The saga of the commons in Kuttanad: appropriations, contests, developments

DECISION - Tập 41 - Trang 217-228 - 2014
Mathew Kuriakose1
1Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India

Tóm tắt

The paper argues that the mutually enforcing processes of enclosure of land and entanglement of labour have been central to the development of state and capitalism in Kuttanad, a protected Ramsar site in the south Indian state of Kerala. The driving force of epochal changes in Kuttanad was the transformations of the commons; different regimes that ruled Kuttanad have actively engaged in the appropriation, distribution and production of commons along with and for the dominant sections in the region. Reclamation and re-reclamation of backwater lands, spanning over one and half centuries, are thus carried out by the distributive state apparatus in collaboration with its constituent class sections. The resultant shifts in land, crop, labour, technology and resources are what define the crisis of commons in the region.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Alexander KC (1973) Emerging farmer-labour relations in Kuttanad. Econ Polit Wkly 8:1551–1560 Althusser L (1971) Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. In: Althusser L (ed) Lenin and philosophy and other essays. Monthly Review Press, New York De Angelis M (2001) Marx and primitive accumulation: the continuous character of capital’s “enclosures”, The Commoner, 2 (September), pp 1–22. www.commoner.org.uk/02deangelis.pdf. Accessed 2 Jan 2014 George A (1987) Social and economic aspects of attached labourers in Kuttanad agriculture. Econ Polit Wkly 27:141–150 Graham S, Marvin S (2001) Splintering urbanism: networked infrastructures, technological mobilities and the urban condition. Routledge, London Hardin G (1968) The tragedy of the commons. Sci New Series 162(3859):1243–1248 Hardt M, Negri A (2000) Empire. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Kamalasanan NK (1993) Kuttanadum karshakathozhilali prasthanavum (Kuttanad and the agricultural labourer movement). National Book Stall, Kottayam Kamalasanan NK (2005) Oru kuttanadan ormakkoythu (Harvesting Kuttanadan memories). National Book Stall, Kottayam Narayanan NC (2003) Against the grain: the political ecology of land use in a Kerala region, India. PhD Thesis, Institute of Social Studies, Shaker publishing, The Hague Panicker KN (2005) Preface. In: Kamalasanan NK (ed) Oru kuttanadan ormakkoythu (Harvesting Kuttanadan memories). National Book Stall, Kottayam Parthasarathy D (2011) Hunters, gatherers and foragers in a metropolis: commonising the private and public in Mumbai. Econ Political Wkly 46(50):54–63 Rammohan KT (1996) Market processes and developmentalism: interpreting economic change in colonial Tiruvitamkur, 1800 to 1945, PhD Thesis, Center for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram Rammohan KT (2006) Tales of rice: Kuttanad, Southwest India. Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram Roy A (2005) Urban informality: toward an epistemology of planning. J Am Plann Assoc 71(2):147–158 Schmitt C (2006) The nomos of the earth in the international law of the jus publicum Europaeum. Telos Press Publishing, New York Vallikappen T (2012) Where blessing and curse merge with life and death: local beliefs in contemporary Lower Kuttanad, M. Phil Thesis, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen Varghese TC (1970) Agrarian changes and economic consequences: land tenures in Kerala, 1850–1960. Allied Publishers, Bombay