis towaius the foiests upon which they weie jointly ieliant. This is eviuent in
the mannei in which customaiily fixeu bounuaiies - existing fiom the time of Inuian
iuleis - weie auheieu to by each village, as also in the mannei in which gioups of
villages in some aieas exeiciseu joint iights of giazing anu fuel that weie secuieu
by long usage anu customs. uuha pioviues an example of Chaunuhkot paigana in
uaihwal which containeu foiests within village bounuaiies, calleu 'bonis wheie
"bianches anu tiees weie only cut at specifieu times anu with the peimission of the

S6
uuha, Ramachanuia. "Foiestiy anu Social Piotest in Biitish Kumaun, c. 189S-1921," SS4, pp. S4-
1uu.
S7
lbiJ
3
9
entiie village community".

That the villageis consiueieu themselves collectively entitleu to these foiests is
ievealeu thiough accounts of theii ieactions aftei the foiests staiteu to be closeu
off fiom them. Foi instance, uuha quotes the following passage fiom the
coiiesponuence of a foiest settlement officei of Biitish uaihwal, wiitten at the time
of the constitution of ieseiveu foiests :
"Tbe notion obstinotely persists in tbe minJs of oll from tbe biqbest to tbe
lowest, tbot tbe 6overnment is tokinq owoy tbeir forests from tbem onJ is
robbinq tbem of tbeir own property. Tbe notion seems to bove qrown up from
tbe complete lock of restriction or control over tbe use by tbe people of woste
lonJ onJ forest Jurinq tbe first 80 yeors ofter tbe Britisb occupotion. Tbe
olJest inbobitonts tberefore, onJ be noturolly is reqorJeJ os tbe qreotest
outbority, is tbe most ossureJ of tbe ontiquity of tbe peoples riqbt
touncontrolleJ use of tbe forestl onJ to o rurol community tbere oppeors no
Jifference between uncontrolleJ use onJ proprietory riqbt. Subsequent
requlotions only oppeor to tbem os o qroJuol encroocbment on tbeir riqbts."
S8


uuha's conclusion fiom this account that the state anu hill villageis haibouieu
"alteinative conceptions of piopeity anu owneiship" anu this uiffeience unueilay
theii conflict is instiuctive. Be obseives:
"Tbere JiJ not exist o JevelopeJ notion of privote property omonq tbese
peosont communities, o notion porticulorly inopplicoble to communolly-owneJ
onJ monoqeJ wooJs onJ posture lonJ. ln controst, tbe stotes ossertion of
monopoly over forests wos unJertoken ot tbe expense of wbot Britisb officiols
insisteJ were inJiviJuolly cloimeJ riqbts of users. Witb tbe woste onJ forest
lonJs never bovinq ottrocteJ tbe ottention of former qovernments tbere
existeJ stronq bistoricol justificotion for tbe populor belief tbot oll forests
witbin villoqe bounJories were tbe property of tbe villoqers.
S9


Thus, while it appeais that the villageis uiu not have a iefineu unueistanuing of
'piopeity' they uiu iegaiu the foiests as belonqinq to them in a uiffeient, extia-legal
sense. It is not possible to map this "belonging" onto piopeity's intellectual
univeise uominateu as it is by the Lockean conception. As we have seen in the
intiouuction to this monogiaph, Locke's conception of piopeity was an invention
boin of the necessity to justify Euiopean expansionism, anu it is piecisely such a
nebulous ielationship as "belonging" that thieatens to collapse the whole
enteipiise.

Even though this "belonging" uoes not figuie a place on any iegistei of appioveu
piopeity theoiies, it iebuts some of piopeity-uogma's cential assumptions
incluuing the belief that without piopeity theie is no incentive to caie foi piopeity,
anu its coiollaiy - no othei foims of caiing exists othei than inuiviuual piopeity-
caiing. As we shall see, unowneu is seluom the same as uncaieu foi.

S8
lbiJ
S9
lbiJ
4
0
!! 7 123/*+ #;/../3* %"# 82"*/3<%"8:
uuha's account uoes not uelve veiy extensively into the specifics of the
conseivation methous piacticeu by the villageis. Bowevei, cential as the foiests
weie to hill life, we aie able to uiscein patteins of a uistinctively communal system
of conseivancy, backeu by "ieligion, folkloie anu tiauition" fiom his account. Thus,
uuha notes that hill tops weie often "ueuicateu to local ueities, anu the tiees aiounu
the summit anu on the slopes weie pieseiveu".

Fuithei, the ieligious significance of the foiests piompteu the villageis to actively
affoiest the suiiounuings of temples. uuha notes:
"Porticulorly in eoster Kumoun onJ orounJ temples, JeoJor plontotions boJ
become noturolizeJ. Temple qroves of JeoJor vorieJ in extent from o few trees
to wooJs of severol bunJreJ ocres. As lote os 19SS it wos reporteJ tbot tbe fine
stronJs of JeoJor founJ neor temples were veneroteJ onJ protecteJ from
injury."
60


!!! ="8.2*63/
The colonial auministiation began enclosing the foiests in oiuei to meet the
giowing uemanu, woiluwiue, foi timbei, as well as to seivice the expansion of the
Inuian iailways. The woiking of the foiest foi commeicial puiposes necessitateu
its closuie to men anu cattle in oiuei foi successful iepiouuction to take place.
uiazing anu lopping, if alloweu hau to be iegulateu to piomote the iepiouuction of
favouieu species.
The piactice of fiiing the foiests, which hau hitheito been customaiily unueitaken
in oiuei to piepaie new fielus foi planting hau to be iegulateu oi stoppeu in the
inteiests of sustaineu piouuction of chii pine.

Regaiuing the specific auministiative uevices employeu to effect this enclosuie,
uuha inuicates that "A piolongeu uebate within the colonial buieauciacy on
whethei to tieat the customaiy use of foiest as baseu on 'iight' oi on 'piivilege' was
settleu by the selective use of pieceuent anu the piinciple that 'the iight of conquest
is the stiongest of all iights - it is a iight against which theie is no appeal'."

In 1887, a compiehensive all-Inuia Foiest Act was uiafteu which pioviueu foi the
constitution of 'ieseiveu' (closeu) foiest uivesteu of existing iights of useis. This
Act "pioviueu foi an elaboiate pioceuuie of foiest settlement to ueal with all claims
of usei, which, if uphelu coulu be tiansfeiieu to a seconu class of foiest uesignateu
as 'piotecteu'".
61
While the Buiuen of Pioof to establish 'legally establisheu iights'
was on the people, the state coulu giant both 'non establisheu iights' anu
'teiminable concessions at its uiscietion." While the exeicise of iights, wheie
alloweu, was specifieu in elaboiate uetail, iightholueis hau the oneious
iesponsibility of fuinishing knowleuge of foiest offences to the neaiest authoiity
anu of extinguishing fiies howevei causeu in the state foiests.

It is inteiesting to obseive how fiequently, in its most egiegious acts of

6u
lbiJ
61
lbiJ
4
1
expiopiiation, the colonial state constantly evokes metaphois of conseivation. Thus
foiests aie 'ieseiveu' anu 'piotecteu' connoting an unpiotecteu, wanton past that
has now meicifully come to an enu. In a similai vein, copyiight owneis aie
'piotecteu' fiom theii woiks being spieau without theii explicit authoiization. In
this way, moie cultuie will be ciiculate.

Subsequent to the enactment of this statute, in 189S all unmeasuieu lanu in the
Kumaun uivision was ueclaieu 'Bistiict Piotecteu Foiest' (BPF) which incluueu in
its folu, "tiee-coveieu lanus, snow-clau peaks, iiuges anu cliffs, iivei beus, lakes,
builuings, temple lanus, camping anu pastuie giounus anu ioaus anu shops".
62


A seiies of subsequent uevelopments fuithei cuitaileu the access of the villageis to
theii foiests:
1) In 1894, eight types of tiees incluuing ueouai, chii anu sal weie ieseiveu.
Rules weie fiameu foi iegulating the lopping of tiees foi fuel anu fouuei anu
claims foi timbei anu tiaue by villageis in any foim of foiest piouuce was
piohibiteu.
2) Foiest settlements set up in thiee uistiicts between 1911 anu 1917 iesulteu
in the constitution of almost Suuu sq miles of ieseiveu foiest in the Kumaun
uivision. Elaboiate iules weie fiameu foi the exeicise of iights, specifying
the numbei of cattle to be giazeu anu the amount of timbei anu fuel woou
allotteu to each iight-holuei. villageis hau to inuent in auvance foi timbei
foi constiuction of houses anu agiicultuial implements which woulu be
supplieu by the Bivisional Foiest officei fiom a notifieu list of species.
S) The annual piactice of buiing the foiest flooi foi a fiesh ciop of giass was
banneu within one mile of ieseiveu foiests; but as this excluueu few
habitations in these heavily foiesteu hills, the piohibition viitually maue the
piactice illegal.

