Precarious Labour and Informal Economy: Work, Anarchy, and Society in an Indian Village - Softcover

Yadav, Smita

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3030085880 ISBN 13: 9783030085889

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Synopsis

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. 

About this title

About the Author

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.

From the Back Cover

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3030085880
• ISBN 13: 9783030085889
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 278