Browsing by Author "Subramanian Sandhya"

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    Brick Kiln labour in Gujarat: An analysis of the socio-cultural factors surrounding seasonal migrant labour
    (2025) Subramanian Sandhya
    This study of brick kiln workers in Gujarat focuses on how socio-cultural practices and social networks play out in the lives of seasonal migrant workers. While the exploitative nature of the industry has been well documented and studied, the present study aims to understand the role of social networks and kinship ties and their linkage to the acceptance of employment on such tough terms and in exploitative conditions. While earlier studies have studied the socio-economic factors that push workers into working in this industry, this study employs a broader approach to studying workers’ wellbeing by seeking to understand the effects of alienation, trust in social networks and cultural preferences and practices. The study relies on primary data collected through interviews of brick kiln workers in Gujarat and uses a grounded theory approach to identify patterns that emerge from the data. Some of the takeaways from the thematic analysis along the themes of social isolation, trust, powerlessness and culinary estrangement include - that migrating workers have low inter-community trust but high levels of intra-community trust; that workers lose non-market sources of securing food due to seasonal migration adding to their financial woes and that working in groups and the ability to interact with co-workers is the likely reason for low levels of powerlessness even among workers who are highly exploited. This study offers a new perspective of studying seasonal migrants and is expected to lead to a broader understanding of seasonal migrants and their wellbeing.