Protecting caste livelihoods on the western coast of India: an intersectional analysis of Udupi’s fisherwomen

Abstract

This work draws from preliminary ethnographic research with a fisherwomen's association in Udupi City, located on the southwestern coast of India. It shows how women have managed to keep capital-rich fish shops away from the sale of fish, preserving their traditional occupation for themselves through informal arrangements with the state. In the Indian context, in which caste remains an important organizing element within a secular framework of democracy and citizenship, I look at how women rely on their caste identities as Mogaveera fisherwomen, while simultaneously referring to their gender and experience of poverty to muster both caste-based political support and secular political resources for their livelihoods. Intersectionality as a concept for analysis is important to understand how both marginal and dominant identities of these women enable them to frame and formulate arguments that are acceptable to the state. I argue that in this particular case, gender, intertwined with caste and poverty, positions these fisherwomen in a fertile space for political alliances that tap into both caste and secular resources. These nuances enable us to see fisherwomen as a complex, heterogeneous group full of contradictions, rather than just poor fisherwomen. Thus, an analysis of gender as intertwined with experiences deriving from other social categories of caste and class allows us to see women's livelihoods as a product of, as well as formative of, those specific experiences, opportunities and constraints they confront.

More than Just Fishing: The Formation of Livelihood Strategies in an Urban Fishing Community in Mangaluru, India

“…It is important to note that there is a lack of specific literature on the opportunity for women and youth to find jobs within and outside of the fisheries sector in urban areas, except a few studies on fish trading, which expand on urban connections and fisherwomen (Béné & Friend, 2011;Hapke & Ayyankeril, 2004;Overå, 2006;Thara, 2016). So far, non-fisheries livelihood studies have elaborated on how urbanisation may increase the availability of alternative sources of income for women and youth (Beall, 2002), as well as the pressures which condition them to work in order to contribute to household income (Foeken & Owuor, 2008).…”

Women’s empowerment to alleviate poverty in coastal zones: a case study of fisherwomen in Pacitan, Indonesia

“…Likewise, Ulwan (2021) showed that women’s creativity and entrepreneurial motivation to empower themselves economically in household businesses is more likely to have positive implications for increasing family economic resilience and alleviating poverty. Other studies further showed that the level of empowerment of coastal women who work as fisherwomen can be relied on to alleviate poverty, intensify gender-based development policy reforms and community-driven empowerment in developing countries (Golden et al , 2014; Thorpe et al , 2009; Harper et al , 2017; Thara, 2016; Islam and Chuenpagdee, 2013).…”

An (Urban) Political Ecology approach to Small-Scale Fisheries in the Global South

“…Recently the SSF literature has, however, started to include urban implications in its discussions including coastal pressures on small-scale fishing communities (Bavinck et al, 2017;Cinner et al, 2007;Fabinyi, 2010Fabinyi, , 2019Kadfak, 2019;Kumar et al, 2014), aquaculture (Saguin, 2014) and urban markets for fish sellers (Thara, 2016). A recent 'themed issue' in Maritime Studies on 'post structural approaches to fisheries' (Volume 16, Issue 1, December 2017) shows promising theoretical interventions in favour of tracing socio-material networks (Mather et al, 2017) in line with social theorists who urge researchers to pay more attention to how materiality and physical changes influence how societies function (Nightingale, 2014).…”