Uncovering the Capitalist Footprint: An Examination of the Land-People Nexus in Wayanad through Valli
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/rk.v48i3.62717Keywords:
Adivasi, Wayanad, environmental degradation, climate change, indigenous exploitationAbstract
The exploitation of Adivasis, by capitalist forces in Wayanad, Kerala, India is a complex issue that has been ongoing for years. Adivasis in Wayanad have faced bonded slavery, been displaced from their lands, faced loss of resources, and other forms of exploitation, often driven by the interests of organisations seeking to profit from the area’s natural resources. This has resulted in the loss of traditional livelihoods, cultural practices, and community structures for the Adivasis, as well as environmental degradation. This research traces this capitalist exploitation and landlessness among the Adivasis through the lens of the novel Valli, originally published in Malayalam by Sheela Tomy and translated into English by Jayasree Kalathil. The study is based on a close reading and analysis of the text and its depiction of the Adivasi community and the challenges they have faced in the context of capitalist development and resource extraction in the post independent Wayanad.
Downloads
References
George, P. T. (2014, December 14). The Promised Land: Adivasi land struggles in Kerala. Ritimo. https://www.ritimo.org/The-Promised-Land-Adivasi-Land-Struggles-in-Kerala
Global Atlas of Environmental Justice. Eviction in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and Muthanga Adivasi agitation, Kerala, India. (2021, October 14). https://ejatlas.org/conflict/wayanand-kerala
Kjosavik, D. J., & Shanmugaratnam, N. (2007). Property Rights Dynamics and Indigenous Communities in Highland Kerala, South India: An Institutional-Historical Perspective. Modern Asian Studies, 41(6), 1183-1260. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4499817 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X06002617
Lane, F. C. (1969). Meanings of Capitalism. The Journal of Economic History, 29(1), 5-12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2115496 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050700097801
Mathew, J. (2006). Plantation Economy in Colonial Malabar-with Special Reference to Wayanad. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 67, 730-737. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44147992
Moore, J. W. (2014). The Value of Everything? Work, Capital, and Historical Nature in the Capitalist World-Ecology. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), 37(3-4), 245-292. http://www.jstor.org/stable/90011611
Navath, V. (2016). On Drought, Disease and Tribal Life in Kerala. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 77, 1092-1097. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26552749
Roy, T. (2012, December 17). A history of capitalism in India. South Asia@LSE. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2012/12/17/a-history-of-capitalism-in-india
Sadath, A. et al. (2019). Factors Associated with Alcohol Misuse among Indigenous Tribal Men in Wayanad: A Qualitative Study. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 41(6), pp. 516522. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpsym.ijpsym_326_19 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_326_19
Santhosh, R. (2008). Mapping of an Ethnohistory of the Paniyan: Some Preliminary Reflections. Indian Anthropologist, 38(1), 61-76. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41920057
Tomy, S. (2022). Valli [Jayashree. Kalathil, Trans.]. HarperCollins Publishers.
Münster, U. (2014). Invisible Labor: Adivasi Workers in the History of South Indian Forest Conservation. RCC Perspectives, 3, 53-58. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26241250
Vyas, P. et al. (2012). The Importance of “Becoming Aware”. In The 8th Philosophy of Management International Conference 2012. Oxford. http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/25728/
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Kaviya Kathiresan, Narasingaram Jayashree
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:
This work is under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivative 4.0 International License.- The authors can make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article published in this journal (eg, include it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book, personal website, blog or institutional repository), in the understanding that the commercial use of the work and its derivative work is restricted.
- Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish postprint version of the article published in our journal on the Internet, as it can lead to productive exchanges and a greater and faster dissemination of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).