The buiuen of these new iegulations on the villageis is movingly captuieu in the
following extiact, a lettei, quoteu in uuha, fiom a uoveinment cleik applying foi
exemption fiom beqor:
"ln Joys qone by every necessities of life were in obunJonce to tbe villoqers
tbon tot otbers onJ tbere were no sucb 6overnment lows onJ requlotions
probibitinq tbe free use of unsurveyeJ lonJ onJ forest by tbem os tbey bove
now. .. Now tbe villoqe life bos been sboJoweJ by oll tbe miseries onJ
inconveniences of tbe present Joy lows onJ requlotions. Tbey ore not olloweJ
to fell Jown o tree to qet fuels from it for tbeir Joily use onJ tbey connot cut
leoves of trees beyonJ certoin portion of tbem for foJJer to tbeir onimols."
6S


The eiosion of customaiy iights iesulteu in a giowing alienation of man fiom
foiest. Afiaiu that the state woulu take away othei wooueu aieas fiom theii contiol,
villageis in ceitain cases began uefoiesting wooulanu.
64
Fuithei, theie weie

62
lbiJ
6S
lbiJ
64
lbiJ, uuha points out that this tienu was absent in villages wheie owneiship was still vesteu
in the community, wheie the foiests continueu to be well lookeu aftei. Be pioviues the example of
"the twenty-mile stietch between Ruuiapiayag anu Kaianpiayag in the Alakananua valley wheie
the goveinment hau explicitly maue ovei these foiests to the neighbouiing villages". In auuition, he
4
2
mounting inciuents of aison anu incenuiaiism thiough which the villageis
iegisteieu theii uiscontent with the new oiuei. uuha's account of the fiies that
ioutinely bioke out in the iegion in the peiiou beginning fiom 1916 is ievealing :
"Numerous fires broke out simultoneously over lorqe oreos, onJ often tbe
occurrence of o fire wos tbe siqnol of qenerol firinq in tbe wbole
neiqbbourbooJ. Iorty-four fires occurreJ in Nortb 6orbwol Jivision, olmost oll
in orJer to obtoin fresb crop of qross. .. tbe oreos cbosen for ottocb boJ been
unJer botb fellinq onJ resin-toppinq operotions. ln AiroJeo, tbe fire continueJ
for tbree Joys onJ two niqbts witb new fires beinq storteJ time ofter time
Jirectly o counterfirinq line wos successfully completeJ "
6S


Theie aie tempting paiallels that one can uiaw between the patteins of iesistance
of the foiest uwelleis uesciibeu above anu the wiuespieau IP-inuisciplines that aie
commonplace in Asia. Biiectly a new countei-piiacy measuie is installeu (foi
instance Bigital Rights Nanagement locks) when a new clustei of piiacy is spawneu
oi a new softwaie ciack inventeu. Numeious files aie shaieu ovei laige aieas anu
often a file is seeueu anu uownloaueu simultaneously. Bowevei, in the iealm of
knowleuge piouuction 'incenuiaiism' is in fact quite the opposite anu involves an
explosion in the ciiculation of copies. Countei-fiiing on the othei hanu often
involves acts of wholesale uestiuction - foi instance mass ciushing of piiateu CBs
anu BvBs.
>2"8.6*$2"* ?324 +0/ !"#$%"@*6A82"+$"/"+
Although the tiauitional piopeity piactices outlineu above stanu at staik ouus with
conventional piopeity iegimes, theie is ieason to believe that this change was not
necessaiily the iesult of the imposition of Biitish (ieau Westein) piopeity iegimes
in an Asian ieceptacle, but coulu quite possibly have been the outcome of
inuigenous chuinings in piopeity stiuctuies uue to political instability.

Beinaiu Cohn, foi instance, in his woik on Structurol cbonqe in lnJion Rurol Society
1S96-188S
66
points out that the effoits of the Biitish weie uiiecteu towaius
restorinq existing piactices iathei than supplanting them with theii own.
"Irom tbe beqinninq of tbeir lorqe scole ocquisition of territoriol control onJ
sovereiqnty, tbe Britisb conceiveJ of qoverninq lnJio by coJifyinq onJ
reinstitutinq tbe rulinq proctices tbot boJ been JevelopeJ by previous stotes
onJ rulers. Tbey souqbt to incorporote, os mucb os possible, tbe oJministrotive
personnel employeJ by previous reqimes. Tbus knowleJqe of tbe bistory onJ
proctices of lnJion stotes wos seen os tbe most voluoble form of knowleJqe on
wbicb to builJ tbe coloniol stote. "


inuicates that "vast extents of bioau-leaveu foiests" which weie of use to the villageis anu also
unuei state-contiol iemaineu laigely unhaimeu. Explaining this selective conseivativeness, uuha
notes "As in othei societies in othei histoiical epochs, the uestiuction by aison was not simply a
nihilistic ielease but caiefully selective in the taigets attackeu. As Bobsbawm has aigueu, such
uestiuction is nevei inuisciiminate, foi 'what is useful to pooi men' - in this instance bioau-leaveu
species, fai moie than chii is spaieu."
6S
lbiJ
66
Beinaiu S. Cohn, An Antbropoloqist Amonq tbe Eistorions onJ 0tber Fssoys, New Eu (00P Inuia,
1991)
4
3
(0$..$9$"/* 7 +0/ B%"C/3%*

In hei suivey of the evolution of institutions foi collective action, Elinoi 0stiom
67

uetails the piactice of the zonjero system - a system of common iiiigation anu lanu
holuing -pievalent in the Phillipines.

A Zonjero is establisheu by lanuowning faimeis wanting to constiuct common
iiiigation woiks, as well as inuiviuuals oiganizing themselves in oiuei to acquiie
lanu. It enables the acquisition of long-teim use iights to lanu, anu the watei to
iiiigate it "without piioi accumulation of monetaiy assets". The following
paiagiaphs biiefly outline its woiking anu the benefits that acciue fiom this
system.

A type of contiact - calleu a bionq ti Joqo oi a 'shaiing of lanu' - unueilies the
zonjero anu allows the lanuownei to ietain owneiship while use iights aie
extenueu to the vaiious membeis of the zanjeia foi as long as the iiiigation system
continues to be maintaineu. In its opeiation, the zonjero woiks somewhat along the
lines of a company limiteu by shaies. At the time of foimation, each oiiginal
membei of the zonjero is issueu one membeiship shaie oi otor which entitles each
membei to one vote, anu a piopoitionate shaie of the lanu acquiieu by the zanjeia.
In auuition, the otor uefines the obligation of the membeis foi mateiial anu laboui
inputs that they must each contiibute. Each otor-holuei is obligeu to contiibute one
uay's laboui uuiing each woik season ueclaieu by the zonjero, plus a shaie of the
mateiial iequiieu at the time of constiuction. The maximum numbei of otors is
settleu at inception itself.
68


The mannei of uivision of lanu acquiieu by the zanjeia ieveals a high uegiee of
communal management anu consensual action.
Typically. the lanu acquiieu is uiviueu into thiee oi moie laige sections with each
faimei being assigneu a plot in each section. This not only gives them iights to faim
equal amounts of lanu, but also pioviues them with both auvantageous locations
neai the heau of the system (wheie the watei is abunuant), anu some neai the tail.
When iain is insufficient to iiiigate all the fielus, "a uecision about shaiing the
buiuens of scaicity can be maue iapiuly anu equitably by simply ueciuing not to
iiiigate the bottom section of lanu."
69
In this mannei, all membeis aie placeu in
"funuamentally symmetiic positions" in ielation to one anothei.

The woik assignment pattein allows each gioup to monitoi the piogiess of othei
gioups anu engenueis competition among them.


67
Elinoi 0stiom, 6overninq tbe Commons: Tbe Fvolution of lnstitutions for Collective Action
(Cambiiuge 0niveisity Piess, 199u)
68
lbiJ
69
lbiJ
4
4

Fig 1. Biagiam uesciibing a Zangeia (0stiom)

Not all of the lanu is uiscietely paiceleu out. Some units aie eaimaikeu foi
communal puiposes. Foi instance, a few paicels locateu at the tail of the system aie
assigneu to officials of the association as payment foi theii seivices. This pioviues a
positive iewaiu to the officials foi seivices ienueieu, anu also pioviues incentives
foi those in leaueiship positions to tiy to get watei to the tail of the system. 0thei
lanus aie ietaineu to secuie income foi the zonjero itself, foi instance, by ienting
them out.

The fact that the technologies useu in zanjeia systems aie ielatively ciuue anu
laboui-intensive has iesulteu in the technology of uam-constiuction becoming
wiuely uistiibuteu among faimeis in the aiea. Empoweieu by this knowleuge,
enteipiising tenant faimeis have been enableu to banu togethei anu constiuct
iiiigation systems on pieviously noniiiigateu lanu in exchange foi iights to the
piouuce fiom a specifieu poition of the newly iiiigateu lanu.

0stiom's account (ielying on Robeit Siy's (1982) analysis ) of the success of the
Bacaiia-vintai feueiation of nine zonjeros pioviues some insights into the
affoiuances of this common piopeity system. The Feueiation constiucts a uam
"built of bamboo poles, banana leaves, sanu anu iock", which is uemolisheu thiee to
foui times a yeai uue to the unpieuictable anu uestiuctive natuie of the iivei. The
feueiation is oiganizeu along the pattein uesciibeu above. Accoiuing to this
account, the membeis of this feueiation supply 16uuu man-uays to theii zonjero
annually in oiuei to peifoim this Sisyphean task. As Siy ieflects 'theie aie uefinitely
few iuial oiganizations in the ueveloping woilu which have been able to iegulaily
mobilize voluntaiy laboui to such extent".
7u


7u
lbiJ
4
5

0vei time zonjeros have hau to uevise stiategies to face the pioblem of incieaseu
fiagmentation of the oiiginal shaies.
"A founJinq member witb tbree sons, for exomple, moy bequeotb bis plots to be
JistributeJ evenly omonq bis sons, eocb of wbom tbem ossumes o tbirJ of tbe
obliqotions tbot tbe fotber boJ to fulfill {onJ bovinq occess to only one tbirJ of
tbe lonJ)."
71


Coping stiategies have uiffeieu between zanjeias. While some some appoint a
single peison to be iesponsible foi the fulfillment of each atai's iesponsibilities, so
that the association uoes not have to monitoi intia-atai woik, othei iequiie piioi
appioval befoie an atai is solu oi tiansfeiieu. In the latei system piospective
membeis aie maue to unueistanu the full extent of theii obligations befoie the
tiansaction is appioveu. In this mannei, emphasis is placeu on piotecting the
zonjero fiom uisintegiation.

The Zanjeia system is an inteiesting example of how piopeity iights aie
collectively, iathei than inuiviuually manageu. Incentives in this system aie
aiiangeu so as to acciue to those whose effoits leau to gieatei benefits foi the
entiie gioup iathei than only the inuiviuuals themselves.

D/9%. 7 123/*+ E%"%-/4/"+
This section ielies on Stanley Stevens'
72
analytically iich account of the histoiy anu
piactices of the Khumbu Sheipas of Nepal. The Kumbhu Sheipas inhabit the highei
ieaches of the Bimalaya - one of the moie challenging enviionments on eaith.

