James C. Scott
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300188301
- eISBN:
- 9780300189575
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300188301.003.0007
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Nature
This chapter focuses on the livelihoods of char dwellers by developing a sense of community that allows people to help each other in the struggle for survival. They have honed a fine appreciation of ...
More
This chapter focuses on the livelihoods of char dwellers by developing a sense of community that allows people to help each other in the struggle for survival. They have honed a fine appreciation of the nature of the river in order to use every bit of opportunity available to them and create a hybrid livelihood. The char location provides a unique setting, providing a geographical context in understanding the livelihood strategies of women-headed households. Choruas build a sense of community in securing livelihoods for themselves and their families. Chars are not deterritorialized in the process in which culture and power is enmeshed, even though in the chars, neither locality nor community is rooted in natural identities. Thus, char communities create new forms of economic citizenship that are beyond the state through their complex and hybrid livelihood strategies.Less
This chapter focuses on the livelihoods of char dwellers by developing a sense of community that allows people to help each other in the struggle for survival. They have honed a fine appreciation of the nature of the river in order to use every bit of opportunity available to them and create a hybrid livelihood. The char location provides a unique setting, providing a geographical context in understanding the livelihood strategies of women-headed households. Choruas build a sense of community in securing livelihoods for themselves and their families. Chars are not deterritorialized in the process in which culture and power is enmeshed, even though in the chars, neither locality nor community is rooted in natural identities. Thus, char communities create new forms of economic citizenship that are beyond the state through their complex and hybrid livelihood strategies.
Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Gopa Samanta
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300188301
- eISBN:
- 9780300189575
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300188301.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Nature
This book discusses chars as uniquely fluid environments where the demarcation between land and water is neither well defined nor permanent. Chars form a fluid and problematic category, as much of ...
More
This book discusses chars as uniquely fluid environments where the demarcation between land and water is neither well defined nor permanent. Chars form a fluid and problematic category, as much of politics and history as of the environment; both of these social and natural elements are products of control. Within the Gangetic plains, the focus in this book is on the Bengal delta, and specifically the bagri, or the western part of the delta. Lying outside or at the margins of the land revenue system, the complex and fluid environment of chars presents opportunities to some people. Understanding the transition to British rule is explained in this book. The livelihoods of people who neither benefited from rehabilitation programs nor were able to fully merge with the mainstream life are also explored. To study women-headed households, broadly ethnographic qualitative methods are employed. The livelihoods linked to the hybrid hydraulic regimes of tropical rivers are also intrinsically hybrid. On chars, water remains the most important source of wealth as well as the biggest threat to a secure life. No conventional ways of understanding security and vulnerability apply to the lives that are defined by water; people do the best they can on an everyday basis, either individually or collectively.Less
This book discusses chars as uniquely fluid environments where the demarcation between land and water is neither well defined nor permanent. Chars form a fluid and problematic category, as much of politics and history as of the environment; both of these social and natural elements are products of control. Within the Gangetic plains, the focus in this book is on the Bengal delta, and specifically the bagri, or the western part of the delta. Lying outside or at the margins of the land revenue system, the complex and fluid environment of chars presents opportunities to some people. Understanding the transition to British rule is explained in this book. The livelihoods of people who neither benefited from rehabilitation programs nor were able to fully merge with the mainstream life are also explored. To study women-headed households, broadly ethnographic qualitative methods are employed. The livelihoods linked to the hybrid hydraulic regimes of tropical rivers are also intrinsically hybrid. On chars, water remains the most important source of wealth as well as the biggest threat to a secure life. No conventional ways of understanding security and vulnerability apply to the lives that are defined by water; people do the best they can on an everyday basis, either individually or collectively.
