A Perfect Fit for the Indigenous “Slot”? Batwa Identity Politics Meets Global Advocacy Agendas in Kahuzi-Biega National Park

This chapter explores the connections between the global Indigenous peoples’ rights movement and the Batwa people of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, located in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The park’s history is frequently cited as an emblematic example of the harmful effects of “fortress conservation” on Indigenous communities. Consequently, it has garnered considerable attention from Indigenous rights NGOs, who view the Batwa as representative of a specific category of Indigenous person – as the ultimate guardians of their ancestral forests, united in their resistance to fortress conservation. While certain Batwa chiefs strategically embrace this identity in their self-representations, this subjective position encounters three layers of “frictions” when it comes into contact with the messy local context: within Batwa groups themselves, between the Batwa and other social groups, and between the Batwa and the non-human environment. By concealing these frictions, we argue that Indigenous rights activism generates unintended effects.