State-Led Development and the Cultural Economy of Trade in a South Indian Fishery

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Notes

1 See generally Katharine C. Rankin, The Cultural Politics of Markets: Economic Liberalization and Social Change in Nepal (2004); The Moral Economy of Trade: Ethinicity and Developing Markets (Hans-Dieter Evers & Heiko Schrader eds., 1994); Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (1944); Bernard Barber, All Economies Are “Embedded”: The Career of a Concept, and Beyond, 62 Soc. Res., no. 2, at 387 (1995); Mark Granovetter, Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness, 91 Am. J. Soc., no. 3 at 481 (1985).

2 See generally, e.g., Linda J. Seligmann, Peruvian Street Lives: Culture, Power, and Economy Among Market Women of Cuzco (2004); Evers & Schrader, supra note 1; Florence E. Babb, Between Field and Cooking Pot: The Political Economy of Marketwomen in Peru (rev. ed. 1989); R.L. Stirrat, On the Beach: Fishermen, Fishwives and Fishtraders in Post-Colonial Lanka (1988).

3 See Doreen Massey, Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production (2d ed. 1995); John A. Agnew, Place and Politics: The Geographical Mediation of State and Society (1987); Robert Henry Tufrey Smith, Market-Place Trade: Periodic Markets, Hawkers, and Traders in Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Robert H.T. Smith ed., 1978); Maureen Hays-Mitchell, Streetvending in Peruvian Cities: The Spatio-Temporal Behavior of Ambulantes, 46 The Prof. Geographer, no. 4, at 425 (1994).

4 George E. Marcus & Michael M.J. Fischer, Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human Sciences (2d ed. 1986).

5 Kerala Gov't Statistical Cell of the Directorate of Fisheries, Kerala Fisheries Statistics at a Glance 2014–15, available at http://www.fisheries.kerala.gov.in/images/pdf2015/fisheries_%20statics_glance2015; Kerala Gov't Statistical Cell of the Directorate of Fisheries, Kerala Marine Fisheries Statistics 2013, at 27, available at http://www.fisheries.kerala.gov.in/images/go/marine_statistics2013.pdf.

6 Kerala Marine Fisheries Statistics 2013, supra note 5, at 13; Kerala Gov't Statistical Cell of the Directorate of Fisheries, Kerala Marine Fisheries Statistics, 2002 (combined, frozen shrimp, squid, and cuttlefish constitute approximately 74 percent of the total value of marine exports).

7 Gov't of Kerala Dep't of Fisheries, Fisheries Facts and Figures, 1981, at 150 (although housing conditions and educational levels have improved in the past two decades, fisherfolk communities continue to lag behind the rest of society in terms of overall socioeconomic status).

8 John Kurien, Kerala's Marine Fisheries Development Experience, in Kerala's Economy: Performance, Problems, Prospects (B.A. Prakash ed., 1994).

9 John Kurien & Sebastian Matthew, Technological Change in Fishing: Its Impact on Fisherman (Ctr. for Dev. Studies ed., 1982).

10 John Kurien, The Marketing of Marine Fish Inside Kerala State: A Preliminary Study (Ctr. for Dev. Studies ed., 1984).

11 Kerala Marine Fisheries Statistics, 2013, supra note 5.

12 Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Marine Fisheries Census (2005).

13 In Christian and some Hindu fisherfolk communities, men fish and women process the catch and take it to market. Women in Muslim communities engage in home-based fish processing work but, with a few exceptions, generally do not market fish. See Holly M. Hapke, Petty Traders, Gender, and Development in a South Indian Fishery, 77 Econ. Geography, no. 3, 225–249 (2001); Holly M. Hapke, Fish Mongers, Markets, and Mechanization: Gender and the Economic Transformation of an Indian Fishery (1996) (unpublished PhD dissertation, Syracuse University), available at http://surface.syr.edu/geo_etd/44.

14 P.N. Dhar, The Indian Economy: Past Performances and Current Issues, in The Indian Economy: Recent Development and Future Prospects (Robert E.B. Lucas & Gustav F. Papanek eds., 1988).

15 Id.; Francine R. Frankel, India's Political Economy, 1947–77: The Gradual Revolution, 90 The Econ. J., no. 357, at 193–195 (1980).

16 John Kurien, Technical Assistance Projects and Socio-Economic Change: Norwegian Intervention in Kerala's Fisheries Development, 20 Econ. & Pol. Wkly. no. 25/26, at A70, A72 (1985).

17 Id.

18 Kurien, supra note 16, at A71.

19 V.R. Pillai, A Study of the Economy of Fisherfolk in Kerala (1959); see generally Kurien, supra note 16; Kurien, supra note 8 (arguing that this assessment of the Centre was misguided and that the significant increases in fish harvests achieved in Kerala in the 1950s were accomplished by improvements to existing craft and gear and by the provision of materials and financial assistance to fishermen. It may also be argued that fisherfolk were poor not from inefficient production but from debt bondage to middlemen who controlled distribution outlets for fish).

20 Jean-Philippe Platteau, The Drive Towards Mechanization of Small-Scale Fisheries in Kerala: A Study of the Transformation Process of Traditional Village Societies, 15 Dev. & Change, no. 1, at 65–103 (1984).

