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- Convenors:
-
Luisa Steur
(University of Amsterdam)
Alf Gunvald Nilsen (University of Bergen)
- Location:
- 22G74
- Start time:
- 25 July, 2014 at
Time zone: Europe/Zurich
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
The panel interrogates how typologies that have historically emerged to capture the inequality of certain subaltern populations relate to today's lived realities - of livelihood and mobilization - and are (re)produced in the process of global, state-mediated capitalist accumulation in South Asia.
Long Abstract:
The study of inequality - often eclipsed by the focus on "poverty" - today seems prominently back on the agenda of social science enquiry. And yet such enquiry, and political debate, risks getting caught in the antinomies of what category or combination thereof - class, caste, gender, ethnicity, region - is to be privileged in the analysis, leaving the question of what relational processes actually produce these categories untouched. This panel therefore calls for papers that engage with inequality dialectically, drawing attention to how both these categories' fixity and unstableness are (re)produced in the process of global, state-mediated capitalist accumulation in South Asia.
"Adivasis", for instance, are still often considered groups operating on the margins of the "modernizing" state, with livelihoods only indirectly linked to capitalist accumulation. And yet, adivasi livelihoods are in many areas becoming directly affected by the market: many adivasis have become "footloose laborers" while others are turned into a pauperized "surplus" population. Meanwhile, many of the groups studied - and attempted to be mobilized - under the rubric of the "proletariat" are turning into a precariat, while those considered "peasants" increasingly depend on non-agricultural income. Likewise, for many Dalits dispossession is a more pressing problem than Untouchability. Drawing on detailed case-studies, this panel will interrogate how the typologies that have historically emerged to capture the inequality of subaltern populations relate to today's lived realities - of livelihood as well as mobilization - thereby in turn providing us a window onto the nature of capitalist development in South Asia today.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Luisa Steur (University of Amsterdam) Alf Gunvald Nilsen (University of Bergen)
Paper short abstract:
In this introductory paper, we lay out the theoretical and methodological concerns of this panel, signalling to examples from the panel's papers as well as drawing on our own research.
Paper long abstract:
In this introductory paper, we lay out the theoretical and methodological concerns of this panel. One of our aims is to explore ways of discussing inequality in South Asia without getting caught in the antinomies of what category or combination thereof - class, caste, gender, ethnicity, region - is to be privileged in the analysis. The aim is hence to dig deeper into the relational processes actually producing categories of inequality and subalternity. Rather than taking the fixity of certain identities for granted, we look into how this fixity is (re)produced in processes of global, state-mediated capitalist development as they unfold in South Asia. In a related move, we would like to question whether subaltern typologies in use today, which have historically emerged to capture certain forms of inequality, are still useful in capturing contemporary relational dynamics or are, perhaps, in urgent need of rethinking. Such questions encourage us, moreover, to sharpen our understanding of the particular unfolding of local histories and global forces in the kind of capitalist development taking place in South Asia today. As we discuss these concerns, we will signal examples from the panel's papers. We will moreover draw from our own work on, respectively, subaltern resistance and local state-society relations in Madhya Pradesh, and wider struggles against dispossession (Alf Nilsen) and adivasi political identification in Kerala, and wider networks of Dalit mobilization (Luisa Steur).
Michael Hoffmann (ZIRS/University of Halle)
Paper short abstract:
This paper describes the different worlds of work among company, temporary and daily wage workers in a modern factory in western Nepal.
Paper long abstract:
This paper describes the different worlds of work among company, temporary and daily wage workers in a modern factory in western Nepal. It argues that the worlds of daily wage workers, who mostly are from a local ethnic group, is radically different from that of permanent or contract workers. The paper gives an descriptive analysis of these differences and then explores the wider political reasons of how this difference has come about. The paper is based on ongoing fieldwork in a modern factory in contemporary western Nepal.
Dan Hirslund (University of Copenhagen)
Paper short abstract:
With an intensification of capitalist valorization based on rising numbers of superfluous labor populations, rural youth in Nepal find 'employment' in Maoist communes which changes relations of labor and hierarchical differentiations.
Paper long abstract:
The paper explores the mobilization of youth cadres to Maoist communes in post-war Nepal and traces the rural-urban linkages as well as the experiences of capitalist exploitation that brought people into the Maoist fold. Against the background of precariat lives in urban Kathmandu based on acute forms of inequality, the paper explores forms of differentiation within the Maoist movement and the kind of protectionism and stability participation offers over precariat livelihoods. I argue that this can be understood as a form of political proletarianization, a fixity of the class position of new cadres backed by institutional stability and that despite clear differentiation between members, this form of hierarchized political inclusion offers a respite and pedagogical correction to capitalist forms of hierarchy.
Sara Bonfanti (University of Genoa)
Paper short abstract:
The paper reports on firsthand results from a multi-sited ethnographic research and it aims to uncover and discuss how gender and caste inequalities are connected and challenged by women and youth within the sizeable and translocal Punjabi migrant community in Italy.
Paper long abstract:
The riddle of inequality and subalternity in contemporary India cannot overlook the threads of global social changes occurring in Indian diasporas.
Considering the thriving communities which have emigrated from Punjab and resettled in northern-Italy over the past two decades (yet maintaining vibrant transnational ties), we will illustrate how multiple cultural encounters and media representations have yielded to novel social configurations. Indian immigrant communities in Italy are facing major shifts in power relations on different scales: within the ethnic group, in the "host" society milieu, towards their former country and under the pressure of global economic drives, identity politics and equity uprisings.
