This research used an interdisciplinary approach to critically examine changing livelihood strate... more This research used an interdisciplinary approach to critically examine changing livelihood strategies of both rural and urban populations that are increasingly dependent on, or affected by, export industries. While studies tend to focus on working conditions inside factories, little is known about the changing livelihoods of those employed in booming export industries or about the wider impacts of these industries on rural populations. <br> <br> The research had three primary aims:<ul><li>to enhance our understanding of the impacts of industrial expansion on urban and rural households in developing countries</li><li>to improve our understanding of persistent poverty and 'poverty traps' in areas of rapid economic growth</li><li>to inform policy interventions by the state, multinational corporations and international NGOs that aim to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods</li></ul>Field-based research was conducted in and around Tiruppur, a major garment manufacturing and export town in Tamil Nadu, South India. The data available from the UK Data Archive includes the quantitative responses to questionnaire surveys conducted with workers and villagers. <br> <br> Further information is available from the <a href="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-167-25-0296/read/" title="Transforming livelihoods: work, migration and poverty in the Tiruppur garment cluster, India">Transforming livelihoods: work, migration and poverty in the Tiruppur garment cluster, India</a> ESRC Award webpage and the <a href="http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/searchresearchdatabase.asp?ProjectID=60620" title ="Department for International Development">Department for International Development</a> project webpage.<br>
This briefing explores the effects of the garment export industry in Tamil Nadu, south India, on ... more This briefing explores the effects of the garment export industry in Tamil Nadu, south India, on the livelihoods of people living in the region, whether working for the industry or not. It describes both direct and indirect impacts through a tightening of the labour market. It considers how caste and gender shape people's access to different employment opportunities, as well as wage differentials. Whilst recognising the positive effects that the industry has had on employment and income in the region, the briefing calls for
The lockdown of March 2020 in India witnessed one of the largest movements of migrants in the cou... more The lockdown of March 2020 in India witnessed one of the largest movements of migrants in the country. The state of Kerala was quick and efficient in responding to the challenges posed by the lockdown on its migrant population and in supporting its ‘guest workers’. While many studies have researched the material resources of migrants during the pandemic, such as income and food, few have investigated the subjective measures and emphasised the lived experiences of migrant workers. Drawing on the Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) approach which examines three dimensions of wellbeing, namely, (a) material, (b) relational and (c) subjective wellbeing, this article focuses on the mental health and wellbeing experiences of migrant workers during the first lockdown in Kerala. By deploying these wellbeing dimensions, the study looks at how migrant workers perceived and experienced the various interventions put in place by state and local governments, as well as voluntary initiatives a...
This article contributes to debates on global apparel workers’ health and well-being through an e... more This article contributes to debates on global apparel workers’ health and well-being through an examination of how Sri Lankan workers were affected and treated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on qualitative interviews in and around the Katunayake Export Processing Zone, the article takes the Sri Lankan apparel industry as a case study. It reconceptualises the “precarious working body” as a “collective body” in order to demonstrate how workers’ health was a matter of collective precariousness. Workers’ health was not only dependent on that of others around them inside densely populated factories, but was also shaped by systemic material and discursive practices that affected workers collectively. These material practices included labour control and incentive structures that prevented workers from seeking medical attention and taking leave when needed, which in turn led to the spread of the virus across factories. The discursive practices comprise the social stigma and devaluation...
This briefing explores the need to improve labour welfare in low-income economies that are rapidl... more This briefing explores the need to improve labour welfare in low-income economies that are rapidly integrating into global production networks. While corporate and civil society initiatives have received considerable attention in the literature, the dynamics and impacts of multinational and national government interventions have been much less scrutinised. Such multinational and national policy initiatives tend to promote industrial upgrading and competitiveness in global markets, but rarely focus on the welfare needs and vulnerabilities of those employed in export industries in the global south. Welfare issues include both the need for social protection and social security, and the payment of a living wage and decent returns to labour. Based on a case study of the Tiruppur garment industry in south India, this briefing explores some pressing work-related welfare issues faced by garment workers employed in different types of firms and under a variety of contractual arrangements. The briefing considers some implications of different employment regimes in terms of worker welfare and social security, and suggests new directions for policy making on these issues.
Villagers in Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu, India’s largest knitwear manufacturing and export h... more Villagers in Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu, India’s largest knitwear manufacturing and export hub, face different levels of hardship due to the lockdown in the wake of COVID-19. This article details the coping strategies of garment, power loom, and agricultural workers in two villages—Allapuram and Mannapalayam.
