Commercialization of Hinterland and Dynamics of Class, Caste and Gender in Rural India

Supriya Singh

May 2017 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this ebook

There is a great deal of controversy and debate on land acquisition and transactions concerning the economic development of India, particularly the rural parts of the country. This book explicates, from a sociological perspective, the effect of increasing land transactions on social mobility, based on a detailed study of selected villages in Lucknow, India. It argues that villages in modern India, particularly those close to cities, are no longer simple and integrated communities, but are, rather, more heterogeneous, complex and mobile, as a result of urban expansion and globalization. It contextualises land transactions in a political economic model, describing in detail the differential relationship between land and the state from ancient times to the present day, noting the different laws relating to land and their implications for rural life.

About the author

Dr Supriya Singh, a University Grants Commission fellow, received her MPhil and PhD from the Department of Sociology at the University of Lucknow, India. Having previously worked at the Centre of Globalization and Development Studies at the University of Allahabad, India, she is currently Academic Councillor at Indira Gandhi National Open University, India, and has been selected as an Assistant Professor for a provincial college by Uttar Pradesh Higher Education Commission. She has published two book reviews and nine research articles in various journals, such as Economic and Political Weekly and Eastern Anthropologist, and she is a Hindi language editor for the journal Navrachana. Her areas of interest include development, caste, class, power and gender mobility in Indian villages.