McGee in his recent writings on Asian urbanization highlights extended metropolitan regions and proximate non-urban settlement systems with an intense mixture of agricultural and non-agricultural activities. The latter McGee terms as desakota, a neologism coined in Bahasa Indonesian, to signify the fusion of desa (rural) and kota (urban). Some of the ecological preconditions for desakota are high rural population densities; labour intensive rice cultivation with agricultural labourers in need of non-farm work in the off seasons and/or labour shedding by green revolution effects. McGee however recognizes that desakota can also occur in other ecologically dense habitat of non-rice crops with high population densities. Kerala State in India is one such region with a mix of rice and non-rice crops. This study examines the urban-rural fusion that is observed in Kerala and provides an empirically informed assessment of the McGee desakota hypothesis. While basically affirming the desakota hypothesis, the study at the same time raises some caveats. First, desakota in Kerala is not dependent on any central urban system and intra-desakota dynamics are significant. While M c G e e has recognized that such desakota do occur, his writings tend to neglect this type of desakota. Second, McGee's writings on extended metropolitan regions and desakota are increasingly associated with the recent rapid e c o n o m i c growth occurring in some of the Asian countries. Desakota in Kerala blurs this characteristic as it appears to have occurred beginning in the late colonial p e r i o d of the British Raj. Third, a unique mix of factors in Kerala make the political economy central to making desakota in Kerala intelligible. Undoubtedly in the specificity of the Kerala context the political economy is important. Nonetheless this study raises a critique of the underemphasis of the political economy in McGee's work on extended metropolitan regions and desakota. The research on desakota in Kerala involved the examination of the regional geography of Kerala. Kerala with its radical politics and remarkable social development in a context of low economic growth, attracted the attention of social scientists. But in these studies the spatial dimensions were largely ignored. This study emphasizes that geography matters in understanding Kerala, and that there is an important nexus between the space and political economy of Kerala.

McGee in his recent writings on Asian urbanization highlights extended metropolitan regions and proximate non-urban settlement systems with an intense mixture of agricultural and non-agricultural activities. The latter McGee terms as desakota, a neologism coined in Bahasa Indonesian, to signify the fusion of desa (rural) and kota (urban). Some of the ecological preconditions for desakota are high rural population densities; labour intensive rice cultivation with agricultural labourers in need of non-farm work in the off seasons and/or labour shedding by green revolution effects. McGee however recognizes that desakota can also occur in other ecologically dense habitat of non-rice crops with high population densities. Kerala State in India is one such region with a mix of rice and non-rice crops. This study examines the urban-rural fusion that is observed in Kerala and provides an empirically informed assessment of the McGee desakota hypothesis. While basically affirming the desakota hypothesis, the study at the same time raises some caveats. First, desakota in Kerala is not dependent on any central urban system and intra-desakota dynamics are significant. While M c G e e has recognized that such desakota do occur, his writings tend to neglect this type of desakota. Second, McGee's writings on extended metropolitan regions and desakota are increasingly associated with the recent rapid e c o n o m i c growth occurring in some of the Asian countries. Desakota in Kerala blurs this characteristic as it appears to have occurred beginning in the late colonial p e r i o d of the British Raj. Third, a unique mix of factors in Kerala make the political economy central to making desakota in Kerala intelligible. Undoubtedly in the specificity of the Kerala context the political economy is important. Nonetheless this study raises a critique of the underemphasis of the political economy in McGee's work on extended metropolitan regions and desakota. The research on desakota in Kerala involved the examination of the regional geography of Kerala. Kerala with its radical politics and remarkable social development in a context of low economic growth, attracted the attention of social scientists. But in these studies the spatial dimensions were largely ignored. This study emphasizes that geography matters in understanding Kerala, and that there is an important nexus between the space and political economy of Kerala. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [105]-108).

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [105]-108).

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [105]-108).

Mobility and Pathways to Autonomy of Women: A study of informal workers in fisheries sector in Kerala, India Mobility defined as the freedom and ability to move has intrinsic and instrumental values in promoting human development. Paid work which involves mobility associated with work can be a ‘capability-enhancing’ experience when such mobility improves opportunities and enhances freedoms. However, the existing studies have neither examined nor measured mobility with its multiple domains for women. My thesis fills this gap in research by exploring the multiple domains of gendered mobility by measuring mobility as a single construct and analysing whether mobility is a ‘capability’ for women workers which improves autonomy and agency. It is inter-disciplinary as it is situated at the confluence of development studies, human geography and sociological disciplines. The following features of the thesis make it unique in the development studies discipline. First, the contextual setting is unique as it is based in Kerala, which is a socially progressive state in India. The thesis unearths the underlying structural constraints in the Kerala model of social development for transformation of women workers under patriarchy. It is a comparative study which examines the household autonomy and agency of two types of informal women workers in the post-harvest fisheries, namely ‘peeling workers’ linked to production chains and ‘fish vendors’ who are self-employed. Second, the capability approach provides the theoretical framework for the analysis of mobility of women as capability and it introduces a new concept of ‘transformational mobility’. By examining mobility using the Rasch Rating Scale Model (RSM) for the first time in development studies, the thesis operationalises capability measurement by introducing the measurement scale of mobility of women workers which empirically delineates the multiple domains of mobility based on the constraints faced by women. Third, the mixed methods research design using survey data and qualitative interviews of women workers provide better insight and contextual understanding of women’s work. An innovative method, namely, the Crisp set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (CsQCA), explores the causal mechanisms that bring about ‘transformational mobility’ in women workers. The thesis empirically proves the significance of social and human capital factors like caste, low education of spouse and marital status along with the underlying patriarchal structures that determine pathways to transformational mobility and decision making of women. Lastly, the qualitative analysis using classic grounded theory contributes to the emergence of substantive theories for women workers which reflect contrasting agentic behaviour of peeling workers and fish vendors in the context of Kerala. The lack of collective agency among peeling workers questions the claims of Kerala model of development in improving the agency of women. The findings confirm that work mobility associated with informal low paid work is not necessarily a capability for women in fisheries.