African Farmers in Colonial Kigezi, Uganda, 1930-1962: Opportunity, Constraint and Sustainability.

Focusing on the changing relationship of land and political authority, this thesis examines the implementation of colonial policies related to agricultural development and land tenure. It looks in particular at how policies were received by local populations and how they affected longer term land use change, up to the period of Independence. The study focuses on the area of Kigezi, in southwestern Uganda. It is an empirical study using archival sources in Uganda and the UK as well as a large number of interviews with farmers from the area. The themes around which the thesis focuses include the role and functioning of the colonial state; consideration of the population / environment debate; questions of sustainability and longer term land use change; and changing political authority and the implications for access to land. The thesis opens by examining some of the themes and broader debates which it will contribute to and gives background information on the geographical, economic, administrative and early history of the district. Chapter 2 examines agricultural development in Kigezi from the arrival of British colonial authority laying the foundation for a deeper analysis into land and politics in Kigezi. It looks at policies related to the production and marketing of both cash crops and food crops, and suggests that the failure of the British to fully appreciate the vitality of the food crop sector in Kigezi was a major misunderstanding and weakness on the part of the British. Chapter 3 focuses on the growing concern over soil erosion seen from the 1930s. It details the formulation of colonial policy and evaluates the implementation of these policies, finding that Kigezi differed from other schemes in colonial Africa, in that the policies were implemented with little resistance from local populations. It suggests that precolonial methods of prevention of soil erosion, the gradual introduction of the policies, the emphasis on propaganda and incentives, and the efficient working of the structure of chiefs explain the success of the Kigezi scheme. The following chapter looks at the colonial policies related to land tenure and how they were implemented in Kigezi. In particular it looks at granting of titles, the policies of consolidation and enclosure and farm planning, and shows how some individuals took advantage of the opportunities offered by these policies. As the colonial period progressed authority over land became linked to positions of political authority in the colonial state. Chapters 5 and 6 are case studies which illustrate the importance of the relationship between political authority and control over the access of land. The first study looks at the policy of swamp reclamation, while the second looks at Kalengyere Estate which was leased for the growing of pyrethrum and later returned to the local population. Both these studies show how land was distributed or allocated to the local population during the 1950s, and illustrate the influence of political authority on the allocation of that land. They also illustrate clearly how colonial policies presented the opportunity for some individuals to substantially increase their access to land. The final chapter concludes and discusses briefly some of the developments seen in this district in the post-independence period

Tamil Nadu election Report, India, 2009

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Training for employment or skilling up from employment? Jobs and skills acquisition in the Tiruppur textile region, India

This paper explores how skills for garment work are acquired in the rural hinterland of Tiruppur, one of India’s largest garment manufacturing clusters. Drawing on a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews with garment workers in Tiruppur’s hinterland, we document the informal pathways of skill acquisition for garment work and advocate a demand-driven approach to vocational training. Such an approach, first, unsettles linear policy assumptions about direct linkages between training, skills acquisition and access to decent and rewarding employment. We show how rather than being formally trained for employment, villagers gained skills from employment and upskilled themselves on the job. Such upskilling took the form of self-directed learning rather than formal training, and involved spatial and job mobility between companies and sectors. Second, a demand-driven perspective reveals how access to more advanced skills and more desirable jobs is shaped by the structural inequalities of gender, age and caste, which curtail the opportunities of women and the elderly in particular. Finally, policy and research would benefit from a demand-driven approach to training and recruitment that prioritises the skill development needs of local populations and that supports those whose participation in training and labour markets remains constrained by gender, age or caste

Struggles over work take place at home: women’s decisions, choices and constraints in the Tiruppur textile industry, India

Examining women’s choices around paid work in south India, this article shows the need to pay greater attention to the sphere of reproduction, and in particular the way that women endeavour to fit their productive work around their reproductive roles and responsibilities. Focussing on the region of the Tiruppur garment cluster in Tamil Nadu, India, it outlines the opportunities available to rural women, shedding light first on women’s decisions whether to work or not, and second, on how women choose between particular types of work available to them. The article demonstrates the primacy of the reproductive economy in shaping women's movements in and out of paid work, particularly the importance of stage in life course, household composition and patriarchal control to women’s decisions. Main findings of the article are that most women work, but their particular job choices reflect multiple social and reproductive constraints, while those who withdraw from work have been subjected to new expressions of patriarchy. The article advances understandings in feminist geographies of work by drawing on ethnographic insights to highlight the mutual embeddedness of the reproductive and productive economies

Cultivating success in Uganda: Kigezi farmers and colonial policies

Kigezi, a district in south-western Uganda, has proved itself to be an area of exceptionality in many ways. In contrast to many other parts of the colonial world this district did not adopt cash crops, successfully adopted soil conservation practices, and had a remarkably developed and individualised land market. This book presents a comprehensive study of livelihoods in Kigezi. Its findings are particularly exciting for all those involved in the ongoing key debates in natural resource management and environmental history. Following the lead of groundbreaking studies by Tiffen, Fairhead and Leach, this case study pushes this debate forward, exploring how the political economy of land and labour has been transformed alongside a more positive environmental story

Dalits and local labour markets in rural India: experiences from the Tiruppur textile region in Tamil Nadu

This article asks how labour markets are changing in the context of wider transformations in the rural economy. Drawing on evidence from two villages in southern India, which are both close to, and deeply affected by, a major textile industry cluster, the article examines local labour markets, arguing that labour market segmentation is not simply caste-based. While some Dalits from one village have gained access to jobs in export markets, the same group of Dalits from another village have not. Furthermore, different groups of Dalits have had very different experiences of accessing jobs in urban areas, and the article shows that barriers to entry are located more in the rural social economy than in the urban industry. It is argued that villages only a few miles apart have very different local labour markets because they are uniquely and variously embedded in local institutions that interact with economic transformations in contingent ways. The article shows that having an industry on your doorstep means very different things for different people

Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Ethiopia

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