Title: Living at the Margins: the Rising Precarity of Female Prawn Seedling Catchers in the Sunderbans, India Overveiw:Tiger prawns, the “living dollars of the Sundarbans” are a delicacy that fetches very high prices, and India today, has become a leading exporter of tiger prawns in the world. The shrimp industry in the country contributes to 13 per cent of global shrimp production (second after China) and is the top exporter to the US at 41 per cent (Sea Food Watch, 2019). However, the effects of this booming industry, rarely percolates down to the bottom of the supply chain- the rural female labour. This paper focuses on women prawn seedling catchers of the Sundarbans, where poverty drives more than 200,000 women every year to collect tiger prawn seedlings under perilous, unsavory, and unrewarding conditions. The expansion of prawn cultivation through the Sundarbans has transformed the agricultural and biodiversity landscape of the region, with many vulnerable households, and women in particular, seeing this as the only option left to eke out a living. The Covid -19 pandemic further has added to the growing pressures on their already precarious livelihoods with rising indebtedness alongside competition from the male labour force. This research on the Sundarbans in West Bengal, delves into the myriad ways the female prawn seedling catchers engage in various survival strategies of securing their livelihood, where alongside the rising precarity, they are drawn into debt induced force labour; while the industry is on a trajectory of growth.
keywords
Critical Development Geographer, Gender, Migration, Labour geographies, Agrarian Political Economy, Rural development, Social justice with a focus on food and water security
Teaching
courses taught
GEOG 1962 - Geographies of Global Change
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2023 / Spring 2024
Familiarizes students with a geographic understanding of conflicts around the globe and of economic, political and cultural globalization. Analyzes the relationship between global forces, regions and local interests in contemporary territorial and geopolitical tensions and conflicts, emphasizing issues such as nationalism, migration, labor and natural resources. Formerly GEOG 2002.
GEOG 1982 - World Regional Geography
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023
Introduces a comparative framework for recognizing and understanding world regions. Units combine historical understanding with discussion of problems and challenges that face them, including discussion of economic growth, inequality, political conflict, colonialism, race and climate change.
GEOG 1992 - Human Geographies
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2023
Examines social, political, economic, and cultural processes creating the geographical worlds in which we live, and how these spatial relationships shape our everyday lives. Studies urban growth, geopolitics, agricultural development and change, economic growth and decline, population dynamics, and migration exploring both how these processes work at global scale as well as shape geographies of particular places.
GEOG 3422 - Political Ecology
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2023
Introduces students to political ecology, an influential approach to understanding society-environment relationships. Explores issues including different philosophies of nature and wilderness, the politics of conservation, causes of environmental degradation, environmental conflict and indigenous ecological knowledge. Recommended prerequisite: GEOG 1972.
GEOG 3682 - Geography of International Development
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2023 / Fall 2023
Compares and contrasts global characteristics and processes of development, emphasizing the developing countries of the world. Integrates theories of development, specific development topics, and case studies to explore the problems of development. Recommended prerequisite: GEOG 1962 or GEOG 1972 or GEOG 1982 or GEOG 1992 or GEOG 2092.
GEOG 3742 - Place, Power, and Contemporary Culture
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024
Examines the relationship between places, power, and the dynamics of culture. Explores how the globalization of economics, politics, and culture shapes cultural change. Looks at how place-based cultural politics both assist and resist processes of globalization. Recommended prerequisite: GEOG 1962 or GEOG 1982 or GEOG 1992 or GEOG 2092.
GEOG 3832 - Geographies of South Asia
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024
Examine the geographies of South Asia through four interrelated themes: Territory, Trade, Transportation, and Tributaries. Learn about territory including physical features, political conflicts and changing borders. Explore trade, transportation routes, and tributaries to understand economic, social/cultural and political geographies. Investigate culture and society through analyses of gender roles/relations. Recommended prerequisites: GEOG 1962 or GEOG 1972 or GEOG 1982 or GEOG 1992 or GEOG 2092.
GEOG 3930 - Internship
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024
Provides an academically supervised opportunity for advanced geography or environmental studies majors to work in public and private organizations on projects related to the student's career goals and to relate classroom theory to practice. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Instructor consent required.
GEOG 4173 - Research Seminar
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
Examines the nature of research and develops pregraduate skills for geographic research, emphasizing problem definition, methods, sources, data interpretation, and writing. Recommended for students pursuing honors.