As in pievious sections, we aie conceineu heie with uesciibing a
tiauitionalinuigenous common-piopeity iegime, how this iegime was uisplaceu
by mouein enclosuies, anu the changes attenuant on this uisplacement.
7S

>2446"%. 23-%"$F%+$2" 2? 9329/3+: $" 564A06
Stevens uesciibes life in Khumbu as being "a complex integiation of the
iequiiements of conuucting ciop piouuction anu pastoialism at the altituuinal
limits of both". Auaptive lanu-use tactics employeu by the inhabitants of this iegion
incluue systems of lanu tenuie anu iesouice-use uecision making that "combine
communal management of common-piopeity pastuie anu foiest iesouices (anu
sometimes also community influence in ciop-piouuction uecisions) with piivate
family lanu anu livestock owneiship". The use of foiest iesouices is inteiwoven

71
lbiJ
72
Stevens, Stanley F. Cloiminq tbe Eiqb 6rounJ: Sberpos, Subsistence, onJ Fnvironmentol Cbonqe in
tbe Eiqbest Eimoloyo. Beikeley: 0niveisity of Califoinia Piess, c199S.
http:aik.culib.oigaik:1SuSuft8b69p1t6
7S
lbiJ, A piefatoiy mention neeus to be maue about the haish ecological conuitions pievalent
in the teiiain unuei consiueiation that make it a uifficult enviionment to live in. The climatic
hazaius that come with the teiiain anu the altituue, make high mountains unpieuictable places with
"low piimaiy piouuctivity, anu high enviionmental fiagility".. Agiicultuie is a chancy enteipiise in
such iegions, anu high pastuies aie often not suitable foi wintei giazing uue to snow covei. Fuithei,
the slow iates of tiee giowth make foiests anu wooulanus vulneiable to uistuibances anu iecoveiy
fiom them is moie uifficult anu unceitain.
4
6
with agiopastoialism anu pioviues essential contiibutions to fuel anu sheltei as
well.

Ciop piouuction, pastoialism anu foiest use, each entail a high uegiee of communal
oiganization anu management of iesouices. Even those families who own little oi
no livestock uiaw upon the commons of the foiests to supplement theii neeus. Foi
instance annual feitilization of potato fielus is a funuamental piinciple of Sheipa
agiicultuie the most impoitant soil auuitive is unuoubteuly manuie. This is so
impoitant that the ioute anu timing of heiu movements is ueciueu in pait on the
basis of wheie householu fielus aie locateu anu when the optimal times aie to
supply them with manuie. This iuns countei to most notions of piivate piopeity
wheie uecisions aie piemiseu on the existence of an absolute anu unfetteieu iight
to contiol lanu.

Fuithei, the communal use by Sheipas of theii limiteu foiest aieas to extiact timbei
anu fuel woou anu theii ieliance on them foi giazing anu foi soluk - uiieu leaves
anu neeules scouieu fiom the foiest flooi - seems to openly uefy uaik pieuictions
of "the tiageuy of the commons".
74
Foiests aie especially impoitant to pooiei
families, uuiing times of foou shoitage. 0pen wooulanu in the vicinity of villages
pioviues much-useu giazing anu biowsing, especially in wintei anu aie manageu
by intiicate conseivation schemes which ensuie the sustenance of these iesouices.

The following sections attempt to pioviue some uetails of how the Kumbhus own
anu manage theii agiicultuie, pastuiage anu theii foiest-use along communal lines.

G-3$86.+63/
Khumbu agiicultuie is baseu on piivate lanu owneiship anu subsistence faiming by
nucleai householus. Although lanu can be fieely bought anu solu both to fellow
villageis oi to Sheipas fiom othei settlements, it appeais uncommon foi lanu to
change hanus othei than thiough inheiitance.

At one time, it appeais, it hau been ielatively easy foi iecent immigiants fiom Tibet
to establish new fielus on uncultivateu village lanus. subject to theii gaining the
peimission of a local Sheipa pembu . In the eaily 194us, howevei, the Kathmanuu
goveinment began to implement a national lanu-iegistiation system anu a set of
accompanying policies that hau the effect of cuitailing any fuithei expansion of
Khumbu ciop aieas in subsequent uecaues. Lanu that hau not been iegisteieu coulu
hencefoith not be claimeu anu cultivateu without making the piopei aiiangements
with the goveinment office at the uistiict centei, anu foi many yeais theie was a
moiatoiium on new lanu claims. This pieventeu a numbei of immigiant families
fiom obtaining lanu by caiving new teiiaces neai the villages oi even fiom claiming
any of the long-abanuoneu teiiaces that aie plentiful in some paits of Khumbu.

74
0nly about 2 peicent of Khumbu, appioximately 2,2uu hectaies, is foiesteu, but foi Sheipas
this small aiea is a ciitical component of theii homelanu anu way of life. The tempeiate anu
subalpine foiests aie a funuamental subsistence iesouice pioviuing fuel woou, foou, timbei, fouuei,
giazing, feitilizei, anu mateiials foi many of the aiticles of uaily life. Beyonu that they aie also a
significant component of the spiiit-filleu cosmos within which Sheipas builu theii houses anu gathei
theii fuel woou.
4
7

Thus, this new iegistiation system intiouuceu an element of semi-peimanence into
lanu ielations which the villages in the iegion weie unaccustomeu to. As with the
Punjab example, this shift in piopeity ielations can also be vieweu in teims of the
changes in peisonality it occasioneu. The move fiom fluiuity to fixity fiom multiple
tenuies to singulai anu fiom tiust to iegistiation piesumably hau a piofounu
impact on peisonhoou as Pockock suggests. In the iealm of knowleuge piouuction,
this pioviues us a useful analogue in the mannei in which the intiouuction of
Intellectual Piopeity piivilegeu a fixeu iathei than fluiu ielation to knowleuge anu
cultuie.

The move fiom fluiuity to fixity fiom multiple tenuies to singulai anu fiom tiust to
iegistiation piesumably hau a piofounu impact on peisonhoou- intiouuction of
Intellectual Piopeity piivilegeu a fixeu iathei than fluiu ielation to knowleuge anu
cultuie
5064A6 (%*+23%.$*4
It is in Kumbhu pastoialism that common piopeity management is most uiiectly
visible.
Stevens finus that since the miuule of the nineteenth centuiy, Khumbu Sheipas
have maintaineu agiopastoial management systems aimeu at piotecting ciops anu
pastoial iesouices thiough contiolling giazing anu the cutting of wilu giass foi hay.

Beiuing emphasizeu the use of the extensive iangelanus that weie iegaiueu as
common piopeity iesouices fieely available to all Khumbu Sheipas. The use of
some of these aieas was iegulateu uuiing summei by local pastoial management
iegulations.

Stevens iepoits that since the nineteenth centuiy all Khumbu has been open iange
foi Khumbu Sheipa livestock (except wheie seasonal piohibitions on giazing aie in
effect). Thus, theoietically, any family coulu heiu in any pait of Khumbu that it
wisheu to. Wiiting about the mechanics of this system, Stevens iecoius
7S
:
"Community nowo officiols enforce o form of rototionol qrozinq tbot protects
qrowinq crops from livestock JepreJotion, limits tbe use of some biqb-oltituJe
postures, onJ protects cruciol winter qrozinq onJ foJJer resources. ln eocb
volley o set of zones is sequentiolly openeJ onJ closeJ to specific octivities. . A
porticulor zone con be closeJ or openeJ to Jifferent octivities ot Jifferent
times. lt is common, for exomple, to close tbe villoqe oreo to livestock before
closinq it to oll work in tbe fielJs onJ to open it in tbe eorly outumn for crop
borvestinq onJ boy cuttinq severol Joys or weeks before ollowinq tbe return of
tbe berJs. . Tbese Jecisions {wben to open onJ close zones) ore qenerolly
linkeJ to tbe Sberpo lunor colenJor onJ tbe reqionol festivol cycle. Tbe
requlotions tbot nowo enforce ore olso JetermineJ not personolly but by
custom onJ community Jecisions. "
76


It is usual foi nowo to be selecteu by village assemblies, although othei systems

7S
Zonal systems such as this aie not common in Nepal anu aie veiy iaie even among othei
Sheipa gioups.
76
lbiJ
4
8
may exist incluuing, foi instance, iotation systems amongst uiffeient householus.

Stevens gives the example of the village of Nauje to illustiate this system in
opeiation.,
"before tbe system wos obonJoneJ in 1979, tbe villoqe wos olwoys closeJ to
stock Jurinq tbe week ofter Bumje. ... Any stock still in tbe oreo ofter tbe
JeoJline ore subject to fines. .. Nowo seek out offenJinq Sberpos or tbe owners
of bon-violotinq livestock onJ JemonJ complionce witb tbe requlotion onJ tbe
poyment of o fine. livestock owners ore requireJ to offer tbe officiols cbonq
{tbe locol beer), onJ sometimes olso poy o smoll fine tbot is usuolly put toworJ
villoqe projects sucb os mointoininq temples, briJqes, onJ troils. Iines escolote
in size witb continueJ refusol to comply. Nowo con Jo no more, bowever, tbon
issue furtber fines. Tbey ore not outborizeJ to confiscote livestock. lf someone
refuses to comply witb repeoteJ worninqs o nowo con inform otber community
members of tbis. Community sociol pressure qenerolly ensures complionce witb
tbe requlotions."

0f cential impoitance to this system is the fact that all Sheipas aie iequiieu to obey
the nowo's injunctions reqorJless of wbetber tbey ore resiJents of o porticulor volley
or not. This iesponsibility balances the iight given to all Khumbu Sheipas to make
use of all pastuie lanus in the iegion iegaiuless of theii village affiliation anu the
bounuaiies of paiticulai villages. All owneis of livestock who aie founu violating a
local zone closuie aie subject to the same fine iegaiuless of whethei oi not they aie
"outsiueis." The same iegulations have also been applieu to non-Sheipas making
use of Khumbu foi summei 'tianshumance'
77
.

123/*+*
The economic anu ieligious impoitance of foiests in Khumbu's tiee-line teiiain leu
the Sheipas to uevise a iange of local institutions to piotect foiests.

Paiticulai foiest aieas belongeu to oi weie auministeieu by villages, monasteiies,
temples, anu pembu. Theie eventually came to be at least seven types of
communally piotecteu foiests, encompassing neaily half of Khumbu's twentieth-
centuiy foiest covei. These foiests weie set asiue at uiffeient times foi uiffeient
puiposes anu auministeieu accoiuing to uiffeient iules. These incluueu "Sacieu
uioves" (piotecteu because of the villageis' belief that tiees weie home to lu -
spiiits woishipeu by paiticulai families who weie chaigeu with its caietaking
thiough geneiations), Lami Nating: "Lama's Foiests" establisheu by the peisonal
inteivention of ieveieu local ieligious leaueis.
78
, Temple anu Nonasteiy uioves
(felling tiees in temple gioves is iegaiueu as an inauspicious act), Seculai Pieseives
(auministeieu by local officials oi community assemblies, alloweu limiteu logging
foi special puiposes such as housebuiluing) anu Rani Bans..

