Abstract
The article focuses on the impact of large-scale bauxite-mining on a local small farming community in the Mocho Mts. of Jamaica. Special emphasis is placed on the cognitive processes involved in the company/ community conflict caused by compulsory resettlement enforced by the company in collaboration with local government. An analysis is made of how the local community generates knowledge of the company through particular experiences done in the course of interaction in negotiating a mutually acceptable calculus of compensation for land, crops and other assets consumed by mining. The farmers' codifications are cast in emic terminology and interpreted in the context of local economic interests, institutional pre conditions and general world-view. On this background the rationality of local knowledge is unveiled and it comes out just as 'correct' as the large-scale knowledge implied in the official planning of industriali zation by local government and the MNC. It is argued that local small-scale knowledge should be incorporated in future planning in the area.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.