(Re-)Negotiating Gender and Class:New Forms of Cooperation Among Small-Scale Fishers in Tamil Nadu

This paper explores new forms of cooperation emerging among small-scale fishers along the east coast of Tamil Nadu, as responses to wider transformations in fisheries and coastal landscapes. Increase in competition for limited open access resources has resulted in a capitalization of fisheries, with those able to invest reaping benefits and others risking marginalization. In order to retain their status as fishers rather than labourers, and gain a voice in decision-making structures, dominated by the traditional elites, many small-scale fishers have been experimenting with new forms of cooperation involving the shared ownership of large boats, engines and other modern technologies. In the process, one finds shifts in class, caste, gender and generational roles, relations and identities. Based on data collected from a survey of 200 households and in-depth interviews with 20 households in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, we explore the processes of negotiation and renegotiation of both gender and class identities, and their intersections. How are new institutional practices and forms of cooperation (and conflict) enabling a more equitable sharing of resources and benefits, and in which ways are they further entrenching inequalities

Well-being and Mobility of Female-Heads of Households in a fishing village in South India

This paper focuses on how Female Heads of Households (FHHs) in a village in Cuddalore District, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, have tried to achieve their various well-being targets and overcome their vulnerabilities through engaging in fish trading and auctioning that in turn involves moving within and outside their village. The study is based on a three-week fieldwork undertaken in April and May 2017, including multiple methods, such as observations, village walks, informal discussions, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews. We address how FHHs’ well-being intersects with old vulnerabilities that are an inherent part of their fishing culture (caste, class and gender) and new vulnerabilities created due to precarities related to mechanized fishing, modernization and post-tsunami development. We found that the complex situation of vulnerability and precarity in the fishing sector have affected the material, relational, and subjective wellbeing of FHHs differently, benefitting some female auctioneers but not the majority of fish vendors. In particular, the mobility of younger FHHs was restricted due to familial and social expectations