Some piotecteu foiests weie auministeieu so as to keep villageis safe fiom uivine

77
Seasonal movement of sheep anu goats to highei oi lowei pastuie
78
Stevens cites the example of Phuitse lama's foiest which "has been veiy stiingently
piotecteu, anu heie at S,8uu meteis theie aie moie than ten hectaies of biich, some piobably a
centuiy-anu-a-half olu, whose gnaileu anu mossy limbs show no sign of evei having been loppeu."
4
9
wiath oi evil foitune, otheis simply ensuieu that families woulu continue to have a
souice of ceitain foiest iesouices conveniently close by. They hau in common the
fact that in all of them theie weie at least some iestiictions on the puiposes foi
which tiees coulu be felleu.

This ieligiousspiiitual ielationship of the Khumbhu villageis with theii foiests
coulu offei us a useful way to iethink oui iueas of owneiship anu piopeity.

H$*$"+/-3%+$2" 2? D/9%.I* 123/*+ E%"%-/4/"+ J:*+/4*
vaiying accounts anu explanations exist foi the uecay of these foiest management
systems. Nany of these blame the nationalization of foiests in 19S7 which wiesteu
contiol ovei foiests fiom villageis, as the piimaiy ieason. These accounts suggest
that villageis ieacteu negatively to nationalization. Because theii tiauitional iights
of access anu use hau been cuitaileu, local iesponsibility foi foiest piotection
uisappeaieu. Wheieas pieviously theie hau been communal iesponsibility foi
managing the foiest, aftei nationalization no one took iesponsibility foi managing
this iesouice

Nichael Biuce Wallace, foi instance, attiibutes soil eiosion anu the uisappeaiance
of foiests between 1964 anu 197S to the bieakuown of the communal piopeity
holuing. Be alleges that the State in Nepal was "unpiepaieu to assume the
iesponsibility of foiest owneiship". In his account, since theie weie no lanu
iecoius, villageis hau a stiong incentive to uestioy foiests anu conveit them into
cioplanus. Theiefoie, he suggests, "the nationalizeu foiests in Nepal became
nobouy's iesponsibility anu incieaseu uemanu fiom giowing numbeis of people
anu cattle iesulteu in oveiuse anu unuei-investment." The situation hau typical
fiee-iiuei chaiacteiistics. Benefits weie obtaineu by anyone who coulu 'cleai anu
cltivate', while the costs weie imposeu on the foiest uwelleis as a whole, besiues
the cieation of negative exteinalities such as floous uownstieam in Inuia anu
Banglauesh.

Stevens contiauicts these accounts by pointing out fiistly that these systems weie
not as ancient as weie populaily piesumeu, anu seconuly that ceitain foiests
ceaseu to be well piotecteu befoie the 19Sus - befoie nationalization. Thus Stevens
points out that of the seven types of piotecteu foiest only two, the lama's foiests
anu temple foiests, weie uefinitely piotecteu befoie 19uu, anu only one biiuge
foiest may uate to that peiiou. Fuithei, he states that, "no Khumbu foiest-
management system auministeieu any "village foiest" in the sense of a commons in
which iesiuents obtaineu all of the foiest piouucts necessaiy to theii subsistence in
a iegulateu way."

This seemingly contiauictoiy account of the antiquity of the system neeu not
uetiact us fiom obseiving that a ceitain complex communitaiian claims to piopeity
weie in fact piacticeu in the iegion. The fact that they peihaps uieu "natuially"
iathei than as a iesult of the imposition of an exteinal iegime lenus some nuance to
oui unueistanuing of the woikings of common piopeity iegimes anu the ways in
which they can enu othei than enclosuies.
5
0
>2"8.6*$2"
Elinoi 0stiom outlines 8 'uesign piinciples' which she ueteimines to be unueilying
the success of the Common Piopeity Resouice (CPR) institutions that she analyses.
These aie iepiouuceu in the box inset just below:

Souice: 0stiom
79


Although quite nifty in theii aiiangement, the conuitions that this table uesciibes
aie not quite as unifoim in the cases pieviously uiscusseu. Foi instance, monitoiing,
giauuateu sanctions anu cleaily uefineu bounuaiies aie not as common as flexible
bounuaiies anu shaieu inteiesteuness. Bowevei, as a statement of bioau iueal
piinciples, they pioviue a useful contiast to the somewhat untiuy piactices
pievalent in the paits of Asia uiscusseu above.

An impoitant theme that emeiges fiom the accounts in this section is that of
Jiversity. In almost each instance mentioneu above, the ielation between humans
anu theii enviionment is configuieu so as to be accustomeu to a uiveisity (not
necessaiily an abunuance) of iesouices so that a peison is at one time cultivating
fielus, at anothei, giazing cattle anu living off foiest piouuce. This ieuuces the
piessuies on any single iesouice anu simultaneously pioviues alteinate sustenance
options uuiing times of uistiess. This uiveisity is maue possible by an absence of
stiict uivisions oi enclosuies which wall people out of iesouices uiiving them to a

79
See supia n. 71
5
1
iuinous oveiieliance on a single iesouice.

Anothei equally impoitant theme is that of co-oiuinate oi co-opeiative communal
conseivancy. The uiveisity just uiscusseu above is only opeiable when it is open to
be uiawn upon anyone. This, by itself, uoes not mean that it is pione to abuse - an
openly occessible uiveisity is not a uiveisity in neqlect. In most instances
conseivation of a iesouice is coupleu with its use so that, foi instance, lanus aie
cultivateu in shifts oi giazing only unueitaken uuiing ceitain peiious of the yeai. In
these cases even when conseivation is not a communal oi co-opeiative enteipiise,
the co-oiuinate conseivative uses by people ensuie the sustenance of that iesouice.

A thiiu theme, not easily iuentifiable in the above accounts but with peiceptible
unueicuiients, is the enfoluing of iesouices with cultuie. 0pen communal spaces
aie not meiely "unowneu spaces" but aie possesseu by foiest spiiits, celestial
beings anu othei folkloiic figuies with whom the people iuentify intimately. Thus
foiests suiiounuing temples aie conseiveu, ceitain tiess ieveieu because of the
spiiits they house, anu the uates of opening anu closing of giazing peiious aie
ueteimineu by astiological significance. An explanation elevates each munuane
"iesouice" into an object with folk significance so that in acting out one's economic
activities one is also simultaneously enacting anu iiiigating a shaieu cultuial
heiitage. This intiicate ielationship is, as we have seen almost in eveiy case
fiactuieu by an economic-legal enclosuie of lanu into holuings.
5
2

!7% [*1"**< K2D7+*%,, '( N%2*D A* A,2"* )0$+0."$ )';;'*,

In the Yogavasistha, it is saiu that the woilu often appeais to us, as the fiagment of a
stoiy just heaiu. In thinking about the woilu of the Asian commons, we finu it
useful to begin with a stoiy. A stoiy about cultuie anu the ways in which it iefuses
to be boggeu uown by the stubboin logic of time anu the ciuel uemanus of space.



Z( V%"$'0, 5%;'*, "*/ M1"++%.%/ Z#]%1+,

0nce, not so long ago, on a uamp, iainy afteinoon in Paiis, a stioll took us acioss the
Avenue u'Ina, fiom contempoiaiy ait to ancient anu meuieval Asian ait, fiom the
Palais ue Tokyo to the Nuse uuimet. Theie, stanuing at the fai enu of the giounu-
flooi section of the uuimet's peimanent collection in fiont of a fiieze fiom the
Banteay Siei temple in Cambouia's Siem Reap piovince, we felt the shaip euge of
estiangement in something that also felt uowniight familiai.

The Banteay Siei fiieze naiiates a stoiy fiom the Nahabhaiata, a Sanskiit epic. The
stoiy is of two biotheis, the uemons Sunua anu 0pasunua, whose tussle ovei the
attentions of Tilottama, an Apsaiaa heavenly couitesan sent by the gous to
uestioy them with jealousywas the cause of theii uownfall. Like most otheis who
giew up listening to stoiies in Inuia, we knew it well, even if only as an annotation
to the main bouy of the epic. But it wasn't the uetails of the stoiy that intiigueu us
that afteinoon, noi the caiveu contouis of Sunua anu 0pasunua's iage, not even the
uelicacy of the uepiction of Tilottama's uivisive seuuction. Insteau, stanuing befoie
these stone images, maue in a iegion ioughly S,Suu miles to the east of wheie we
live, in Belhi, anu exhibiteu in a museum ioughly 6,Suu miles to the west, we felt
compelleu to think again about uistance anu pioximity, anu about how stoiies,
images, anu iueas tiavel.

The stoiy of Sunua, 0pasunua, anu Tilottama was piobably fiist tolu aiounu 2uu
B.C. in the noithwestein pait of the South Asian subcontinent. Between the fiist
telling of the stoiy anu the caiving of the fiieze in a cleaiing in the foiests of Seam
Riep in ciica 967 lay a little moie than a thousanu yeais anu an eastwaiu jouiney of
a few thousanu miles. Between its caiving anu oui suuuen encountei with it in
Paiis, theie lay a little moie than anothei millennium anu a westwaiu jouiney
halfway acioss the woilu. These inteivals in time anu space weie oveilaiu by an
elaboiate ciicuit that encompasseu tiavel, conquest, migiation anu settlement, wais
anu violence, the cleaiing of foiests, the quaiiying of stone, slaveiy anu inuentuie,
skilleu aitisans, the faces anu inuiscietions of the men anu women who woulu
become the inspiiation foi jealous uemons anu uivine couitesans, a few thousanu
yeais of histoiy, the ciossing of oceans, the iise anu fall of seveial empiies acioss
uiffeient continents, anu the iepeateu telling anu foigetting of a minoi stoiy.

Contempoianeity, the sensation of being in a time togethei is an ancient, enigma of
a feeling. It is the tug we feel when oui times pull at us. But sometimes one has the
sense of a paiauoxically asynchionous contempoianeitythe stiange tug of moie
5
3
than one time anu place. As if an accumulation oi thickening of oui attachments to
uiffeient times anu spaces was manifesting itself in the foim of some unique
geological ouuity, a iichly stiiateu cioss section of a iock, sometimes shaip,
sometimes bluiieu, maikeu by the passage of many epochs.

