Bowers, R (2019) Gendered economies of extraction: seeking permanence amidst the rubble of Bengaluru's construction industry. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
Abstract
Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka state in southern India, has undergone rapid transformation in recent decades, from 'Pensioner's paradise' to 'The city of the future'. At present, its kinetic landscape reflects the competing aspirations of an array of global investors, entrepreneurs, local politicians and would-be real estate moguls. But what of those who lay the foundations for this possibility? By focusing on the lives and labour of women and their families working in construction, this thesis sheds light on a frequently overlooked demographic of co-contributors to Bengaluru's growth. Attending to the precarity experienced by interlocutors, this thesis situates women's endeavours to establish familial forms of permanence through an ethic of pragmatism. Illustrating how such projects are strived towards, it examines the cultivation of pragmatism to navigate various aspects of the city, and beyond. By acknowledging the resources long-term resident communities may acquire in the city, this thesis also examines the contrasting liminality experienced by migrant workers, who have scant access to these. In doing so, it attends to the ways in which urban precarity is shaped and harnessed by real estate developers seeking to maximise profit and devolve the financial risks of industry speculation. Illuminating how hegemonic masculinity informs these actions and subsequently, who is able to speculate, this thesis attends to the gendered relations that belie economies of extraction. Making visible employer strategies to maintain flexible labour, it also explores workers' efforts to counter precarity via the state and their own forms of collective organisation. Utilising ethnographic data collected during fieldwork between October 2014-May 2016 and August 2016-February 2017, this thesis provides a nuanced perspective of the gendered relations of production and social reproduction; and the political life that unfolds between them. Attending to the intersectionality of precarious labour conditions, it contributes to the overlapping fields of the anthropology of work, gender, and economics.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | anthropology; developer; foundation; gender; India; land; real estate; women |
| Index terms: | construction industry, land, foundations, India, real estate, women, transformation, investor, pragmatism, migrant worker, paradise, strategy, profit, masculinity |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, structural engineering, theoretical framing, Geography, real estate economics, business, sociology, industry analysis, philosophical concept, management |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Stakeholder Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, International Construction, Urban Studies |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here