Geography Department Discoveries Speaker Series presents:
Terah Sportel, PhD (Guelph)
Geography, UFV
Thurs, Oct 17
2:30-3:30 pm
Abby A413 (Abbotsford campus)
Agency within a socially regulated labour market: a study of ‘unorganized’ agricultural labour in Kerala
Kerala’s coconut economy has experienced market change post-agricultural liberalization.The government indicated these changes, including increasing imports of palm oil and new international trade agreements, have led to a crisis; an issue of considerable importance to the state economy and farmers’ livelihoods. More recent explanations include a labour shortage; particularly an inadequate supply of coconut pluckers.This simplistic view masks the complexity of local labour dynamics in an ‘unorganized’ labour market. A more nuanced understanding derived from 18 months of research, and attention to geographical, historical and political-economic processes, reveals that labour market organization varies regionally. Difficulties in the coconut economy are more adequately explained through regional socio-economic change, and the inability to sufficiently control labour.
10/17/2013
Start time: 02:30 pm
End time: 03:30 pm