Might be of interest.
For YETI
Debabrata Phukon
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Madhavi Latha" <madhavi@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 26 Feb 2018 1:49 pm
Subject: Talk by Soundarya Iyer on March 5, 2018 (Monday) at 3:45 pm
To: "Madhavi Latha" <madhavi@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc:
You are cordially invited to a talk titled
* Dynamics of Rural Transformation in Karnataka: A View from three
Villages *
by
*Soundarya Iyer*
*Post-Doctoral Fellow, IIHS, Bangalore*
Date & Time: Monday, 5th March 2018 at 03:45pm
Venue: Auditorium
*Abstract:*
The transition from a rural to an urban economy in India is implicitly
taken to be inevitable and uniform across diverse regions of the country.
An exploration of this transition however suggests significant regional
diversity. This diversity can be seen not just in the transition from the
rural to the urban but also in the change within the rural. This thesis
makes use of the fact that Karnataka provides diversity across multiple
axes, with the extremes being found in poorer northeastern Karnataka, the
rapidly changing coastal Karnataka, and the resilient old Mysore region in
the south. It chooses three villages to represent this diversity: Mahagaon
in the northeastern region of the state, Naravi in the coastal region, and
Iggaluru in the south. The Census of India had studied these villages in
detail in the Village Survey Monographs, 1961. While most studies on
Karnataka have focused on episodes such as land reforms, green revolution
and decentralization, the primary objective of this thesis has been to
trace processes of rural transformation that connect these episodes in
these villages of Karnataka over half a century using quantitative and
qualitative research methods. While several socio-historical, ecological
and economic factors play a role in determining the path of transformation,
there are common underlying processes, such as the subdivision of land,
mobility of capital and labour, and decentralization, that interact with
the specific regional contexts resulting in diversity. The thesis
conceptualizes diversity in transformation in the three villages as
follows: Localized urbanization in Mahagaon where productivity constraints
placed by the environment as well as the agrarian system leave labour with
few opportunities, leading to repeated cycles of circular migration that
result in urbanization in the village; Localized modernity in Naravi in the
coastal Karnataka region, where land reforms not only drastically transform
land relations but also change the nature of the family, leading to a rise
in individualism and identity politics in the village alongside
technological developments and progress in education; and Agrarian
resilience in Iggaluru, where majority of the population continues to stay
in agriculture due to state investment in irrigation, even as other
fundamental charges occur in cropping patterns, labour relations as well as
in education.
*About the speaker*
Soundarya Iyer is a Post-Doctoral Fellow working in the CARIAA
(Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Asia and Africa) project
at IIHS, Bangalore. Her research focuses on understanding barriers and
enablers to climate change adaptation. Her doctoral dissertation traced the
processes of rural transformation in three villages of the south Indian
state of Karnataka using mixed methods. Soundarya has been trained in life
sciences and was researching questions of evolutionary biology in
laboratory settings before she moved to development studies in 2010. Her
approach to research has been interdisciplinary ever since.
------------------------------
*Tea/coffee will be served downstairs at 3:30 PM*
--
__________________________________________________________________
Madhavi Latha G
The Academy for Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE),
Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur PO
Bangalore 560064, India
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Phone: +91-80-23635555 Extn: 121
Fax: +91-80-23530070
E-mail: madhavi@xxxxxxxxx
_________________________________________________________________
--
__________________________________________________________________
Madhavi Latha G
The Academy for Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE),
Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur PO
Bangalore 560064, India
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Phone: +91-80-23635555 Extn: 121
Fax: +91-80-23530070
E-mail: madhavi@xxxxxxxxx
_________________________________________________________________