Stanuing befoie Sunua, 0pasunua, anu Tillottama in the Nuse uuimet, we weie in
Siem Reap, in Inuiapiastha (an ancient name foi Belhi, in whose vicinity much of
the Nahabhaiata stoiy is locateu), in New Belhi, in nineteenth-centuiy Paiis, anu in
the Paiis of touay. We weie in many places anu in many times. Sometimes ait, the
piesence of an image, moves you. Anu you finu youiself scatteieu all ovei the place,
as a consequence.

Bow can we begin to think about being scatteieu.

Collections of objects fiom uiffeient paits of the woilu aie inuices of uiffeient
instances of scatteiing. The minoi encountei that we expeiienceu in the Nuse
uuimet is one kinu of scatteiing. It taught us that sometimes we encountei
familiaiity in the guise of stiangeness anu then suggesteu that we leain to question
the easy binaiy shoithanu of the familiai anu the stiange, as ways of thinking about
ouiselves, otheis, anu the woilu. It suggesteu the possibility of othei less polaiizeu
anu moie layeieu ielationships between cultuial piocesses. But this is not the only
possible kinu of scatteiing that the piesence of images anu stoiies echoing the
familiai in uncanny ways piovoke.

\"^, 9%/2" )'$$%1+2:%



The woiu unconny comes fiom ueiman (0nbeimlicbe), anu was useu by Fieuu to
iefei to the stiange feeling of something which is familiai, anu yet completely alien.
When the Raqs Neuia Collective wiite of theii expeiience of an 'estiangement in
something that also felt uowniight familiai', they captuie foi us the sense of the
uncanny, a feeling of being suipiiseu, not by something new but by something
familiai, when they encountei the life of cultuie in ciiculation. It is similai to the
uncanny uiscoveiy by the piotagonist of Amitav uhosh's novel, The Shauowlines
(which we have extiacteu befoie). In it, the suuuen uiscoveiy of the aibitiaiiness of
the shauowlines that uiviue nations anu cieate boiueis ieveals the sheei fiction anu
fiagility of maikeis of cultuial bounuaiies. 0nlike goous anu people, cultuial
piactices have fai scantiei iespect foi checkposts anu national bounuaiies, anu
actively uestioy national bounuaiies even as they cioss it.

0nlike goous anu people, cultuial piactices have fai scantiei iespect foi
checkposts anu national bounuaiies, anu actively uestioy national bounuaiies
even as they cioss it.

Anu it is peihaps the uncanny which allows us to sense an Asian commons. A
sensibility that is not easy to pin uown oi uefine in any foimal teims, but one that
constantly suipiises us with its uistant familiaiity. If Eucliuian space sees Asia as a
laige geogiaphical space maue up of uiffeient countiies, anu populateu by moie
5
4
than half the woilu, cultuial spaces pioviue us with an aicheology of the ways in
which people moveu thiough this iegion, now known as Asia, anu caiiieu with
them stoiies, songs anu memoiies that claimeu a bit of the giounu that they ciosseu
by attaching themselves to the soil, but without evei claiming ioots.

Biawing upon this, we can begin to think of Asia not as a signifiei of something that
we alieauy know, but as a scatteieu foim of meaning that suipiises us, anu as a
foim waiting to be unueistoou. We have also been foiewaineu in the stoiy of Sunua
anu 0pasunua, that any attempt to uefine an Asian cultuial commons as though it
weie uevoiu of influences of the west aie equally futile, anu foi eviuence of this, we
only neeu to iemembei that the Banteay Siei fiieze is uisplayeu in the Nuse
uuimet, anu not at any museum in Asia. An invocation of Asia then seives to
pioviue those of us who live within the confines nation states in Asia, an
oppoitunity to tempoiaiily claim a wiuei beith of cultuial citizenship. In seeking an
aicheology of the Asian commons, we will neeu to follow the ioutes tiaveiseu by
tiaveleis anu gathei the stoiies that they have so caielessly scatteieu aiounu. Foi it
is in the scatteiing of people anu stoiies that the outlines of a commons can slowly
emeige.

}ust as the stoiy of the commons allows us a glimpse into the possible woilus of
uealing with iesouices outsiue the sign of piopeity, the woilu of infoimal cultuial
flows anu piactices enables us to expanu oui sense of the commons in the
contempoiaiy.

-+%."*+ ?%'6$%_ -+%."*+ )0$+0.%,

The iestless mannei in which people anu cultuies have moveu points us towaius
the itineiant as the point which can possibly connect the histoiical to the
contempoiaiy, the cultuial commons to the uigital commons anu the static to the
itineiant. While the iuea of the itineiant often iefeis to a sense of the movement of
people, oui claim is that the movement of people anu the movement of cultuie can
nevei be uistinguisheu, anu the itineiant anu the iteiation begin to meige.

Naikovits et al., in theii intiouuction to Society anu Ciiculation uiaw oui attention
to impoitance of networks iathei than noJes in the cieation of cultuie in Inuia.
8u


"lf lnJion civilizotion must be JefineJ in terms of its qreotest epics, os clossicol
lnJoloqists bove so often insisteJ, we must surely moke sometbinq of tbe foct
tbot botb tbe Romoyono onJ tbe Hobobboroto centre in lorqe meosure on tbe
relotionsbip between fixity onJ circulotion, between tbe life of tbe wonJerer
onJ tbot of tbe seJentory prince."

Culture is proJuceJ not only in centres of power - wbetber tbe princely courts
of yesteryeor, or tbe television stuJios of toJoy - but olso on tbe move. "
81


This moue of thinking about cultuial piouuction as pereqrine iathei than seuentaiy

8u
Clauue Naikovits et al., Society anu ciiculation : mobile people anu itineiant cultuies in
South Asia, 17Su-19Su, (New Belhi: Peimanent Black, 2uuS)
81
Ibiu.
5
5
pioviues us with a useful fiame within which to locate oui enquiiy into cultuial
piouuction in Asia. Taking a cue fiom the Raqs Neuia Collective, we will expeiiment
with 'Contempoianeity', moving fiom an account of infoimal cultuial flows of the
}atakas anu the Ramayana into the infoimal cultuial flows of oui uigital piesent,
allowing the past to infoim the piesent anu vice veisa.

We begin with the tiajectoiies of two iconic sets of oial anu liteiaiy texts - the
}ataka collection of takes - ueeply iooteu in Buuuhist tiauition wiuely pievalent in
Asia, anu the Ramayana(s) with its stiong cultuial influence acioss South Asia.
!7% V"+"H",
The }atakas aie a collection of SSu stoiies conceining the pievious biiths (jti) of
the Buuuha.anu constitute a significant pait of the Buuuhist tiauition.
82


0ma Chakiavaity uiaws oui attention to the }atakas as a collection of stoiies that is
"intiinsically open-enueu, anu can giow (as the }atakas cleaily uiu) ovei many
hunuieus of yeais till it is finally compileu in the foim in which it comes uown to
us"
8S
. In the peiiou befoie they weie compileu, howevei, she aigues that they
became imbueu with a subveisive onti-ortboJox flavoui that was aiiiveu at in the
couise of theii ietellings by bbikkbus - wanueiing monks who tiaveleu the countiy
anu naiiateu these tales to the common folk. Thus not only uo they stanu in staik
opposition to the contempoianeous Biahminical texts, but they also appeai to be at
ouus with the iigiu tenets piesciibeu in the canonical Buuuhist texts - tenets which
the }atakas weie meant to exemplify in the fiist place.

Foi oui puiposes it woulu be auequate to examine the }atakas' use of folkloie anu
also the influence of the auuience on the content of the }atakas, which appeai to
contiauict oui mouein populai pieconceptions of authoiship anu cieativity.

!7% V"+"H", "*/ L'$H$'.%
Accoiuing to Chakiavaity, the }atakas "appiopiiateu" a consiueiable amount of
folkloie "which hau floateu about foi ages as waifs anu stiays of liteiatuie" thiough
the meuiation of the bhikkhu.
84
Paiticulai featuies of folkloie, Chakiavaithy says,
lent themselves to easy appiopiiation within the }ataka folu.

"Tbe Juol cborocteristic of folklore - bovinq botb fixity of form onJ copocity
for voriotions in content, to insert tbeir own messoqes. Tbe troJitionol
norrotives tbus become vebicles for new culturol meoninqs tbot were intenJeJ
to reocb tbe lorqest ouJience possible, in controst to tbe texsts of tbe biqb
troJition in BuJJbism, wbicb woulJ bove boJ o mucb more restricteJ
clientele."
8S


82
This section, uiawn fiom 0ma Chakiavaity's analysis in 'Eveiyuay Lives Eveiyuay
Bistoiies' which examines the souices of the }atakas in folkloie anu theii ielation to the society in
which they weie boin anu ietolu. FveryJoy lives, everyJoy bistories, beyonJ tbe kinqs onJ Brobmonos
of 'oncient' lnJio 0ma Chakiavaiti. - New Belhi, Inuia : Tulika Books, 2uu6. - xxx, S28
8S
lbiJ
84
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8S
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5
6

Positioneu as they weie at "the uiviue between the common folk anu the leaineu"
the Bhikkhus negotiateu the folk tale anu the canonical Buuuhist text to constiuct "a
unique set of naiiatives".
86
Compaiing the bhikkhus to meuieval fiiais,
Chakiavaithy states

"like tbe meJievol friors wbom Burke Jescribes os ombbibions- men of tbe
morketploce os well os tbe university, tbe bbikkbu.. function[eJ] os on octive
beorer of tbe little troJition upworJs."
87


This uesciiption uiaws attention to the extent to which the }atakas ielieu on the
alieauy-familiai folkloie to builu theii own populaiity.
!7% V"+"H", "*/ +7% A0/2%*1%
Bow much uoes any text owe itself to the auuience. This might sounu like a silly
question since the auuience noimally piesumes the existence of a text. Bowevei,
Chakiavaithy ieminus us that "people.., aie not passive consumeis; they aie not
like wax to be insciibeu ovei in whichevei way the authoi likes. The text (in oui
case }atakas) may be 'appiopiiateu' uiffeiently."
88


