Framing the Pluriverse: Understanding the Role of Popular Intellectuals in the Niyamgiri Movement in India

The anti-mining movement in the Niyamgiri Mountains in Odisha, India, has been led by the Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (Organisation to save Niyamgiri) since 2002. Despite a favourable Supreme Court decision in 2013, the movement continues to evolve. This thesis focuses on how popular intellectuals have framed the Niyamgiri Movement from its inception, and it explores the impact of this framing on the evolution and effects of the movement. I argue that the movement’s framing has not adapted to shifting socio-political contexts (“frame freezing”) and a lack of engagement with Dongria Kondh relational ontologies has perpetuated forms of ontological destruction.