About the Book
Gujarat is one of the most industrialised and prosperous states of 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.
Conceived as a festschrift in honour of Jan Breman, this multidisciplinary volume provides an incisive analysis of various aspects of present-day Gujarati society. 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:
• The contradictions of capitalist development
• Rural and urban labour relations
• The causes of deprivation and modes of protest amongst the subalterns
• 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-day 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
Part I: Introduction1. Capitalist Development and Jan Breman's Study of the Labouring Class in Gujarat / Ghanshyam Shah and Mario Rutten
2. The Contradictions of Growth / Indira Hirway and Piet Terhal
3. On the Political Culture of Authoritarianism / Parita Mukta
Part II: Labour Relations
4. Artisans and the Shaping of Labour Regimes in Urban Gujarat, 1600-1960 / Douglas E. Haynes
5. Corporatist Patronage in the Ahmedabad Textile Industry / Sujata Patel
6. Landless Labour and Agrarian Change in South Gujarat: The Experiences of Halpati Women / Uma Kothari
7. Casualisation of the Workforce: Thirty Years of Industrial Labour in South Gujarat / Hein Streefkerk
8. Searching for Space: Workers in the Fringe Sector of Surat / Kiran Desai
Part III: Encroachments and Assertions9. Christianity and the Adivasis of Gujarat / David Hardiman
10. Development, Deprivation and Discontent: A Case of Dangs Tribals / Satyakam Joshi
11. Land Alienation and Adivasi Assertion in Bharuch District / Stany Pinto
12. Dalit Assertion for Self-Esteem: From Sambarda to Swamannagar / Harshad Desai and Chandu Maheria
13. Globalising Gujarat: Environmental Action in the Legal Arena / Shalmi Randeria
Part IV Migration14. Uneven Development and Migration: Insights from Micro Initiatives / Amita Shah
15. Rural to Urban Migration and the Significance of Caste: The Case of the Saurashtra Patels of Surat / Miranda Engelshoven
16. Twice Migrants and Linkages with Central Gujarat: Patidars in East Africa and Britain / Mario Rutten and Pravin J. Patel
About the Author / Editor
Ghanshyam Shah is an independent researcher based in Ahmedabad. He is a former Professor of Social Sciences at Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He was also the Former Director of the Centre for Social Studies, Surat.
Mario Rutten was Professor of Comparative Sociology of Asia at the University of Amsterdam.
Hein Streefkerk was formerly Faculty of the Anthropological Sociological Centre, University of Amsterdam.
