112 research outputs found
The Unfree Labour Category and Unfree Labour Estimates: A Continuum within Low-End Labour Relations
The article argues against the singling out of unfree labour as something wholly unique and entirely separate and different from other labour relations. Existing dichotomous approaches to freeâunfree labour hinder a proper understanding of these labour relations, both theoretically and empirically. It argues that the way in which both mainstream and Marxist approaches conceptualise and operationalise unfree/forced labour is problematic and proposes replacing the unfree-free dichotomy with a continuum of unfreedoms. Such unfreedoms should be understood as one among many âun-decentâ forms and aspects of labour relations. All of these can be understood as outcomes of the class struggle from above, which in todayâs world is part and parcel of neo-liberalism. The discussion is informed by examples primarily from India and China
Poverty Reduction Strategy Process and National Development Strategies in Asia: A Report to DFID
Introduction to the Special Issue: The Political Economy of Agrarian Change: Essays in Appreciation of Henry Bernstein
This special issue presents five essays and an interview in appreciation of Henry Bernstein. The essays â by major scholars in the field of agrarian political economy â engage with different aspects of Bernsteinâs oeuvre: from direct critical reflections on his approach to the peasantry and the agrarian question through to arguments developed in connection to his work on commercial capitalism, landed-property and the relationship between petty production and accumulation. This introduction briefly sets out some of the major aspects of Bernsteinâs distinctive editorial, pedagogical and theoretical contributions. It suggests that his most crucial and lasting contribution is in his absorption and ability to apply Marxâs theory and method as a living theoretical and analytical approach to the study of agrarian political economy
Jat Power and the Spread of the Farm Protests in Northern India
The combination of caste & farmer identity amongst the Jats in western UP uniquely strengthens the resistance to the farm laws, but also creates barriers to creating lasting solidarities with marginalised groups that the farm movement is trying to incorporate
Migration and the Invisible Economies of Care: Production, social reproduction and seasonal migrant labour in India
This paper focuses on the processes of migrant labour exploitation which are crucial for capitalist growth and the inequalities they generate. Ethnographic research conducted in different sites across India shows how patterns of seasonal labour migration are driven by class relations marked by hierarchies of identity (caste and tribe) and the spatial geopolitics of internal colonialism (region) â differences that are mobilised for accumulation. Labour migration scholarship has mainly explored sites of production. We extend recent social reproduction theory (SRT) and an older literature on labour migration and reproduction to argue that the intimate relationship between production and social reproduction is crucial to the exploitation of migrant labour and that this means we have to place centreâstage the analysis of invisible economies of care which take place across spatiotemporally divided households, both in the place of migration and in the home regions of migrants. Furthermore, we develop recent work on SRT and migration to argue that an analysis of kinship (gender over generations, not just gender) is crucial to these invisible economies of care. This analysis is important in showing the machinations of capitalist growth and for political alternatives
Conjugated oppression within contemporary capitalism: class, caste, tribe and agrarian change in India
Neoliberal globalisation has resulted in the bypassing of agrarian transition-led industrialisation and classic proletarianisation, and class-for-itself class struggles are rare. Drawing on analyses of class relations, racism and other forms of social oppression, this contribution explores how processes of âconjugated oppressionâ are central to the spread of contemporary capitalism. The focus is on India and on how the co-constitution of class relations and social oppression based on caste, tribe, gender and region is entrenching Dalits and Adivasis at the bottom of social and economic hierarchies. The analysis has deep-seated consequences for how we think about political struggles, in this case ones that foreground caste and tribe and focus on both labour and land
Asymmetric Orbifolds and Higher Level Models
I introduce a class of string constructions based on asymmetric orbifolds
leading to level two models. In particular, I derive in detail various models
with gauge groups and SO(10), including a four generation model
with two adjoint representations. The occurrence of multiple adjoint
representations is a generic feature of the construction. In the course of
describing this approach, I will address the problem of twist phases in higher
twisted sectors of asymmetric orbifolds.Comment: 30 pages of LaTe
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