A Child of the City: a Longitudinal Study of Stratification and Migration in a Rajasthan Village

• Authors: J Howard M Jones
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

By reference to a multi-caste and tribal village in southern Rajasthan the paper examines the degree to which caste and tribal membership impacts on different aspects of migration, e.g. commencement, form, destination, duration, and types of work undertaken. Using a livelihoods approach, supplemented by other perspectives and concentrating on four migration streams (three domestic, one international), data collected over a period of nearly thirty-five years indicates that patterns of migration are far from random. It is argued that the use of official stratification categories in migration surveys can obscure important differences within caste groupings. Short-term circular migration, underestimated in national surveys, is shown to be substantial, especially for the tribal migrants in the village. While position in the social structure differentially affects aspects of migration across the village hierarchy, examples are given of individual migrant agency overcoming structural constraints.

Keywords

EN

stratification; caste; tribe; migration; livelihoods; Rajasthan; India

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: International Review of Social Research
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 107-117

Dates

published

2016-05-01

received

2015-08-10

accepted

2015-12-01

online

2016-08-06

Contributors

author

J Howard M Jones

• Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London

References

• Breman, J. (1996) Footloose labour. Working in India’s informal economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Census of India 2011
• Census of India (2011), Office of The Registrar General and Census Commissioner, New Delhi, India.
• Chatterji, J. (2013) ‘Dispositions and Destinations: Refugee Agency and Mobility Capital in the Bengal Disaspora’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vo. 55, Issue 02, pp. 273-304.
• de Haas, H. (2008) Migration and Development. A theoretical perspective. Working Papers, Paper 9, International Migration Institute, University of Oxford.
• Deshingkar, P. and J. Farrington (2009) ‘A Framework for Understanding Circular Migration’, in P. Deshingkar and J. Farrington (eds.) Circular Migration and Multilocational Livelihood Strategies in Rural India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Deshingkar, P., Sinha A. and K.A. Siddiqui (2010) Migration, Remittances, Poverty and Development in India: Comparing Data Sources and Key Messages, New Delhi: GIZ
• Doniger, W. (2014) On Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press
• Fuller, C.J. (1992) The Camphor Flame. Popular Hinduism and Society in India. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press
• Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur (2008) Dungarpur District Human Development Report.
• Jones, J.H.M. (2008) ‘Livelihood diversification and moneylending in a Rajasthan village: what lessons for rural financial services?’, The European Journal of Development Research, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 507-518.
• Jones, J.H.M., Williams, M.J. and M.P.Joshi (2014) ‘Domestic migration and remittances in India: Rajasthani tribal migrants working in Gujarat’, Enterprise Development and Microfinance, Volume 25, Number 2, pp. 150-162.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/irsr-2016-0014