UGC-CAS Programme
Centre for the Study of Regional Development
School of Social Sciences
Invites you all to a lecture on
Trajectories of social dominance and subalterns mobilization in neoliberal India: the case of Chilika Lake (Odisha)
By
Matilde Adduci*
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Date: 27 February 2018
Time: 3.00 PM
Venue: Cartographic Lab, CSRD, SSS III (Ist Floor)
Abstract : Since the beginnings of the 1990s, Chilika Lake, situated in the coast of the Indian state of Odisha, has been the scene of a conflict over intensive aquaculture practices, culminating in a process of de facto privatization of the lake waters. Based on a fieldwork revisit after a period of ten years, this seminar will initially explore change and continuities in the incessant implementation of illegal aquaculture practices, with specific attention to their implications in terms of class reproduction and class oppression. In a scenario where the threats of occupational displacement related to aquaculture activities have now become reality for the traditional fishing people, an effort will be also made to account for the high degree of uncertainty in their present livelihoods patterns, combining highly exploitative and fragmented waged activities in the urban and rural economy. Starting from this reality, attention will be drawn on the trajectory of political mobilization of traditional fishing people against illegal aquaculture practices, with an attempt to constructively reflect on the serious difficulties currently faced by their movement. In so doing, some critical insights on state-society relations will be provided.
*Matilde Adduci is a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London.