She conjectuies that the auuience woulu have playeu an impoitant iole in
ieconfiguiing the messages oiiginally sought to be bioaucast thiough the meuium
of the }atakas. vaiiations in naiiative style woulu have hau to be inventeu in
iesponse to the natuie of the auuience. Thiough these vaiiations, the iesponse of
the auuience "woulu have been iecycleu as an input into the oiiginal stoiy, leauing
to consiueiable inteipenetiations in the agenuas of the naiiatoi anu the
auuience."
89


Chakiavaithy finu eviuence of this "iecycling" in the iepiesentation of eveiyuay life
in these tales. Even while it is not possible to iuentify a paiticulai set of people as
the piouuceis of the }atakas, she says, "it is possible to see in this common
authoiship maikeu paiticipation by sections who aie noimally outsiue the aiena of
intellectual piouuction".
9u


Thus, it appeais that that the content of the }atakas was aiiiveu at thiough a
piocess that is moie akin to negotiation than 'authoiship' in its classical ivoiy-
toweieu sense. This negotiation - intellectuol consumption os proJuction - occuis at
the maigins of visibility. Chakiavaithy iecalls Nichel Be ceiteau's woius:

To o rotionolizeJ proJuction corresponJs onotber proJuction, quolifieJ os
consumption. Tbe lotter is sly, it is JisperseJ, but it insinuotes itself
everywbere, it is quosi invisible since it is not recoqnizoble by its proJucts per
se, but by woys of usinq tbe proJucts imposeJ by o Jominont orJer.
91


86
lbiJ
87
lbiJ
88
lbiJ
89
lbiJ
9u
lbiJ
91
lbiJ
5
7

The }atakas then, can be seen not just as a collection of piouucts pei se, but as the
way in which they evolveu in conveisational opposition to pievailing uogmas.
{The section of }atakas is inteiesting, but eithei it is ovei length oi missing fiom
ueliveiing conciete message, 0ncanny situation foi me ;) }
!7% 9"*< \";"<"*",
Thioughout Inuian histoiy many authois anu peifoimeis have piouuceu, anu many
pations have suppoiteu, uiveise tellings of the Romoyono in numeious meuia.
92
In
the paiagiaphs below, we will examine the iange anu the vaiiations within the
Ramayana tiauition with a view to bioauen oui unueistanuing of the mannei in
which cultuie is cieateu, conveyeu anu consumeu.
!7% \%"17 '( +7% \";"<"*",
In this sub-section we tiy to fiist outline how fai anu wiue the Ramayanas tiaveleu
in oiuei to foim a mental image of the teiiitoiy that the epic influenceu.

A.K. Ramanujan cites Santosh Besai in "Thiee Bunuieu Ramayanas: Five Examples
anu Thiee Thoughts on Tianslation"
9S
on the ioutes tiaveleu by the Rama stoiy:

"By lonJ, tbe nortbern route took tbe story from tbe Punjob onJ Kosbmir into
Cbino, Tibet, onJ Fost Turkeston; by seo, tbe soutbern route corrieJ tbe story
from 6ujorot onJ Soutb lnJio into }ovo, Sumotro, onJ Holoyo; onJ oqoin by
lonJ, tbe eostern route JelivereJ tbe story from Benqol into Burmo, TboilonJ,
onJ loos. vietnom onJ ComboJio obtoineJ tbeir stories portly from }ovo onJ
portly from lnJio vio tbe eostern route."
94


Ramanujan encapsulates the extent of the Ramayana tiauition's influence in South
Asia by listing the languages in which it has been founu incluuing Assamese,
Balinese, Bengali, Cambouian, Chinese, uujaiati, }avanese, Kannaua, Kashmiii,
Khotanese, Laotian, Nalaysian, Naiathi, 0iiya, Piakiit, Sanskiit, Santali, Sinhalese,
Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan as well as some Westein languages. Fuithei, he says,
some languages have moie than one veision of the stoiy anu the stoiy itself may be
piesenteu in uiffeient liteiaiy anu aitistic styles so as to be capable of being
iegaiueu as inuepenuent tellings on theii own
"Sonskrit olone contoins some twenty-five or more tellinqs belonqinq to
vorious norrotive qenres {epics, kovyos or ornote poetic compositions, puronos
or olJ mytboloqicol stories, onJ so fortb). lf we oJJ ploys, Jonce-Jromos, onJ
otber performonces, in botb tbe clossicol onJ folk troJitions, tbe number of
Romoyonos qrows even lorqer. To tbese must be oJJeJ sculpture onJ bos-
reliefs, mosk ploys, puppet ploys onJ sboJow ploys, in oll tbe mony Soutb onJ
Soutbeost Asion cultures Comille Bulcke, o stuJent of tbe Romoyono , counteJ
tbree bunJreJ tellinqs lt's no wonJer tbot even os lonq oqo os tbe fourteentb

92
Richman, Paula, euitoi. Hony Romoyonos: Tbe Biversity of o Norrotive TroJition in Soutb
Asio. Beikeley: 0niveisity of Califoinia Piess, c1991 1991.
http:aik.culib.oigaik:1SuSuftSj49n8h7
9S
A.K. Ramanujan "Thiee Bunuieu Ramayanas: Five Examples anu Thiee Thoughts on Tianslation"
in Paula Richman eu. Hony Romoyonos: Tbe Biversity of o Norrotive TroJition in Soutb Asio
94
lbiJ
5
8
century, Kumorovyoso, o KonnoJo poet, cbose to write o Hobobboroto ,
becouse be beorJ tbe cosmic serpent wbicb upbolJs tbe eortb qrooninq unJer
tbe burJen of Romoyono poets { tinikiJonu pboniroyo romoyonoJo koviqolo
bboroJoli )."
9S


The uiveisity of foims uesciibeu above piompts us to wonuei whethei they may be
iegaiueu as vaiiations of the same theme oi as inuepenuent piouuctions. Is theie a
"Tiue" Ramayana of which the iemainuei aie meiely copies.
A !.0% \";"<"*"B
As witnesseu above, theie aie hunuieus of tellings of Rama's stoiy which iange
ovei time (fiom valmiki's Ramayana - the oluest full liteiaiy telling of the stoiy, to
the ielatively iecent Inuian national television piouuction by Ramananu Sagai) anu
space (Inuia to Thailanu anu Cambouia). Is it possible to uesignate any of these as
the "oiiginal" Ramayana. Is theie a common coie to all of these stoiies.

While it is peihaps possible to iegaiu valmiki's telling in elite Sanskiit as the
"authentic" veision, Ramanujan aigues that this woulu "peipetuate a naiiow view
incommensuiate with the amazing populaiity of Rama's stoiy".
96
This is because
most Binuus touay cannot ieau Sanskiit, noi coulu they in the past.
"knowleJqe of Sonskrit remoineJ primorily tbe intellectuol property of tbe
upper tbree vornos in society, onJ of Brobmin moles in porticulor. ln controst,
most EinJus leorneJ tbe story of Romo by beorinq it in tbeir locol or reqionol
lonquoqe. Tbe first moJel tbus privileqes o tellinq tbot excluJes tbe mojority of
EinJus."
97


Thus the antiquity mouel, if believeu, woulu excluue the majoiity of Binuus fiom its
folu since they coulu only have ieceiveu the stoiy thiough othei souices.

In iesponse to his own question about the existence of a coie to the Rama stoiies
(othei than a skeletal set of ielations) Ramanujan iecalls the anecuote of Aiistotle's
jack knife:
"Wben tbe pbilosopber oskeJ on olJ corpenter bow lonq be boJ bis knife, tbe
lotter soiJ, "0b, l've boJ it for tbirty yeors. l've cbonqeJ tbe bloJe o few times
onJ tbe bonJle o few times, but it's tbe some knife."

l've cbonqeJ tbe bloJe o few times onJ tbe bonJle o few times, but it's tbe some knife.

In a similai vein, Ramanujan iegaius the Rama stoiies as all having "some shauow
of a ielational stiuctuie", but which on closei look uo not necessaiily iesemble each
othei that well. They aie like "a collection of people with the same piopei name,
they make a class in name alone".
98


To Ramanujan, the vaiious texts ielate to each othei thiough a common pool fiom

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9
which "eveiy authoi .. uips into it anu biings out a unique ciystallization, a new text
with a unique textuie anu a fiesh context." Be says,
Tbe qreot texts rework tbe smoll ones, for "lions ore moJe of sbeep," os volery
soiJ. AnJ sbeep ore moJe of lions, too: ln tbis sense, no text is oriqinol, yet no
tellinq is o mere retellinqonJ tbe story bos no closure, oltbouqb it moy be
encloseJ in o text. ln lnJio onJ in Soutbeost Asio, no one ever reoJs tbe
Romoyono or tbe Hobobboroto for tbe first time. Tbe stories ore tbere,
"olwoys olreoJy."
99


Within uiffeient Ramayana stoiies themselves, Ramanujan finus self-iefeiential
allusions to its own uiveisity. Foi instance he cites one folk legenu accoiuing to
which "Banuman wiote the oiiginal Romoyono on a mountain top, aftei the gieat
wai, anu scatteieu the manusciipt; it was many times laigei than what we have
now. valmiki is saiu to have captuieu only a fiagment of it."
1uu


Be cites anothei similai instance, founu in many of the latei Ramayanas
1u1
in which
Rama is exileu anu uoes not want Sita to accompany him.

"Sito orques witb bim. At first sbe uses tbe usuol orquments: sbe is bis wife, sbe
sboulJ sbore bis sufferinqs, exile berself in bis exile, onJ so on. Wben be still
resists tbe iJeo, sbe is furious. Sbe bursts out, "Countless Romoyonos bove been
composeJ before tbis. Bo you know of one wbere Sito Joesn't qo witb Romo to
tbe forest?" Tbot clincbes tbe orqument, onJ sbe qoes witb bim."
102


Be naiiates a thiiu episoue wheie Banuman is attempting to iecovei Rama's iing
that has slippeu "thiough a hole" into the netheiwoilu.
" Wben be wos finolly token to tbe Kinq of Spirits, be kept repeotinq tbe nome
of Romo. "Romo Romo Romo . . ."
Tben tbe Kinq of Spirits oskeJ, "Wbo ore you?"
"Eonumon."
"Eonumon? Wby bove you come bere?"
"Romo's rinq fell into o bole. l've come to fetcb it."
Tbe kinq lookeJ orounJ onJ sboweJ bim o plotter. 0n it were tbousonJs of
rinqs. Tbey were oll Romo's rinqs. Tbe kinq brouqbt tbe plotter to Eonumon,
set it Jown, onJ soiJ, "Pick out your Romo's rinq onJ toke it."
Tbey were oll exoctly tbe some. "l Jon't know wbicb one it is," soiJ Eonumon,
sbokinq bis beoJ.
Tbe Kinq of Spirits soiJ, "Tbere bove been os mony Romos os tbere ore rinqs on
tbis plotter. Wben you return to eortb, you will not finJ Romo. Tbis incornotion
of Romo is now over. Wbenever on incornotion of Romo is obout to be over, bis
rinq folls Jown. l collect tbem onJ keep tbem. Now you con qo."
So Eonumon left.
10S


Ramanujan concluues fiom these cuiious examples that "To some extent all latei

99
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such as the AJbyotmo Romoyono , 16th C. See Ibiu
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Romoyonos play on the knowleuge of pievious tellings: they aie meta-Romoyonos"
1u4


The iuea of a text that is insistent on its own lack of uniqueness stanus fascinatingly
at ouus with most mouein notions of oiiginality anu authoiship.