This briefing explores the ways in which Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies affect la... more This briefing explores the ways in which Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies affect labour regimes and the lives of workers at manufacturing sites in the Global South. It describes workers’ reactions to these policies, and the choices they make when faced with different regimes of work. The briefing calls for a recognition by labour standard interventions of the variety of employment regimes and the diversity of the workforce, and it addresses some possible ways to improve the particular conditions of women workers and migrant workers employed in large export industries in the Global South. In particular, it points to the importance of addressing workers’ needs and vulnerabilities outside the factories and in the urban neighbourhoods where they reside. Labouring for global markets: CSR lessons from a south Indian textile export cluster
Neoliberal economic policies are not new to India. While 1991 no doubt marked what Nayar calls a ... more Neoliberal economic policies are not new to India. While 1991 no doubt marked what Nayar calls a 'paradigm shift' from the state to the market (Nayar 2001: 129), processes of economic liberalisation were already introduced-albeit in a stealth-like and patchy manner-from the 1970s onwards (Nayar 2001). Over the last decades, therefore, neoliberal policies have facilitated the development of urban, industrial regions across India, of which the Tiruppur garment cluster in Tamil Nadu, South India, is a typical one. Yet, in a less direct manner, such policies have also brought about far-going transformations in rural society, which to date have been poorly documented, let alone conceptualised. 1 This research was funded by an ESRC-DFID Research Award (RES 167 25 0296) and is based on 12 months of field research in Tamil Nadu, conducted between August 2008 and July 2009. The research would not have been possible with the assistance of our research assistants-most especially Gayathri, Arul and Muthu. The paper has benefitted from comments by Chris Fuller, Judith Heyer, David Mosse, Christian Struempell, and Patrick Neveling as well as participants at the Neoliberal Crises in Post-Reform India conference, Halle, September 2009. transition would take place in all places and all contexts to the same extent, it was certainly the main form of change that he identified. However, even substantialization remains necessarily incomplete for Dumont as it 'cannot amount to a fundamental transformation of the whole system' (Fuller 1996: 12) because change remains confined to the politico-economic domain, which is itself encompassed by a religious ideology that remains untouched (Dumont 1970: 228). This last claim, however, has not stood up against empirical scrutiny. Several of the ethnographic contributions to Caste Today (1996), for example, clearly illustrated that the ideological and religious underpinnings of caste have largely waned, and that ideas of purity and pollution have lost much-if not all-of their legitimacy (Fuller 1996; Deliège 1996; Mayer 1996). Much of the literature on urban India in particular argues that while caste differences remain present, it is class position, culture and lifestyle that constitute the new idioms through which difference and separation are expressed and shaped (Donner 2008; Fernandes 2006; Liechty 2003). Against Dumont, therefore, there appears to be almost total agreement about the erosion of the ideology of purity and pollution as the basis of caste, at least as far as non-Dalit groups are concerned. However, when it comes to interactions between caste Hindus and Dalits, ideas of pollution and practices of untouchability have not completely vanished (Gorringe and Rafanell 2007; Mosse 1994; Still 2009). This leaves us with the obvious questions of what happened to caste, and indeed to substantialization?
Amidst new global initiatives to promote garment workers' health and safety following a spate of ... more Amidst new global initiatives to promote garment workers' health and safety following a spate of deadly factory disasters across the Global South, this critical review calls for an expanded research agenda that looks beyond the workplace to examine the complex politics, spatialities, and temporalities of garment workers' health and wellbeing. Drawing on ethnographic research on garment workers across South Asia, we argue against a narrow, technocratic, and depoliticised emphasis on physical infrastructures and building safety, and advocate instead a more holistic and politically-engaged research approach to the everyday health and wellbeing of workers. A conceptual focus on health and wellbeing offers a window onto workers' employment experiences and reveals how routine work pressures, exhaustion and ill health are shaped by the dynamics of global supply chains, even well after workers have disengaged from these global circuits. Understanding how garment work affects workers' wellbeing and their prospects for a fulfilling life requires research that moves beyond the workplace and covers the entire life course.
This paper contributes to an empirical and theoretical understanding of democracy and political p... more This paper contributes to an empirical and theoretical understanding of democracy and political participation in India through an ethnographic study of the meanings attached to voting in rural Tamil Nadu. Based on a study of voting in a rural constituency during the 2009 national elections, the paper explores the variety of motivations that compel people to vote. It explores how voting is informed by popular understandings of rights and duties as citizens, programmatic policies and their local implementation, commitment to caste and party loyalties, and authority of charismatic leaders. The paper explores the roots of the political consciousness and rights awareness that underpin high levels of electoral participation. It suggests that elections form unique moments that allow ordinary people to experience an individual sense of citizenship and of democracy itself while at the same time allowing them to pursue projects of recognition, respect and assertion as members of communities. It is precisely this dual feature that makes voting so enduringly attractive to India's contemporary electorate.