21 Id.

22 See Kurien, supra note 16, at A72 (discussing at length the differing visions and objectives of the Norwegian and Indian governments with respect to development assistance the eventual form that the INP took).

23 Kurien, supra note 16, at A73.

24 P. Ibrahim, Fisheries Development in India (1992).

25 John Kurien & T.R. Thankappan Achari, On Ruining the Commons and the Commoner: The Political Economy of Overfishing 5 (Ctr. For Dev. Stud., Working Paper No. 232, 1989).

26 Id. at 5, 13.

27 Id. at 6, 13; Kurien, supra note 16, at A74.

28 Frankel, supra note 15; Dhar, supra note 14.

29 Kurien, supra note 16, at A75–76.

30 Id. at A76.

31 Id. at A76.

32 Id. at A76.

33 Id.; Kurien, supra note 8.

34 See generally Kurien, supra note 16; Kurien, supra note 8; Kurien & Matthew, supra note 9; Platteau, supra note 21.

35 On the ramifications of mechanization for production relations in fishing, see generally Kurien, supra note 16; Kurien, supra note 8; Kurien & Matthew, supra note 9; Platteau, supra note 21 (discussing the ramification of mechanization for production relations in fishing).

36 See generally Kurien, supra note 16; Kurien, supra note 8; Kurien & Matthew, supra note 9; Platteau, supra note 21.

37 Gov't of Kerala, supra note 7; Kurien & Achari, supra note 26; John Kurien & T.R. Thankappan Achari, Overfihing Along Kerala Coast-Causes and Consequences, 25 Econ. & Pol. Wkly., no. 35–36, 2011 (1990); Programme for Community Organization & South Indian federation of Fisherman Societies, Motorisation of Fishing Units: Benefits and Burdens (1991) (Summary Report).

38 See South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS), Motorisation of Fishing Units: Benefits and Burdens (1991).

39 Gov't of Kerala Dep't of Fisheries, Kerala Marine Fisheries Statistics, 2013, available at http://www.fisheries.kerala.gov.in/images/go/marine_statistics2013.pdf.

40 A. Baviskar, S. Sinha, & K. Philip, Rethinking Indian Environmentalism: Industrial Pollution in Delhi and Fisheries in Kerala, in Forging Environmentalism: Justice, Livelihood, and Contested Environments 189–256 (J. Bauer ed., 2006); See Generally Gov't of Kerala Dep't of Fisheries, A.K. Mohammed et al., Report of the Committee to Evaluate Fish Wealth and Impact of Trawl Ban along Kerala Coast (2014).

41 Id. at 230.

42 See Kurien, supra note 8; Ibrahim, supra note 25; John Kurien, Evolving Towards Unsustainability: A Personal Statement on Kerala's Marine Fishery Spanning Three Decades, 1 Int'l J. Rural Management, no. 1, at 73–96 (2005) (arguing that NGO-supported community-based cooperatives have been more successful than state efforts in breaking debt bondage to middleman-financiers, but in other respects they have not performed to full potential).

43 Gov't of Kerala, supra note 40. Author's Note: The Director of Fisheries, Valsalakumari, told me in an interview in 1994 that she wanted to organize a women's bank to address women fish traders' credit needs, but she was transferred to another post before she could accomplish this.

44 This is because their range of mobility is more limited, and fisherfolk are very territorial in terms of who is allowed to land where. Even if locals allow outsiders to land fish, they may not be allowed to sell it.

45 Large retail vendors buy 5–10 crates of fish that are then sold by their hired salespersons, usually men, but sometimes women in retail marketplaces.

46 Pullis range in size depending on the type of fish and daily price. They may consist of 8–10 medium sized fish (such as tuna or mackerel) or of 1–2 kg of small fish (such as anchovy).

47 Until about 15 years ago, most men rode bicycles, and a few men had motorbikes. Today almost all men now have motorbikes or other form of motorized transport.

48 Central Marine Fisheries Institute, Marine Fisheries Census (2005). Author's Note: I also used my own estimates based on fieldwork and discussions with social worker-activists engaged in fisherfolk development in the district.

49 The theme of physical violence in marketplace interactions arose frequently in interviews with both men and women fish traders.

50 A lakh is 100,000.

51 “Trivandrum” refers to both the district and the capital city that lies within the district. See infra Figure 2.

52 Although fish is consumed in other states in India, Kerala and West Bengal are the only states with strong fish-based culinary cultures. Once transportation and freezing infrastructure allowed long-distance fish trade, urban areas in Kerala became ripe markets for fish landed in India's other coastal states.

53 For an extended analysis and discussion of the impacts of economic transformation on women fish traders, see Hapke, Petty Traders, supra note 13; and Hapke, Fish mongers, markets, and mechanization, supra note 13.

54 See Hapke, Petty Traders, supra note 13; and Hapke, Fish Mongers, Markets, and Mechanization, supra note 13; Holly M. Hapke, Capturing the Complexities of Globalization in Fisheries: Gendered Divisions of Labour and Divisions of Labour and Difference, 25 S. Asian Fisheries Sci. Special Issue 75–92 (2012).