"Every Place Has Roads in the Plains": Public Spaces and Private Markets in Arguments for Development and Inclusion in South India

In this article, I examine the connections among roads, development and notions of inclusion. How might local people understand a road as having the potential to bring a stronger sense of inclusion and belonging to peripheral communities? How is this related to specific ideas of the meanings of deve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anthropologica (Ottawa) 2010-01, Vol.52 (1), p.141-153
Main Author: Finnis, Elizabeth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Area planning & development
Asia
Central government
Citizenship
Communities
Consumption
Crop economics
Crops
Cultural identity
Decision making
Development policy
Economic changes and development
Economics
Elections
Ethnology
Farmers
Households
India
Legislatures
Local politics
Lowlands
Markets
Morphological source materials
Political anthropology
Political parties
Politics
Public Space
Public transportation
Roads & highways
Social relations. Intercultural and interethnic relations. Collective identity
Social structure and social relations
Studies
Tamil language
Tapioca
Television
Terminology
Villages
Well being
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Summary:In this article, I examine the connections among roads, development and notions of inclusion. How might local people understand a road as having the potential to bring a stronger sense of inclusion and belonging to peripheral communities? How is this related to specific ideas of the meanings of development and prosperity? Using the example of actions in four villages in the Kolli Hills, Tamil Nadu, India, I argue that demands for the construction of a new road to the lowlands reflect farmers' assertions of their desire for greater inclusion through the extension of the public space that constitutes a road. I examine the ways that public transportation spaces intersect with consumption practices and access to the private, marketoriented sector. This reflects specific notions about livelihoods, social identities and the meanings of development held by small farmers living in the case study area. Dans cet article, je m'intéresse aux liens entre les routes, le développement et les notions d'inclusion. Comment les résidants locaux comprennent-ils qu'une route a le potentiel de renforcer les sentiments d'inclusion et d'appartenance au sein de communautés périphériques? Comment cela est-illié à des idées spécifiques relatives aux significations du développement et de la prospérité? En prenant comme exemples des actions intervenues dans quatre villages des collines Kolli au Tamil Nadu en Inde, je formule l'hypothèse que des demandes pour la construction d'une nouvelle route en direction des basses terres reflètent l'affirmation par les fermiers de leur désir d'une meilleure inclusion, par l'extension de l'espace public que constitue une route. J'examine comment les escapes de transport public recoupent les pratiques de consommation et l'accès au secteur privé, axé sur le marché. Cela reflète des notions spécifiques relatives aux moyens de subsistance, aux identités sociales et aux significations du développement partagées par les petits fermiers dans la région à l'étude.
ISSN:0003-5459
2292-3586