This research used an interdisciplinary approach to critically examine changing livelihood strate... more This research used an interdisciplinary approach to critically examine changing livelihood strategies of both rural and urban populations that are increasingly dependent on, or affected by, export industries. While studies tend to focus on working conditions inside factories, little is known about the changing livelihoods of those employed in booming export industries or about the wider impacts of these industries on rural populations. <br> <br> The research had three primary aims:<ul><li>to enhance our understanding of the impacts of industrial expansion on urban and rural households in developing countries</li><li>to improve our understanding of persistent poverty and 'poverty traps' in areas of rapid economic growth</li><li>to inform policy interventions by the state, multinational corporations and international NGOs that aim to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods</li></ul>Field-based research was conducted in and around Tiruppur, a major garment manufacturing and export town in Tamil Nadu, South India. The data available from the UK Data Archive includes the quantitative responses to questionnaire surveys conducted with workers and villagers. <br> <br> Further information is available from the <a href="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-167-25-0296/read/" title="Transforming livelihoods: work, migration and poverty in the Tiruppur garment cluster, India">Transforming livelihoods: work, migration and poverty in the Tiruppur garment cluster, India</a> ESRC Award webpage and the <a href="http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/searchresearchdatabase.asp?ProjectID=60620" title ="Department for International Development">Department for International Development</a> project webpage.<br>
This briefing explores the effects of the garment export industry in Tamil Nadu, south India, on ... more This briefing explores the effects of the garment export industry in Tamil Nadu, south India, on the livelihoods of people living in the region, whether working for the industry or not. It describes both direct and indirect impacts through a tightening of the labour market. It considers how caste and gender shape people's access to different employment opportunities, as well as wage differentials. Whilst recognising the positive effects that the industry has had on employment and income in the region, the briefing calls for
The lockdown of March 2020 in India witnessed one of the largest movements of migrants in the cou... more The lockdown of March 2020 in India witnessed one of the largest movements of migrants in the country. The state of Kerala was quick and efficient in responding to the challenges posed by the lockdown on its migrant population and in supporting its ‘guest workers’. While many studies have researched the material resources of migrants during the pandemic, such as income and food, few have investigated the subjective measures and emphasised the lived experiences of migrant workers. Drawing on the Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) approach which examines three dimensions of wellbeing, namely, (a) material, (b) relational and (c) subjective wellbeing, this article focuses on the mental health and wellbeing experiences of migrant workers during the first lockdown in Kerala. By deploying these wellbeing dimensions, the study looks at how migrant workers perceived and experienced the various interventions put in place by state and local governments, as well as voluntary initiatives a...
This article contributes to debates on global apparel workers’ health and well-being through an e... more This article contributes to debates on global apparel workers’ health and well-being through an examination of how Sri Lankan workers were affected and treated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on qualitative interviews in and around the Katunayake Export Processing Zone, the article takes the Sri Lankan apparel industry as a case study. It reconceptualises the “precarious working body” as a “collective body” in order to demonstrate how workers’ health was a matter of collective precariousness. Workers’ health was not only dependent on that of others around them inside densely populated factories, but was also shaped by systemic material and discursive practices that affected workers collectively. These material practices included labour control and incentive structures that prevented workers from seeking medical attention and taking leave when needed, which in turn led to the spread of the virus across factories. The discursive practices comprise the social stigma and devaluation...
This briefing explores the need to improve labour welfare in low-income economies that are rapidl... more This briefing explores the need to improve labour welfare in low-income economies that are rapidly integrating into global production networks. While corporate and civil society initiatives have received considerable attention in the literature, the dynamics and impacts of multinational and national government interventions have been much less scrutinised. Such multinational and national policy initiatives tend to promote industrial upgrading and competitiveness in global markets, but rarely focus on the welfare needs and vulnerabilities of those employed in export industries in the global south. Welfare issues include both the need for social protection and social security, and the payment of a living wage and decent returns to labour. Based on a case study of the Tiruppur garment industry in south India, this briefing explores some pressing work-related welfare issues faced by garment workers employed in different types of firms and under a variety of contractual arrangements. The briefing considers some implications of different employment regimes in terms of worker welfare and social security, and suggests new directions for policy making on these issues.
Villagers in Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu, India’s largest knitwear manufacturing and export h... more Villagers in Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu, India’s largest knitwear manufacturing and export hub, face different levels of hardship due to the lockdown in the wake of COVID-19. This article details the coping strategies of garment, power loom, and agricultural workers in two villages—Allapuram and Mannapalayam.
