ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Joan P MencherSubscribe to Joan P Mencher

Studying Women and the Women's Movement in India

This paper is an autobiographical account that draws on the author's research over close to six decades on India as a feminist anthropologist interested in agrarian south India. The feminist lens to her includes looking at all of the issues that concern social scientists, workers in the humanities and in the legal and health professions, as well as political activists, making use of methods already developed (by women as well as men) but now including a crucial women's approach. In addition, as opposed to the male approach which has been dominant until fairly recently (despite the pressure early on from B R Ambedkar), a wide range of feminist approaches has come to include, since independence, the effects of caste and class on women's lives. The paper attempts to provide an account of the author's work especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and her current engagements with movements for sustainable agriculture.

Changing Agriculture

Changing Agriculture Joan P Mencher Barriers Broken: Production Relations and Agrarian Change in Tamil Nadu by Athreya, Venkatesh, Goran Djurfeldt and Staffan Lindberg; Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1990; pp 336, Rs 250.

Iruvelpattu Revisited

S Guhan Joan P Mencher This paper presents the findings of a resurvey of lruvelpattu, a village in the South Arcot district of Tamilnadu. It is one of the 'South Indian Villages' surveyed originally by Gilbert Slater and his students in 1916, with this village being the initial one surveyed by Slater personally.

Muddy Feet, Dirty Hands-Rice Production and Female Agricultural Labour

This paper presents detailed data on the involvement of women in the production and processing of paddy, viz, activities in which large number of women have been traditionally engaged. By doing so, the authors propose to:

The Lessons and Non-Lessons of Kerala-Agricultural Labourers and Poverty

Agricultural Labourers and Poverty Joan P Mencher Kerala is today being pointed to by a number of economists and others as an exceptional instance where, without either a radical revolution or a major increase in industrialisation or production, things really seem to be getting better in terms of the 'quality of life' of the common people.

Why Grow More Food-An Analysis of Some Contradictions in the Green Revolution in Kerala

An Analysis of Some Contradictions in the 'Green Revolution' in Kerala Joan P Mencher In theory, there are a number of reasons why Third World countries are concerned about increasing food production, including: (1) feeding the hungry, the rural landless poor (as well as the small landholders) and the urban poor; (2) enabling the owners of land (be they small self-cultivating farmers, or large producers for the market, or in between) to make a profitable living; and (3) other reasons relating to the state, to trade, and to the saving of foreign exchange.

CAPITAL VIEW

of Kerala Joan P Mencher The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of agrarian relations in the two main rice regions of Kerala, Kuttanad (a low-lying area covering parts of Alleppey, Kottayam and Quilon Districts) and Palghat, in order to examine one, forces interfering with production and, secondly, the elms relations that serve to impede a more equitable distribution of food and other commodities. The paper describes some of the striking contradictions in each area, and offers some tentative predictions for their future development.

Land Ceilings in Tamil Nadu Facts and Fictions

Joan P Mencher This paper examines land ceilings in Tamil Nadu. First, it attempts a comparison of how they look on paper with how they actually work out in practice

Problems in Analysing Rural Class Structure

It is important to understand in detail the socio-economic class structure in rural areas because there is still no satisfactory theory which can explain why various types of peasant associations have developed in certain places and not in others. This paper examines certain aspects of the rural class structure in the Chingleput district of Tamil Nadu. In the process, light is thrown on factors which blur class boundaries. This facilitates understanding of some of the reasons for the lack of sustained peasant organisation in Chingleput district as compared to other areas such as, for example, Tanjore.

Conflicts and Contradictions in the Green Revolution-The Case of Tamil Nadu

This paper represents a preliminary attempt to explore some of the contradictions (e g, between the goals of production and redistribution of wealth) and sources of conflict (e g, between the landed and the landless), as they appear to have developed over the past few years in Tamil Nadu.

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