A1 Journal article (refereed)
Promises of Development, Land Acquisition, and Dispossession : A Car Factory Project and Peasants in West Bengal, India (2024)


Roy, D. (2024). Promises of Development, Land Acquisition, and Dispossession : A Car Factory Project and Peasants in West Bengal, India. Suomen antropologi, 48(3), 31-49. https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.131739


JYU authors or editors


Publication details

All authors or editors: Roy, Dayabati

Journal or series: Suomen antropologi

ISSN: 0355-3930

eISSN: 1799-8972

Publication year: 2024

Publication date: 10/09/2024

Volume: 48

Issue number: 3

Pages range: 31-49

Publisher: Suomen antropologinen seura

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: Finnish

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.131739

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/97130


Abstract

This article examines how the futures promised by the postcolonial state through various projects leave peasants sceptical about a new government project at the rural margin of India. Focusing on a car factory project undertaken in 2006 by the government of the West Bengal Indian state, I explore how a half century-long project of land reforms shaped the dispossession politics of the peasants whose lands have been acquired for a car factory project. Based on an ethnography in Singur, this article explores how a car factory project at the very onset of its implementation
instilled a sense of harm to life and livelihoods. Consequently, that project produced forms of spatiotemporal inequality between different socioeconomic groups in connection, not only with their ownership of land, but also with their respective vision of their work futures.


Keywords: postcolonialism; rural population; peasants; land ownership; land reform; industrialisation; justice

Free keywords: project form; dispossession; land acquisition; peasantry; India


Contributing organizations


Related projects


Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2024

Preliminary JUFO rating: 2


Last updated on 2024-20-09 at 12:40