Discussing my recent multi-sited ethnography, I'll explore whether patterns of livelihood and wealth circulation (ever more precarious in contexts afflicted by unemployment and stagnation, though still capitalist oriented) may account for the transformation of culturally scripted hierarchies. Delving into the "marriage market" in Italian families of Punjabi descent, we'll see how dowry practices are undergoing significant re-structuring: confronted with pathways of integration into a south-European society and the quivering of power stakes among migrant community members.
The thorny relations across different faiths and castes (Hindu/Sikh/Ravidassia and Jat/Chamar), displayed in public places of worship, reverberate in private homes, where gender and generation conflicts put a burden on women and youngsters in challenging the status-quo.
Within the largest Indian minority in continental Europe, "traditional" gender roles and caste divides are increasingly contested and re-negotiated, to such an extent that the complex intersection between these claims for equality cannot longer remain unheard.
Emilija Zabiliute (Durham University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper looks at how the slum dwellers in Delhi experience inequality in relationship to the changes the city has undergone in the recent past.
Paper long abstract:
This paper looks at how slum dwellers in Delhi experience inequality in relationship to the changes the city has undergone in the recent past. The city of Delhi has transformed during the post-reform period in India, and is becoming increasingly segregated along the class lines. While convivial areas for middle and high class are expanding, many slums and urban poor areas are being pushed out to the outskirts of Delhi. These changes generate new notions of inequality and the ways it is experienced by the poor. Most of the literature discusses the segregation and the 'gating' of communities and convivial city areas. In this paper, a shopping mall emerges as a signifier of class and is constantly juxtaposed to the lived environment of the poor - a slum. Drawing on a long-term ethnographic fieldwork in a slum in Delhi, the paper analyses the accounts of a young males who transgress the boundaries of the 'classed' territories. Rather than experiencing segregation and exclusion, some find the mall as a place that enables to be part of the 'world class' city.
Kaushal Vidyarthee (University of Oxford)
Paper short abstract:
My paper focuses on the ideas of 'Dalit capitalism' and the rise of Dalit millionaires in contemporary India and demonstrates how Dalit identity is being reasserted, reproduced and reinforced by Dalit bourgeoisie and a new Dalit agenda is being set in collusion with the state.
Paper long abstract:
My paper focuses on the emergence of the ideas of 'Dalit capitalism' and the rise of Dalit millionaires in last two decades of liberalisation in India. I critically look at the process of evolution of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DICCI) and its significant influence in policy agenda setting for capital accumulation by Dalits. My analysis further focuses on the affirmative action policies for Dalit businesses especially the most recent policy decision about setting a quota in government procurement for Dalit businesses and the financial support provided to the Dalit Venture Capital Fund. I find this new Dalit agenda only reflects the self-interests of Dalit elites and this agenda setting for Dalit businesses under affirmative action paradigm led by Dalit bourgeoisie has huge implications on marginalised Dalits. While the state is ensuring extension of affirmative policies in the business domain to benefit the Dalit elites; its involvement for micro and small Dalit entrepreneurs that constitute more than 90% of all establishments and has expanded in number since the liberalisation is limited to 'posturing' and 'tokenism'. The state has ignored the structural deficiencies of credit and skill development programmes meant for micro and small businesses. And, with this new Dalit agenda, the state may continue to do so. These partisan mechanisms of state-mediated capitalist accumulation can only deepen the inequality within Dalits and in the society.
Neha Tiwari (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
Paper short abstract:
Study of the impact of the interplay between the domestic and international market, the state and the society in the context of the practice of commercial surrogacy on the poor women in India.
Paper long abstract:
The nature of state in India changed with time and it couldn't keep itself aloof from the globalized world. Various sectors benefited from it, however the dark side was not considered by many. One such sector is commercial surrogacy. Many childless couples are turning to India for surrogate mothers as the cost is very low and there are no strict laws to be adhered. The industry exists in a liberal market economy, where private agencies run and manage the practice with little government interference. The surrogate mothers are paid very less and the huge share of the profit goes to the agency and clinic. The practice has been legalized by the state and the law is more in favor of the couple and not in favor of the surrogate. Hence, it can be argued that the state is playing the role of a facilitator in the exploitation. The practice of commercial surrogacy has led to three major problems. Firstly, it is controlling the reproductive rights of the women. Secondly, the selection of the surrogate mothers on the basis of their caste also has the potential of affecting these women which can further lead to the deepening of caste division. Lastly, the state by legalizing the practice of commercial surrogacy has also snatched away the right to individual choice of the poor women.
Geetisha Dasgupta (SUNY Binghamton)
Paper short abstract:
Shining India fails to bridge the gap with the plantation coolies who now take the way of starvation, suicides, and join insurgent groups. The root lies in the quarantining of the workers and their subsequent disarticulation from the state, which in turn reinforced their marginalization.
Paper long abstract:
The "overdeveloped superstructure" of a post colonial state like India (Hamza Alavi) has failed to penetrate certain sectors of production, like the tea plantation; so much so that the latter almost never got the opportunity to be integrated into the post-Nehruvian national economy, built from the beginning of the 1960s. The post-colonial national state was hardly concerned with legitimizing itself vis-à-vis the tea sector - instead, its ideology of Development marginalized tea plantation workers as the "other" of the ideal national citizen. In this paper I argue that this marginalization in the state ideology of Development has created a quarantined pool of labor in the plantations whose low socio-economic status was reinforced over time. This becomes evident from the sustained failure of state development policies - both targeted and more general - when it comes to plantation zones. Crises in the tea plantations did not prompt state policies to rehabilitate tea plantation workers into other sectors through reskilling, nor trigger state efforts to try to revive the plantations. This suggests that even before the onslaught of the neoliberal era, the state in India has disentangled and disarticulated itself from the plantation sector.