Cultural Landscape and Sacred Geography: A Sociological Study of Uranium Mining Sites in India

Abstract

This research paper explores the complicated interrelation in a uranium mining event and the sociocultural setup of India's indigenous communities, accentuating concepts pertaining to cultural landscape and sacred geography. Consistent with being heralded as a pillar of national energy security, uranium mining is nevertheless done in tribal areas of Jharkhand, Meghalaya, and Telangana. In the techno-economic narrative concerning mining, the deep cultural, spiritual, and ecological tragedies impacting local bodies are often brushed aside. Therefore, these geographies are certainly not considered mineral zones and remain aloft as repositories of ancestral memory, sacred practices, and socio-ecological interdependence.
Applying perspectives from environmental sociology, political ecology, and cultural geography, the paper critically explores how disruptions wrought by mining desecrate sacred groves, destroy burial grounds, and alter communal cosmologies internally. In light of case studies undertaken in Jaduguda, Domiasiat, and Lambapur-Peddagattu, the manner in which mining violated indigenous spatial relationships and produced simultaneous symbolic and structural violence is unravelled. Dislodging sacred sites erodes indigenous identity, cultural continuity, and ecological ethics. The communities engage in acts of resistance grounded in cultural revitalization that involve documentation for the sacred sites, indigenous mapping, and cultural performances. The study highlights glaring policy gaps such as the nonexistence of Cultural Impact Assessments (CIAs) and poor legal recognition of sacred geographies. It recommends an inclusive development model that integrates cultural sensitivity with environmental governance. At any rate, it presses the need to change the very paradigm of resource governance so as to respect tribal worldviews and conserve sacred ecologies.