Steel Town Adivasis

Christian Strümpell is Research Associate at the Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies, Delhi, and affiliated to the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Universität Hamburg. In addition to his research in Rourkela presented in this book, he has undertaken further extensive ethnographic research on workers of a hydro-electric powerplant in southern Odisha, India, and on metal workers as well as export garment workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

• Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Acronyms Glossary 1. Industry and Inequality in an Eastern Indian Steel Town: An Introduction1.1 The Steel Town Rourkela1.2 Historical Foundations and Analytical Concepts1.2.1 Industry1.2.2 Inequalities I: Class1.2.3 Inequalities II: Ethnicity, Caste and ‘Tribe’1.3 Methodology and Outline1.3.1 Entry into the ‘Field’ and Methodology1.3.2 Outline of the Book1.3.3 A Brief Note on the Text2. The Birth of RSP and the Making of Odisha2.1 Introduction2.2 The Foreign Collaborators and Site Selection2.3 Land Acquisition and the Making of Odisha2.3.1 Economy and Society in Rourkela before the coming of RSP2.3.2 Local Protest against Land Acquisition2.3.3 Land Acquisition and the Merger of Odisha2.4 The Construction of RSP and the Making of Odisha2.4.1 Work and Life on the Construction Sites2.4.2 Ethnic Violence in Rourkela2.4.3 The Construction of RSP and of the Odia Nation2.5 Conclusion: States and Identifications in Eastern India3. Workers, Unions and the State in Rourkela, 1959–19953.1 Introduction: The Industrial Working Class(es) in Rourkela and India3.2 RSP Workers, the Unions and Odia Nationalism3.2.1 The Ethnicisation of Union Rivalries3.2.2 The Odia-isation of the RMS and the RSP workforce3.2.3 The Displaced People and the ‘Jharkhand’ Union3.3 RSP Workers and Economic Liberalisation3.3.1 The New Communist Union and a New Category of Workers3.3.2 The Contract Worker Movement3.3.3 The Re-emergence of the Displaced People’s Movement3.3.4 The New Recognised Union3.4 Conclusion: Struggles about Class and Class Struggles in Rourkela4. The Adivasi Worker4.1 RSP Workers in the 2000s4.2 Adivasi RSP Workers4.2.1 Working, Drinking, and Shirking4.2.2 The Uneducated, the Educated, and the Savvy4.2.3 Adivasi Workers and the ‘New RSP Family’4.3 Adivasi Workers Beyond Regular Employment4.3.1 The Casualisation of Labour: Local and Global4.3.2 The Uneven Social Effects of Casualisation4.3.3 Entrepreneurial Spirit4.3.4 Wealth Spirits4.4 Conclusion: ‘Tribe’ and Class at Work5. Adivasi Town Dwellers5.1 Introduction5.2 The Making of the Steel Town5.2.1 Vision and Master Plan5.2.2 From Indian ‘Salad Bowl’ to Odia ‘Melting Pot’5.3 The Steel Town and Rourkela5.3.1 Urban Development beyond the Steel Town5.3.2 Bastis and Resettlement Colonies5.3.3 From Adivasi to ‘Labour Class' Spaces5.3.4 Centring and Marginalising5.4 Conclusion: ‘Tribe’, Class and Urban Space6. Steel Town Adivasis: Class and ‘Tribe’ in RourkelaBibliography Index