Author: Ghanshyam Shah
Editor: Ghanshyam Shah / Mario Rutten / Hein Streefkerk
Publisher: Sage Publications
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 348
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0761997253
Description
Conceived as a festschrift in honour of Jan Breman, this multidisciplinary volume provides an incisive analysis of various aspects of present-day Gujarati society.
Gujarat is one of the most industrialized and prosperous of the states comprising the Indian Union. In social terms, however, the all-round development of the state has been accompanied by a widening gap between a wealthy and dominant middle class, and the vast labouring classes whose important contribution to the phenomenal growth of the state has been without commensurate returns in terms either of incomes or the quality of their lives.
By concentrating on the conditions of Dalits, tribals, landless agricultural labourers and industrial workers, the 16 original essays gathered here provide a vivid account of the paradoxes and social consequences of both industrial and agricultural growth.
Reflecting the main elements of Professor Breman’s singular contribution to the study of Gujarat, the major themes discussed are:
1. The contradictions of capitalist development Rural and urban labour relations
2. The causes of deprivation and modes of protest amongst the subalterns
3. The causes and consequences of migration, both internal and international.
Overall, this important volume provides numerous and valuable insights into the social and economic processes at work in present-by Gujarat. It will, therefore, be of considerable interest to students and scholars of sociology, social anthropology, political science, economics and labour studies as also to all those interested in contemporary Gujarat.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
CHAPTER I
Capitalist Development and Jan Breman's Study of the Labouring Class in Guajrat
The Contradictions of Growth
On the Political Culture of Authoritarianism
CHAPTER II
LAOUR RELATIONS: Artisans and the Shaping of Labour Regimes in Urban Gujarat / Corporatist Patronage in Ahmedabad Textile Industry / Landless Labour and Agrarian change in South Gujarat: The Experiences of Halpati Women / Casualisation of the Workforce: Thirty Years of Industrial Labour in South Gujarat / Searching for Space: Workers in the Fringe Sector of Surat
CHAPTER III
ENCROACHMENTS AND ASSERTIONS: Christianity and the Adivasis of Gujarat / Development, Deprivation and Discontent: A Case of Dangs Tribals / Land Alienation and Adivasi Assertion in Bharuch District / Dalit Assertion for Self-Esteem: From Sambarda to Swamannagar / Globalising Gujarat: Environmental Action in the Legal Arena
CHAPTER IV
MIGRATION Uneven Development and Migration: Insights from Micro Initiatives / Rural to Urban Migration and the Significance of Caste: The Case of the Saurashtra Patels of Surat / Twice Migrants and Linkages with Central Gujarat: Patidaras in East Africa and Britain / Jan Breman: Bibliography ( Compiled by Mario rutten)