52:%.,2+< "*/ 52((%.%*1% =2+72* +7% \";"<"*",
In the intiouuction to 'Nany Ramayanas', Paula Richman asseits, in a voice similai
to 0ma Chakiavaithy's uiscussion of the }atakas, that "each Romoyono text ieflects
the social location anu iueology of those who appiopiiate it".
1uS
In othei woius, the
auuience playeu a constitutive iole in ueteimining the content of each text.

She quotes Romila Thapai's account of the pluiality of the Ramayana tiauition in
Inuian Bistoiy.
"Tbe oppropriotion of tbe story by o multiplicity of qroups meont o multiplicity
of versions tbrouqb wbicb tbe sociol ospirotions onJ iJeoloqicol concerns of
eocb qroup were orticuloteJ. Tbe story in tbese versions incluJeJ siqnificont
voriotions wbicb cbonqeJ tbe conceptuolizotion of cborocter, event onJ
meoninq."
106


This pluiality of contexts is visible when one compaies the uiffeient stianus of the
Ramayana. Foi instance, as Ramanujan suggests, uiffeient Ramayanas focus
uiffeiently on ceitain chaiacteis anu conceive of theii ioles uiffeiently.

"volmiki focuses on Romo onJ bis bistory in bis openinq sections; vimolosuri's
}oino Romoyono onJ tbe Tboi epic focus not on Romo but on tbe qeneoloqy
onJ oJventures of Rovono; tbe KonnoJo villoqe tellinq focuses on Sito, ber
birtb, ber weJJinq, ber triols. Some loter extensions like tbe AJbbuto
Romoyono onJ tbe Tomil story of Sotokontbovono even qive Sito o beroic
cborocter: wben tbe ten-beoJeJ Rovono is killeJ, onotber oppeors witb o
bunJreJ beoJs; Romo connot bonJle tbis new menoce, so it is Sito wbo qoes to
wor onJ sloys tbe new Jemon Tbe Sontols, o tribe known for tbeir extensive
orol troJitions, even conceive of Sito os unfoitbfulto tbe sbock onJ borror of
ony EinJu breJ on volmiki or Kompon, sbe is seJuceJ botb by Rovono onJ by
loksmono. ln Soutbeost Asion texts, os we sow eorlier, Eonumon is not tbe
celibote Jevotee witb o monkey foce but o loJies' mon wbo fiqures in mony
love episoJes. ln Kompon onJ Tulsi, Romo is o qoJ; in tbe }oino texts, be is only
on evolveJ }oino mon wbo is in bis lost birtb onJ so Joes not even kill Rovono.
ln tbe lotter, Rovono is o noble bero foteJ by bis kormo to foll for Sito onJ
brinq Jeotb upon bimself, wbile be is in otber texts on overweeninq Jemon. "
107


Fiom the above account it appeais that theie aie iauical uiffeiences in even the
conception of the majoi chaiacteis of the Ramayana - "so uiffeient inueeu that one

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Supia n. 96
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supia n. 97
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conception is quite abhoiient to those who holu anothei".
1u8


Ramanujan cites othei uiveigences in uiffeient accounts such as vaiying
elaboiations on "the ieason why Sita is banisheu, the miiaculous cieation of Sita's
seconu son, anu the final ieunion of Rama anu Sita".
1u9


The examples pioviueu by Ramanujan make it uifficult to think of a the Ramayana
in any unifieu sense. Be enus his essay with a poweiful anecuote about a village
uullaiu who, upon being foiceu to listen to a naiiation of the Ramayana is moveu to
physically entei into the stoiy as a chaiactei. Explaining the significance of the
anecuote, Ramanujan says:

"Tbis story is obout tbe power of tbe Romoyono , obout wbot boppens wben
you reolly listen to tbis potent story. Fven o fool connot resist it; be is
entronceJ onJ couqbt up in tbe oction. Tbe listener con no lonqer beor to be o
bystonJer but feels compelleJ to enter tbe worlJ of tbe epic: tbe line between
fiction onJ reolity is eroseJ."
110


At the heait of these stoiies behinu the }atakas anu the Ramayanas aie a set of
naiiative piactices in which moues of ciiculation ensuie that the piocess of cultuial
piouuction iemains a liveu piocesses.

The Raqs Neuia Collective have coineu a fascinating woiu 'Rescension' which
captuies the essence of the ways in which epic foims like the }atakas anu the
Ramayana have uevelopeu ovei the centuiies, anu a iescension is also peihaps one
of the best ways of captuiing contempoiaiy piactices in the uigital eia. In theii
woius:

"A Rescension is a ie-telling, a woiu taken to signify the simultaneous existence of
uiffeient veisions of a naiiative within oial, anu fiom now onwaius, uigital
cultuies. Thus one can speak of a 'southein' oi a 'noithein' iescension of a myth, oi
of a 'female' oi 'male' iescension of a stoiy, oi the possibility (to begin with) of
BelhiBeilinTehian 'iescensions' of a uigital woik. The concept of iescension is
contiainuicative of the notion of hieiaichy. A iescension cannot be an
impiovement, noi can it connote a uiminishing of value. A iescension is that
veision which uoes not act as a ieplacement foi any othei configuiation of its
constitutive mateiials. The existence of multiple iescensions is a guaiantoi of an
iuea oi a woik's ubiquity. This ensuies that the constellation of naiiative, signs anu
images that a woik embouies is piesent, anu waiting foi iteiation at moie than one
site at any given time. Rescensions aie poitable anu aie caiiieu within oibiting
keinels within a space. Rescensions, taken togethei constitute ensembles that may
foim an inteiconnecteu web of iueas, images anu signs".
111



Scholais woiking on the ciiculation of cultuie have sought to hainess the

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piouuctive poweis of ciiculation, anu the mannei in which they enable moues of
auaptation anu cieative tiansfoimations, since ciiculation ielies not on a singulai
flow, but on a constant 'movement of going foith anu coming back which can be
iepeateu inuefinitely. In ciiculating, things, men anu notions often tiansfoim
themselves. Ciiculation is theiefoie a value loaueu teim which implies an
inciemental aspect anu not the simple iepiouuction acioss space of alieauy foimeu
stiuctuies anu notions'.
112


A focus on ciiculation may be a way of moving beyonu the iueas of cieation anu
authoiship embeuueu within heioic naiiatives of the iomantic genius as authoi,
anu a moie piouuctive way of thinking about how cultuies aie maue. It is thiough
ciiculation that epics have emeigeu. But if the epics, anu oui ieconstiuction of the
histoiy of the }atakas anu the Ramayanas seem uistant to us -cieatuies of the
contempoiaiy- then it is peihaps time, to leap, Banuman like, acioss many oceans
of time anu technology to look at ciiculation, iteiant cultuies anu the iescensions of
oui own time.

Beie foi instance is an inteiesting 'tiavel uocument', if you like, a iepoit fiom the
Notion Pictuies Association (NPA) uocumenting the movement of a film acioss
piiate netwoiks, navigating its way thiough the slippeiy teiiains of an alteinative
map of the Asian commons.





112
Clauue Naikovits et al. Society anu Ciiculation: Nobile People anu Itineiant Cultuies in
South Asia, 17Su-19Su. Belhi: Peimanent Black, 2uuS.


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.




We woulu like to use this map to help us navigate between the itineiant commons
of the }atakas anu the Ramayans, to a way of thinking about foims of cultuial flows
in the contempoiaiy. 0utsiue of the sign of legality which names this flow as piiacy,
we can see the ways in which cultuial aitifacts still uefy the noims of oiueieu
Eucliuean spaces of national boiueis, as well as of the bounuaiies establisheu by
piopeity. The uiamatic giowth of the inteinet, the emeigence of cheap anu
ubiquitous technologies of iepiouuction enable the exchange of iueas, texts, music
anu images at speeus which weie uifficult to imagine till now.

If the eailiei moment of iteiant cultuies that we have uesciibeu sought to place
cultuie within the laigei account of how people tiaveleu with theii cultuies, the
contempoiaiy moment is not veiy uiffeient. In the eia of globalization, while capital
has fiee movement acioss the globe, the two gieatest iestiictions on movement aie
on people ( illegal immigiants in paiticulai) anu cultuie (by IP laws). The guaiuing
of boiueis against illegal immigiants piotects the fiction of the nation, while the
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uefence of the meuia commouity piotects the fiction of piopeity in the age of the
uigital. Both these fictions aie cuiiently sustaineu only by highly biutal acts of
militaiizeu oi police violence.
In the eia of globalization, while capital has fiee movement acioss the globe, the
two gieatest iestiictions on movement aie on people ( illegal immigiants in
paiticulai) anu cultuie (by IP laws)
The uigital eia has seen the emeigence of a iange of piactices, which appeai hyuia
like to the copyiight police
11S
. Fiom file shaiing netwoiks that enable the
uownloauing of films anu music to the cheap BvB veision available on most stieets
of Asia, fiom fiee softwaie piactitioneis to cieative commoneis, theie seems to be a
iauical outbuist of piactices of communing. By locating theii piactices on
alteinative ethics, of shaiing, of uemociacy, of access - these commoneis of the
contempoiaiy- have cieateu an immense tuibulence in the uomain of cultuie anu
economy. This uomain of exchange has scant iespect foi iules of piopeity, oi foi
iules of cultuial bounuaiies, meiging as it weie the two uiveise woilus that we
have attempteu to map.

