RUcore: Rutgers University Community Repository
From illegal to organic
Descriptive
TypeOfResource
Text
TitleInfo
Title
From illegal to organic
SubTitle
fair trade-organic tea production and women's political futures in Darjeeling, India
Identifier
ETD_1948
Identifier
(type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.2/rucore10001600001.ETD.000052263
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T34X57Z0
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO 639-3:2007);
(type = text)
English
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
Subject
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Anthropology
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Tea trade--India--Darjeeling
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Anti-globalization movement
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Women agricultural laborers--India--Darjeeling
Subject
(authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
Darjeeling (India)--Economic conditions
Subject
(authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
Darjeeling (India)--Commerce
Abstract
My dissertation is an ethnographic engagement with the localized effects of emerging global ethical regimes like Fair Trade. It explores the meaning and materiality of Fair Trade as it unfolds among women producers in Darjeeling's tea industry. It looks at how the specifics of agricultural commodity production premised on organic and Fair Trade stipulations can influence the bargaining power of marginalized women producers in formal and informal production settings. Grounded in anthropological theory and methods, this project contributes to recent debates among feminist scholars on issues of work under neoliberal production systems and women's political agency, interdisciplinary research on global alternative trade, south Asian labor ethnographies and scholarship on social justice.
While Fair Trade-organic production is looked upon by its founders, activists, and participating NGOs as an antidote to the problems of corporate globalization, this project investigates such optimism ethnographically by examining whether Fair Trade is indeed effective for marginal producer groups, and if so, under what conditions this is the case. To do so, my dissertation compares how engagement with the Fair Trade movement has influenced the autonomy and livelihoods of two different groups of women working in the Fair Trade organic tea industry in Darjeeling, India--plantation workers and small scale farmers. I found that women tea farmers (independent farmers growing organic tea in their own land) tend to be more politically active than women plantation workers (wage laborers), even though the plantation workers have a long history of labor activism. My in-depth ethnographic research shows that women tea farmers are more effective in connecting their struggles against economic and cultural domination to the goals of the Fair Trade movement. They become more active in community affairs and undertake new business ventures by combating middlemen. In contrast, women plantation workers, despite their prior labor activism, are relatively incapable of mobilizing the Fair Trade movement to their own benefit, in spite of having their own informal networks. Key reasons for the difference include the different institutional structures of collective bargaining, access to resources (land), existing gender ideologies of work, and gendered community histories of political involvement in previous movements.
While Fair Trade-organic production is looked upon by its founders, activists, and participating NGOs as an antidote to the problems of corporate globalization, this project investigates such optimism ethnographically by examining whether Fair Trade is indeed effective for marginal producer groups, and if so, under what conditions this is the case. To do so, my dissertation compares how engagement with the Fair Trade movement has influenced the autonomy and livelihoods of two different groups of women working in the Fair Trade organic tea industry in Darjeeling, India--plantation workers and small scale farmers. I found that women tea farmers (independent farmers growing organic tea in their own land) tend to be more politically active than women plantation workers (wage laborers), even though the plantation workers have a long history of labor activism. My in-depth ethnographic research shows that women tea farmers are more effective in connecting their struggles against economic and cultural domination to the goals of the Fair Trade movement. They become more active in community affairs and undertake new business ventures by combating middlemen. In contrast, women plantation workers, despite their prior labor activism, are relatively incapable of mobilizing the Fair Trade movement to their own benefit, in spite of having their own informal networks. Key reasons for the difference include the different institutional structures of collective bargaining, access to resources (land), existing gender ideologies of work, and gendered community histories of political involvement in previous movements.
PhysicalDescription
Form
(authority = gmd)
electronic resource
Extent
xiv, 273 p. : ill.
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-272)
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Debarati Sen
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Sen
NamePart
(type = given)
Debarati
NamePart
(type = date)
1976-
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
author
DisplayForm
Debarati Sen
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Hodgson
NamePart
(type = given)
Dorothy
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
chair
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Dorothy L Hodgson
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Hughes
NamePart
(type = given)
David
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
David M Hughes
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Ahearn
NamePart
(type = given)
Laura
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Laura M Ahearn
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Fernandes
NamePart
(type = given)
Leela
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
outside member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Leela Fernandes
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
school
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact)
2009
DateOther
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2009-10
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation
(authority = marcorg);
(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
Back to the top
Rights
RightsDeclaration
(AUTHORITY = GS);
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Notice
Note
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
Note
RightsHolder
(ID = PRH-1);
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Sen
GivenName
Debarati
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
(AUTHORITY = rulib);
(ID = RE-1)
Type
Permission or license
Label
Place
DateTime
2009-07-31 16:03:21
Detail
AssociatedEntity
(AUTHORITY = rulib);
(ID = AE-1)
Role
Copyright holder
Name
Debarati Sen
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
(AUTHORITY = rulib);
(ID = AO-1)
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
RightsEvent
(AUTHORITY = rulib);
(ID = RE-2)
Type
Embargo
Label
Place
DateTime
2011-04-11
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request.
AssociatedObject
(AUTHORITY = );
(ID = )
Type
Detail
Back to the top
Technical
ContentModel
ETD
MimeType
(TYPE = file)
application/pdf
MimeType
(TYPE = container)
application/x-tar
FileSize
(UNIT = bytes)
2600960
Checksum
(METHOD = SHA1)
9f20bc84106d3e2809fe5da36d0341091b887f71
Back to the top
Statistical Profile