Labour, Markets, Regulation: Approaching a Key Problem of Transterritorial History
Labour, Markets, Regulation: Approaching a Key Problem of Transterritorial History
Ravi Ahuja (SOAS, University of London)
Date: 4 December 2007Time: 5:00 PM
Finishes: 4 December 2007Time: 6:30 PM
Venue: Russell Square: College BuildingsRoom: G52
Type of Event: Seminar
Series: South Asia History
Labour, Market, Regulation:
Approaching a Key Problem of Transterritorial History
Ravi Ahuja (SOAS)
This paper reconsiders an elementary aspect of the history of South Asian capitalism from a transterritorial perspective: the formation of labour markets. It proceeds from the premise that labour markets are invariably and necessarily regulated, though formal and informal devices of regulation may be transformed and recombined in a great variety of historical scenarios. The relevance of a transterritorial perspective for this subject will be demonstrated for three specific cases: (1) the application and adaptation of English ‘master and servant law’ to the conditions of colonial India; (2) the creation of a low-pay and inferior-rights segment in the international maritime labour market, to which Indian seamen were confined over more than a century; (3) the emergence of a specific, authoritarian labour policy in late colonial India, that defined the border between what was to become known as the ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ sectors.
Organiser: Dr Shabnum Tejani and Professor Ravi Ahuja
Contact email: ra33@soas.ac.uk
