Closing panel: Sharing wisdom and reflections on the enduring questions

• This paper summarizes the discussion during the Closing Plenary Panel of the DIDR Conference. It revolves around three main themes: (i) Experiences and Views about Resettlement, (ii) Reflections on the DIDR Conference, and (iii) Suggestions for Future Work and Collaboration.   The main author (Susan Tamondong) organized the Panel and facilitated the closing session.  The Panelists considered to be “pioneers” in DIDR research and practice, shared their views on resettlement’s enduring questions, such as:  What is adequate compensation? Can socio-cultural disruption be compensated? How do we deal with socio-cultural changes, damage and re-organization of communities? Can we compensate memories of life in the old community?  Or, can a lost view of a community landscape and habitual prayer area by the mountain side be replaced? Do displaced people have the right to protest, or occupy a piece of public land? How do we deal with non-compensated public goods? In addition to these, specific questions were posed to the panel by the conference organizers which addressed the three themes (Themes 1, 2 and 3) of DIDR’s broader themes. Under these three themes, fifteen questions in total were divided and discussed by the panelists.  Their views, including those from the audience are summarized in this paper, with some direct quotes from the speakers, as transcribed from video tapes. Contributions from Panel members who could not physically attend were read during the session.As a conclusion, DIDR is a broad and diverse social phenomenon that affects not only the lives and livelihoods of people but also the global environment exacerbated by climate change. There are no clear answers to date, but an urgent need to address the enduring questions, and more inclusive fora involving all stakeholders from affected peoples, civil society, to those causing and financing projects causing development displacement.  DIDR needs more longitudinal studies to gain deeper understanding of displaced people, the role of social networks during reconstruction and the impact on their lives after displacement. These will provide academics and practitioners, not only insights whether human development also takes place, but also shape better ways of doing things, ideally without displacement and hopefully, to have answers to the enduring questions of resettlement .

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

resettlement

displacement

practice

participation

theory

Kulturantropologi

Cultural Anthropology

Kulturantropologi

Cultural Anthropology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)