This briefing explores the ways in which Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies affect la... more This briefing explores the ways in which Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies affect labour regimes and the lives of workers at manufacturing sites in the Global South. It describes workers’ reactions to these policies, and the choices they make when faced with different regimes of work. The briefing calls for a recognition by labour standard interventions of the variety of employment regimes and the diversity of the workforce, and it addresses some possible ways to improve the particular conditions of women workers and migrant workers employed in large export industries in the Global South. In particular, it points to the importance of addressing workers’ needs and vulnerabilities outside the factories and in the urban neighbourhoods where they reside. Labouring for global markets: CSR lessons from a south Indian textile export cluster
Neoliberal economic policies are not new to India. While 1991 no doubt marked what Nayar calls a ... more Neoliberal economic policies are not new to India. While 1991 no doubt marked what Nayar calls a 'paradigm shift' from the state to the market (Nayar 2001: 129), processes of economic liberalisation were already introduced-albeit in a stealth-like and patchy manner-from the 1970s onwards (Nayar 2001). Over the last decades, therefore, neoliberal policies have facilitated the development of urban, industrial regions across India, of which the Tiruppur garment cluster in Tamil Nadu, South India, is a typical one. Yet, in a less direct manner, such policies have also brought about far-going transformations in rural society, which to date have been poorly documented, let alone conceptualised. 1 This research was funded by an ESRC-DFID Research Award (RES 167 25 0296) and is based on 12 months of field research in Tamil Nadu, conducted between August 2008 and July 2009. The research would not have been possible with the assistance of our research assistants-most especially Gayathri, Arul and Muthu. The paper has benefitted from comments by Chris Fuller, Judith Heyer, David Mosse, Christian Struempell, and Patrick Neveling as well as participants at the Neoliberal Crises in Post-Reform India conference, Halle, September 2009. transition would take place in all places and all contexts to the same extent, it was certainly the main form of change that he identified. However, even substantialization remains necessarily incomplete for Dumont as it 'cannot amount to a fundamental transformation of the whole system' (Fuller 1996: 12) because change remains confined to the politico-economic domain, which is itself encompassed by a religious ideology that remains untouched (Dumont 1970: 228). This last claim, however, has not stood up against empirical scrutiny. Several of the ethnographic contributions to Caste Today (1996), for example, clearly illustrated that the ideological and religious underpinnings of caste have largely waned, and that ideas of purity and pollution have lost much-if not all-of their legitimacy (Fuller 1996; Deliège 1996; Mayer 1996). Much of the literature on urban India in particular argues that while caste differences remain present, it is class position, culture and lifestyle that constitute the new idioms through which difference and separation are expressed and shaped (Donner 2008; Fernandes 2006; Liechty 2003). Against Dumont, therefore, there appears to be almost total agreement about the erosion of the ideology of purity and pollution as the basis of caste, at least as far as non-Dalit groups are concerned. However, when it comes to interactions between caste Hindus and Dalits, ideas of pollution and practices of untouchability have not completely vanished (Gorringe and Rafanell 2007; Mosse 1994; Still 2009). This leaves us with the obvious questions of what happened to caste, and indeed to substantialization?
Amidst new global initiatives to promote garment workers' health and safety following a spate of ... more Amidst new global initiatives to promote garment workers' health and safety following a spate of deadly factory disasters across the Global South, this critical review calls for an expanded research agenda that looks beyond the workplace to examine the complex politics, spatialities, and temporalities of garment workers' health and wellbeing. Drawing on ethnographic research on garment workers across South Asia, we argue against a narrow, technocratic, and depoliticised emphasis on physical infrastructures and building safety, and advocate instead a more holistic and politically-engaged research approach to the everyday health and wellbeing of workers. A conceptual focus on health and wellbeing offers a window onto workers' employment experiences and reveals how routine work pressures, exhaustion and ill health are shaped by the dynamics of global supply chains, even well after workers have disengaged from these global circuits. Understanding how garment work affects workers' wellbeing and their prospects for a fulfilling life requires research that moves beyond the workplace and covers the entire life course.
This paper contributes to an empirical and theoretical understanding of democracy and political p... more This paper contributes to an empirical and theoretical understanding of democracy and political participation in India through an ethnographic study of the meanings attached to voting in rural Tamil Nadu. Based on a study of voting in a rural constituency during the 2009 national elections, the paper explores the variety of motivations that compel people to vote. It explores how voting is informed by popular understandings of rights and duties as citizens, programmatic policies and their local implementation, commitment to caste and party loyalties, and authority of charismatic leaders. The paper explores the roots of the political consciousness and rights awareness that underpin high levels of electoral participation. It suggests that elections form unique moments that allow ordinary people to experience an individual sense of citizenship and of democracy itself while at the same time allowing them to pursue projects of recognition, respect and assertion as members of communities. It is precisely this dual feature that makes voting so enduringly attractive to India's contemporary electorate.
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Papers by Geert De Neve