Precarious Labour and Informal Economy

Work, Anarchy, and Society in an Indian Village
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-3-319-77970-6
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 253 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 478 g

An empirical account of one of India’s largest indigenous populations, this book tells the story of the Gonds—who currently face displacement and governmental control of the region’s forests, which has crippled their economy. Rather than protesting and calling for state intervention, the Gonds have turned toward an informal economy: they not only engage with flexible forms of work, but also bargain for higher wages and experience agency and autonomy. Smita Yadav conceives of this withdrawal from the state in favour of precarious forms of work as an expression of anarchy by this marginalized population. Even as she provides rich detail of the Gonds’ unusual working lives, which integrate work, labour, and debt practices with ideologies of family and society, Yadav illustrates the strength required to maintain dignity when a welfare state has failed. 

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Yadav, Smita

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Ethnographie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Indigene Völker
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: Urgent Anthropology. - 2. Local History and the Postcolonial State: The Invisibility of Gonds. - 3. Basic Income, Forests, and Anarchy. - 4. Family and Kinship: The False Binary of the Subjective and Empirical Definition of a Household. - 5. Narratives of Kamayee/Dhanda (Income): Modes of Wages. - 6. Understanding the Government Programmes in Mahalapur: Housing in Mahalapur. - 7. Conclusions.

Über Autor(innen)

Smita Yadav is an anthropologist interested in statelessness/state, anarchy, labour, precarity, universal basic income, gender, migration, religion, secularism, poverty,  indigenous knowledge, South Asia, environment, and politics of  development. She has over ten years experience working as a consultant and academic on these topics in India, US, and UK. She is currently preparing a project on religion, secularism, state and development in India. She teaches Human Geography at the University of Brighton and is a Postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sussex where she completed her PhD in Anthropology.