Defending the right to say no: Traditional knowledge politics in Brazil and India

Abstract

When accessing traditional knowledge, life scientists often violate the customary non-disclosure rules of indigenous communities. This article investigates how indigenous groups can prevent an unwanted access of their knowledge. It therefore compares biodiversity politics in Brazil and India. Brazilian indigenous movements effectively defend regulations to deny the disclosure of their knowledge, whereas the Adivasis in India have not achieved any statutory recognition of their customs. To explain these differences, the article draws on social movement theory. It shows that this approach has the potential to both explain the success chances and to carve out the constraints on indigenous political agency in environmental politics.