Wiiting about the changeu lanuscape of the contempoiaiy south Asian city, Ravi
Sunuaiam states that

'at the level of the eveiyuay, the olu piohibition anu iegulation on the social
life of commouities have pioveu ineffective, uiban iesiuents aie now
assaulteu with a ueluge of cultuial piouucts, cassettes, CBs, NPSs, vCBs, cable
television, giey maiket computeis, cheap Chinese auuio anu viueo playeis,
thousanus of cheap piint flyeis, anu signage eveiywheie. What is iemaikable
heie is that the pieponueiance of these piouucts comes fiom the giey oi
infoimal sectoi, outsiue the effective iegulation of the state oi laige capital.
Inuia touay has the woilu's seconu laigest music maiket, a laige film inuustiy
with global uieams, a majoiity giey computei maiket, hunuieus of thousanus
of tiny phone anu woiu piocessing shops anu cybeicafes. Anu as if fiom the
iuins of uiban planning new meuia bazaais, which supply these netwoiks,
have emeigeu existing in the cusp of legality anu non-legality. Eveiyuay a
gueiiilla wai is iaging, between new intellectual piopeity iaiueis, the police
anu unceasing neighbouihoou uemanu foi giey waie. At the heait of this
extension of the visible has been the piouuction of meuia commouities
outsiue the legal piopeity iegimes of globalisation. Copy cultuie anu non-legal
uistiibution netwoiks have been cential to the spieau of the meuia, in a way
that uistinctions between the technological anu cultuial seem bluiieu in uaily
life. A significant section of the uiban population ueiive theii meuia fiom
these netwoiks. 0sing the tactics of the fiagmentaiy city, the piiate netwoiks
have fiustiateu eveiy effoit of the piopiietaiy enfoicement iegime to contiol

11S
But these peei-to-peei netwoiks aie as haiu to stamp out as the Byuia. Cut off one
heau, anu two giow in its place, quoteu in
http:www.usatouay.comlifemusicnews2uuS-uS-uS-piiacy-covei_x.htm, see also, Peispective:
P2P vs Piivacy in which the authoi says about P2P that " Entei the Byuia - kill one heau anu two
moie ieplace it",


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them
114


We can now ietuin to oui uigital commons, biinging the insights that we have
gatheieu fiom oui encountei with the histoiy of the commoneis of lanu, anu the
stoiy of the commons of cultuie. }ust as the logic of piopeity sought to biutally
efface the memoiy of the commons thiough fences, walls anu legal iegulations, the
contempoiaiy is maikeu by uizzying attempts at secuiing intellectual piopeity
iights foi intangibles, anu seeking ciiminal sanction against piiates. It is vital to
iemembei that the global uiscouise of copyiight piiacy paiticulaily taigets Asia as
a piiate continent. The giowth of the East Asian economies, fuelleu by innovation in
the electionic sectoi weie seen to have been enableu thiough vaiious piiate
piactices. Taiwan foi instance was uesciibeu as the kinguom of piiacy, just as China
anu Inuia aie constantly being thieateneu with tiaue sanctions unuei Special Sec.
Su1 foi not cuibing IP piiacy.

Bow uo we unueistanu the histoiy of piiacy in Asia as a foim of commons. We have
seen that the commons was maikeu by a iange of activities anu piactices that
existeu outsiue the legal system, Let us iecall Petei Linebaugh's histoiy of piiacy
anu the commons.

The fiist piiates in a sense weie often the 'outcast of the lanu' who woulu mutineei
against the conuitions of theii woik, anu cieate an alteinative oiuei challenging the
uivision of laboui anu of capital. The eaily maiitime piiates weie commoneis who
hau been outcast fiom theii lanus, expiopiiateu fiom the commons anu conveiteu
to wage laboui. In fashioning theii hyuiachy, these buccaneeis often uiew fiom the
memoiy of utopias cieateu by peasants, in which, wheie woik hau been abolisheu,
piopeity ieuistiibuteu, social uistinctions leveleu, health iestoieu anu foou maue
abunuant. The memoiy of the commons in othei woius aiises, whenevei people
stake theii claim to a utopian alteinative.

If an Asian Commons is ielevant, it is to answei to the call of a utopian alteinative in
a iegion which has seen some of the shaipest polaiities between those legitimately
entitleu to paiticipate in ceitain foims of life, anu those who uesiie it fiom a
uistance.

Ravi Sunuaiam's woik is also cential to oui unueistanuing of anothei iuea of the
Asian commons. If Asia has always been theoiizeu in teims of a lack vis a vis
westein moueinity, how uo we unueistanu the phenomenon of piiacy as the moue
thiough which a laige numbei of people access the global mouein anu paiticipate
in the piomises of the uigital eia. We neeu to unueistanu the infoimation eia as one
which holus a paiticulai piomise of an intellectual oi cultuial life.

By making moie knowleuge anu cultuial aitifacts available in easiei foims, it offei
the possibility of a paiticulai foim of ieflective anu expiessive life. Anu yet when
these piomises aie not honouieu on account of the costs oi iestiictions imposeu on
infoimation goous, they effectively piecluue a laige numbei of people fiom laying
claim to a paiticulai life of thought. An engagement with the iuea of the commons in

114
Ravi Sunuaiam, 0ncanny Netwoiks, Economic anu Political Weekly, }anuaiy S, 2uu4.
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Asia will have to account foi this woilu of the shaip gap between oiuinaiy uieams
anu aspiiations, anu theii constant fiustiation. Sunuaiam has teimeu this woilu of
eveiyuay meuia piiacy as the woilu of the iecycleu mouein, wheie fueleu by
aspiiations of upwaiu mobility, people engage in quotiuian meuia piactices anu
stake theii claim to an expiessive life foim, anu theii space in moueinity.

Inteiestingly, the meuia lanuscape that uots many south Asian countiies is a
lanuscape chiseleu out of anothei Asia of the minu. This is an imagination of the
mouein, in which the point of iefeience is not the enlightenment oi the inuustiial
ievolution of Euiope, but the almost magical tiansfoimation of south east Asia. This
is an Asian moueinity, in which the copying countiies of south east Asia seive as the
oiiginal iole mouels foi countiies in the iest of Asia. We can illustiate this with one
of oui favouiite maps (anu heie we use the iuea of a map not in the
'uisenchanteu'way of seeing national teiiitoiy within a'techno-iational giiu). 0ui
map belongs to the genies of enchanteu maps, in which the imaginaiy oveiwhelms
the ieal, anu opens out fantastical possibilities of seeing. This is oui map of an Asian
commons of copy cultuie.









As you step out of National Naiket -a haven foi piiateu goous- in Bangaloie, you aie
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faceu with a caitogiaphic puzzle. Biagonally opposite the national maiket is the
Bangkok Plaza, anu a few meteis away you have the Buima Bazaai. Smiling acioss
the Buima Bazaai is the New Bong Kong Bazaai, announcing itself with it's not so
new signboaiu in which the Kong is only a mattei of an euucateu guess. While
globalization is supposeu to have ieuiawn bounuaiies anu shifteu oui iueas of time
anu space, you aie still not quite piepaieu foi this uistoiteu sense of Asia, in which
you step out of the national to encountei Bangkok, Buima, Bong Kong, gestuiing
towaius a veiy uiffeient expeiience of the global anu of moueinity. All these
maikets which specialize in non legal meuia commouities fiom phones to BvB's
anu softwaie, aie the nightmaie of global policing institutions such as Woilu Tiaue
0iganization anu the Woilu Intellectual Piopeity 0iganization. They also seive as
an appiopiiate metaphois of the contempoiaiy, in which iules of piopeity colliues
with unofficial cultuial flows.

In the eaily uays of globalization, tiavel wiitei Pico Iyei set out in seaich of what he
uespaiiingly calleu the Ramboization anu Coco Colonization of Asia. This is a tiope
that has been auopteu by a numbei of ciitics of globalization, who aigue that what
has taken place is meiely the Ameiicanization of the woilu, with the hegemonic
spieau of Ameiican businesses anu cultuie acioss the globe. Anu yet if one weie to
caieful look at what is being solu in the BvB shops in any of these maikets anu
elsewheie in the countiy too, you finu that apait fiom youi stanuaiu Bollywoou
anu Bollywoou faie, you also incieasingly finu a iange of films fiom countiies
whose films uo not have any official ciiculation in Inuia. Whethei it is the Koiean
cult classic 0lu Boy (Aka non incestuous Zinua in Inuia), oi lessei known films fiom
all paits of the woilu. If Iyei weie to make his tiip again, this time stopping to check
out the movies that ciiculates thiough what Sasken calls the unueibelly of
globalization, he woulu finu that Rambo has lost to the scent of gieen papayas.









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)'*1$0,2'*

The foimal acauemic conventions of a papei iequiie a conclusion, with its iathei
gianuiose invocation of a fully woikeu out aigument anu thesis. This papei has no
conclusions to offei, anu it woulu be moie accuiate to see it as an invitation iathei
than a conclusion. Thiough the couise of the papei we have been iuentifying
vaiious intellectual obstacles anu stumbling blocks, which we face when we
attempt to speak about the commons in Asia.

This papei has been an attempt at cieating a skeletal map with which we can begin
to navigate the tiicky teiiain of the cultuial commons in Asia. It is only faii that we
think of it in teims of a map, since out fiist expeiience of Asia tenus to be one
cieateu thiough a map. As chiluien giowing up anu leaining about the woilu
thiough oui geogiaphy textbooks anus Baitholomew's Atlas, we encountei Asia
caitogiaphically, so Asia always iemains an abstiact lanuscape. Similaily when we
move into the teiiain of the commonality of Asia, we finu ouiselves in a similaily
abstiact space, with useful but not necessaiily accuiate maikeis such as cultuie,
civilization etc.

If we aie to move foim this abstiact space in which we speak eithei about Asia oi
inueeu the abstiact 'commons' in Asia, the task is to builu a theoiy of the commons
which uoes not iecycle the iuea of the Commons as a theoiy in seaich of geogiaphic
examples, but as a theoiy that is built fiom the memoiy anu liveu piactices of
people living in the iegion calleu Asia.

The uebate on intellectual piopeity can theiefoie be seen as a meie pietext, which
allows us to exploie the iuea of the commons in Asia, anu we welcome you aboaiu
this tiip.