Karin Kapadia

The profitability of bonded labour: The gem‐cutting industry in rural South India

The system of debt bondage in the gem‐cutting industry of South India is considered. Evidence is examined from intensive field work in villages in Tamilnadu, and one large village in particular, which has been a major centre in the synthetic gem‐cutting industry for 70 years. It is argued, against various authors, that here bonded labour is not a pre‐capitalist relation of production. Rather, it is part of a dynamic, capitalist small‐scale industry that is rapidly expanding into global markets. Moreover, since 1990 a dramatic change is noted in part of the industry: the introduction of semiautomatic machinery, with which a new product (the American diamond) is made. This has led, inter alia, to the displacement of women workers. The profits earned by employers, the nature of relations between employers and workers, and especially the use of kinship ideology, and the relevant inter‐connections are explored.

Mutuality and competition: Female landless labour and wage rates in Tamil Nadu

The factors determining rural wage rates have remained problematic in writings on agrarian structure in rural India. First, a striking segmentation of the rural labour market has been widely noted so that different wage rates exist even for contiguous villages. Secondly, it has been argued that the ‘stickiness downwards’ of wage rates, particularly the rigidity downwards of daily money wages, is very marked and is not susceptible to explanation in terms of conventional economic theories. A useful approach by Rudra to these two problems is examined here and it is suggested that the striking contrasts that emerge between his model (based on Bengali data) and the Tamil model presented here show that it is essential to incorporate a micro‐level anthropological approach in order to understand rural wage rate determinants. There can be no pan‐Indian model: only through micro‐level approaches can researchers understand the importance of complex socio‐cultural contexts to the ways in which wage rates are formed a...

Where angels fear to tread? "Third World women" and "development".

Regarding debates between feminists from the North and South, it has been argued that Western feminists implicitly disparage Third World women by representing them as sexually oppressed. It has also been argued that Third World womens political struggles are trivialized when the women are so homogenized. The author argues that while there is some truth in these assertions, Southern feminists should beware of cultural fundamentalism. She welcomes their stress upon the importance of sociocultural analysis, especially in the interest of understanding Southern economic contexts, and notes that sociocultural analyses do not lead away from economic issues, but provide more explanatory variables and more complex models. Chandra Mohantys critique is evaluated with regard to the three Zed Press books reviewed.

Pauperising the Rural Poor: Landless Labour in Tamil Nadu

There is a continuing debate on whether or not there is increasing proletarianisation of the rural poor. In his review of trends of change in agriculture, Harriss has pointed out that there are strong arguments and detailed evidence on both sides: ’The micro-studies really make the point that all-India, or even ’all-Tamil Nadu’, or ’all-Maharashtra’ generalisations are bound to be misleading... But it is at least possible to conclude that the available data do not support the view that the process of dispossession/depeasantisation and proletarianisation has been taking place universally (forthcoming: 5). This seems right: generalisations are misleading. However, even those who argue against seeing proletarianisation as widespread present contradictory evidence. For example, Omvedt argues vigorously that those who see ’the growth of capitalism as leading to differentiation in agriculture resulting in the formation of a &dquo;capitalist farmer&dquo; class exploiting a growing &dquo;proletarianised&dquo; agricultural labour class...’ are trapped in an obsolete ’traditional Marxist’ conception (1988: 21). She rejects census statistics on the increase of agricultural labourer households as misleading, yet her own choice of N.S.S. statistics proclaims an emphatic all-India rise in this category, from 25.9% of all rural households in 1974-75 to 29.9% in

Siva and Her Sisters: Gender, Caste, and Class in Rural South India.

The Politics Of Cultural Contestation Introduction: The Untouchable Rejection of Hegemony and False Consciousness Kinship Burns!: Kinship Discourses and Gender Marrying Money: Changing Preference and Practice in Tamil Marriage Blood Across the Stars: Astrology and the Construction of Gender The Vulnerability of Power: Puberty Rituals Dancing the Goddess: Possession, Caste, and Gender The Politics Of Everyday Life Beware, It Sticks!: Discourses of Gender and Caste Gender And Production Politics Pauperizing the Rural Poor: Landlessness in Aruloor Every Blade of Green: Landless Women Laborers, Production, and Reproduction Discipline and Control: Labor Contracts and Rural Female Labor Mutuality and Competition: Women Landless Laborers and Wage Rates In Gods Eyes: Gender, Caste, and Class in Aruloor.

Wage Hunters and Gatherers: Search for Work in the Urban and Rural Economy of South Gujarat.@@@Global Migrants, Local Lives: Travel and Transformation in Rural Bangladesh.@@@Siva and Her Sisters: Gender, Caste and Class in Rural South India.@@@Contours of Continuity and Change: The Story of the Bonda Highlanders.

This collection of essays focuses on a large segment of unskilled labourers in Indian society who have failed to manage regular and protected employment in the rapidly expanding towns and cities of Third World countries. Based on empirical research over two decades in a small town of south Gujarat, the author discusses and then rejects some of the standard notions regarding the origin, size, shape and growth of this sector of the Indian population.